Feeding your dog properly

How much food does my dog need?

A dog’s energy requirements depend, among other things, on its age, size, whether it lives indoors or outdoors, and its level of activity. An agile dog has higher energy requirements than a calmer dog. The best way to determine the correct amount of food is to follow the feeding recommendation on the dog food packaging. This does, however, only represent an average recommended amount. Each dog has to be assessed individually with regard to its life circumstances. 

When should feeding take place?

Some dogs are rather easy-going when it comes to feeding times. Here, it is not necessary to ensure that the food is in the bowl at exactly the same time every day. But there are also dogs that can hardly wait to be fed. One reason for this can be irregular feeding times. For impatient dogs, it can be advisable, for example, to always feed them at the same time in the early morning and late afternoon. In this way, the dog can adjust to these times. While it is eating, you should disturb your dog as little as possible. If you have several dogs, they should have different feeding places.

My dog is always hungry. Am I not giving it enough food?

Excessive cravings may well be caused by mistakes in feeding, such as food with poor digestibility. The dog then tries to compensate for the deficiencies in the diet by increasing its food intake. High-quality dog food is well balanced and contains easily digestible raw materials that ensure that the dog is provided with optimum nutrition.

There are nevertheless illnesses that can lead to cravings. Diseases of the pancreas for example, can prevent the food from being sufficiently broken down and digested. If feeding your dog with a high-quality complete food – this includes all wet and dry dog food from animonda – does not bring about an improvement, you should take it to the vet.

The dangers of raw feeding (BARF)

The feeding of raw animal materials poses health risks for both dogs and humans. Dutch researchers conducted a study on frozen BARF products in 2018, which led to worrying results: In 40 percent of the samples, coli bacteria were detected that exceeded the allowed limit for food. In 23 percent of the products, a special variant of coli bacteria was even detected that can lead to severe food poisoning in humans. Freezing renders the pathogens inactive, but anyone who buys raw meat from a butcher and feeds it to their dog should be aware of this danger.

Transmission can take place, for example, during handling, while cleaning the food bowl, and even via close contact with the dog, such as when it licks you. Here, young children are, of course, unaware of the risks and especially vulnerable. But elderly or sick people also have an increased risk of infection due to a weaker immune system.

In addition, a number of mistakes can occur with raw feeding that can lead to deficiency symptoms and/or an oversupply of nutrients. It is much safer to use a high-quality complete food for dogs.