6 common mistakes you should avoid when feeding your pet dog
Don’t you love keeping a pet dog with you? These furry animals are the favorite pets of most people. Pet owners try to take good care and provide them with top quality food. However, not everyone is aware of the right feeding practices. Consequently, they make some huge mistakes that deteriorate the health of their pets.
Given below are some common mistakes in feeding pet dogs. You should try to avoid making the same mistakes to keep your pets fit and fine.
1. Overlooking the Nutritional Needs
In an attempt to feed them with delicious food all the time, many people tend to overlook the nutritional requirements of their pet dogs. Oftentimes, they feed the pets with too much treats or meat. As a result, their pet dogs become obese and become a victim of diseases. Here are the guidelines to feed sufficient nutrients to your pets:
Proteins |
22% |
Fats |
18% |
Calcium |
1% |
Phosphorous |
0.8% |
Potassium |
0.6% |
Zinc |
120 mg/kg |
Vitamin A |
5,000 IU/kg |
2. Inadequate Food
Every living thing needs food to function and the same goes for pet dogs. They need sufficient food to stay active. Their nutritional requirements vary with age and health conditions and you should feed them accordingly. However, if you fail to understand their food requirements, you may end up putting their life at stake.
3. Inconsistent Feeding Schedule
Many dog owners don’t fix a schedule for pet feeding. Instead, they prefer to keep the food bowl filled all the time and refill it once the dog has consumed the entire feed. However, this practice increases obesity and leads to other severe health issues among pets.
You should rather fix a schedule to feed your beloved pets. Young pups need to be fed five to six times a day, whereas adult dogs need not be fed more than twice a day.
4. Sudden Change in Diet
It’s okay to change your pet’s diet. However, the problem arises when you do it all of a sudden. Any sudden change in their diet can lead to various health issues, particularly in young pups and old dogs. So, it’s best to change their diet gradually over a week or two. This will allow their body to easily adapt to the changes and stay healthy.
5. Overlooking Fruit Diet
Many pet owners are astonished by the fact that fruits are essential for a pet dog. Fruits are rich in antioxidant content and protect them from many health issues down the road. So, make sure your pet’s diet contains 30% fruit content.
6. Feeding Human food
It’s a common practice to feed dogs with human food. However, this food does more harm than good. Not every food item is good for your pet and it may trigger allergic reactions. Furthermore, feeding your pets too often increases the risk of obesity and excessive weight gain.
Now that you know about the common pet feeding mistakes, you should be more careful with dog feed. This will keep your pets healthy and allow you to spend a quality time with your furry friends.