11/02/2023
Healthy Diet 🌱
Did you know diet plays a huge part in your dogs health? most dog food companies will promote their dog food as “high quality” but unfortunately majority of the time, this just isn’t true…
For example, let’s look into the very popular Tails.com….
Tails spend a lot of time and money into advertising yet their bog standard wet food comes in at a shocking 44% nutritional value.
Feeding such a low quality food often results in bad health, this can come out in yeast infections (bad ear infections, itchy skin, red armpits & pads, and a bad ye**ty smell!) and diet is often overlooked as a prime suspect.
Feeding your dogs a low quality food can also result in unwanted bad behaviour due to high levels of sugar (bakers being a prime example)
If health issues (also often described as “allergies”) are a constant problem with your dog, unfortunately antibiotics and miracle jabs and gels will only mask these problems for so long before even they no longer can help.
Bakers and Pedigree being just 2 examples of low quality foods out there have also been linked to causing cancer in dogs if fed over a long period of time due to the high levels of artificial taste enhancers and nasty preservatives which are carcinogenic.
I often hear “but my dog likes it!” yes, unfortunately they will do, it’s full of sugar! And just like we would prefer McDonald’s over a Salad, unfortunately McDonald’s every day just isn’t sustainable!
I’d like to just point out for pet owners with dogs with allergies/intolerances… words such as “hypoallergenic” and “sensitive” are not legally defined and the use of these words aren’t under strict regulation, how bad is that?
There is no certification required to use the word…. And there are no regulations or set of tests that pet food brands are obliged to undertake to put it on their labels!
So If you think/know your dog has allergies or an intolerance unfortunately the word “hypoallergenic” on the front of a dog food bag more likely means “less likely to cause a reaction” but it doesn’t always mean it’s suitable to your dog. As a dog can be intolerant to practically any ingredient, this is why it's important to ignore the word 'hypoallergenic' on the packaging and review the ingredients yourself to check if it is suitable for your dog.
This is why it’s so important to feed a high quality diet, you are much less likely to experience any health problems (obviously unfortunately like humans, you can try give a dog a healthy life style but they can still end up with health conditions due to genetics)
I often recommend Raw as the best you can feed but I do understand this isn’t always convenient but there are other alternatives such as Butternut box (beef cooked meat & veg) comes in at 94% NV or you can buy completely natural dry biscuits.
If you feed a good diet and still have problems I highly recommend having allergy testing done professionally at the vets.
Contact allergies also are a thing!
If you want to know the nutritional value in your dogs food just go to allaboutdogfood.com and it’ll tell you all you need to know there 🥰
Really, you want the dog food your feeding to be around 90% and above nutritional value.
Educating yourself will help you provide the best most healthy long life for your pup!
You can always message me for any advise and I’ll try my best to help 🙂
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