Taking care of your miniature pinscher involves paying particular attention to their diet. This high-energy and fun-loving dog loves mealtimes. You want to be sure you are feeding your miniature pinscher meals and treats that your minpin will enjoy while ensuring they get all the essential nutritional content in a well-balanced diet.
Despite some misconceptions, min pins are not tiny versions of Doberman Pinschers. They are a unique breed with specific dietary needs.
Here are some tips for feeding your miniature pinscher for optimal health, happiness, and digestion.
Get the right size of food
A miniature pinscher’s mouth is somewhat smaller than many other breeds. Take care to get your min pin food that won’t be too difficult for them to chew. Avoid food or treats that are larger than one-half inch in diameter.
When your dogs have the right-sized food for their mouth, they’ll be less likely to bite off more than they can chew. Also, it can prevent vomiting caused by swallowing food that isn’t thoroughly chewed.
Choose the right amount of food
Adult miniature pinschers need about one-half ounce of food daily for each pound of body weight. Feeding your miniature pinscher less than this amount could result in missing some essential nutritional content daily, slowing your dog’s metabolism. Moreover, it may make your dog feel continuously hungry and deprived. If your dog seems overweight, it may be more about inactivity or getting older than how much food they eat.
Instead of feeding your miniature pinscher less food to lose weight, try providing your dog with a well-made food with lower fat content or fewer calories. Also, help your dog find ways to be more active to shed a little excess body fat rather than do without food. Of course, if your dog has a medical condition or age-related osteoarthritis that affects their mobility, avoid too much physical activity that may cause discomfort.
Use a supplement for digestion
Good digestive function is the cornerstone of your dog’s health. If your dog has slow or irregular digestion, they may experience chronic discomfort. Also, irregularity can cause an unhealthy amount of bacteria to accumulate in your dog’s digestive tract. When there are too many bacteria in dogs’ intestines, it is difficult for their bodies to process and absorb the nutritious components in their food, creating deficiencies in specific vitamins or minerals.
Feeding your miniature pinscher a supplement containing vitamins and minerals, digestive enzymes, and probiotics will help keep their digestive system in optimal working order. Nutra thrive for dogs reviews report that smaller and larger breed dogs had improved digestive regularity after incorporating the supplement into their daily routine.
Keep healthy treats on hand
When you’re enjoying a snack, your min pin may try very hard to convince you they must have some of what you’re eating. When your determined dog feels you’re holding out, it likely won’t relent graciously until you give in. However, many of your favorite snacks aren’t best for feeding your little fur baby.
While it’s OK to occasionally indulge in a select variety of people foods you’re preparing, such as white meat chicken or a small slice of salmon, a lot of typical snacks, such as chips or sweets, can upset your dog’s stomach.
Also, the textures of many of your favorite snacks make them likely to get stuck to the surface of teeth or between teeth, leading to gum disease and tooth decay.
Make it a point to prepare some healthy treats so you can give your min pin a consolation snack. You may also want to be able to readily share a treat to reward good behavior or to bring some more joy into your dog’s day.
Devin Caldwell is an animal enthusiast. He owns two dogs and doesn’t go anywhere without them. He loves to travel and see the world with his wife and two kids. Devin also is a freelance writer and writes for many blogs on the side. He has a great passion for writing and plans to do it for years.