Winter comes with more worry than just a change in weather. It signals the time to change the puppy’s meal. However, many pet owners do not know the importance of changing their dog’s nutrition during this time. In fact, dachshunds consume more calories to stay warm in cold weather. Dachshunds or other dogs usually like to be warm, eat a lot, but others hate wearing clothes. Many newborn puppies have difficulty getting enough nutrition to stay healthy. On the other hand, the sausage dogs often become lazy and lie in a position when they are sedentary. Lack of exercise leads to overweight, and an obese dog is not healthy at all. Therefore, here are effective nutrition tips to keep your dog healthy throughout the winter.
Increasing calories
For those doxie dogs that usually playing outside, you need to increase the amount of food for them. You should move from giving one meal a day to two, or even three small meals, adding warm, unsalted chicken juice to dry food can help your puppies eat more (about 10%), or simply turn the food into a higher-calorie type, which corresponds to the energy burned by the dogs.
Reducing the amount of food
When your dachshund has a weight problem in the winter, reduce the amount of food to keep him fit. In order to reduce the amount of food, simply limit your dog food intake, or switch to lower calorie food. You will need to measure the amount of food in the bowl each meal, instead of filling the food bowl for the dog to eat all day.
Choosing diet foods
You can also familiarize overweight dogs with weight loss foods. Just like humans, weight loss must be done slowly, and do not let them feel constantly hungry. Remember: different brands will have a different number of calories, and even food of one diet brand will have more calories than the other brands. Consider a diet with fewer calories than regular food.
Food supplements
Most dog foods are advertised to contain balanced nutritional content for each puppy’s growth stage (in other words, you don’t need to give your dog any other food.). However, you should know that some dogs still need to be supplemented with beneficial foods, such as digestion, or treat arthritis. Consider Glucosamine and Chondroitin supplements for dog development.
Changing food slowly
Firstly, adjusting the dog’s meals in winter days is needed to help them absorb nutrition. However, changing meal suddenly can cause diarrhea, nausea, or simply make your dog anorexic. Therefore, you should feed them new foods slowly: mix old and new foods in a 50/50 ratio for the first few days, then gradually increase new foods and reduce old ones. Do this for one week to 10 days to minimize the dog’s digestive problems.
