While a few treats a day is okay, it is important to consider them as a part of the overall caloric intake of your dog. Here at Saint Rocco’s we actually outline this on our packaging. Our goal is to provide treats that are part of your dog's overall healthy diet.
How much will your dog eat? The short answer: a lot. Most dogs will eat all day if you let them. And while it’s rare that a dog will “eat himself to death” as some reports go, they are likely to eat until they get sick, if the food is available. So it’s important to keep your dog’s food in a place he can’t reach it. If he gets into the bag, he’ll probably eat way beyond the healthy limit.
And don’t feed your dog thinking he must be hungry because he looks longingly at you while you’re eating or cooking. He will eat it if you give it to him, but he probably shouldn’t have it.
Figuring how much a dog should eat
The amount of nutrients your dog needs depends on his age, breed, activity level, current weight, and health. While many dog food packages show a guideline for how much your dog should eat, there’s no one-size-fits-all plan for feeding your dog. Your veterinarian is the best person to talk to in order to determine how much your dog should be eating.
As a general rule, puppies need more food than adult dogs and they need to be fed several times a day. They are very active and burn up their energy quickly, so they need frequent “refills” of their energy reserves. Depending on their activity level, adult and senior dogs need less food than puppies but should be fed twice a day. Senior dogs should receive less food than younger adult dogs, simply because they are usually less active. Like human adults, their metabolism slows down with age, so they’ll put on weight if they continue to eat the same amount of food as they ate when younger.
Counting treats in your dog’s diet
It’s really important to include the calories of dog treats in the calculation of how much your dog should be fed. At Saint Rocco’s Treats, we generally recommend that up to 10% of the dog’s diet should be in treats. This gives your dog a nice variety of food while also reinforcing obedience and good socialization with the occasional treat.
If you’re currently training your dog, you are probably offering a significant portion of your dog’s diet in treats, so be careful not to overfeed. Your dog would be happy to eat treats all day, but as already stated, dogs aren’t the best judge of what they should be eating and how much. They need their human friends to make good choices for them.
Make sure that the treats you choose are healthy calories with no “fillers” or junk food. Please do not feed your dog french fries! Limit your dog’s intake of human food unless it’s dog treats made with human-grade ingredients, like our treats. We never use fillers or artificial ingredients, binding agents, or colors. All our treats have five healthy, human-grade ingredients. We feed them to our dog, Cooper, and we only want the best for him. We want the same for your dog, too.
Try fresh dog food
We just added our first fresh-frozen dog food item, Saint Rocco’s Beef Entrée! Your dog can have just as much excitement at mealtime as he does at treat time. Our Beef Entrée can replace your current dog food or be used as a “topper” to add zing to his current food. As with our treats, our dog food package offers suggested guidelines for use as a meal or as a topper, based on your dog’s weight. But as previously stated, age, activity level, and sometimes even breed can affect how much your dog should eat.
Your vet is your first stop when you need help determining how much your dog should eat. Healthy weight...long life. If after talking to your dog’s vet you still need help determining how much of our treats or dog food to feed your dog, contact us! We’ll be happy to help.