How to feed your cat or dog at each stage of life

When we talk about nutrition, we all know that our metabolism changes with age and therefore our diet must adapt to these changes. Children, adults and the elderly need a diet according to the caloric, metabolic and nutritional needs of each age. Now, what about our pets?

O awesome.club loves our furry friends and wants them to get everything they need to stay healthy. That’s why we bring you this feeding guide for dogs and cats, which will inform you about what your pet needs to have good nutrition in the different stages of its life.

The dog is an omnivorous animal and, therefore, has the digestive and metabolic capacity to obtain its nutritional needs from a large number of ingredients. This is an advantage, as meat is not essential to staying healthy. It requires protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, etc., but not specific ingredients.

Veterinarian Jean Guevara recommends a dog feeding plan that takes into account the life stage of each animal. For this, he established the following classification: puppies of 45 days to 12 monthsadults of 1 to 7 years and older dogs: from 7 years old🇧🇷

Considering this classification, we are going to tell you what you must take into account so that your friend incorporates all the nutrients it needs.

In the first weeks, the puppy must feed on the colostrum of its mother’s milk, as this incorporates the antibodies and nutrients necessary for its health. After the lactation stage, you can add baby food until you get to solid food.

According to Guevara, the puppy needs a balanced diet rich in protein (around 32%), with an average of three daily consumptions. “In addition, it is important that the food has a good balance of calcium and phosphorus, because puppies need minerals for the development of teeth and bones.”

Veterinary specialist in canine nutrition, Maribel Parra, thinks that Puppy food should have more calories than adult dogs eatsince the little ones are growing and in constant activity.

“A dog’s proper diet,” says Parra, “depends largely on its size. In the case of puppies, a labrador does not have the same needs as a pinscher. This is because the Labrador, due to its size, tends in adult life to suffer joint problems related to development, such as dysplasia, if its nutrition is not monitored when small”.

A dog is considered an adult after the first year. According to Parra, at this stage “it is necessary to take care of both the deficit and the overeating, preventing obesity and other nutritional problems, the ribs should not be exposed, but should be felt when touching the dog’s chest”.

“In adulthood, the frequency and amount change, the protein decreases and the dog must stop eating three times a day and start eating only once. It must be a sufficient, balanced and satisfying portion,” says Guevara.

The dog cannot take advantage of 100% of the nutrients contained in a food, therefore it is important to take into account the digestibility. The larger it is, the greater the use of its nutrients. For example, milk and its derivatives are highly digestibleand so the animal takes advantage of almost all the protein, fat and sugar.

In contrast, raw hydrolyzed feather meal used to make feed has a very low digestibility and is therefore not very nutritious. It has 90% crude protein (very much) but only 9% digestible protein.

Dogs enter old age after seven years. At this stage, according to Guevara, they need as much care as when they were puppies, and should consume a specific balanced diet for your age. “Protein should make up 29% of the diet, fats and minerals calcium and phosphorus increase, and these foods also have a formula to improve the immune system, as they have antioxidants, vitamins and minerals”, he explains.

Unlike dogs, which can satisfy their daily energy needs in a single meal lasting a few minutes, cats should eat several times a day🇧🇷 Although it is thought that they descended from wild cats that hunted large prey, in reality their ancestor is the African wild cat, which feeds mainly on small rodents. In order to feed well, it had to hunt many prey a day.

The African wildcat is a solitary animal that lives and hunts alone and only interacts with other members of its species during mating seasons. This solitary nature causes the cat to eat slowly and in small portions. It is not uncommon for a cat to eat between 13 and 16 times a day🇧🇷

They need high quality fat and protein. And they can’t be vegetarians, as their bodies need essential nutrients from meat, such as taurine. Dog foods and human foods don’t contain many of these nutrients, so cats should not be given the same diet as dogs or people.

Until the adult stage (which begins after the first year), puppies should be given everything they want to eat, as they can perfectly regulate their food intake. As with dogs, this growth phase is when they need the most nutrients. Therefore, Puppy cat food is more caloric than adult cat food🇧🇷 They need to consume daily between 100 and 150 kcal of EM (metabolizable energy) per kilogram of body weight.

In any case, we must monitor obesityas it generates a greater number of adipocytes (hyperplasia) that will be able to store fat in the adult state, and it will be much more difficult to reduce the weight of these cats than those who gain weight in adulthood.

At this stage, the needs for fat and protein will be lower, so your diet must be adequate to cover a different nutritional demand. Daily consumption should be 60 kcal of ME per kilogram of weight, in the case of inactive animals. If it is an active cat, consumption will be between 70 and 90 kcal of EM🇧🇷

Your cat has already stopped playing. The activity begins to gradually decrease and it is quieter. Keep in mind that a mature kitten will not digest food the same way as before, so you should offer food that is easily digested. A veterinarian will be able to advise on a diet that will help prevent health problems.

At this stage, we must take into account the needs of each cat, since many will have liver, kidney, heart problems… They will need less energy, in between 60 and 70% those required by a young adult animal.

It is likely that he needs to eat wet food because of dental problems. You should eat less fat and calories, but without reducing proteins to avoid the reduction of muscle mass.

And you, how do you feed your pet? Will this post help you change your furry friend’s diet? Please tell us in the comments.