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Feeding Your Pet The Right Way
What can I feed my pet?
The formula of choice depends on your pet's age, breed, optimum body weight, health status and amount of activity.
As a rule, puppies/kittens should be fed 3-4 times a day, while adults should receive two meals a day. Amount of food given greatly depends on formula/brand you are feeding your pet, because every brand of food is of a different concentration/density.
What is the best diet available?
The best veterinary diet is not the one that is the most expensive or one that is advertised the most. It is the one that is well balanced and contains all necessary components in the right proportions. Common mistake most clients make is when they try to compare the costs of food A to food B. Bearing in mind, if brand A is of good quality and well balanced, one bag of it will last you much longer than the bag of brand B that is of inferior quality.
What is the difference between dry and tinned food?
It is it's moisture content. It is obvious that tinned food contains more water/moisture than pellets. Quality wise, two forms should be the same if they belong to same brand. However, pets fed on tinned food only are at higher risk of developing teeth associated problems.
Feeding from the table?
This is the common mistake most owners make and it should be discouraged from the start. Human diet may well be more palatable than pet's food, but it can never provide or replace balanced nutrients your pet needs. Also, feeding bones, even if they are cooked or big enough not to cause danger of being swallowed, should be strongly discouraged. The reason being that bones are more tough than their teeth are and, over time, can cause damage to the protective enamel surfaces - and therefore predispose them to tartar formation and periodontal disease.
What about special diets?
Special or prescription diets are those designed for special clinical conditions/problems, like kidney , heart or liver problems. They can only be prescribed by prior consultation with your veterinarian. However, another group of diets are those formulated for conditions that are not disease related such as: hair ball formulas to prevent hair ball formation, or specially designed shape of pellets to help certain breeds, like Persians to handle the food with more ease.
Bedfordview Veterinary Hospital stocks most of the recommended diets, such as: Hills Science Diet, Royal Canin, Vets Choice, SVD, Olympic, Pedigree/Whiskas, Eukanuba/Iams. Please ask your professional veterinary team for more info.