First of all, we should know that for older dogs, heart disease and kidney disease are two major diseases that dogs are more likely to get, and obesity in older dogs is a booster of these two diseases. When looking at dog medical information and During the learning process, I found that the main focus in the diet of elderly dogs is how to control the dog's weight so that the various nutritional sources in the dog's diet can be balanced to meet the needs of the elderly dog.
In order to look simpler and clearer, I have summarized the dietary principles for elderly dogs as follows:

Whether to change dog food

When dogs maintain When the dog is at a reasonable weight and in a healthy state, it is not necessary to replace the dog with senior dog food because of its old age;

Whether to supplement protein

If the dog is not too thin or malnourished , apart from dog food, there is no need to supplement the dog's protein. Some senior dog food formulas even reduce protein content to delay kidney aging.

Whether to supplement calcium

Old dogs are different from people and do not need special calcium supplements. If you choose an aging formula dog food with lower phosphorus content for your dog, there is no need to supplement calcium, because the ratio of phosphorus and calcium in the dog's body is reasonable to be healthy, which should generally be 1:1; < h3>What to do if you gain weight If your dog has a tendency to gain weight, you need to change the dog to a low-energy dog ​​food to control the dog’s weight as much as possible. A major guarantee of health;

What to do if you lose weight

If your elderly dog ​​is emaciated, you can consider giving it a puppy if there are no other diseases. Dog food because puppy food contains more nutrients without overdosing it.

What to do if you are constipated

Properly add some fiber to your dog to reduce constipation that is more likely to occur in older dogs;

Salt The problem

Because older dogs are more susceptible to kidney disease and cardiovascular disease, the amount of salt they eat should be controlled so that they cannot eat human food as freely as they did when they were younger.

Eating Habits

Giving elderly dogs regular small and frequent meals will help their digestion and absorption of nutrients.
When dogs reach old age, it does not mean that they need to eat more nutritious things. It is better to supplement them with more vitamins and minerals. Although the book states that the low protein and phosphorus content in elderly dog ​​food can delay some time. There are different opinions on the emergence of diseases, but at least there is no book that tells us to give supplements to elderly dogs.
Another point that is more illiterate is that you cannot blindly supplement calcium for dogs. The ratio of calcium and phosphorus in the blood is very important. Calcium supplementation when the dog does not suffer from calcium deficiency will affect the dog’s internal environment. If the dog is out of balance, it is easy to cause problems for the more fragile elderly dogs.