Feeding Your Pet
Feeding your pet properly is important. We recommend you feed your pet once or twice a day in distinct portions.
Do not leave food out all day for your pets. If you do this, you may not know how often or how much your pet is eating. A bad appetite is often the first noticeable sign of illness.
Over-feeding a large breed puppy can lead to problems such as hip dysplasia, and other bone and joint problems. Leaving food out all day contributes to the puppy’s overeating.
An adult or senior diet should be given to pets older than 3-5 years. Senior/adult food has more fiber, which enables adult animals to digest and eliminate more comfortably.
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Guidelines For Feeding Your Cat
Although both canned and dry foods offer a sufficiently balanced diet, we believe that a diet of canned food can have many more benefits for your cat.
These benefits include:
- Cats do not drink as much water as they need.
This puts a strain on their kidneys because there is less water to help the kidneys function. With their kidneys working harder than they should, some cats develop kidney problems when they get older (usually after 9-10 years of age). Kidney disease is the number one cause of death in geriatric cats. By eating canned food, they get higher moisture content in their diet, allowing them to drink less and still maintain healthy kidney function. - Canned food is less irritating to a cat’s
digestive tract.
This may help prevent a condition known as inflammatory bowel disease. Whenever we treat any cat with a debilitating disease we put them on canned food because of its digestibility and more concentrated nutrient density. This means your cat’s tummy works less to get more vitamins in a shorter amount of time. - It's easier to portion.
If a cat is having a weight problem, it is easier to regulate the amount of food they are eating when they are fed pre-measured meals of canned food. - You notice your cat's eating habits.
If a cat stops eating, it is more noticeable if they are eating the same amount of food every day. Lack of appetite is often the first sign that your cat's heath is deteriorating. - Softer tartar.
There has not been a notable difference in the number of dental visits that need to be done on a cat eating canned food. In fact, cats eating canned food have a softer tartar that is easier to remove than the tartar seen on cats eating dry food.
Although canned food may take more time to feed and cost a little more, it will most likely save you on vet bills when your cat gets older.
How Much And What Kind Do I Feed?
- Feed ½ of a 6 oz can twice a day for the average sized cat.
- Buy chicken, turkey, or lamb-based products.
- Stay away from fish entirely as it can cause other health problems in your cat.
- Beef is okay, but some cats have an allergy to beef-based products.
The bottom line is that there is nothing wrong with feeding dry cat food, but we believe that the extra benefits obtained with starting your cat on canned cat food at an early age are well worth the extra expense and time involved. It is never too late, however, to convert an older cat to wet cat food.
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Guidelines for Feeding Your Dog
Dogs do not have the same water-consumption issues as cats. Thus you may feed your dog dry dog food or wet, as you prefer.
We recommend the following brands:
Iams
Eukanuba
Science Diet
Walthams
Authority
These brands use quality ingredients, and have fewer of the minerals and additives that can cause health problems over long periods of time.
Dog Food Flavors
Certain meats and combinations are better for your dog than others.
We recommend the following:
- Chicken and rice
- Turkey and rice
- Lamb and rice
- Vegetables
- Venison and rice
Do not use beef flavors, as these can cause health problems for your dog.
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Changing Pet Food
When you change an animal’s food from one brand to another, the sudden change can shock their systems. A gradual transition from one type of food to the next is best. Mix some new food in with the old over a period of a week.
In the first two days, mix about 25% new brand and 75% old brand. Increase this mix to 50-50 new/old for the 3rd and 4th day, and for the 5th and 6th day, it should be 75% new food, 25% old food. On the last day, you should be able to switch completely to the new food.
If you notice diarrhea or vomiting with the new food, call us to see what the causes may be. Diarrhea and vomiting are always signs of health problems and distress in animals, and indicate an immediate issue that needs to be solved.
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Is My Pet Fat?
Obesity in animals causes as many health problems as obesity in humans does. Animals, however, are not in charge of what they eat. As responsible pet owners, we must take proper care of our animal friends, and help them maintain a healthy weight.
Obese
- Pet weighs 20% more than the ideal body weight for their breed and size.
- You have difficulty feeling their ribs through a thick layer of fat on their side.
- The base of their tail is also thickened by a layer of fat and the bones there are not easily felt.
- From the side, they have no waist, and fat hangs from their abdomen.
- When you look down at the animal, their back is noticeably wide.
- Pet may be short of breath during normal activity, have a bad temper, waddle when walking, and find it difficult to move freely.
Overweight
- Pet weighs 10% more than the ideal body weight for their breed and size.
- You have difficulty feeling their ribs through a moderate layer of fat on their side.
- The base of their tail is also thickened by a layer of fat and the bones there are palpable, but not distinct.
- From the side, they have no abdominal tuck.
- When you look down at the animal, their back is slightly broadened at the waist.
- Pet may be short of breath during moderate activity, have a bad temper, waddle when walking, and find it difficult to move freely.
Ideal
- You can easily feel their ribs through a thin layer of fat on their side.
- The base of their tail has a smooth contour and a slight pad of fat cover.
- From the side, they have an abdominal tuck.
- When you look down at the animal, waist is well proportioned.
Veterinarians suggest half of all pets are considered overweight or obese. Obesity is recognized as the most common form of malnutrition in pets, and may affect more than 25% of all pets in the US.
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Health Risks of Excess Weight Gain
As the pet’s weight increases, so does the risk of health problems such as:
- Arthritis. The extra weight placed on the animal’s bones and muscles causes premature arthritis, and aggravates arthritis in older dogs.
- Ruptured ligaments. The ligaments in the animal are not built to withstand excess weight for long periods of time, and gradually weaken and rupture under weight stress.
- Slipped discs. An especially urgent concern for longer-backed breeds like Daschunds and Corgis, slipped discs in the dog’s back are caused by the weight of their body dragging the pet down and making simple tasks like jumping on the bed or hopping up a curb, risky activities. Cats are likely to jump more often than dogs, and obesity can harm their backs as well. The usual jump up to their favorite windowsill can become a dangerous activity for an overweight cat.
- Diabetes, heart disease and breathing problems. Just as human obesity increases the risks of these very serious conditions, so does animal obesity increase their risks.
- Anesthetic and surgical risks. These risks are a byproduct of the other health problems caused by animal obesity. When an animal is overweight and they need surgery there is a greater risk of complications due to obesity.
Though obesity is a problem for animals, proper management of their diet can reverse and prevent most of these issues.
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How Did My Pet Get Fat?
The four main reasons pets become obese are:
- Too much food / overeating
- The wrong type of food, or low-quality food
- Lack of exercise
- Medical disorders
The specific cause of obesity in your pet should be determined by Dr. Carver, and treated immediately. This could be such a simple act as changing Fluffy’s food, or taking Spot for a walk a few times a week, but the possibility is always there that your pet is suffering from a medical condition, and it is better to be safe than sorry.
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How Do I Keep Their Weight Down?
- Monitor your pet’s food intake. If you are in control of regular portions of their food, they can’t overeat. Also, when an animal is sick, the first sign is often a lack of appetite. If you watch how much your pet eats, you can better monitor their health.
- Don’t feed your pet people food or table scraps. Dogs, especially, love people food, but they don’t understand that what tastes good may be bad for them.
- Give fewer treats. High-calorie treats should be fed every once in a while, not on a regular basis.
- Feed your pet before you eat, to reduce the amount of begging.
- Exercise and play with your pet.
This is good for both their minds and bodies.
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