How much protein does an inactive dog really need in their food?

Hi and thanks so much for your post this afternoon. 18-20% protein should be just fine if Chloe is a lightly active dog. 25% protein would be better for more active dogs (such as dogs that do agility or are working dogs). I hope this helps and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Interesting question! There are no hard and fast rules here and ut depends on the quality of protein and amount which is digested/absorbed, the lifestyle of the dog and any medical conditions, illness or injury. Maintenance diets in healthy pets are often lower in protein, injury, illness and intense exercise such as agility would require an increase in intake. Obesity is a concern and if Chloe is maintaining a kean, healthy weight i would not be concerned about changing her diet

Hi and thanks for your post! Since Chloe is lightly active, I would choose the lower protein option (20% verses 25%). Higher protein foods are more appropriate for working dogs and highly active dogs. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Hello, neither of them are wrong or better than one another. The difference being is that the food with the higher protein is likely leaner (more energy is derived from protein) and has less carbohydrates or fat associated with it. Now, unless your dog is working dog, she may not need that much extra protein. Vice versa, the lower protein food may have a higher carbohydrate or fat percentage. Both foods however, if formulated for "maintenance" should meet the AAFCO requirements for energy of an adult dog. Meaning, you're going to be feeding the same amount of energy to Chloe, except one is going to be coming mainly from protein and the other one from fat and/or carbs. AAFCO recommends a minimum protein content of 18% in canine dog food formulations for maintenance. Therefore both of the foods you were feeding meet this minimum requirement. One of the contraindications for a high protein food is if your dog has kidney disease. With kidney disease, excess protein may worsen this disease and therefore, kidney diets actually contain less protein. Hope this helps.

That stool looks normal to me. There are a lot of factors that may be causing Chloe to poop more on the new food including the fiber content of the new diet. If she is otherwise acting normally you don't have to switch Chloe's food because defecating more frequently is not an issue as long as the stool is well formed. Because you state that Chloe is not very active you may want to consider a lower calorie food to prevent weight gain. An all canned food diet can also help to prevent weight gain. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Yes Chloe can have that wet food. As most wet food is primarily meat it has a higher protein content than dry. I usually recommend a small amount of canned with the dry food rather than feeding all canned. As long as the canned doesn't have a lot of fiber in it the poop should not be larger, actually the poop may be smaller due to the decreased amount of fiber in the canned food. If Chloe is normal weight adding some canned to the diet is fine but if she tends to gain weight or she is already overweight then I do not recommend adding wet food to the diet as you are adding additional calories which may get her heavier. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you get answers to your veterinary questions.

Hi, thanks for using Petcoach! I think this all depends on if Chloe is overweight or not. I've attached a body condition scoring chart, review it an let us know if she is overweight. Overweight dogs need less calories compared to an underweight dog or one of ideal body conditions. Also the calories you indicated are they per cup? https://oregonvma.org/files/Purina-Dog-Condition-Chart.pdf Let me know!