Knowing what to feed your dog, how often, and how much all have a massive bearing on your dog’s development. Ensuring your puppy gets the nutrition it needs for muscle and bone growth and maintaining a healthy diet is essential for healthy dogs. But what should you be feeding your Kelpie?
This article will explain everything you need to know about Kelpie feeding and nutrition.
How much your dog eats is essential to their development. Too much and they can get overweight. Too little, and their body won’t have the nutrients to develop as it should.
The following lets you know, on average, how much Australian Kelpies should be fed.
You should always consult your vet and read the recommended guides on the food you give Kelpie puppies.
An Australian Kelpie puppy will need a complete and balanced diet, and up to 12 weeks, the puppy should be fed four meals across 24 hours. After three months, you should reduce this to three meals and two meals a day when the Kelpie is six months.
Adult Kelpies can be fed one meal per day or two lighter meals. Quality dry food can be mixed with other canned foods, fruit, veg, or even eggs. However, any food mixed in should be kept to less than 10% of the daily meal.
The Kelpie is a medium-sized dog breed, and an average kelpie weighing around 14kg should be fed between 178g and 234g. Larger Kelpies weighing closer to 20 kg should be fed between 232g and 305g over two meals.
If the Australian Kelpie is a working dog, the calorie intake it would need goes from around 660 to 900 calories for a dog that weighs around 13kg.
Australian Kelpies are typically energetic dogs, but as they get older, their activity will decrease. Roughly 2% of the dogs’ body weight is a good starting point for calculating food intake.
A pregnant dog and her puppies will need to eat more so they get the nutrition they need. Rapid weight gain is unhealthy, so an increase of around 10% for the first six weeks. After week six, you can typically increase the amount the bitch eats by around 10% per week.
Monitoring the body weight and scanning to see the litter size will help guide you.
There are benefits for all, with fresh food providing lots of natural ingredients and nutrients, raw diets improving dog’s energy levels and dental health, and commercial food explicitly designed to meet the dog’s needs.
Treats should be limited as they can lead to weight gain when given too often.
A dog should never eat chocolate, onions, avocados, grapes, raisins, milk, salt, yeast dough, macadamia nuts, or sugary snacks or drinks.
All dogs are different, but Kelpies are not typically fussy eaters.
Dogs typically drink around 40 ml of water for every kilo of body weight. An accessible water bowl for your dog will allow them to meet their needs.
Because the Australian Kelpie dog is so energetic, the food it eats and how much is vital. Kelpie farm dogs are typically sheep herding dogs, which means they need a diet to match their energy levels.
A diet with high-quality wet, raw, fresh, or premium dry dog food for your adult dog’s food will help them stay healthy and lively.
Monitoring your dog’s weight to ensure its diet is essential and may vary depending on the dog’s size or how much exercise these endlessly energetic work dogs get.
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