Is it true a low protein diet is best for my healthy 9-year-old dog?

My understanding with senior diets is that there are no general guidelines that all follow. This can lead to a wide variation in the protein and mineral content of these senior diets. In general, if a senior dog is healthy and doing well on their current adult diet, I do not recommend switching diets, nor do most veterinary nutritionists. As always, talk to Tova's vet to see if their recommendation differs, but given her sensitive stomach concerns, I would hesitate to change anything.

You are correct that it is very hard to find a low protein dog food. Most commercial dog foods are formulated to meet the needs of an average adult dog, so they tend to have a higher amount of protein. You can find some senior diets that have lower protein amounts, but a really low protein diet is generally only available in a prescription diet. Blue Buffalo has had some recalls, but generally tries to do a good job formulating a good food. My top senior diet recommendations are Wellness and Orijen, but Orijen is not low protein. Depending on how much protein Dot is currently eating, Wellness Senior may be a good option even though if has more protein than Blue Buffalo senior. https://www.wellnesspetfood.com/natural-dog-food/product-catalog/complete-health-senior-senior Good luck! I wish I had a simple answer for you, but I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.

I wouldn't worry too much about it having a higher level of protein as the body simply excretes what it doesnt use. In the case of a dog with liver issues I would recommend a diet low in protein but this is only a concern if your dog's liver is impaired.

Too much protein isn't good for dogs, and it's recommend they have 18% of their diet be protein. Now some dogs, such as working dogs, require higher amounts of protein due to their increased caloric demands. In addition, too much protein in dogs can lead to weight gain. Now too much protein per say doesn't cause health issues, but if a dog has a pre-existing health condition like kidney or liver disease, too much protein is not good for them because it increases the workload of those organs. Low carb diets are bad, yes. Totally unnecessarily. Brands of grain free diets try to sell you their diets by claiming outrageous things like it's the diet of their ancestors, the wolves. Todays dogs are so far removed from the wolf, it's not even funny. When was the last time you saw a pack of pugs take down a deer in the wild???

Senior dog food formulas are lower in calories and contain less fat, protein and sodium. These may not fulfill the nutritional requirements of your dog. Furthermore, neither AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) nor the National Research Council (NRC) provides guidelines for senior dog formulas. There is NO distinction made between the nutritional requirements for adult dogs and those for senior dogs. As a result, the ingredients used in pet food marketed for ‘seniors’ is determined by the manufacturer and varies widely.

According to the National Research Council (NRC) on Nutrient Requirements for Dogs and Cats, the daily protein requirement for an adult dog is 23 g of crude protein. This can be confusing because most pet food labels list protein as a % basis. You can calculate whether your dog is receiving at least 23 g of crude protein per day based on how much food you feed him. Here is a helpful link that contains instructions on how to do the calculation: http://dels.nas.edu/resources/static-assets/banr/miscellaneous/dog_nutrition_final_fix.pdf. The NRC does not list a protein requirement specifically for senior dogs, so you can feed the amount recommended for adult dogs. However, senior dogs do require fewer calories overall. That information is listed in the above link.

Kibble with high protein content would be correct food for a younger dog (under 2 years of age) who is still growing. Also working dogs that are out herding a lot, or getting a very large amount of exercise, should get a higher protein containing feed. Racing dogs such as greyhounds and whippets are fed a higher protein feed during training so they can make a lot of muscle. Non-working/non-racing dogs need to be fed a lower protein containing food as do dogs with kidney disease.