Nutrition is Vital for Healthy Dogs

Optimum nutrition plays an important role in health and disease management in dogs. You must feed your dog a balanced diet during all stages of their life for maintaining good health.

Dr Ritesh Sood
A balanced diet must contain six nutrients that include Water, Carbohydrates, Proteins, Fats, Minerals, and Vitamins. These nutrients have specific functions that contribute to optimum growth, body tissue maintenance, and overall health of dogs.
What is a complete and balanced diet for dogs and how much to feed them?

• Complete and balanced diet must include all these six nutrients as mentioned above and should be balanced as per the life stage requirements of the dogs. Puppies grow rapidly and need higher levels of proteins, as compared to adult dogs.
• The quantity of diet you can feed to your pet will vary as per the quality of diet/food (i.e. nutrition profile), the amount of exercise, neutering status, health status, etc. You must seek your vet’s advice on your pet’s daily requirement to avoid under or over feeding your dog.What are common life stage challenges among puppies?
•  Puppies grow rapidly i.e. 40 folds during first 6 months of age, low immunity and 3 times more prone to infection and have poor enzymatic capacity, that causes low absorption of nutrients from diet, that affects overall growth.
•  Common issues mentioned above cannot be avoided but can be deferred by naturally boosting body’s inbuilt capacity like immunity and digestion in puppies adding herbs/fruits like Papaya, a known digestive stimulant, Black pepper or Guduchi, a known immunity modulator, etc. in a puppy’s diet, in consultation with your vet.What are common life stage challenges among adult dogs?
•  Adult dogs are much prone to kidney disease, over age of 4 years & above, obesity and approximately 25 percent of dogs visiting veterinarian involve skin problems.
•  Common issues mentioned above cannot be avoided but can be deferred by naturally boosting body’s inbuilt capacity like metabolism, skin immunity and kidney functions by adding herbs/fruits like Polpala, a known metabolic stimulant, Tree of heaven, Cranberry, etc, a known renal protective in an adult dog’s diet, in consultation with your vet.

What are the tips to keep your dog healthy?

• You must feed a complete and balanced diet to your dogs to ensure optimum growth, as per their life stage requirements, in consultation with your vet. 
•  Every dog’s nutritional requirements vary. You must consult your vet on the right type of diet/food as per your dog’s requirements.
  
•  Feeding dog food with added herbs/fruits, providing life stage specific benefits, is a good choice. For this, consult with your vet. 
•  Routine visits for normal health check to a vet is vital to a healthy and happy dog.

(Dr.Ritesh Sood is Marketing Manager, Companion Care, The Himalaya Drug Company, Bengaluru)