4 Ways to Feed Senior Dogs Nutritional Meals

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Want to Help Your Senior Dog Stay Healthy?

To keep your senior dog in good shape, serving nutritious meals should be one of your top priorities. With your aging dog’s many health concerns, we understand that it is not easy to plan a meal formulated to address its health issues. Let us give you tips on different ways to feed your senior dog nutritional meals.

Nourishing Foods for Senior Dogs:

1. Brain Food

Just like us, dogs’ cognitive function deteriorates with age. Sadly, this can also compromise the other systems in their bodies.

But, by feeding your senior dog meals high in omega-3 fatty acids like EPA and DHA, you are providing your dog with much-needed brain food.

Also, antioxidants help maintain a healthy cognitive function and reduce inflammation in older dogs.

Antioxidants are found in fruits and veggies such as dark leafy vegetables, broccoli, tomatoes, and berries. At the same time, salmon and trout are rich in omega-3 fatty acids.

Many high-quality dog food contains these nutrients, but a senior dog would benefit from higher quantities. When selecting dog food, we recommend that you look for the all-life stage diet because these have higher amounts of DHA needed by your senior dog.

2. Muscle Food

As your dog gets older, its muscle mass begins to decrease. If this is not addressed, your once active dog will find it too difficult to move around in time. But you can prevent this by feeding your pet with protein from good quality real meat.

Examples are cooked beef, poultry, fish, and lamb.

Avoid feeding your pet with meat-by-products or meal meat.

Are you open to shifting to a raw diet for your senior pet? If served properly, you’d be surprised by the nutritional goodness it provides. Dog-safe bones (the one that matches your dog’s size) are a good source of calcium, while organs like the liver are high in protein.

Once you’ve decided to shift to a raw diet for your aging dog, we advise adding a pinch of pro-biotic to its commercial food to aid in the transition slowly.

3. Tummy Food

Older dogs are more likely to suffer from tummy troubles. This is because your pet’s digestive system is no longer as efficient in breaking down food and absorbing nutrients.

Does your dog have an irregular bowel movement? These two are senior dogs’ most common digestive troubles along with flatulence. What to do? Feed your senior dog with additional fiber.

What are the colorful sources of fiber that you can safely feed your senior dog? Kale, apple, carrots, and pumpkin. But you also have to remember to practice serving fiber in moderation. Too much of the good thing can result in another kind of health issue.

Integrating the right sources and amount of fiber into your aging dog’s daily diet is something you must consider, regardless if you feed commercial food or prepare dog food at home.

4. Keep your senior dog away from gluten

Gluten is a common name for the proteins that are found in wheat, barley, and rye. What it does is act as glue so food would maintain its shape. That said, while it is present in many grains, it is not found in certain types of grains like corn and rice.

But why is gluten bad for your old pet?

Gluten is not a ‘bad guy’ at all; it’s just that some dogs are allergic to it. This is called gluten intolerance. Common symptoms are nutrient deficiencies, chronic fatigue, and anemia; you would not want your old pal to go through those symptoms.

We recommend that you feed your dog with nutritious gluten and grain-free meal. Fresh fruits and vegetables are also good options.

Conclusion

Your geriatric best friend needs a balanced protein, carbs, fiber, and fat meal. You and your pal will have longer, happy, and healthy days by feeding your body a nutritious meal.

Jaden Author’s Bio:

Jaden is a Malaysian author. He graduated from Stamford College Malacca with a degree in business administration, but his true passion is raising and working with pets. He began exploring his love for animals a decade ago and credits getting a fish tank with bettas and guppies as a child for inspiration.

What began with fish quickly evolved into larger pets. Jaden set his sights on learning more about dogs, cats, and hamsters. Not only does the interest come naturally, but it has also become more than a hobby. He spends time learning as much as he can about raising animals and shares it with his dedicated readers.

It comes as no surprise that dog walking is his favorite hobby. He also devours Animal Planet and Discovery Channel programming to increase his knowledge. His real goal is to provide valuable content to pet owners to assist them in raising their pets and developing an unbreakable bond that makes raising a pet so special.

Jaden runs the animal and pet blog mypetience.com, a site dedicated to sharing knowledge and important information about raising small pets and other animals.

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