PoshNosh Inc.

Dog Diet

The ideal diet for your dog is a natural diet based on meats with bone, offal, a small amount of plant matter and supplements.

Meats with bone provide the majority of your dog’s energy requirements, water, protein, fat, mineral and vitamins together with enzymes and antioxidants. For dogs, approximately 60 %or more of their diet should be meats with bone.

Offal is a valuable source of nutrients including water, protein, essential fatty acids, minerals, vitamins, and enzymes. For dogs, up to 10 % of their diet should be offal.

Vegetables mimic the intake of plant matter obtained from the gut contents of small prey. Vegetables are an excellent source of fibre, which helps to process food and prevent constipation. Dogs do not produce the enzymes in their body necessary for the breakdown of plant cellulose so vegetables must be pureed to make their nutrients available. Plant matter is only minimally present in the diet of dogs in a natural setting and so for dogs, up to 15 % of their diet may be vegetables, preferably green leafy varieties and approximately 5 %may be fruit.

Adding dairy to the diet restores the intestinal flora to optimal levels by allowing beneficial bacteria (probiotics) to attach to the intestinal wall and crowd out harmful bacteria. Approximately 10 % of the diet maybe dairy.

Supplements help supply the nutrients found in a natural diet and compensate for the reduced bioavailability of foods due to factory farming, low mineral levels of soil on which certain foods have been grown as well as environmental toxins.

Feeding whole bones and meat chunks is highly recommended to exercise the jaw muscles and keep teeth clean. Just as offering a variety of food provides stimulation and prevents fixation, and promotes a well balanced diet over time.

When feeding dogs at different life stages, you should adjust the amount and frequency you feed them, but the ingredients should remain the same. This means that puppies can eat anywhere from 5 % to 10 % of their body weight, while adult dogs can eat anywhere from 2 % to 5 % of their body weight, depending on their activity level.