Just like with humans, controlling your dog’s diet is the best treatment for controlling your dog’s diabetes. While nobody hands sugar cubes over to their dogs, sometimes they are giving their dogs food that doesn’t have the proper nutrients or contains too much sugar and too many carbohydrates. After your dog has been diagnosed with diabetes, you will have to make some changes in the way that you feed him and what food you feed him. Just read the labels of the commercial dog food that you feed your dog and you’ll how it is filled ridiculously high with carbohydrates and sugar. What is a pet owner to do, you ask? Let’s look at a few simple guidelines.
Make Your Own Dog Food. Natural food is best. The best solution for feeding your diabetic dog is to feed him a diet of homemade foods so you can track of exactly how much carbohydrates and sugar they are getting. This isn’t as hard as it sounds. You can fix Fido’s meals while you’re cooking the family’s meals. There are a number of resources and websites that provide recipes for home made natural dog food. Are you wondering what on earth you would use to make dog food? It’s pretty simple, really, because it’s very similar to healthy food choices that humans need to make. First, you’d want to watch how much fat is in the food that you prepare for your dog. Some fat is okay, but low fat is best because fatty meats stress out the pancreas, which is what regulates blood sugar and insulin. You would choose a low-fat meat like chicken or turkey to include in your homemade dog food. Also, fiber is an important part of your dog’s nutritional needs because fiber helps control the levels of insulin. Add grains like brown rice, oats, or millet to your homemade dog food. Lastly, believe it or not, you should include some vegetables in your homemade dog food because they provide vitamins and nutrients that your diabetic dog needs. Yes, vegetables have natural sugar in them, but those kinds of sugars are okay and won’t have a detrimental effect on your dog’s insulin levels.
Don’t Give Your Dog Foods With Sugar. Sounds pretty obvious, right? Have you looked at those dog biscuit ingredients lately? Sugar is also sometimes listed on food labels as fructose, syrup, or sucrose, so don’t be fooled. Table scraps such as baked goods are a no-no for Fido.
No Commercial Dry Dog Food. Most commercial dry dog food is made up primarily of starches and sugars. The only exception here is specially made diabetic dog food, but you still need to check the labels. Canned food is a better choice than dry food if you can’t make your own homemade natural dog food. But again, you need to read the labels and make sure it’s a good quality canned food low in both sodium and sugar. If you can find a canned dog food made especially for diabetic dogs, look for the one that is the highest in protein. Organic canned food is even better.
One final suggestion is to feed your dog two or three small meals each day rather than one large meal. With diabetic dogs, their blood sugar levels stay more even if they eat more evenly throughout the day.
Brought to you by Pet-Super-Store, the dog beds store, find great prices on pet fences.