Nutrition
In recent years, nutrition has become an independent discipline in veterinary medicine. The most recent studies show that, as in humans, a balanced diet plays an essential role in the health of your companion. We will guide you in choosing the most suitable food for your animal. Indeed, age, lifestyle, sexual status, certain illnesses, periods of convalescence or possible food intolerances represent all different situations requiring a specific nutritional prescription.
Consultation nutrition
Your veterinarian will answer all your questions and provide you with all the information necessary for a reasonable nutritional prescription for your pet.
Croquettes? Homemade recipe? BARF? The pros and cons ? The food best suited to your companion but also your budget.
Each consultation can be an opportunity to assess their needs and advise you on the best possible diet to ensure a long and peaceful life. It is therefore with your veterinarian that you can define a complete nutrition plan.
She can also prepare recipes for a complete and balanced ration if you wish to cook your furry friend's meals yourself.
Industrial food: Croquette and pâtés.
Industrial power supplies have been heavily criticized in recent years but they are very practical and above all complete. In the composition of the kibble, all the nutrients are carefully calculated so that your pet has everything it needs on a daily basis. Do cats eat humus or kibble? The cat's eating behavior is to eat small whole prey all day long. Normally, cats hydrate very little because they hydrate with the fluids of the prey they eat. For our cats, therefore, in principle, a wet diet is more appropriate, except that our dear friends do not always agree. The most important point is that your cat eats, so if your cat only wants to eat kibble and refuses all wet food, don't starve it. A good water bowl or water fountains (cats like flowing water). How to choose your kibble. The trickiest question here because with the large choice of kibble it is difficult to choose and know which is the best kibble for your pet. A good diet for your animal is a diet that it likes, that you like, with which your animal does not have gastrointestinal problems (flatulence, diarrhea or loose stools, or health problems) and which also respects your budget. The steps for choosing your kibble: Age: A puppy does not have the same needs as an adult, a senior animal must have a suitable diet to avoid gaining weight. The category: respect the physiological state of your animal; That is to say growing, adult, sterilized or even sporty. Breed: Particularly in puppies, a Yorkie and a Great Dane do not have the same growth (therefore the same needs) and the size of the kibble is adapted to their mouth. Taste: Animals also have taste buds and preferences. Once you have gathered all the information you can choose the brand. But when you arrive at the store you are lost in front of so many choices. The choice of brand What do you think of natural kibble? A natural substance is a substance which has not undergone any modification since nature, except the kibbles come from industrial manufacturing with an extruder and a mixture of several substances (Source of proteins, starch, vitamin supplement etc.). ) Ethically the natural appellation cannot therefore be applied to kibbles, it is a marketing argument. What to think about a grain-free diet? Dogs and cats have been consuming cereals since the development of agriculture, therefore for around 10,000 years. The first kibbles appeared during the 1970s and contained cereals. For several years, the grain-free phenomenon has been widely discussed as a much better diet for our companions without any proof of this. Grain-free means hypo-allergenic? No, hypo-allergenic foods are very special diets, formulated by specialized veterinarians and subject to prescription. Online you will find a lot of information incriminating cereals in many pathologies, in particular allergies without established scientific proof. The main allergens in dogs are: Beef (34%), dairy products (17%), chicken (15%), lamb (14.5%) and wheat (13%). In cats: beef (18%), fish (17%), chicken (5%), wheat, corn and dairy products (4%), lamb (3%) (Mueller, Olivry , and Prélaud 2016). As you can see, protein sources are much more allergenic than cereals. The brands to avoid are those that make too many promises, reduce the number of veterinary consultations, hypo-allergenic (without scientific studies to prove it), improve your hair, etc. Our recommendations: a food manufactured by a reputable company and well-known for a long time and containing classic ingredients (chicken, beef, rice, corn, wheat) without the addition of strange substances (blueberries, chlorophyll, liquorice, etc.) The important thing is to find the food that will suit your animal, and a brand may very well suit him without suiting his roommate because each metabolism is different.
Homemade food
Household recipe
These are home-cooked meals. They are generally well accepted by the dog who tends to be interested in everything we eat.
However, to be balanced, a household ration must include a calculated supplementation of minerals, vitamins and unsaturated fatty acids.
The advantages of this diet:
- Appetizing: it depends on each animal but a homemade diet is generally more appreciated by our furry friends. Food control: You control the composition of your animal's diet. Better budget management: By choosing the foods you have the best budget control. Complete food supply: subject to being well calculated.
Inconvenient :
- Logistics and important organization: You need to allow time to cook, follow recipes and have storage space. Very dangerous if poorly balanced: A household recipe cannot be improvised. The 1/3 of starch, vegetable and meat is an urban legend. A poor diet can cause significant pathologies. Larger budget than for an industrial diet.
BARF
BARF is a diet based on raw meat
The advantages of this diet:
- Appetizing: it depends on each animal but a BARF diet is generally very appreciated by our furry friends. Food control: You control the composition of your pet's diet. Complete diet: subject to calculation by a professional.
Inconvenient :
- Very important logistics and organization: You need to allow time to compose the dishes, follow the recipes scrupulously and have enough storage space. Disastrous if poorly balanced: A BARF diet that is poorly balanced or improvised can be disastrous in terms of your child's health. animal especially during growth period. Large budget because it is essentially composed of meat and therefore much more expensive than industrial food. Health risk: Important according to studies, raw food is much more contaminated. Here find the scientific article.
Mixed recipe
The mixed recipe is a good alternative because it is very practical.
It consists of cooking small dishes and mixing the ration with the kibble that you give it.
This practice has many advantages, the food is more palatable, you have to cook smaller quantities and if you forget to cook, simply give kibble to which your dog is accustomed.
However, it is not a question of mixing kibble and other foods, to have balanced rations you must calculate the rations carefully.
Power supply comparison table
| Food | Price | Cuisine | Appetite | Difficulty | Health risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Croquettes | Low to moderate | None | Weak | Weak | |
| Household Ration | expensive | High | Moderate | Moderate | |
| BARF | Very expensive | High | High | High | |
| Mixed | Moderate | Moderate | Low to moderate | Weak |
