Healthy Low-Fat Diets for Dogs With Special Dietary Needs

Low-Fat Commercial Dog Foods

• An ideal low-fat diet for dogs must first and foremost contain quality ingredients. A dog with health problems does not benefit from consuming a low-fat food that is not healthful overall. Some "diet," "reduced calorie" or "weight management" dog foods are lower in fat and calories only because the manufacturer has added fillers with no nutritional value. One popular brand uses ground peanut hulls in its formula designed for overweight dogs. Too many fillers can lead to digestive upsets, frequent elimination and overall poor health.

  Commercial dog foods that are both low fat and nutritious may be purchased from several premium and super-premium pet food manufacturers. Innova Evo Low Fat dog food has only 7.9 percent fat, yet the first two ingredients are both healthful meats. Blue Buffalo Weight Management formula has a mere 6.0 percent fat, with deboned chicken as the first ingredient. Wellness Core Reduced Fat dog food is 9 to 10 percent fat but is grain free, making it a good choice for dogs that have food sensitivities. Each of these three formulas is manufactured with high-quality ingredients and without the use of filler ingredients like corn, wheat and soy. The Blue Buffalo food does contain barley, however, and both Innova and Blue Buffalo use rice in their low-fat formulas.

Low-Fat, Home-Cooked Dog Food

• Before attempting to make a low-fat, home-cooked diet for your dog, talk to a veterinarian with special education or experience in pet nutrition, or to a pet dietitian. Read about the nutritional needs of dogs. Many home-cooked pet food recipes are available online, but not all are nutritionally complete. You will need to make choices about which supplements to use and calculate how much of each to give your dog based on its weight and needs.

  Once you've researched this diet adequately, you can reduce the fat content of a home-cooked diet by including plenty of healthful cooked vegetables and some ancient grains. So long as you make certain that you're not short-changing your dog on necessary vitamins, minerals and enzymes, you can reduce the recommended portion of meat slightly and replace it with cooked green beans, broccoli, pumpkin, quinoa, zucchini or squash.

Low-Fat Raw Diets for Dogs

• Raw food diets for dogs are slightly less complex than home-cooked diets, but require the same planning and research prior to moving away from commercial foods. Take time to learn which organs, meats and bones your dog will need in order to stay healthy. Make sure that these ingredients are available to you. Some recommended items, such as beef spleen, may need to be ordered online. Talk to a raw diet-friendly veterinarian or pet dietitian before making your decision.

  If you have done your homework and wish to feed a raw diet to your dog, its fat content may be reduced by concentrating on lean meats and removing excessive fat. Choose meats like elk, venison, buffalo, ostrich and lean cuts of chicken and turkey. Trim obvious fat from red meat and remove the skin from poultry before feeding. Remember, your dog does need some fat in order to stay healthy and keep his skin and coat in good condition. Some raw meats, such as elk, contain so little fat that you might need to occasionally feed skin-on chicken or turkey breasts to make sure that your dog consumes enough fat.