How is it better to feed Golden Retrievers daily? Nowadays, living conditions have improved, and pets have their own specialized dog food. If I were to recommend, it’s better to make dog food yourself rather than buy it, since the domestic environment can’t guarantee the quality of human food. Buying dog food is mainly for busy people without time to make homemade dog food. If you buy dog food, it’s best to buy natural food. Different growth stages require different food, puppies feed puppy food. Adults feed adult food to ensure proper nutrition intake at every stage.

       How is it better to feed Golden Retrievers daily? There are many dog food brands nowadays, each with its characteristics. Since tastes differ, rather than trying to choose the best dog food, it’s better to calmly feed a brand suitable for your dog. Golden Retrievers are lively and active with relatively fast digestion. Besides feeding nutritious natural food, it’s important to avoid giving too many snacks and supplements during feeding to prevent picky eating and ensure healthy growth.

Everyone can feed Golden Retrievers according to the nutrients they need below:

       How is it better to feed Golden Retrievers daily? Golden Retrievers are a large breed and must be guaranteed sufficient nutrition and a reasonable dietary structure daily to grow healthily. Meat and protein are the most important nutrients in dog food. Below we introduce 4 main types of meat products and their nutrient composition for homemade Golden Retriever dog food.

1. Meat and its by-products

      Meat consists of animal muscle, intermuscular fat, muscle sheath, tendons, and blood vessels. Meat foods are good sources of iron and some B vitamins (especially niacin, vitamin B1, vitamin B2 and vitamin B12). Feeding Golden Retrievers such food has good palatability, high digestion rate, and rapid utilization.

      Lean meats from pork, beef, lamb, veal, chicken, and rabbit are very similar in composition, especially moisture and protein. The main differences lie in fat content. Moisture content is between 70%-76%, protein 22%-25%, and fat between 2%-9%. Poultry, veal, and rabbit have 2%-5% fat, while lamb and pork have 7%-9%.

      Meat by-products, regardless of animal source, generally have similar nutrient content. They contain more moisture but less protein than lean meat and have varying fat content. Meat contains no carbohydrates because energy is mostly stored in fat, not sugar and starch.

      How is it better to feed Golden Retrievers daily? The protein in meat and meat by-products has high nutritional value. All meats contain very low calcium, and the calcium-phosphorus ratio changes widely, around 1:10 to 1:20, lacking vitamins A, D, and iodine. So meat is the most important part of daily Golden Retriever food; it is essential to ensure the dog eats a certain amount of animal muscle meat daily.

2. Fish

      Fish generally divide into fatty fish and protein fish. Protein fish include cod, flounder, small flounder, and halibut, typically containing less than 2% fat; fatty fish include herring, mackerel, sardines, small eel, goldfish, and eel, with fat content from 5%-20%. Protein fish contain protein and lean meat similar to meat but are rich in iodine; fatty fish contain abundant fat-soluble vitamins.

      How is it better to feed Golden Retrievers daily? Fish generally has less palatability than meat. Usually, compared to meat, dogs do not like fish very much. Also, when feeding fish, be careful to prevent Golden Retrievers from getting hurt by fish bones.

3. Dairy products

      How is it better to feed Golden Retrievers daily? Dairy is also very important for Golden Retrievers. Generally, dairy includes cream, skim milk, whey, yogurt, cheese, and butter. Dairy contains most of the nutrients needed by Golden Retrievers but lacks iron and vitamin D. Every 100 grams of dairy contains 271.7 kJ energy, 3.4 g protein, 3.9 g fat, 4.7 g lactose, 0.12 g calcium, and 0.1 g phosphorus. Dairy is generally palatable to dogs; usually, dogs of all breeds like drinking milk.

4. Eggs

      Eggs are good sources of protein, iron, vitamin B2, vitamin B12, folic acid, vitamin A, and vitamin D but lack niacin. Therefore, eggs should not be the main food for Golden Retrievers, only a beneficial supplement to their dog food.

      How is it better to feed Golden Retrievers daily? It should be said again that dogs accompany us for only a few short decades. If you put some effort into their diet, their lifespan might be extended somewhat. If you love your dog, it is still recommended to feed them homemade dog food when possible.