It is known that a dog performing high intensity or endurance exercise requires a higher calorie food intake than a dog which is sedentary. Fat in their diet will provide more than twice the calories than protein or carbohydrate provide. Therefore, increasing the fat content in a dog’s diet will ultimately provide far more calories. This type of diet will actually promote obesity in more sedentary dogs.
It is when we start feeding our dogs a high calorie diet and they are not burning it off that obesity becomes an issue. Arthritis in dogs is more common in an overweight pet than in a trim one. Overweight dogs have a higher incidence of:
- osteoarthritis
- pancreatitis
- bladder and mammary cancer
Dogs that have their calories restricted have significantly less hip dysplasia and arthritic conditions in the other joints. You can read about all of these conditions and how to help in my ebook, “The Ultimate Rehabilitation & Physiotherapy Guide for Dogs.” With my own dog having arthritis, I learned countless ways to help them and make their life so much easier and pain free.
There are all sorts of diets available for canine arthritis and they range from formulated kibble to home cooked to raw. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what we feed our dogs with arthritis. I will expand on this further…
What dietary ways have you helped your dog’s arthritis? Share your comments below!