21/11/2022
A quickie on guilt …
At the moment huge numbers of people in the UK and likes elsewhere are struggling financially. It is great how much owners care about feeding their dog, but for those who can’t, it’s important to stop the guilt.
Right now the most important thing is that your dog is fed, and that the food provides what they need. This means raw, cooked, kibble, tins - any kind of food. Do not feel bad. What is most important right now is that everyone can pay their bills, and that dogs are fed.
Tips:
- If coasting a pet shop aisle - whatever the kind of food look for the word ‘complete’.
Complete means that it is likely to contain the nutrients your dog needs. Let’s step away from our more subtle pros and cons lists on supplement types and processing on this just now. If you need food to be cheap, any *complete* is GOOD ENOUGH for now.
I’ve had pets in the vets that have been eating just mixer biscuit (not remotely balanced) for months and months … this is different and it is genuinely dangerous feed only a mixer type product. It may result in vet visits that cost far more than the food saved…
- You CAN feed part raw part kibble - it does not have to be all or nothing. If you need to save some money but still want to use part raw or home cooked - you can. This is what I am doing right now.
- DO take care with cheap raw completes… many are made with very cheap boney fatty cuts. Good raw completes can be excellent, but dirt cheap ones may actually be a hazard. Personally I would prefer a balanced kibble to a cheap boney fatty raw complete… (there are more of these than you’d think….)
- You CAN feed leftovers if you avoid toxic, high fat and processed foods - avoid all onion family, processed sausages etc, and check gravy! Most gravy contains onions salt and often MSG. Unbalanced leftovers should ideally not make up more than 10% of overall intake and you should be most careful about balance in growing dogs
I have had some financially dire times in the past where my dogs ate the cheapest kibble I could find alongside leftovers and eggs - because - for me - it was better to keep my dogs and keep them fed than to panic about not being able to afford fresh food at that moment. They are fine, I’m fine.
Most importantly right now - do not feel guilty, and for those who are still lucky enough to be financially able to feed good quality fresh food please try hard not to make others feel bad if they can’t. The raw feeding world is sometimes a very vocal one and conversations can get pretty heated on social media - I hope that some of the raw vet followers can be the voice of reason elsewhere and help those struggling to feel supported and not judged.
Hope everyone is doing ok.
