How and what to feed the poodle?

The Poodle is one of the funniest and most popular dogs in the world. In order for the animal to maintain its vitality, to fully grow and develop, it is very important to provide it with a balanced diet containing all the important for it vitamins, micro- and macroelements, as well as the required amount of proteins, fats and carbohydrates.

Before you create an optimal diet for your poodle, you should learn about several important factors.

• The digestive process in dogs is very different from human. For example, for animals the appearance and color of the product does not matter, but the smell - yes, in it dogs have the ability to distinguish a huge variety of faces.
• The body of the poodle digests all the food eaten much faster than the human, even though the food in the stomach goes practically unprocessed.
• The gallbladder of animals does not release enzymes that promote the breakdown of lactose and starch.

It is very important to provide the dog with enough nutrients. For every kilogram of pet weight per day you need:

• proteins - 4-5 g;
• carbohydrates - 13-15 g.

Proteins are the main building material of organs and cells; from animal food, poodles absorb them in full, which is not the case for plants - from this, no more than half of proteins can be absorbed by a dog's body. Unprocessed food particles have an adverse effect on the mucous membrane of the gastrointestinal tract, cause severe colic, increased flatulence, severe inflammation, diarrhea and gastritis. In addition, an environment is created in which the acidity of the gastric segment decreases; under these conditions, animals become especially vulnerable to infection with helminths.

The share of meat products should be about 70%; the following types of meat products are allowed.

• Meat - it is best to use beef, veal or chicken, usually to dogs they are given fresh, it is advisable to pre-freeze the product. For poodles, meat is cut into small pieces or ground in a meat grinder.
• Offal - A liver, heart, spleen, lungs and stomach are good for dogs. These products contain little protein, but they are rich in connective tissue, which in small quantities is important for dogs. Products give only cooked, adding to the main meat feed.

In addition, the following ingredients should be included in the poodle menu.

• Dairy products - kefir, low-fat cottage cheese, cheese.
• Eggs - necessarily hard-boiled, because raw protein often causes allergies in dogs.
• Herbal Products also important for dogs of any breed, and poodles are no exception. Such food is a complete source of vitamins and essential carbohydrates.
• All the necessary energy dogs receive from cereals, It is best to enter buckwheat and brown rice in the menu.If you have the opportunity to feed your pet only with ordinary rice, then before cooking it must be rinsed several times to clear water in order to completely get rid of starch, as it is not digested in the dog's body. Cereals are cooked to crumbly state.
• The source of vitamins and fiber is vegetables, therefore, it is desirable to add crushed zucchini, pumpkin, carrots, cucumber and bell pepper to meat and grits. Dogs eagerly eat an apple with gooseberries, and it is useful to add dill, parsley, lettuce and spinach to their diet.
• Vegetable oil should be added to the poodle feed - Sunflower or olive, pumpkin or linseed are useful in small quantities.
• It is very important to provide the poodle with constant access to clean water, preferably filtered or bottled - an adult dog needs about 2 liters of fluid per day.
• When feeding with natural food vitamin-mineral complexes should be added to the diet.

Until one month of age, young puppies feed mainly on mother's milk, however, after 1.5-2 weeks, you can start feeding the young poodle, the best choice is cow's milk with the addition of egg yolk. On the 3rd week they start to give minced meat, and on the 4th, cereals and vegetables are introduced, while starting with small doses and gradually increasing the share of these products in the pet menu. At 2 months, puppies are finally weaned from mother's milk, by this time they can already eat on their own.

Until the age of three months, animals are fed five times a day, up to half a year - four times, up to eight months, food is offered three times and gradually reduces the number of feedings to twice a day.

Breeders should be aware that poodles are dogs that do not have a predisposition to gluttony, they are active and mobile, but at the same time pets are quite picky about food. You should not go on about them, for example, if a dog refuses cottage cheese, do not rush to cook porridge, just remove the plate, wait for the next meal and offer the same food again.

Food consumption standards for an adult poodle are:

• for dogs, large breeds - 900-1000 g;
• for small - 600-800 g;
• for dwarf - 500-600 g;
• for toy poodle - 300-400 g.

For pregnant females, the norms of feeding are different:

• in the second week, the volume of products increased by 1.5 times;
• from 3 to 6 week - 2 times;
• by the end of gestation - again 1.5 times.

During feeding in the first 10 days, the volume of servings is doubled, and from 3 to 5 weeks - at 3. The shed poodle is fed with balanced feed with a high content of liquid (warm, low-fat soup, liquid porridge, sweet tea).

It is not necessary to feed an adult dog from the common table - this diet may be too heavy for the pet's organism, and also not sufficiently balanced to ensure the full supply of useful micro and macro elements. This can negatively affect growth, as well as the development and physical condition of the poodle.

We should not forget that there are "loose" breeds of dogs that require a large body weight, these include St. Bernard, Newfoundland and some other varieties. Poodles do not belong to this category, they are elegant animals along with mastiffs and pinschers. In accordance with existing standards, they should not have a sagging abdomen and too much weight.

If you notice that the dog's body weight began to increase, then you should remove the cereal products from the menu, you can arrange fasting days every 7-10 days, at this time you should limit the diet to meat products with vegetables. As a treat, the animal can be given any nuts: large dogs are offered 2 things a day, small ones - 1, and dwarfs - only half. Dried apricots, prunes, raisins and some other dried fruits are very useful for animals.

Due to their employment, some breeders prefer to use store feeds for their dogs, in this case it is extremely important to select a proven manufacturer. It is advisable to give preference to premium or super premium formulations. The mixture should be purchased in specialized stores or vetaptekah, always in closed packages. According to the breeders reviews and veterinarians' advice, Royal Canin, Pro Plan and other feeds of this segment are considered the most balanced for animals.

Of course, the cost of such nutrition is high, but the food is made in accordance with the recommended norms of BZHU content, they use real meat products for production and add vitamin-mineral complexes, do not include any preservatives. Cheaper products, for example, Chappi, are undesirable for poodles - the fact is that when they are made they do not always comply with the normative ratios of ingredients. Thus, the amount of high-grade animal protein may be lower than recommended.

In general, ready-made food becomes an excellent way out for breeders who monitor the health of their poodle, as in this case there is no need to independently calculate the calorie content of products and add vitamin and mineral components to food.

When organizing a poodle feeding, you should be aware of products that are contraindicated in animals.

These include the following ingredients.

• Pasta, bread and other bakery products - they cause indigestion and lead to digestive disorders.
• Any fried, spicy, smoked and fatty foods - It leads to gastritis and ulcerative conditions.
• Tubular bones - dogs can not grind their teeth, so the sharp edges can cause serious injury to the esophagus and stomach of the animal.
• Legumes and Potatoes - cause increased gas formation in poodles.
• Any sweets, including candy and chocolate. These foods do not have any nutritional value, but they are likely to lead to problems with the teeth, cause impaired liver function and can cause eyes to rot.
• Milk - in the body of dogs that have reached two months of age, whole milk is not digested, therefore the inclusion of this product in the menu is justified only for very young puppies.
• Sausage, Sausages and Ham - we are talking about store products. As a rule, they contain preservatives and other synthetic additives that are harmful to the body of the poodle.

Regardless of what kind of food you decide to use for your poodle, there is a few rules to follow when organizing pet feeding.

• Poodles are distinguished by a rather high withers and the exit of the sternum, which is why it is difficult for animals of this breed to feed from a bowl on the floor, unless, of course, your dog can eat from a prone position. It is best to put a saucer with food on a small stand or hang on a hook so that it is located approximately at the level of the pet's chest.
• It is necessary to offer food to an animal at the same time of day and strictly in a certain place.
• If there are several pets living in the apartment, then each of them must have his own saucer, otherwise there will be conflicts between them. It will not be superfluous to install in the house a “ritual” of feeding, for example, a certain sequence of distribution of bowls and food.
• All uneaten food remains should be removed immediately, and the bowl should be thoroughly cleaned, even if the dog’s food has not been completely eaten.
• Feeding a poodle should not be combined with food by family members, and you should not impose food on the animal at the moment when you cook dinner for your loved ones.
• In one feeding it is forbidden to combine dairy and meat food - in this case, neither one nor the other product is not fully digested.

How to feed the poodle with natural food, see the following video.