Pets Corner

New Year: New Pet Diet

Pets Corner with Leonie St Clair | www.londondogstraining.co.uk

Most of us face 2021 with a host of resolutions in mind, a number probably involving a note to self about calorific intake and pursuit of moderation in all things. I suggest adding another line to that fridge magnet list - and take a good look at your pet’s diet, because there is more than a grain of truth in the adage, ‘you are what you eat’. Obesity, diabetes, gut and pancreatic disease are all increasingly afflictions of the modern pet, and diet is thought to be a major factor. As a behaviourist, I see hyper dogs and vicious cats morph into sweet biddable pets overnight, once a change in diet has been made. Let’s be clear, cats are obligate carnivores, they need to eat meat. Not any old meat, but fresh, as close to live and kicking as possible. Look inside your cat’s mouth, these are teeth for piercing and tearing, not for grinding vegetables. In the wild cats would eat some carbohydrate from the undigested stomach contents of prey, but this would account for around 5% of their diet, not the 30% that is the norm in many packaged cat biscuits. Some proprietary cat foods are excellent, they still have the lupine short gut, and dentition, but it is wise to check the label on the packaging. of the meat eater. So, if morphology is anything to

Ground up bits of animal and fish do not count. go by, dogs have developed to digest starch if need

Beaks, feathers and trotters may all get thrown into be, but overall are designed to consume flesh. that category and will be called meat and animal The convenience of kibble, together with derivatives. Sure, the animal attached to those clever marketing, persuades many of us that we body parts may have been passed fit for human are feeding our pets a quality diet. There is no consumption, but when did you last eat beaks on doubt that our infinitely adaptable canine chums a regular basis? may appear to thrive on kibble but, as one eminent There is no such thing as a vegetarian cat, Vet explained to me, it is like feeding your kids so why do we consider it okay to feed cats a main chips with everything! diet of biscuits? Plant protein concentrates and Just take a look at your cat, is he getting various types of grain or sugar beet are routinely fat despite eating very little? Is your pooch itchy, used as biscuit bulking agents. These may raise flatulent, irritable, edgy and unpredictable? Diet the overall protein content of the product, but is it may be the culprit. A healthy pet has well formed, the sort of protein a cat was ever made to digest firm to hard stools; anything less should prompt on a regular basis? No, is the answer. The quality of dietary investigation and a visit to the vet. protein will always trump quantity. All those extra, As responsible pet owners we have the unnecessary carbs simply get turned into fat, and opportunity to make informed choices for our pets, we wonder why our cat is getting porky? it doesn’t have to be hard - you just have to know Our dogs fare no better. Unlike their wolf where to look and how to read the labels. Do some ancestors, they are opportunistic scavengers, not research and discover the high quality options pure carnivores, and have evolved enzymes to available. A place to start is: digest carbohydrate in a way wolves cannot, but http://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/

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