Diet: The Key to Keeping Your Dog Healthy and Happy

Diet determines whether or not your dog packs on extra pounds. We as their pet parents must learn what we can do to keep our dogs as healthy and happy as possible.

Obese pets live shorter lives, and vets say that in almost every case, pet owners are to blame for their pet's unhealthy weight.

"Keeping your pet at an ideal body weight—and looking at what food you feed them—will help them live 15 percent longer" says Dr. Marty Becker, an Idaho based veterinarian and the author of 22 books on pets.

Here are a couple of things you can do and watch out for, to keep your active dogs weight and make sure they are healthy.

1. Controlled Feeding

Dogs should be given an exact amount of food every day based on their weight and nutritional needs. If you don't know what your dog needs, ask your veterinarian or follow recommendations from this home-cooked recipe for Cats and Dogs

2. Keep track of your dog's weight

You should also keep track of their weight knowing if the diet you are giving them works and is keeping them on the same weight or you can make several adjustments depending on the need for more protein, carbs, or veggies. The Original Crokpet diet recipe/ crockpet diet is a highly customizable diet for your pets in all life stages, What I did with my dog Essau since he is more active than my other dogs a few years ago is I give him 3 cups of the crockpet diet and 1 extra cup of rice/carbs. This helped him maintain his weight and kept his energy throughout the day.

3. Regular Exercise.

Keeping your dog at the right weight isn't all about food. Every dog needs exercise and playtime. Make sure to schedule some active time with your pet, this will not only keep them healthy, but you'll also be surprised that you'll benefit more from this activity.

4. Choosing the right supplements.

It’s really important to be mindful of your dog’s current life stage. This includes changing foods, exercise routines, supplements, and sleep patterns.

In this case, I am recommending supplements based on whole foods such as Holistic Total Body Support and Standard Process supplements.

As a Veterinarian for 30 years and living with my pets, the importance of diet became abundantly clear to me. 

Why is it that we only think of our health when it has already been damaged? It doesn’t make any sense!

Paying close attention to what our pets eat, to what fuels their body, is the first step in preventative care and maintaining good health. Once I realized this in entirety, I was horrified by the food I’d been feeding my own pets and recommending to my clients. Food from the bag or can is just not enough to keep our pets healthy at every stage of their life.

Cheers!
Dr. Ruth Roberts, DVM, CVA, CVH, CVFT

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