Pet Health & Diet Basics

What should I feed my pet?

You are what you eat – and the same goes for pets. Everyone would agree that a balanced diet is important. But what does that mean? Maybe that the food contains a sufficient quantity of various essential nutrients to meet the needs of the body. But what if the food has excessive nutrients e.g. too much protein or fat? Is the body able to use the nutrients in the food: i.e. is the food easily digested? Does the food contain substances which are not nutrients e.g. chemical additives or impurities? Does the food suit the animal's system? Many dogs develop intolerance to certain foods.

The pet obesity epidemic shows that many owners are getting things wrong – and under English law it is now a legal duty to ensure your pet is properly fed, too much is as bad as too little.

In a proper balanced diet what goes in equals what comes out. In practice, many pets do not have a balanced diet. In most instances intake is greater than output.

Excess intake can result from

1. overfeeding
2. incorrect proportions of nutrients, for example too much protein or fat in the diet or too many non-nutrients e.g. colourings, chemicals

Decreased output can result from

1. insufficient exercise;
2. a warm environment reducing the amount of energy needed to maintain body temperature
3. the organs of elimination (kidneys, intestines, skin, liver and gall bladder) may become less efficient as they become clogged.

Care should be taken over the type of foods too; in the same way that we do not eat raw chicken for example due to risk of food poisoning, similarly we should not feed it to our pets – they too can suffer the symptoms of food poisoning from bacteria such as Salmonella, E.coli and Campylobacter.

Raw meat and bones have been known to cause health problems in the animals that eat them, especially young, growing animals, as a result of nutritional imbalance.

Bones can be particularly dangerous as they can get lodged in the food pipe, stomach or bowel which can lead to serious complications. They can also cause inflammation of the digestive system and can fracture the animal’s teeth.

Its basically a matter of common sense – and resist the urge to offer too many treats and remember the phrase “killing with kindness”!

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