Feeding a Mastiff
The food that a mastiff receives along with its genetics will be two of the factors that will most influence its life expectancy. Any breed of dog should receive a good diet, but perhaps this is even more important when we are talking about large or giant dog breeds.
Mastiffs are expensive to buy, breed and keep. Although they do not eat as much as you might think of such a large dog, they do need abundant food, especially when they are in the growth stage and can gain up to 2.5 kg of weight per week. A mastiff can go from consuming 18 kg to 36 kg of feed in a month.
Diet and nutrition of a mastiff
Not all breeds of mastiffs are the same, not all weigh the same or eat the same, but in general we can adapt to generic parameters of dogs of very large breed to know how to feed our mastiff, either a copy of mastiff lions or a Neapolitan mastiff.
How to feed a mastiff?
Mastiffs tend to be relaxed and inactive dogs, so they do not expend much energy. Still, they consume a lot of food because of their size. Growing puppies and young adults will consume more energy than mature adults.
A mastiff requires a diet with good quality food. According to experts in canine nutrition an active adult mastiff weighing around 90 kg requires an intake of approximately 3700 calories daily. Older dogs may need slightly fewer calories, while some dogs may need more calories depending on their activity level and individual metabolism.
Mastiff puppies, being in their growth stage, consume more calories than mature dogs and also than young adult dogs. A young mastiff weighing over 70 kg needs about 3500 calories per day.
It is advisable to measure the amount of food we provide to our mastiff, and that it is only accessible to the ration provided for half an hour. If during this period of time the ration that we have given you has not been finished, it is best to remove the remains. In this way we can prevent the dog from being overweight.
Since mastiffs can be prone to bloating, it is advisable to divide the daily dose of food into a minimum of twice a day. Puppies can usually eat three meals per day until they are old enough to start eating twice like adult mastiffs.