Last Updated on April 24, 2024 by Dr. Julie
A proper diet is essential in order to keep your dog healthy, and keeping a Rottweiler feeding schedule should help with that. It’s even more important for your dog to maintain a proper diet as they get older because it becomes easier for them to put on unnecessary weight. In today’s article, we’ll be taking a look at the proper diet plan for a Rottweiler and learning how to maintain a healthy diet!
Table of Contents
Rottweiler Feeding Guide
Later, we’ll go into the importance of a healthy diet for a Rottweiler. For now, let’s look at what a healthy diet consists of.
Firstly, we have to keep protein in mind. Protein might as well be the most important macronutrient in a Rottweiler’s diet. It should make up at least 22% of the Rottweiler’s diet (meaning that for every pound of food you feed your pup, at least a quarter of that should be protein). Great sources of protein are chicken, lamb, and turkey.
These pups can consume up to 2100 calories per day! That’s as much as a large, active human male does. Keep this in mind when you’re purchasing your dog, as feeding a Rottweiler can prove to be costly. They can weigh up to 135 pounds (only the most muscular ones, though) and they’re very active. Because of all these facts, it’s important to add some fats and carbs into their diet.
An adult Rottie should consume about 15% of fat through their daily food intake. You should make sure that the number doesn’t get larger than this, though, as Rottweilers can easily become overweight if they eat too much.
Rottweiler Feeding Schedule: Puppies vs Adults
There are slight differences between the way you’ll feed your puppy and the way you’ll feed an adult Rottweiler. Puppies are intensely growing, which is why you should feed them four times a day: once in the morning, once for lunch, once in the afternoon, and once for dinner. When they grow up, you can start feeding them twice or once a day.
During the stage of intense growth, puppies need more protein than adult Rottweilers! Protein should make up 28% of their diet, while fats also have to go up – they should make up 18% of their diet. All of this changes once your dog finally grows up.
To keep track of how well you’re feeding your dog, you should keep a Rottweiler feeding chart. There, make sure to chart the meals and the weekly weigh-in. This will also help you ensure that your dog doesn’t become obese.
Learn more about: How Often to Feed a Rottweiler Puppy?
Store-Bought Food vs Homemade
There’s some debate amongst dog owners as to which type of food is better. However, recently it’s become obvious that it’s better to prepare food on your own if you have the time. The latter part of that sentence is the reason why so many owners opt for store-bought food – they don’t have enough time to prepare dog food on their own.
However, if you have enough time on your hands, preparing food for your dog on your own can prove to be a massive bonus regarding your dog’s health. You can prepare food for a week or two weeks ahead to save on time! This way, you’re 100% sure of the amount of protein, fats, and carbohydrates your dog is taking.
Even though there are some brands of dog food that really deliver supreme quality and are worth spending your money on, the public has a certain degree of justified suspicion when it comes to dog food manufacturers. These foods are filled with preservatives and sugars to make the food tasty. The main difference between homemade food and the food you can buy in stores is that homemade is usually healthier.
When you’re making food for your Rottie – you can either cook it or keep it raw. Even though a raw diet for a dog might sound dangerous (when was the last time you heard of a human eating raw meat?), recent studies actually prove that dogs (unlike us) can process raw food and it’s healthier for them than cooked foods!
There are, of course, drawbacks – since you won’t be testing every single piece of meat, it’s possible to infect your dog with bacteria from the meat. The American Veterinary Medical Association currently states that feeding raw food can be beneficial, but it’s also dangerous as you can’t process it properly when you’re preparing it at home.
The Importance Of A Healthy Diet
A feeding Rottweiler is a happy Rottweiler. However, an overweight Rottweiler is everything but happy! Rottweilers can easily put on a lot of unnecessary weight, and this becomes especially easy as the dog becomes older. Because of this, it’s important to keep constant tabs on your feeding schedule and ensure that you’re not overfeeding your dog. Keep in mind that most dogs will eat to the point of throwing up!
An overweight Rottweiler is more prone to heart failures which are potentially lethal, arthritis and cancers. Since Rottweilers are active dogs, your dog won’t be able to run around as much because of its weight and it will only become more groggy and moody because of that.
Additionally, if you underfeed your dog, they won’t have enough energy for the everyday activities you have for them. This will lead to lethargy and chronic tiredness. It’s important to ensure the 2000 calories your dog needs to take in every day and change that schedule if necessary.
Conclusion
To sum up, a Rottweiler needs about 2000 calories every day. This number varies, though, depending on the size, sex, and activity of the dog itself. The diet of a Rottweiler should consist of 25% protein and 15% fat, with everything else being carbs (preferably in the form of grain and fiber). Keeping your dog healthy through their diet is crucial, as Rottweilers become overweight easily, which can cause cardiac arrest and help in the development of arthritis.
Younger dogs need a larger intake of protein and fats, while they also need more meals spread throughout the day. Older, more mature dogs can make do with only two meals a day.