My female is now 6. She is still very active, but I noticed that she is gaining a little bit of weight. I haven't changed the amount of food I give her, and she still gets the same amount of exercise. A friend suggested I put her on a senior diet. Is this true? He said that her metabolism isn't as fast as it used to be so that's whys she's gaining. Any thoughts on this?

I would just cut back on the amount you are feeding her. A lot of dog foods touted as senior
diet are very low in fat and have increased fibre.
While they might be of value for geriatric dogs I have never found them to be of much use and sometimes they don't seem very palatable to the dogs due to the very low fat level. All my dogs get the same ration - I just adjust the amounts
to keep them at their best weight. Just my 2 Cdn cents.

Older dogs have a harder time with a high protien diet. It's harder on their kidneys from my understanding. Saying that, I've never had a reason to change diets on older dogs, just cut back, as Tiggy says.

I agree with the others. Just cut back on the amount of your regular food. I have heard from other people as well as vets (go figure) that animals sometimes lose condition on a senior diet. And their coat goes dry and dull as a result of the decreased fat content. When my dog turned 7 I just kept him on his regular food. Now he's 9 1/2 and just doing fine. He gets regular blood tests to check his liver and kidney function among other things and I keep his weight in check by doing the rib test. He also still gets the same amount of exercise he did as a younger dog and shows no real sign of slowing down yet. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I don't actually agree with the previous posts. I believe that feeding a senior dog food to an older dog is just as important as feeding a puppy food to puppies.

Most of the top premium food on the market specially for older dogs now contain glucosamine & chondroitine for the joints. Taurine for the heart and a limited phosphorus content to slow down the degeneration of the renal function. The protein content is also lower. Many of these also contain borage oil an zinc to maintain a beautiful coat. Take a look at Hills Science Senior and Royal Canin Senior.

JMO

Gwen

While they do add those supplements, they don't do it an any type of measurable theraputic dose...

What I mean by that is, at least in my case, when I was feeding my senior dog kibble. Based on the amount per pound, she wasn't even going to come close to getting 200mg of glucosamine much less a 1000...

Of course, if I fed her the 5 cups twice a day the bag recommended she would, but then again, she would be DEAD NOW!

Interesting what Deanna says about the quantity of Glucosamine in these foods - Royal Canin however do a 200 gm tin of "Senior Mixer" this is to be added to the "Mature Kibble"It states on the tin that it has 41,000mg Glucosamine to each tin.

I take 100mg Glucosamine myself every day - it sure does help my old joints <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I think that with the pace of life today most people find feeding raw is just too time consuming and expensive if you don't have access to a supplier or a large freezer. What do you do when you have to board your dogs- the kennels aren't going to want to go down that road!!!
Most people these days don't feed themselves properly. Some days when I get in from work I am too tired to cook for ourselves let alone mess around with raw food for my dogs
I know a lot of people on this board are into feeding raw but I think it's fair to say it is not for everyone.People have a right to choose.
I'd rather spend the time doing stuff with my dogs.

Gwen

 Quote:

Originally posted by Gwen:
Interesting what Deanna says about the quantity of Glucosamine in these foods - Royal Canin however do a 200 gm tin of "Senior Mixer" this is to be added to the "Mature Kibble"It states on the tin that it has 41,000mg Glucosamine to each tin.

I take 100mg Glucosamine myself every day - it sure does help my old joints <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I think that with the pace of life today most people find feeding raw is just too time consuming and expensive if you don't have access to a supplier or a large freezer. What do you do when you have to board your dogs- the kennels aren't going to want to go down that road!!!
Most people these days don't feed themselves properly. Some days when I get in from work I am too tired to cook for ourselves let alone mess around with raw food for my dogs
I know a lot of people on this board are into feeding raw but I think it's fair to say it is not for everyone.People have a right to choose.
I'd rather spend the time doing stuff with my dogs.

Gwen

This is the kicker... I feed all raw to two dogs. I spend 20 mins every other week grinding veggies which gives me about 3 quarts. I freeze two. Then I have these one gallon buckets that have chicken in. The only time consuming part of feeding raw here is the fact that I spend a day waiting for a truck to deliver chicken every 6 weeks or so, and then I distribute it to other people who also want to feed their dogs raw...

So far as fixing dinner, it takes the same amount of time as kibble... I swear... and you don't have to go halfway across state to find the "good" kibble...

You throw some meat in a bowl.... slop some veggies on(I am very technical when feeding <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> ) and viola! Dinner!

Some days I do ground, some fish, some chicken... it really isn't that hard... and my dogs look SOOOOO good.

Yep, my dogs eat better than I do. I go to the organic farmers for my dog veggies, but hey... their lifespan is shorter than mine so I am just trying to equal it out a bit! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

My other concern, and gwen I don't know either of the kibbles you are mentioning, so this isn't directed at you, is how do the vitamins hold up through the cooking process? What about the time on the shelf?

Royal Canine, Science Diet and Purina all have one excellent use - kitty litter - cats are smart enough that they will not eat this crap.

Don't be suckered in my their adds and their claim to fame - do not kid yourself what this stuff is made out of.

Would you raise your children on fast food? I think not. These commercail kiblles are about 100 times worse than fast food. They come under the heading of FLIM FLAM !!!!