Feeding Your New Puppy - By: Jimmy Cox

The basic principle to be understood in the feeding of dogs is that, with only minor variations, they have the same nutritive requirements as man. A dog apparently has less need for starches, and its digestive juices do not handle fatty foods well. Thus, the dog’s meat should always be quite lean, otherwise it will commonly cause a stomach upset with symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea.

The best foods for the dog are milk, meat, and vegetables. Most dogs will enjoy milk and digest it readily. Some breeds, however, such as the Boston Terrier, often do not seem to be able to handle milk and will vomit it. Where this occurs, milk should naturally be avoided.

But with most breeds this difficulty will not be encountered. With a little experience the individual dog owner can determine what the situation is with his particular animal.

In regard to meat: beef, lamb, or horsemeat are generally considered best, while pork is usually not recommended. Lamb or horsemeat are best served cooked, while beef may be fed either cooked or raw.

Whether meat is fed cooked or raw depends both on convenience to the owner and on the preference of the animal. It will make no difference, however, to the health of the dog which way the food is fed.

As far as vegetables are concerned, most dogs generally handle them quite well. However, as with milk, the owner will have to determine on the basis of actual experience which vegetables the animal prefers or which it can properly digest.

In most cases, diced lettuce and tomatoes will be found to be the most readily accepted.

Dog owners often raise the question of the egg requirements for their dogs, mentioning that they have heard somewhere that the feeding of eggs will encourage a glossy coat.

This belief is incorrect. Vigorous dogs that are properly cleaned and groomed will have glossy coats whether or not they have ever been fed eggs. Unhealthy dogs, or those that are improperly cleaned or groomed, will not have a good, shiny coat no matter how often eggs are fed.

Eggs, however, are a perfectly wholesome food for dogs and are an excellent source of protein. But, since meat and milk are equally rich in this nutrient and are generally cheaper, eggs are usually considered to be a good, though uneconomical, supplementary food for dogs.

As for the tremendous variety of dry or canned commercial dog foods, most animals will get along perfectly well on them, though it is often suggested by the most competent authorities that the best results will be obtained if dog foods are fed only in combination with fresh foods.

Great strides have been made in the improvement of commercial dog foods in recent years. Their formulae are specially prepared by trained scientists to meet all of the dog’s needs, and all nationally known brands are guaranteed by the federal government, on the basis of careful experiment, to furnish normal maintenance diets.

This means that the dog can live its entire life without eating anything but dog food. For those owners within the low income brackets, or those with the very large breeds, the feeding of dog food exclusively would certainly be the most economical method and, as far as the dog is concerned, such a diet is quite adequate.

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