If you’ve adopted a dog, whether a dalmatian or another breed, the first thing you need to pay attention to is choosing the right food for them because food is one of the most critical factors determining the health and longevity of the dog. After this article, you will know what food dalmatians eat and things to keep in mind about the diet of dalmatians.
What Do Dalmatians Eat?
For dalmatians, keeping them from kidney stones is key. This breed has a special genetic disposition that affects how they metabolize and pass purines. Purines exist in some human foods at low to high levels. If eating too much food containing this chemical compound, people will get Gout, while dalmatians will have kidney problems and urinary stones.
Dalmatians are an extremely energetic breed, which is why they were employed by fire departments as road clearers and guard alongside firefighters’ wagons hundreds of years ago. To this day, they remain super high-energy dog breeds.
With such an active nature, dalmatians require a large source of energy from quality meals containing adequate protein and essential nutrients, unlike most people who commonly think this breed needs a low-protein diet. Unfortunately, high protein foods are often high in purines which are not good for dalmatians, so the idea here is that we have to find out low-purine proteins from human-grade protein sources.
Protein-rich but purine-free foods are the best choices, including:
- vegetables (except peas, mushrooms, cauliflower, spinach, kidney beans, lima beans, and lentils);
- fruit (avoid citrus);
- eggs
- goat’s cheese
- goat milk
In addition, the Dalmatian’s diet should also include meats in the moderate/low purine group, including
- Most poultry, except for goose meat;
- Fish and shellfish (except mussels, mackerel; sardines; and scallops).
- Lamb, beef, and pork
In addition to the foods to avoid mentioned in each of the above sections, you need to exclude all of the following foods from a dalmatian’s diet:
- Offal meats including brains, livers, kidneys, hearts,….
- All kinds of yeast
- Gravies
Fresh foods or dry foods?
You can choose to buy dry ready-to-eat food or cook your own dog food.
Processed food on the left, home-cooked paste on the right
Although there are many advocates for feeding dogs natural foods because the benefits of these foods are unquestionable, a quality Dalmatian diet needs to contain the maximum amount of additional vitamins and minerals in processed dog food.
In addition, if the dog is sick and allergic to a certain food, it is much easier to choose a hypoallergenic food than to classify the food and monitor the dog’s health status when exposed to different types of food.
If you feed your dog dry food, you can easily choose your pet’s food based on your dog’s breed, size, age, and daily needs.
If you feed your dog natural food, you need to manually turn fresh ingredients into treats that your pet will love, which takes time, and you also have to learn how to cook properly while remaining the nutritional content of the food. Obviously, the nutrition of a natural diet will be more difficult to balance and at certain times you will have to give your dog a variety of supplements.
Dal’s diet by age
The diet will change according to the age of the dalmatians
Under 2 months old
At this stage, the dog’s digestive system is still not fully developed, so it can’t eat foods that are too hard or raw. You should only feed them porridge and drink milk when necessary, do not feed them indiscriminately otherwise, it will cause the dog to have digestive problems. Meals should be divided into 5 to 6 times a day.
From 2 to 6 months old
At this age, dal puppies start learning how to eat, so you should add specialized formulas to their diet to increase their ability to absorb nutrients. At this time, dogs can also eat minced meat porridge and canned pet food. These puppies should be fed 3-4 meals a day.
Over 6 months old
Dogs over 6 months old have entered the adult stage, so they can eat lean meats, vegetables, fruits, and raw foods. At this stage, the number of meals should be reduced to 2/day.
Frequently asked questions
Can Dalmatians eat raw eggs?
There are no definitive studies that prove that raw eggs are more nutritious than cooked eggs. In contrast, eating raw eggs increases the risk of Salmonella infection, which causes vomiting and diarrhea. Not only dogs, but people who eat raw eggs are also at high risk of infection with this bacteria. For this reason, I would recommend you not to feed your dalmatian uncooked eggs.
Can Dalmatians eat salmon?
Salmon is a good food substitute for Dalmatians that are allergic to meat. However, to ensure the health of your canine, salmon must be well cooked and with all the bones removed.
Salmon is in the moderate-purine group, so you should limit the frequency of feeding to once a week. Do not feed dalmatians raw salmon because it contains Nanophyetus salmincola – a parasite that is poisonous to dals.
Can Dalmatians eat raw meat?
Yes, Dals can eat uncooked meats. But remember, the meats must be the low-purine kind. This means red meats and organ meats are excluded from the raw diet of the dalmatians. Instead, you can feed your four-legged friend raw chicken and turkey but make sure you calculate the amount well and not exceed twice a week.
Conclusion
Diet is an important keyword when it comes to raising dalmatians, in that, remember to choose foods that are high in protein but low in purine. Also, a combination of homecooked food and dry food is a good idea as long as the amount is appropriate for each stage so that the dog does not have excess or lack nutrients. In this regard, I highly recommend consulting canine nutritionists.
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