- 1. Skin & Coat Issues
- 2. Poor Appetite, Energy, and Behavioral Changes
- 3. Loss of Mobility
- 4. Weight Fluctuations
- 5. Gastrointestinal (GI) Stress
- Pet Supplements For Complete And Balanced Meals
A dull coat, poor energy, loose stool, and allergic reactions are just a few signs your dog’s diet may need a nutritional boost. Our dogs can experience nutritional issues for a variety of reasons. From the picky eater to poor-quality commercial foods that trick you into thinking their meals are exceptional, it can be quite difficult for pet parents to ensure their dogs’ health is getting all the support they need.
Regardless of their life stage, maintaining your dog’s nutrition is essential to their health and happiness. Let’s explore common signs that may indicate your dog needs some additional nutritional support. How supplements along with a balanced diet can provide that support. And, of course, key things you can do to prevent nutritional issues from ever occurring in the first place.
1. Skin & Coat Issues
From excessive shedding to constant itching, the health of a dog’s skin and coat is one of the biggest indicators their diet is or isn’t working for them. Keeping our dogs’ skin and coats in tip-top shape requires an abundance of vitamins like B2 and minerals like zinc.
However, even when our dogs are given meals that meet the nutrient recommendation placed by AAFCO and NRC, due to the lack of specific recommendations on essential omega fatty acids and other key nutrients like antioxidants, many dogs still struggle with poor skin and coat health.
Maintaining a key balance of omega-3/omega-6 is crucial for limiting excessive inflammation. Due to their abundance in fatty fish, supplementing omega-3 fatty acids is most commonly done with fish oil. In particular, wild-caught Alaskan Salmon is seen as the best of the best thanks to its audience of omega-3s EPA and DHA along with it being the preferred environmentally friendly choice.
Last but not least, giving our dogs a variety of different foods can help with skin and coat issues. Overexposure to meals created with limited ingredients, especially when fed a single traditional protein source, is one of the most common reasons a dog can struggle with food allergies.
Recommended Supplements: Wild Alaskan Salmon Oil + Hemp and Skin Coat Support Chews
2. Poor Appetite, Energy, and Behavioral Changes
Repeated exposure to meals with nutrient imbalances can lead to several debilitating diseases that can destroy a dog’s appetite. To make matters worse, certain mineral deficiencies such as zinc and B vitamins deficiencies can promote a poor appetite. When poor appetite is noticed, supplements are often recommended as a quick way to help get a dog back up on their feet.
Additionally, vitamin deficiencies can cause behavioral issues such as mood swings, inappropriate behavior, and anxiety. In particular, B-complex vitamins and vitamin D deficiencies can significantly negatively affect the brain and mental health. Deficiencies of these vitamins along with iron and magnesium deficiencies can result in poor energy, putting your dog at risk of diseases such as obesity.
Diseases such as allergies can cause dietary restrictions that result in inadequate nutrient intake. For example, the elimination diet that’s used to diagnose allergies involves starting a dog on a diet where a single novel protein source is paired with a simple carbohydrate like white rice.
Whether created in a commercial setting or your kitchen, fortifying our dogs’ meals with a variety of nutrients is critical to prevent nutritional imbalances that can lead to the issues above.
If your dog is on a nutritional homemade pet food diet, we recommend the ChefPaw Nutrition Booster. Featuring 25 essential nutrients, it's designed to work with a variety of homemade diets.
If your dog is on a commercial food diet, your vet may recommend a supplement that contains a specific nutrient or a general multivitamin — such as Advanced Multivitamin Soft Chews — since a lack of appetite reduces nutrients across the board.
Recommended Supplements: ChefPaw Nutrition Booster Supplement for Adult Dogs and ChefPaw Nutrition Booster for Puppies (Homemade Dog Food Diets) or Advanced Multivitamin Soft Chews (Commercial Dog Food Diets)
3. Loss of Mobility
Both nutrient imbalances and a number of diseases can reduce a dog’s activity level, putting them at risk of weight gain and other issues. Senior dogs, in particular, slow down with age, but in many cases, a mobility support supplement that features Glucosamine and Chondroitin can help. For additional help with physical discomfort, CBD oil can be an excellent option for its ability to reduce pain and swelling in the hips and joints.
If you’re making your dog’s food for them at home or plan to, a multivitamin like ChefPaw’s Nutrient Booster that places additional focus on calcium supplementation is highly recommended. Omega-3 supplementation can once again be beneficial; this time for its ability to support energy levels and reduce inflammation.
Recommended Supplements: Advanced Mobility Support Chews and PurCBD Oil
4. Weight Fluctuations
Undesired changes in weight, both with weight gain and loss, can indicate something is wrong with your dog’s diet. We saw how a lack of key nutrients like magnesium and zinc, can slow down our dogs, reducing how many calories burn in a day.
Then research has found that some dog breeds such as Golden and Flat-Coat Retrievers are prone to overeating, which can call for a complete change in their diet. Pet parents who struggle with overly hungry dogs often find a whole food diet rich in fiber better satisfies their dogs’ hunger. Overly processed diets, especially kibble, can feature way too many poor carbohydrates and fillers that leave our dogs ravenous.
Recommended Action: A Specialty Homemade Diet featuring whole foods, fibrous vegetables, and devoid of fillers.
5. Gastrointestinal (GI) Stress
Without a digestive system, your dog wouldn’t be able to absorb all those beneficial nutrients in their food. As such, it makes complete sense why digestion issues, such as gas, loose stool, and constipation are common signs a dog needs a nutritional boost.
Foods like sweet potatoes can provide a hearty dose of fiber while bringing along vitamins like A and C which all support the digestive system. Pairing these foods with probiotic supplementation can promote a strong, robust, and healthy gut microbiome that helps with recurring digestive issues, bad breath, and poor mood.
Probiotics contain beneficial bacteria stains, many of which already call your dog’s gut their home. Adding to their numbers helps combat bad bacteria while promoting greater nutrient breakdown and absorption. Including prebiotics (plant-based food for the microbiome) is a great way to get the most out of a probiotic supplement.
Recommended Supplements: Advanced Probiotic Chews (with Prebiotic Support)
Pet Supplements For Complete And Balanced Meals
Whether we’re creating our dogs’ meals at home or going the commercial route, we saw several supplements that can elevate our dogs’ diets. It’s important to remember commercial dog foods are heavily fortified with a large variety of vitamins, minerals, and other beneficial compounds. If you plan to give your dog a homemade diet, supplementation will play a key part in creating complete and balanced meals.
When creating our dogs’ food, we can more closely tailor the recipes based on a variety of factors (age, weight, breed, activity level, etc.), allowing us to give our best buddies dog food that truly supports their health. With ChefPaw, the fresh pet food maker, that’s never been easier. Doing everything from gently cooking your dog’s food to keeping track of all the essential nutrients their meals are delivering, ChefPaw's advanced nutritional support just doesn’t solve nutritional issues, it helps prevent them.