With so many brands and types of dog food available it can be very difficult to know what is best. The nutritional needs of your dog have evolved in the natural or wild environment, so when feeding you must provide everything that would be found in the natural diet.

Dogs in the wild eat the entire body of their prey including skin, bones, muscle and intestinal contents, so it is not surprising that meat alone (muscle) doesn’t provide everything for your dog.

Additionally, a dog's dietary requirements change depending on its stage of life, activity level and physiological state. For instance, a growing puppy requires high levels of many nutrients, like protein, to develop strong bones and muscles. Older dogs do not require nearly as much protein, in fact high-protein diets can over-tax body organs such as the kidneys and actually shorten the dog's life.

Home-Prepared Diets

Can be very palatable depending on the ingredients used, but are often lack some nutritional elements. Dietary imbalances can result in many health problems, including bone disease, poor skin and coat condition and intestinal disorders.

Supermarket Dog Foods

Usually provide your dog’s basic nutritional needs but make use of cheaper ingredients such as cereals, offal and soybean products, resulting in reduced palatability and digestibility, flatulence and a larger volume of stools with more odour. The balance of fatty acids, vital for a healthy skin and coat, is not optimal.

Veterinarian Recommended Products

Quality pet foods are available from veterinary clinics and some pet food stores. They are available in formulations to suit dogs of all sizes, ages and activity levels in both tinned and dried varieties.

Why choose high quality products?

Veterinarian Recommended Products have a variety of nutritional benefits for your dog such as:-

• Containing high grade quality protein that is of a high biological value and are particularly important for a healthy skin and coat, and to help control inflammation and itching due to allergies.
• Highly digestible diets, resulting in a smaller volume of stools with less smell, especially important with recent concerns regarding environmental contamination with canine faeces.
• Optimal fibre level. Too much dietary fibre results in reduced digestibility and interferes with the absorption of other good nutrients.
• Are available in special formulations that provide therapeutic nutrition for pets with specific diseases and disorders.
• They are highly palatable which means less waste through uneaten food.

Do they cost more?

Your first impression may be that these premium diets are expensive compared with supermarket brands. However, because of their high digestibility and high caloric density, your dog needs less of these foods to meet its nutritional needs.

When this is taken into consideration and a cost per day is calculated, they compare favourably, especially when the quality of the ingredients and the consequent benefits listed previously are considered.

Keeping teeth clean and healthy

We recommend that all dogs be fed raw meaty BONES once or twice weekly to keep teeth and gums healthy. Dogs should be given bones appropriate to their size. For example brisket bones for small dogs and large marrowbones for large dogs.

They should not be given chop bones or any bone small enough to lodge in the mouth or throat and must never be given cooked bones which may splinter and cause injury.

How much should I feed my dog?

Different brands of pet food recommend different amounts of food depending on the size, age and energy requirements of your dog. The instructions provided on the packaging of food should give you an indication of the amount you should serve.

We also recommend that you speak with one of our nutritional experts who can advise the right type and amount of food for your friend. We encourage you to discuss your concerns with us, particularly if you are worried about weight loss/gain or feeding a new puppy.

What about milk?

Some dogs can find it hard to digest cow’s milk as they may lack the enzyme lactase to digest the milk-sugar lactose and this causes diarrhoea. Be cautious when feeding your dog milk.

And Water?

Don’t forget to provide free access to fresh water at all times. A dog can become very ill with fatal consequences from dehydration if access is denied.