Nutrition, Balance and Healthy Adult to Senior Dog Food Diet

For the average dog, adulthood lasts from the age of about 8 or 9 months until about the age of 6 years. Large and giant breed puppies tend to more slowly, not physically maturing until they are about 18 month of age to the age of 2 years. After the age of 6 or so, your dog will begin to slow down, entering middle age (small- and medium-sized dogs) or entering his senior years (large and giant breeds).

Your dog’s nutritional needs change as he matures. His body is no longer involved in growth; rather, it is involved in maintenance and repair of tissues. For this reason, he no longer needs as much protein in his diet.

No longer as active as he was as a puppy, his need for fat also decreases, as does the quantity of food that he ingests. If he is fed the same way that he was as a puppy, he will grow heavy and he may develop digestive problems. If his dietary calcium is not decreased, then he may develop a surplus of that nutrient, and, with it, bone spurs.

As in humans, age, size, and activity level determine the proper amount of food that must be consumed. And, as with humans, the proper amount of food can be defined in calories, although most dog food companies seem to provide the serving size information without precisely defining the amount of calories contained in that serving.

A small adult dog only needs approximately 300 calories a day to remain healthy, if he is inactive. That requirement increases by approximately 100 calories for an active dog. Large breeds require between 1500 and 2100 calories, respectively. Puppies, however, need an average of about 900 calories to sustain them.

Although canned or semi-moist food can be fed at any stage of a dog's life cycle, these easily chewed and digested foods are preferred for feeding young puppies and for feeding senior adult dogs. For most adult dogs, but particularly those dogs who weigh over 30 pouds, dry food is actually the food of choice if the dog is eating a commercial food diet.

Dry food is preferred because it has a higher "caloric density." That is, dry food contains more calories in the portion of food that is being consumed because it contains less water. Caloric density is more of a concern for large dogs and their owners due to the large amount of canned food that would need to be consumed at any one time to provide sufficient calories to a large or giant breed dog. Even if the owner could afford to buy quite that much dog food, it is possible that the dog could not eat enough to maintain its caloric needs.

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