Most people know that feeding high amounts of processed/junk food to your children or yourself is unhealthy and can lead to a variety of problems, from constipation to skin conditions, limp hair and weak nails to kidney infections and even bowel cancer… But not so many of us know that this is exactly what we are subjecting our pets to with the food we give them day in day out.
Scan the pet food aisle at your local supermarket and you are likely to find food bulked out with cheap cereals, and meat ‘derivatives’, even E numbers. Did you know that a food only has to contain a minimum of 4% Chicken to be able to call itself Chicken Flavour, or Lamb or Beef ? This means that it can contain 96% of whatever else it likes and as long as it has a minimum of 4% of the said flavour it can be classed as that flavour!
This amongst other things will lead to huge changes in the proportion of ‘everything else’ per batch made up – thus one day your pet may be constipated, another he may be loose, another he may not even want to eat his food – although your brand of pet food has not changed, the constitution of it has changed hugely.
Even if you go to the large pet stores and scour their aisles you will still find it difficult, even in the ‘healthy section’, to find something that is truly good for your pet – many top brand ‘healthy’ pet foods still only contain less than 30% meat!
Dogs and cats are natural carnivores, left wild they will hunt for meat to survive, not head to the nearest corn field…
Feeding the wrong type of diet for your pet can lead to dental, bladder, joint and skin problems and can drastically shorten their life – leading to increased trips to the vets with all associated costs, not to mention the inevitable heartache for the family.
Holistic vet Chris Day MRCVS advises on his information-only site www.naturalfeeding.co.uk that ‘although dogs can eat bread, they would not normally encounter grain starch in the wild… similarly potatoes, rice, porridge and wheat can be fed in MODERATION to a VERY ACTIVE dog, unless the dog has a weight problem.
NB – removing grain starch entirely from a dogs diet WILL NOT bring a nutritional penalty and may be to your dogs advantage!’ So why are the majority of main stream brands listing cereals as their largest ingredient? Well according to Chris Day – ‘such foods do not serve health and well being so much as commercial interest and profit.’
Choosing to feed your pet a true high quality food consisting of mainly meat, then filled out with fruits, vegetables and oils can initially seem expensive, however it must be remembered that given the quality of these foods much less can be fed to maintain a healthy weight, plus these high quality foods naturally keep teeth clean and strong, digestion in top working order, and skin and coats healthy and glowing. Expensive vet trips will be fewer and further between and your family and pets will thank you for it!
*Here is another great article ‘Should We Feed Our Dogs Cheap Dog Food?’ which you may be interested to read..
Visit Comets Corners online pet accessories store for everything you need for your precious pets.. A minimum of 10% of every purchase is donated to our publicly-nominated animal welfare ‘Charity of the Month’ – for more details see the ‘Charity Watch’ page on our website.
Related articles
- Does Your Pet Food Glow In The Dark? (animalslikeusblog.wordpress.com)
- The Best Pet Food for Your Pet – PetCareRX (petcarerx.com)
- Myths About Corn & Meat By-Products in Dog and Cat Food (neartownvet.wordpress.com)
- The vast majority of commercially available low-fat pet foods on the market, and that includes the prescription and therapeutic diets sold by veterinary clinics, as well as vegetarian and vegan formulas are nutritionally inadeuate or dogs needs. (familysurvivalprotocol.com)
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