Nutrition Basics for Adult Dogs

Unlike you, your dog can't decide what he's going to have for dinner tonight. You decide. And that decision can influence his health and even longevity. 

 If you choose to feed commercial foods, you should know how to read the food labels. The Association of American Feed Control Officers (AAFCO) sets standard regarding many aspects of labeling and food description. The label often boasts claims of “Complete & Balanced.” Such claims must be substantiated either by meeting the appropriate AAFCO nutrient profile for that purpose food or by feeding trials, which are preferable.  

All ingredients in a food must be listed  in order according to percentage weight, from highest to lowest. It’s generally a good rule of thumb to look for foods in which the first several ingredients are mostly meat-based. Unfortunately, the ingredient list can be misleading because less desirable ingredients can be broken into different forms, with each form listed separately so they appear lower in the list than their sum would. For example, a food with the ingredients “chicken, wheat germ meal, wheat middlings, wheat bran, wheat flour…” probably has wheat, not chicken, as its primary ingredient. Additionally, some ingredients, such as fresh meat, weigh more simply because of their moisture content, and may thus be placed higher in the ingredient list of a dry food than their dry matter justifies. 

The guaranteed analysis represents the worst-case scenario of the minimal percentages of crude protein, crude fat, and maximal percentages of crude fiber and moisture. The term “crude” means that the level is determined indirectly, in the case of protein by measuring nitrogen. The drawback to this index is that it doesn’t measure protein quality or digestibility. The fat percentage is handy in comparing the calories a food may contain, since fat has roughly double the calories of protein or carbohydrates. If fiber and moisture content are the same, a higher fat content food will have more calories. Crude fiber is an estimate of how much of the food is indigestible. Higher levels are often found in weight-reducing diets. 

You’ll notice that dry foods seem packed with nutrition compared to wet foods. That’s because wet foods have so much moisture in them it makes their nutritive content look watered down. To compare dry foods to wet foods, you have to factor out the differing moisture content so you compare them on their dry matter. Here’s how: 1) Subtract the listed moisture content from each. 2) Take the remaining number you get (the food’s dry matter) and divide it into each listed nutrient percentage. So for a canned food with a listed moisture content of 80 percent and protein of 5 percent, you divide 5 by 20, to equal 25. The canned food contains 25 percent protein on a dry matter basis.  A simpler, but less accurate method to compare the values in canned food with those in dry food is to multiply the canned values by 4. If they’re “in gravy,” multiply them by 5. 

There’s no need to supplement most high-quality commercial foods, but many owners feel they need to. If you supplement with meat, make sure it doesn't make up more than 10 percent of the total meal. Never supplement with vitamins or minerals unless your veterinarian advises you to, as some excesses of them can cause problems. Table scraps are not generally advised, as they can throw off your dog's balance of nutrients or cause stomach upset.  

If you don't wish to feed a commercial diet, you can prepare your dog's meals from scratch, mixing ingredients once a week or so and freezing them until needed. Many books are available with recipes for home-prepared diets. Never try to devise such a diet based on what you feel would be good. It’s too easy to give too much or too little of certain nutrients, and cause severe health problems. Make sure you only follow diets devised by veterinary nutritionists. The meat can be cooked or raw, although the latter is controversial.  No scientific data exist to prove that a raw diet is better, but many people who feed raw diets feel their dogs are healthier, with fewer skin and teeth problems, than when they fed a commercial diet. Nonetheless, although dogs are more resistant to food poisoning than people are, they’re not immune, and they can also carry germs like salmonella to humans they interact with. Many veterinary nutritionists advise that if you wish to feed raw meat, you should only feed meat that is not ground, and you should first sear the outside of the meat to removed surface bacteria. 

Most dogs do best when fed two meals a day. A good food will have your dog's coat shining or growing well, his muscles well-developed, and will produce small, firm stool.  Your dog's condition is a better guide to how much to feed than are the directions on the bag or can. He should have a waistline whether viewed from the side or above, and you should be able to easily feel his ribs. There should be no rolls of fat above his shoulders or around his rump. Nor should he have visible vertebra or hip bones, unless he is one the few breeds that are supposed to have them showing. 

Don't forget the most important nutrient of all: water! Always keep a bowl of fresh water available to your dog at all times.
Of course, whatever you feed, make sure your dog likes it. Eating is a high point of any dog's day.  And just one more reason for your dog to love you.