One question we sometimes get is whether neutered or spayed dogs can eat our food. The short answer is yes - it works just as well. In this article we will cover what you need to keep in mind when feeding your neutered dog.
After a castration, whether it is a male or female dog, the metabolism and thus the energy requirement of the dog decreases. How much the energy requirement decreases is individual, but in most dogs you can expect a reduction of between 10-30%. Despite this, the dog's appetite may be the same.
What you therefore need to keep in mind is to reduce the dog's energy intake, ie reduce the amount of food the dog receives per day. Our feeding table is customized to whether the dog's activity level is low, medium or high, and it is therefore good to adjust your feeding amount to one of the lower categories for your neutered dog. Remember to always keep track of the dog's body shape and weight after castration, in order to be able to adjust and adapt the food supply to your dog's unique needs. In this article, we guide you on how to assess your dog's health based on the Body Condition Score.
In order for the dog to maintain its ideal weight, it can also be good to review the amount of treats, leftover food or other extra chews that your doggie receives - it is better to reduce these "empty calories" than to continue to reduce the food supply, which is the dog's main source to healthy nutrients. Of course, another solution is also to increase your dog's exercise and do more fun activities with your dog!
If the dog's appetite has increased, you can also activate the feeding routine. For example, hide the food in various toys, serve in "labyrinths" or so-called slow-feeders, or spread the food over the lawn so that the dog can walk around and search for the food.
If you want to learn more about what you can do for your overweight dog without having to change food, we have written an article about this. If the dog is gaining weight despite your efforts to limit food intake, the next step may be to switch to a light food or weight-loss food, but even here it is just as important to be careful with your feeding.
