Nutrition

Nutrition is one of the most important factors in a dog's life.

Unfortunately many people underestimate it and don't think about how a dog's health and happiness can be affected by a good or a wrong diet schedule.

Often people don't even know that dogs have different nutritonal needs than us.

Sometimes owners work many hours per day and don't have much time to spend with their dogs during the week. They feel guilty for that and overfeed their dogs, in the attempt to compensate for their absence somehow.

People tend to humanize dogs and they do that also with the food. They think that what is good for us is good for them. Nothing sounds more wrong than this!

Dogs have a different metabolism, different food requirements, different digestive enzymes than ours.

Human digestive system works basically using first complex carbos, then proteins and fats. We need to eat starch to produce energy and to enable proteins to build muscle and cell tissue.

The first alkaline enzyme we have is called amylase and is in our saliva.

Dogs do not have amylase in their saliva. They just have pancreatic amylase, used for other functions.

Infact dog's digestive system works using proteins and fats. These elements are used to produce energy, to build muscles and to provide for all the body functions. They don't even have the enzymes to use starch, that's why complex carbos such as rice, pasta, potatoes and so on are useless and harmful for our four-legged buddies.

The wrong food makes them fat and unhealthy. A fat dog is inclined to have deseases such as diabetes, high cholesterol, joint problems, urogenital problems, convulsions and cancer.

Again a fat dog is also apathetic and this isn't even good for the relationship. So we can lose our dog in many ways 'till death, just because of a wrong diet! Let's think about that!

Before getting a dog, it's basically important to learn how to manage her diet., that can be pretty different depending on the breed, the age and the activity of the dog.

Stuffing a dog doesn't make her happy, but sad, unhealthy and very very sick.

Dog's diet shouldn't have to be changed unless a real motivation, such as pregnancy, diseases, increasing or decreasing of activity, that's because dog's digestive system is very delicate and can be seriously compromised by food alterations. That's what we and our taste need, not they!

Here's some lethal foods for dogs: chocolate, coffee, onions, raw fruits (nuts, walnuts, peanuts etc), grapes, sugar, fried food, broccolis and cauliflowes, eggplants, cheese and milk.

Some good foods are carrots, squashes, apples, carrob, chicken, turkey, cooked eggs (do not exceed with the yolk), red fruits, oat (the only starch good for dog's digestive system)

So let's do the right diet for our best friend and ..... enjoy!