Feeding Your Senior Dog

Around the age of seven, your family friend starts taking life a little easier, so his nutritional & exercise needs begin to change. Though with larger breeds, this change tends to take place at little earlier at around five years old. Its at this age, your dog is heading into his senior years. Senior dogs are less active and have a slower metabolism, so they need fewer calories and less fat from their food. Infact a diet that contains high quality, easy-to-digest protein can help more than ever in keeping your dog in trim, healthy and happy!

What this means is a good senior diet should be concentrated, high quality protein, be low in fat and contain easy to digest carbohydrates for energy. A senior dogs diet should also contain key minerals to support ageing joints, and vitamins C and E to help fight infections. If chewing becomes more difficult, a smaller kibble size will also help your dog enjoy his meals more and help him get the most of them.

Remember though, if you change your dog onto a new food, you should start by mixing the new formula with what your dog is used to and then slowly building up the proportion over a week to ten days until you are only feeding the new senior formula food.

How to feed

We recommended feeding older dogs once or twice a day, although you may prefer to to fed little and often. Being less active older dogs are particularly prone to weight issues so even though it’s hard…. try to resist those lovely big brown eyes and try not to overfeed.

Chef’s orders!

An older dog may also lose his sense of smell a little so try and serve the food at room temperature so that your dog can really smell, taste and enjoy every mouthful

Table for one!

When eating, your family friend will appreciate being fed in a quiet place away from interruptions – and kids! It's also a good idea to feed on a surface that is easily cleaned, like a tiled floor or a mat.

How much?

Follow the feeding guide on the back of the pack, but remember the guide is only there to give you an idea. Like us every dog is an individual, so the main consideration is to feed enough to maintain a lean, healthy condition. And always provide a bowl of fresh drinking water.

Weight- watching!

Senior foods tend to have a lower calorie level that can help control this weight gain. But if you are worried about your dogs weight gain,maybe consider trying a specially formulated 'light' product. These are lower in fat whilst still containing all the necessary vitamins and minerals, to keep your dog healthy and happy.

Puppy Adult Senior
  • Feeding Your Senior Dog

    Around the age of seven, your family friend starts taking life a little easier, so his nutritional & exercise needs begin to change. Though with larger breeds, this change tends to take place at little earlier at around five years old. Its at this age, your dog is heading into his senior years. Senior dogs are less active and have a slower metabolism, so they need fewer calories and less fat from their food. Infact a diet that contains high quality, easy-to-digest protein can help more than ever in keeping your dog in trim, healthy and happy!

    What this means is a good senior diet should be concentrated, high quality protein, be low in fat and contain easy to digest carbohydrates for energy. A senior dogs diet should also contain key minerals to support ageing joints, and vitamins C and E to help fight infections. If chewing becomes more difficult, a smaller kibble size will also help your dog enjoy his meals more and help him get the most of them.

    Remember though, if you change your dog onto a new food, you should start by mixing the new formula with what your dog is used to and then slowly building up the proportion over a week to ten days until you are only feeding the new senior formula food.

    How to feed

    We recommended feeding older dogs once or twice a day, although you may prefer to to fed little and often. Being less active older dogs are particularly prone to weight issues so even though it’s hard…. try to resist those lovely big brown eyes and try not to overfeed.

    Chef’s orders!

    An older dog may also lose his sense of smell a little so try and serve the food at room temperature so that your dog can really smell, taste and enjoy every mouthful

    Table for one!

    When eating, your family friend will appreciate being fed in a quiet place away from interruptions – and kids! It's also a good idea to feed on a surface that is easily cleaned, like a tiled floor or a mat.

    How much?

    Follow the feeding guide on the back of the pack, but remember the guide is only there to give you an idea. Like us every dog is an individual, so the main consideration is to feed enough to maintain a lean, healthy condition. And always provide a bowl of fresh drinking water.

    Weight- watching!

    Senior foods tend to have a lower calorie level that can help control this weight gain. But if you are worried about your dogs weight gain,maybe consider trying a specially formulated 'light' product. These are lower in fat whilst still containing all the necessary vitamins and minerals, to keep your dog healthy and happy.

  • Caring For Seniors

    He’s still at the heart of the family and - at heart - he’s still up for anything! With regular visits to say hello to the vet, and lots of loving care, your best friend can look forward to years of walkies, tummy rubs, great meals and hugs yet to come!

    Just like the rest of us as he reaches senior status, a dog’s senses will eventually slowly start to deteriorate, affecting his vision, hearing, taste and smell. Most surprisingly his appetite may also decrease too, leaving him thinner. None of this will affect how affectionate and huggable he is though!!!

    With all of this it's can still be hard to guess the age of a dog, especially with the considerable differences between breeds. Generally speaking, small dogs live the longest, while large breeds have in comparision shorter lifespans (a Great Dane is considered 'old' at six). At the same time, like us, lifestyle also has an affect on how long a particular dog will live such as diet, exercise and medical history,

    The signs of ageing

    To help you the most practical way to tell if your dog is ageing is simply to observe his or her behaviour and appearance. Bascially, how old does your dog act, look, and feel? Though its not always easy to know what you are looking for, so here are a few pointers:

    • Decreased energy levels
    • Stiffness in the joints.
    • Rougher and thinner coat.
    • Deafness.
    • Tooth and gum conditions - look out for food being dropped, or excessive salivation and pawing at the mouth.
    • Warts or fatty lumps (Get them checked out by your vet)
    • Excessive thirst and frequent or uncontrolled trips to the loo.
    • Confusion or failure to recognise surroundings.
    • Decreased appetite.
    • Depression or disobedience.
    • A hazy, bluish cast on the eyes, which is normal and usually does not hinder the eyesight. However, the hazy, whitish growth of cataracts can lead to blindness. Your vet can help you distinguish the difference.
    • A tendency to sleep more during the day but sleep less at night.
    • Weight gain - a particular problem amongst senior dogs.

    If you start spotting some of the signs of old age, don’t worry it doesn't mean you have to wrap your best friend in cotton wool. It just means you might want to you should think about altering your routine slightly and taking a few precautions.

    Proper medical care - its important to keep a eye on your older dogs health so regular checkups with the vet are really important . Also, you should also try to making a note of any warning signs you might observe and let your vet know when you see them.

    Good exercise - because obesity and arthritis are two of the most common problems experienced by older dogs, its really important to maintain a regular exercise routine – though you probably do this already!!..

    Daily routine – keeping a consistent daily routine is really important to your older dog's physical and emotional health: it’s comforting and reassuring for them to know when they are getting fed or walked!

    Healthy skin and coat – we probably don’t need to tell you this but as part of your regular routine, its good to get out the grooming brush once a week – and to make time for baths: which, lets be honest are great fun and an opportunity to get close and soak each other too!

    Healthy teeth and gums – as dogs get older they are more prone to gum disease and tartar build up, so keep up with the regular visits to your doggy-dentist (the vet).

    Senior nutrition

    Like us, as dogs get older they attend to be less active and also have slower metabolism: so staying slim isn’t as easy so fewer calories in their diet is key. A diet with high quality, easy to digest protein is more important than ever in helping maintain overall body condition.

    A good senior diet, should provide concentrated, high quality protein be low in fat, and contain easy to digest carbohydrates for energy. At the same time your older dogs diet should contain key minerals support ageing joints, and vitamins, along with protein, which will help fight infections that the body may become vulnerable to as the immune system declines.

General