Hello,
I have two siblings, altered female & male just turned 11. About a year or so ago I started realizing ‘wow they’re senior dogs I can’t believe that statistics say I likely have only a few years left’ and so I started trying to modify their diet to make it more healthful as I really would love for them to be around for way longer than average. We know their mom was a border collie. We believe their dad was likely a Lab mixed with something else my guess is Burmese Mtn. Dog but nobody knows. The female is 50 lbs & male is 60 lbs. The vet says they are basically at a good weight, he said just slightly chubby but nothing to be concerned about.. 6/10 where 5 is perfect.
For the longest time until they were about 9-10 years old my dog’s were fed the following divided among 2 meals (approx 7 am & 5 pm, I listed approx total daily intake)
1/2 cup kibble, Taste of Wild Pacific Stream (have used other brands/flavors like 4health/BlueBuff but have kept them on TOTW for proably at least 4-5 years and this one flavor for a while as they do well it seems) ~ 200 cal/day
1 can Blue Buffalo wet food (was using 4Health when they were real young but something happened and quality seemed to go down, there would be excessive fat and I switched)- alternate flavors mainly beef & chicken, salmon & chicken, turkey & chicken, and the ‘red meat dinner’ varieties but I’ve tried others like trout, etc. ~ 500 cal/day
1/2 – 1 egg ~ 35-70 cal/day
1/2 can unsalted green beans ~ 30 cal/day
Treats – would be a rotation of those “Milo’s chicken meatballs”, “Milo’s steak griller strips”, “Blue Buffalo baked biscuits (made w/ apple, bacon, etc. varieties), very rarely I would give them something lower quality like milkbones or pupperoni, etc. ~ 100 cal/day
Supplements – Cosequin/Dasuquin 1 tab per day since they were pups (had an older dog when they were pups they just all got one), PetHonesty 10-in-1 multivitamin & probiotic – 2 per day (they started getting this when they were about 3 or 4 because they would have somewhat frequent loose stools or incomplete digestion. It was weird they would take 2 poops on their morning walk, 1 would be perfect, the 2nd would come out 70% perfect and the last 30% would look like a slimy slug), I use “Missing Link” lightly for some extra fats and fiber. I started using this with a previous dog who would get itchy skin, it was recommended by the vet and seemed to do wonders for his coat so I have always sprinkled about 1/4 tsp on a meal at least 1x day.
Total ~900-1000 cal/day
What I started doing different..
I started feeding them 3x day. Same calories, I multiplied their meals by 2/3 and give them that around 7 am, 12:30 pm & 6 pm. I read it might be better for seniors and thought the 14-15 hours between their dinner and breakfast was maybe too long for them to fast.
I started adding more fruits and veggies – I take some carrots & fresh spinach and put them in a food processor and mince it up finely and give them about 1 tbsp per meal.
I started giving them bone broth, I get it boiling and then bathe the kibble and veggies in it and once it has cooled and the kibble has absorbed it and softened I mix the rest in. I also will add a few blueberries and mash them up whenever I have them, or sometimes a strawberry and put it in there.
I reduced the amount of wet food they get from 1 can/day – 1/2 can per day and substituted some real fat/protein that I make for myself (unseasoned). Mostly I use chicken leg quarters, ground beef, eggs, and salmon. I look up all the nutrition information and weight it all out so the calories should be the same as well as the protein:fat ratio should be very similar to the wet food.
I stopped giving them Milo’s & Blue Buffalo and other types of store bought treats almost entirely. I buy sweet potatoes and cut them up into little bite sized pieces (weighing about 0.25 oz each) and air fry them until they are cooked and soft. I also give them pieces of apples, bananas, pineapple, strawberries, or egg for some variety. Sweet potatoes are about 50-60% of what they get treated with and everything else I just named rounds out the rest largely apple or banana.
Supplements is all the same.
I’m just wondering if you think all the changes I made are positive changes or is there anything to be concerned with? Any recommendations for further improvement? They are very healthy for 11, only Rx they are on is my girl is on proin for incontinence for about 1.5 year and it controls it well.. I would say I feel I have noticed some improvement in their coat and energy and overall health but I don’t know if it’s just in my head.
I told the vet about the changes and they seemed to think it sounded good/fine but I don’t know they really listened to me or thought about it, surely it’s better than feeding them straight ol roy kibble like half the dogs they see..
Some things I read that maybe made me think to come and ask:
– Vitamin A in excess levels can be a problem for dogs? Could my dogs be getting too much from the spinach, carrots, & 10-in-1 vitatmin/probiotic?
– I read some warnings about giving them fatty meats and causing pancreatitis.. I assume everything is good with giving them a little chicken w/ skin or ground beef because the protein:fat ratio is roughly the same as dog food and it’s only about 70-80 cal/meal, 3x per day replacing the 1/2 can of wet food I removed with roughly the same ratios.. am I overthinking it?
.
