Your pooch is an important part of the family and you’ll want them to have a happy and healthy life. Keeping their fitness and diet in order should help to ensure good dog health. At The Insurance Emporium, we’re helping pet owners follow a new year’s resolution to help their animals get fitter and healthier. That’s why we’re running our Fitter Furry Friends campaign, offering 4 weeks free on pet insurance with the promo code FITPET18*. If you need help with improving your dog’s fitness and diet, we’ve got these tips for you…
Witness the fitness
Making sure your dog gets its daily exercise should help to ensure that it stays fit, healthy and happy. How much exercise your dog needs depends on a range of factors, such as their breed and age, but generally they might need at least 30 minutes every day. It’s worth having those daily walks, even if the weather isn’t great outside – as is so often the case in the UK! Plus, going walking every day could be good for your health too! You could also try out a range of other exercises with your dog, which we recently wrote about here.
Food for thought
There are a range of foods you could choose for your dog, whether you lean towards dry, wet or natural options – if in doubt, check with your vet which is best for your pet. Whichever type and brand of pet food you select, do check the label to ensure it has the right nutritional value for your pup. It’s generally a good idea to ensure your furry friend’s diet doesn’t vary too much, so as to avoid digestion problems. If you do need to change your dog’s diet then it could be useful to implement changes gradually so that they don’t suffer with an upset stomach.
Perfect portions
One thing it could be worth determining is what your dog’s ideal weight is and what their calorie requirement should be to reach or maintain this. There are a few things to take into account to work out how much food your dog should be having, including the dog’s age, weight and how active they are. Once you know how much they should be having, you should be able to work out their portion sizes accordingly. It tends to be better to measure your dog’s portions out because it’s so tricky to get it right by just looking at what’s in the bowl and guessing the weight – your pet might not mind being given too much food but this could defeat the point!
Water lot to drink…
It’s so easy to forget how important water is as part of a healthy diet. If you’re one of those people who doesn’t get the recommended six to eight glasses of water each day, you’re not the only one! Yet, when it comes to your dog, getting enough water is vital. According to advice from the RSPCA, your dog can become ill within hours if it isn’t able to drink any water. For this reason, it’s worth always making sure that your dog’s water bowl is full and that your pet always has access to it.
Snack Attack!
Once you have determined what sort of diet your dog should have and how much food you should be giving them, it’s worth thinking about the kinds of treats that you give them. Natural treats can be the best to feed to your dog – again, check the label for their nutritional value. Try to avoid snacks with a lot of sugar in them. If you’re going to be giving your dog a lot of treats, it might be worth adjusting their main meal portions accordingly. Also, some human food such as chocolate, grapes and macadamia nuts can be poisonous to dogs, so try not to feed your pooch any food from your plate. Yes, even if they are giving you those cute puppy dog eyes!
We all want our pets to have the most magical time and keeping your dog’s fitness and diet on track could help them stay happy and healthy! As well as this, it could be useful to have pet insurance for dogs as a safety net in case of an unforeseen problem. At The Insurance Emporium, as part of our Fitter Furry Friends campaign, we’re currently offering 4 weeks free off our pet insurance for dogs and cats with the promo code FITPET18*. If this could be useful for you, why not get your paws on a quote from The Insurance Emporium today?
*Offer is available on lunar monthly policies only and ends 31/03/18.
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