it’s easy to overdo it. If your dog is losing interest in his meals, it’s worth doing a quick audit of the number of handouts he’s getting from well-intended family members during the day so he doesn’t spoil his supper with empty calories. • You’re overfilling the bowl. At mealtimes, always check the serving size on the bag to make sure your dog is getting the right amount for his age and size. Some brands are bulked up with fillers that add mass to a serving. Premium brands like NutriSource provide nutrient-dense servings with more than 400 calories per cup. So if you’ve made any changes, make sure your previous “training” isn’t causing you to overfill your dog’s bowl. Tempt your dog’s palate by upping the animal protein Even though dogs have fewer taste buds, dogs take in a lot of information about their food using their powerful sense of smell. That means the aroma of their food plays a much bigger role at mealtimes than flavor. Filling your dog’s bowl with a meal where the meaty goodness of animal protein plays a starring role is sure to tempt his palate. With the NutriSource Element Series, meat appears in the first five ingredients, offering a high-quality, bioavailable meal that your dog will love from the first sniff to the last bite. In each serving, 83-90% of the protein comes from meat, which is sure to excite your dog about meal time! Look for NutriSource Element Series at your local, independent pet food retailer. Article gathered from https:// nutrisourcepetfoods.com/blog/pet- parents/curious-about-canines-does- flavor-matter-to-dogs/ Missouri Pet Breeders Association | Page 39
may be the scent is not as enticing as it was the first time you presented the bag of kibble, and he craves something new. Is your dog losing interest in his daily meal? Here are a few things to consider. • You have a geriatric dog. Just as with humans, the aging process in canines can leave their senses not as sharp and strong as they once were. The scent of their usual kibble just isn’t as powerful as before, so it’s more difficult to engage their interest. You can do this by: • Warming the kibble. Warmth brings the fats to the surface, releasing savory meaty scents into the air. Try adding a few spoonfuls of hot water to the kibble and give it a good stir before serving. Or you can try microwaving it for 5 seconds. • Experiment with wet food. Offering more wet food in your pet’s bowl can do the trick. Wet foods have the chunks of meat in gravy that dogs crave, and they also release more aroma than dry kibble. Either try a full meal replacement, or simply top off their food with a few spoonfuls. • Your dog craves new nutrients. Each animal protein source offers its unique mix of amino acids, vitamins and minerals for your pet’s body. Sometimes, changing from the usual chicken to a different meaty mix, such as duck, turkey, salmon, lamb or bison, will provide enticing new aromas that pique their interest and give their body what it needs. (As long as you stick to a premium pet food that focuses on gut health like NutriSource, tummy troubles and messes in the backyard shouldn’t be a problem when making the switch.) • Your dog is getting too many treats. Treating our pets is fun, and
gives him a better taste of what’s in the bowl. As we know, a dog’s taste buds are weaker receptors for flavor than ours. But the canine sense of smell more than makes up for that at mealtime. • A dog’s sense of smell is anywhere
from 10,000 to 100,000 times more powerful than a human’s.
• Dogs possess 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses versus the 6 million in a human’s. • The region of the brain dedicated to processing and analyzing scent is 40 times greater in dogs compared to humans. This powerful little tool means the nose plays a prominent role at mealtime. Dogs rely on scent to gather information about their environment and that includes the kibble you poured into his bowl. Their decision to eat something comes down to whether the scent is tempting to him or whether there’s something “off” that makes him turn up his nose. Be patient with your dog next time you sit down to your delicious meal of steaks from the grill. The tempting aroma of charred meat is thousands of times more intense for him than it is for you. That’s enough to distract him from focusing on minding his manners. Do dogs get bored with their food? One thing that makes us smile about our pets is their excitement at mealtime. Even if they’re enjoying the same kibble without complaint day after day, it’s healthy to introduce new animal proteins to his diet, so his body gets the unique nutrition profile that enhances your dog’s wellness. Not only will you want to rotate his animal proteins, be on the lookout for other whole food ingredients on the label, such as wholesome grains and vitamin-rich fruits and veggies. Their taste buds don’t get in the way of enjoying that same kibble. But if your dog is backing away from the bowl, it
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