As your dog gets older, your dog’s nutritional needs will change the same way that yours does as you age. Therefore, you may wonder if you should go and stop feeding your aging dog adult dog food and start feeding your dog senior dog food instead. The thing before making the switch is to ask yourself if it really makes a significant difference to switch your dog’s food. If your dog is doing really well on its current adult food diet, then why should you switch it? You can ask your vet too if the switch is necessary. Let’s now compare senior dog food to adult dog food. What are the differences between both types of dog food? But let’s firstly talk about what senior dog food is and why it makes owners of senior dogs think about making the switch.
What Is Different About Senior Dog Food?
You will see that manufacturers of dog food companies will put the label of senior food for older dogs but there aren’t any standards that differentiate senior dog food from adult dog food. Therefore, dog food companies will market their brands as much as they would like for older pooches! Even though it is marketed as a better option for senior pooches, the science does not necessarily support it since there are not any real guidelines.
However, there are some differences between senior dog food and adult dog food and that boils down to the fact that there are more carbohydrates, less fat, and less protein in senior formulas. That is the case when you compare it to adult and puppy formulas. Here is the thing though. Too many carbohydrates will make your pet gain weight as well and even if your dog is aging, it may not be ideal to make the switch. if the dog is not active, then that is a problem because what happens when you do not burn enough energy? It builds into the fat stores and then the weight increases. Therefore, the senior dog food could potentially cause obesity in pets and the last thing you would want to happen is that your dog that is aging becomes obese.
Obesity in pets at any age can increase the chances of them becoming diabetic, arthritic, developing heart disease and high blood pressure, and can cause them to be more predisposed to cancer. However, when it comes to obesity and elderly dogs, that worsens the situation. Obesity can shorten the dog’s lifespan.
However, the only thing about senior dog food is that the calories are less than it is in adults and puppy formulas. But if the dog is not getting that much exercise, and the dog is on a higher carbohydrate and lower-calorie diet, it still can cause obesity. Fats and proteins are essential when it comes to your pet’s diet because enough fat and protein will help keep your dog full and will also help with their metabolic functioning. Therefore, if your aging dog is healthy and doing well on the adult formula, there is no reason to switch them.
Is There A Time To Switch The Dog To Senior Formula?
If the dog has an age-related condition such as arthritis, then the best thing to do is to take your dog to the vet and the vet will prescribe a senior dog food with the right number of nutrients in addition to glucosamine which can be helpful to the dog’s joint health. And there are other supplements that the vet will give the dog as well such as fish oil to help keep their skin healthy and fur intact. Therefore, the best thing to do is when you are questioning whether to keep your dog on an adult dog food diet is to talk to the vet before making any switches on your own.
