General Nutrition:
Adult animals are finished growing. These animals are considered on what
is termed a maintenance diet, unless they are working, pregnant or
lactating. Generally speaking they are maintaining their weight and body
condition. Body condition is the general fat or thin appearance that the
animal takes on.
The ideal body condition for an adult dog is one where the ribs can be felt with little fat covering them and with a visible waist when viewed from above. For cats, the criteria are similar with the waist being slighter than its canine counterpart. Palpation of the ribs is perhaps the easiest method of monitoring the condition of your pet.
Obesity in our pets is a major concern, and can be controlled without too much effort. For example, simply feeding a dry food rather than a wet (canned) or semi moist will decrease the likelihood of overeating, and even if overeating does occur, the caloric density of the dry food is less than that of the others. Also, canned and semi moist foods are much more palatable to the animal and will consumed in a greater quantity than its dry counterpart. If, however, a homemade diet is being fed, the quantity of easily digestible carbohydrate and fiber need to be kept in check. Too much carbohydrate will often lead to obesity. In these instances simply increasing the amount of fiber in the diet will result in a gradual weight loss.
In stores today are many pet foods that are formulated for less active or senior animals. These foods are usually higher in fiber than their regular counterparts. These foods are also less dense in calories, meaning that they may contain less fat than other foods manufactured by the same company. The down side to many of these foods is the fact that they are also more expensive than other foods. For this reason, it is probably easiest to control your pets weight (especially in dogs) with two or three premeasured meals at regular intervals during the day. Exercise is also an easy way to help control the weight of your pet.
Considerations for feeding adult dogs:
The biggest thing to consider is the cost of feeding your pet. I recommend
finding a food that is nutritionally complete, your dog eats and that is
appealing to your wallet. Once that is achieved, I recommend sticking with
it. If, for some reason, it is necessary to change foods, please do it
slowly over a period of at least three to four days. Gradually introducing
the new food to your dog while reducing the amount of the old food will
help to prevent the likelihood of gastric upsets and possibly even
vomiting.
Considerations for feeding adult cats:
Cats should also be fed a diet that is nutritionally complete; your cat
eats (need I say more), and is appealing to your wallet. Cats usually
adapt to free choice feeding (food left out all day) without the
likelihood of overeating. If by chance, overeating does occur, premeasured
feeding or only leaving the food out for a set period of time should
remedy the situation. Even though any type of food can be used, dry foods
adapt best to the free-choice feeding method.
Something to keep in mind is the fact that middle-aged, neutered male cats who reside in an apartment are most likely to become overweight. For this reason, it is important to insure adequate exercise for your cat. Play that encourages a natural hunting behavior has been shown to be beneficial to the overall condition of cats.
One last point:
There is one other thing to consider about pets on a maintenance type
diet: pets that are housed outside will require a greater amount of
calories to generate heat in colder weather. There are a number of factors
(such as type of shelter, hair coat, and size of the pet) which go into
how much of an increase in food intake there will be, but a good rule of
thumb might be to increase the amount of energy in yours pets diet by 25%,
or provide a heat source when the wind and the weather become extreme.
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