Can an adult dog eat senior dog food
The best senior dog food of 2024, with advice from veterinarians
What to look for in senior dog food
Our experts say the following criteria are important to consider when shopping for senior dog food:
AAFCO nutritional adequacy statement for adult maintenance or all life stages: The AAFCO is a nonprofit organization that recommends nutritional profiles based on an animal's life stage. They don't approve pet foods or establish specific standards for senior dog foods. However, choosing a senior food formulated for adult maintenance or all life stages ensures the recipe fulfills the recommended protein, fat, and nutrient requirements of adult dogs. The best dog foods for senior pups will also contain beneficial extras such as glucosamine and chondroitin to support joint health and have fewer calories per serving than adult dog foods.
Ingredient list: Labels list ingredients by weight, so the first few ingredients generally make up the majority of the food's weight. "There are no particular ingredients that senior dogs should avoid," says Luisana. However, she recommends grain-inclusive foods over grain-free foods due to the potential link between grain-free dog foods, especially those containing peas, and dilated cardiomyopathy.
Guaranteed analysis: Rather than fixating on dog food ingredient lists, our experts say to examine the guaranteed analysis of important nutrients, including protein, fat, fiber, and other essential vitamins and minerals. Adult dog food must have a minimum of 18% protein and 5.5% fat to fulfill a dog's nutritional needs. As the AAFCO doesn't set specific standards for senior dog foods, the guaranteed analysis of these foods can vary significantly between recipes. Before selecting a food, our experts recommend asking your vet about the best food for your senior pup.
Healthy extras: The best senior dog food will contain extra ingredients that support their unique needs. For example, Freeman and Welborn highlight the potential benefits of antioxidants in supporting healthy aging. Welborn suggests a diet rich in antioxidants, such as Purina Bright Minds, if your dog experiences cognitive dysfunction. Other healthy extras for seniors include joint-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, glucosamine, and chondroitin.
Calorie content: A dog's metabolism typically slows as they age, and many seniors are less active. So, senior dog foods usually contain fewer calories than adult formulations, according to Churchill. Freeman adds that overweight senior dogs are at greater risk of weight-related conditions like arthritis and diabetes. That said, feeding your dog less food could result in a nutritional deficiency. That's why Freeman recommends switching to a low-calorie senior diet or a weight-management diet based on guidance from your vet.
Breed-size formulation: The best food for your senior pup may depend on their size. Our experts say small and large breed seniors have different health risks and may also require different calorie amounts and kibble sizes. Buying food specific to your pup's size helps ensure they get a recipe formulated for their needs.
Feeding-trial tested versus formulated foods: The best senior dog foods have been formulated and in some cases, feeding-trial tested to meet the AAFCO's nutritional standards for adult maintenance or all life stages. If your dog's food has an AAFCO label, you'll know the recipe fulfills the recommended protein, fat, and nutrient requirements for adult dogs. A label indicating feeding trials confirms the food's safety and palatability based on testing with a group of dogs.
Expert formulations: The dog food brands we recommend meet quality control standards. In other words, the brand employs a full-time board-certified veterinary nutritionist and potentially a PhD-level animal nutritionist, as recommended in the WSAVA guidelines.
Next-level ingredients: Next-level ingredients refer to those farmed or caught through humane and sustainable farming or harvesting practices. Although these ingredients may not offer extra nutrition to your pet, choosing pet food with ingredients like farmed raised meats, cage-free eggs, and sustainably caught fish helps you support a pet food company that prioritizes both animal welfare and sustainable practices.
Can Puppies Eat Adult Dog Food?
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Anyone who has raised a puppy knows that they are not just small adult dogs. Within their first year of life, a puppys job is to grow, learn, and maturefrom behaviors and social interactions to physical growth.
Therefore, it should come as no surprise that puppies have very different nutritional needs from adult dogs. In fact, to avoid serious health issues such as fractured bones, heart disease, or bone marrow issues, it is extremely important that puppies are fed diets formulated specifically for them.
So what are the differences between a puppy and adult dogs diet?
Puppy Food vs. Adult Dog Food
When formulating a food that supports puppies nutritional needs, pet food companies pay particular attention to the following components:
Protein and Amino Acids
Dietary protein and amino acids are important building blocks for muscle and organ growth. Puppies need a higher percentage of calories from protein than adult dogs. This means the ratio of protein to other sources of energy is very important in a puppys food, even if the diet has a similar total quantity of protein as an adult food.
Fat
Fat is a great source of energyfor the always-on-the-go puppy, as it contains twice the calories of proteins or carbohydrates. It is also important that puppies get enough fat to help absorb certain vitamins (known as fat-soluble vitamins). Fat contents of puppy foods should be higher than adult dog foods, but not so high as to cause obesity or accelerated growth rates.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Omega-3 fatty acids support brain development, vision, and skin health in puppies. Once puppies are weaned, its important that they get fatty acids like DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) from their diet, usually from a fish or fish oil source, as they are no longer getting them from nursing.
Minerals
Minerals such as calcium and phosphorous are essential for puppy skeletal development. Sodium and chloride are important for muscle and heart function. Overall, puppies need more calcium than adult dogs, but large-breed puppies (those that will be over 50 pounds as adults) can be very sensitive to excess calcium or inappropriate calcium to phosphorous ratios. If you have a large-breed puppy, look for diets made specifically for larger puppies.
Vitamins
Though vitamins help dogs utilize nutrients, most are only needed in small amounts. Often, youll find similar amounts of vitamins in puppy and adult dog foods. A healthy puppy should not need vitamin supplementation if you feed them a balanced diet.
Calories
Calorie content is directly related to the fat, carbohydrate, and protein content of the food. The calorie density of puppy food is generally higher than that of adult dog food. That said, there is a limit to how many calories a puppy should have, which can vary by breed and even individual. It is very important to monitor your puppys body condition and growth rate with your veterinarian to ensure that they are not growing too quickly, which can cause obesity and skeletal deformities.
How Do You Know What Nutrients Are in Puppy Food?
Given the complexity of puppy nutrition, it would be difficult for you to directly compare these components while searching for a balanced puppy food. Thats where the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) comes in. AAFCO reviews current literature and updates standard nutrient profiles for dog and cat food based on this information. These profiles represent the minimum and, in some cases, maximum requirements for each nutrient.
Profiles are divided into two categories:
If a dog food company wants to claim their food is complete and balanced for puppies, they must formulate it according to the minimum standards for growth and reproduction. There is also a third category called all life stages, which just means that the food meets the minimum standards of both growth and adult maintenance. These claims are substantiated either by laboratory tests on the food or by conducting a feeding trial with animals. A diet that has gone through feeding trials is always preferred.
Not all diets are formulated to these standards, as it is a voluntary program. It is important to look at the nutrition label of the puppy food youre considering and find the AAFCO nutritional adequacy statement that ensures that it meets the standard for puppies.
If you have a large-breed puppy, make sure it is formulated for large dogs. Here are some examples of statements that you could see on the bag:
[Pet Food Name] is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles for growth, includinggrowth of large-size dogs (70 pounds or more as an adult).
[Pet Food Name] is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles for all life stages,includinggrowth of large-size dogs (70 pounds or more as an adult).
[Pet Food Name] is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles for growth,except forgrowth of large-size dogs (70 pounds or more as an adult).
[Pet Food Name] is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles for all life stages,except forgrowth of large-size dogs (70 pounds or more as an adult).
Can Puppies Eat All Life Stages Diets?
Some diets meet AAFCO standards for both growth and adult maintenance. These diets will state that they are formulated for all life stages. As these diets are formulated to the minimum standards for growth, they are fine to feed small-breed or medium-breed puppies. That said, these diets may be too high-calorie for many adult dogs and may not be appropriate for large-breed puppies, so it may be worthwhile to discuss this with your veterinarian.
By checking for the AAFCO nutritional adequacy statement and choosing a pet food company with experience, good research practices, and good quality-control procedures, you will likely choose a great puppy food. Ensuring appropriate nutrition for your puppys specific needs will set them up for a long and healthy life.
Featured Image: iStock/SolStock
Senior Dog Food vs. Adult Dog Food
At some point between the ages of 8 and 10, your dog becomes a senior. He may still have a lot of energy and years left, but he isn't the young pup that he was. You'll start seeing him slow down a bit and perhaps be a little stiff when he gets up. Your dog now is "senior," so shouldn't you be feeding him senior food? Perhaps, but perhaps not.
Your Dog's Adult Food
If you've been feeding your dog an adult dog food, you may be thinking about switching to the senior formulation of the same dog food, or one that says it's for senior dogs. If you look at your pet's adult dog food, you may see that it says for all life stages under the nutritional adequacy statement. Does that mean you can continue feeding it? The answer is yes.
Senior Pet Food
The Association for American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) has established guidelines for dog foods. The formulations can be either for growth (puppy) or maintenance (adult). According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the words "senior" on pet food is nothing more than a marketing term. The food must have at least 18 percent crude protein and 5 percent crude fat on a dry-matter basis, or is not considered complete and balanced for adult dogs according to the AAFCO standards.
Another Viewpoint
So, should you just feed an adult dog food and forget about feeding a senior diet? Maybe. According to the Whole Dog Journal, over-the-counter geriatric foods for dogs usually have lower levels of protein and fat than the "regular" maintenance versions. However, over-the-counter senior diets may have additional dietary supplements and nutraceuticals (a product offered to prevent or treat a disease that is marketed as a dietary supplement), such as Omega-3 fatty acids and glucosamine, which may help older dogs' conditions, such as arthritis.
Prescription Senior Diets
Your veterinarian may wish you to feed your dog a prescription diet. There now are many diets formulated for geriatric dogs and dogs with conditions, such as kidney disease, cancer, obesity, liver disease, loss of weight, heart problems, arthritis and joint problems, diabetes, and other age-related diets. These diets may not follow the AAFCO nutritional guidelines because dogs with these problems may have special needs in nutrition.
Talk to your veterinarian before changing your dog over to a senior diet. Your veterinarian may wish to evaluate your dog's diet and recommend a special nutrition program for your dog.
