Food for Thought!

I am a huge lover of raw... after seeing the benefits in my own dog and my mums dogs, nothing will sway my mind! having an epileptic dog, I ALWAYS have to make sure I know EXACTLY what he is getting. Additives, rosemary, grains, soy, dairy and certain proteins are a big no-no, so raw for me, is so much easier!

For those of you that don’t like the idea, it’s well worth reading up on good quality dry foods - there are hundreds upon hundreds of different brands out there!! It can all become a bit of a mine-field...

Always look at the ingredients!!

Make sure the protein contents are high and the carbs are low, preferably with no grains!

Avoid grains! Dogs don’t need grains in their diet, it’s normally used as a cheap filler and MOST dogs are intolerant and in fact, ALLERGIC!! This tends to lead to yeast infections of the skin, paws and ears - if your dog keeps getting issues then I would suggest a diet change! It’s worth noting that some dogs are particularly sensitive and also intolerant to poultry for the very reason, that they are grain fed too!

NEVER choose a food that says it contains animal derivatives, this can literally mean anything from all the scraps of meat that decent dog foods and butchers don’t use, or even parts of animals that have been euthanised, even other cats and dogs! not to mention, the side affects of ingesting animal euthanasia drugs over a prolonged period of time - it’s no wonder that dogs are developing cancers and organ diseases.... companies have to label exactly what is in the food, but can use certain words without telling you the truth.

The main ingredients are always the first ones listed, ideally you want a protein first!!

You can now get dehydrated or freeze dried raw food, which is a bit more appeasing for those that think raw is gross! you can also get foods that are slightly cooked as well, and some fairly good kibbles as well. You can also get foods with insects as the main protein - although, I’m not sure how good that will be

It’s worth noting, that with kibble fed dogs, you need to feed more as the nutritional content is much lower due to the intense heating/cooking process for kibble.

For information about the kibble your dog is on, check out this website: https://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/

I will talk about raw feeding in much more detail on another post!