Alice White
Big and strong, a pet of the Cane Corso breed requires a special attitude to the composition of the diet since the physical condition and health of the dog depends on the composition of the feed. A novice owner, thinking about what to feed a Cane Corso, puppy, or adult dog, is lost in the abundance of information. Many manufacturers provide different brands of the finished food, breeders praise natural food, veterinarians recommend dietary or medicated food. So what to feed the Cane Corso with such an abundance of offers, how to choose a different diet for your pet?
Cane Corso Nutrition: Diet and Feeding Features
Long formation of the skeleton, strong skeleton, and relatively weak ligamentous apparatus in puppyhood determine a special approach to feeding dogs of the Cane Corso breed. Over the course of a dog’s life, the feeding schedule and daily menu change to accommodate the changing needs of the dog.
Feeding Your Puppy Up to Four Months
Cane Corso puppies grow very quickly, they are active and strive to climb everywhere. A high metabolic rate requires a regular replenishment of food rich in protein and vitamins, and weak ligaments require a sufficient amount of collagen in the diet. Too much food eaten at one time leads to stretching of the walls of the stomach, the formation of a saggy belly in the puppy. A puppy who is heavy after eating tries to move less, which also does not improve the condition of the musculoskeletal system.
For these reasons, the multiplicity of the number of feedings for a Cane Corso puppy per day should be equal to four or even five. The amount of food eaten at a time should not exceed two hundred grams, and this dosage is individual and depends on the characteristics of a particular puppy.
The puppy’s diet must include:
- Raw beef, boiled turkey or chicken, rabbit. The share of meat products is at least fifty percent of the total amount of food.
- Porridge with meat broth, rice, or buckwheat, with the addition of oatmeal.
- Boiled and fresh carrots.
- Milk, kefir.
- Cottage cheese – no more than one hundred grams daily.
Important! The limitation of the amount of cottage cheese on the menu is due to the high content of calcium in this product. Excess calcium during the period of the rapid growth of the puppy leads to early ossification of growth zones and joint diseases. For the same reason, it is forbidden to give the baby any mineral supplements, except for those designed for the age of up to four months.
Insufficient amounts of collagen in food can be replenished with regular gelatin, which is added to food before feeding in dry or diluted form.
Feeding a Puppy Up to a Year
After four months, the fast growth of the dog slows down, the puppy’s teeth begin to change. At this time, raw beef bones should be included in the usual menu. A large bone serves as a massager for growing teeth, with its help milk teeth fall out faster and easier. From four months, you need to slightly increase the portion of cottage cheese, or introduce mineral supplements containing calcium into the diet.
How many times to feed the Cane Corso at this age? Six months is the time when it is time to transfer the pet to three meals a day. Too frequent feedings are no longer necessary for the dog, since the body is already strong enough, and the volume of the stomach is quite capable of accommodating a larger portion than before.
Regular physical activity, workouts, and classes, walks – all physical activity requires a high-calorie diet. But the calorie content of food should be increased gradually, without getting carried away with too fatty types of meat or offal. It is also undesirable to cook porridge in concentrated meat broth.
Important! An excessive amount of extractive substances, too fatty food contributes to the emergence of a threat of pancreatic disease, indigestion, and other gastrointestinal dysfunctions.
Feeding a Young Cane Corso
After a year, the dog reaches its maximum measurements in height, “maturation” begins, the lanky and slender teenager gradually turns into a powerful, broad-chested dog. Muscles grow vigorously, ligaments and bones become stronger. This period is the time of the pet’s insatiable appetite.
The menu that was compiled for the puppy now adds:
- By-products.
- Beef tripe or tripe.
Tripe is an ideal food for Cane Corso. Raw tripe, in addition to its high nutritional value, contains a huge range of enzymes and various vitamins. A daily supplement of tripe can significantly reduce the cost of vitamin supplements, and also helps to stop coprophagia. Eating excrement is almost completely stopped when fresh, washed beef tripe is introduced into the menu. In addition, the tripe contains a large amount of animal collagen.
A young dog eats various seasonal fruits with pleasure, can eat nuts or berries with pleasure. The number of feedings is reduced to two, but if the dog is hungry, the third feed is left in the middle of the day.
Catering for an Adult Cane Corso
How to feed the Cane Corso? An adult dog, receiving the usual load for a city dog, usually receives two meals a day. The menu includes raw or boiled meat, porridge, and boiled vegetables. Females must be given milk, increasing the number of dairy products during gestation and feeding the puppies. A dog with regular mating should receive food containing a large number of animal proteins.
Important! When feeding an adult Cane Corso, it is advisable to take into account the predisposition of dogs of this breed to volvulus. Portions should be small, if necessary, increase the amount of food, the number of feedings is increased. After eating, the dog is allowed to rest.
As an additive to the diet, an adult Cane Corso is given fish oil, mineral, and vitamin complexes. It is very beneficial to give salmon oil daily, which contains omega acids. Regular use of the oil can reduce the intensity of seasonal molting by almost half, the coat becomes shiny, the color is bright.
Dry Food for Cane Corso: Which is Better and How Much
If the owner makes a choice in favor of dry food, then it is worth purchasing food that will fully satisfy the pet’s needs. To the question: “Dry food for Cane Corso, which is better?” – the answer is simple. All feeds on the market are divided into classes:
- Economy
- Premium.
- Super-premium.
- Holistic.
Economy class dry food for Cane Corso does not contain vitamins, it is made from cereals and legumes with the addition of food industry waste such as bone meal, vegetable oil, and chicken waste. Colorants, various flavor enhancers, and flavorings are often added to these feeds. How to feed the Cane Corso with such a product without harm is not known.
The premium class is not too different from the economy class, but it does not contain dyes, and the proportion of animal protein is slightly increased. And although animal protein is most often offal or food waste, an adult dog can live on such food for some time. Cane Corso puppies fed by “Pedigree” or “Dog Chow” do not grow well, they have insufficient body weight and dull hair.
What dry food should you feed your Cane Corso to make it shiny? The super-premium feed contains natural meat or fish products, poultry. Corn and legumes are almost completely absent, the composition contains oats, chicken eggs, various supplements for the skeletal system, and probiotics. Many manufacturers produce feed with one type of meat, enriched with fruits and vegetables, plant extracts. Royal Canin or Bosch are well tolerated by dogs of various ages.
What is the best food for the Cane Corso? The holistic class is considered the most perfect of the Cane Corso feeding products. The composition contains only high-quality products, probiotics, complexes of vitamins, and supplements. The composition of each food is balanced and is ideal for every age of the dog. “Akana” or “Innova” can be used by the owner of the Cane Corso throughout the life of the pet since the lines of these products contain foods for different ages and different physical conditions of the dog.
Treats for a Cane Corso Dog: How not to Spoil Your Pet
In the process of training, rewarding for good behavior, and simply wanting to bring joy to the pet, the owner treats the dog with tasty morsels. Absolutely any product can be used as a delicacy for the Cane Corso: a piece of cheese or a crouton. What the dog loves, for which it is ready to fulfill the most difficult and unloved command – everything is considered a delicacy.
In order to please the dog and not spoil him at the same time, tidbits should be given only for the execution of the command.
This will teach the dog that it is not he who manipulates the owners, forcing them to give a treat, but the owners reward him for his work. Let these be the simplest commands “Sit!” or “Come to me!”, but not the command “Give a paw!” or “Voice!” It is easy to train your dog to bark at a piece of cheese; it is much more difficult to silence him when he sees the cheese.
The nutrition of the Cane Corso throughout the life of the dog can and should change, depending on the age of the pet, its state of health, physical activity. The owner’s task is to provide the dog with a complete, balanced menu, excluding low-quality feed and products. Only in this case, the Cane Corso will be a truly healthy and strong representative of the legendary breed.
