Dog Nutrition

Food.

Glorious food. It gives my life such meaning, such purpose. The scent of a grilled chicken breast, the wafting aroma of a broiling steak. The thrill of a freshly delivered pizza with sausage and pepperoni, the teasing aromatic insouciance of a micro-waved hot dog. These are the smells which dreams are made of. So why is it that none of this stuff ever ends up in MY food bowl?

Like the dog food commercials tell us, my nutritional needs are different from the people who feed me. They call those meat ripping teeth 'canines' for a reason. I'm a dog and I crave meaty goodness. But other things are important in my diet too. I need minerals, like calcium for strong bones and healthy teeth. I need protein and carbohydrates for strength and energy. Hey, wait a minute. Human food has all those things. And still, I get no satisfaction. Maybe it's like the song says, I won't always get what I want, but I get what I need.

Sure, you see me. Sitting there just outside the dining room door, drooling on myself, looking longingly at the turkey atop the table. I'm not doing it because I'm hungry. I'm doing it because I'm a dog. You got food. I love the stuff. Give it to me, and I'm going to eat it.

Handouts from the table are going to add to my caloric intake, and making a habit of it on top of my usual fare is going to have me tipping the scales in no time. Think since I'm a dog I'm not susceptible to the same problems obesity induces in humans? Think again. I can get clogged arteries, short of breath, liver and kidney problems.

I can even develop diabetes. What I need is a balanced diet, and the dog food suppliers are doing their very best to make it easy on all of us.

And yes, I'll eat just about anything. But that doesn't mean I should. Take a look at the labels, and serving amounts for my weight class and age. Me, I'm a 50 pound (give or take a couple of ounces) basset hound. I'm six years old, which puts me in the 'middle-age' bracket for my size and breed. I'm not one of those dogs that runs around all day; my exercise needs are only minimal, and as I get older, I'm naturally slowing down a bit. So my calorie requirements will be lessening, and I'll have to start watching the fat and treat intake a little more. But for now, what works for me is I get two cups of dry food a day, the kind that includes some vegetables and meat flavors, minerals and nutrients. With my dinner cup, I also get five ounces of wet food mixed in. The people I live with are kind enough to mix it up for me, sometimes beef, sometimes chicken. Some mornings, that cup of dry doesn't satisfy me, so I'll just toss my bowl around the kitchen until someone gets the idea that what I want is another half a cup. If I'm hungry, really hungry, I make that known. Right now I'm getting Beneful dry and Pedigree wet (from those handy little single packs that come twelve to a box) and a smidgen of Pet Botanics Meat Roll. It's like a gourmet feast for a dog. And the best part is, it suits my digestion so well. A couple of times I've had my menu shaken up, especially during that recent problem with the corn meal being tainted. (Luckily, I wasn't eating anything that came out on the lists, but my people are doing their best to avoid feeding me anything with too much corn anyway, since it's really just filler and not too nutritious.) Changing up a dogs diet is always a bit hard on the digestion, and face it. Since you're most likely dealing in some manner with what comes out the other end, don't you want it to be as pleasant as possible? Well, a steady diet of quality pet food is the answer. Trust me, you'll all be happier.

When it comes to handouts and treats, that's where the real fun begins. Sometimes, it's as easy as sitting down when they holler, get's me a biscuit. A well timed puff of breath in their face a couple of days after a tooth brushing brings on a chlorophyll biscuit, and sometimes, sometimes, just being cute and cuddly brings on an extra chunk of Pet Botanics Meat Roll. A treat for which I would do just about anything, it's that good.

And don't forget the water. I'm really an amazing drooler (really, you should see me, I could win drooling matches if only there was such a thing) so my water gets changed up four or five times a day.

I shouldn't tell you, but once a year, at my birthday, I get an entire hard-boiled egg all to myself.

Yup. I'm just that wonderful.

Dog

Resources

"I'm not stupid, I'm just big-boned."

- Wild Eye James, Basset Hound