What do you feed you dog? How do you play with your cat? What do you do to keep your pet warm? Do you like them to look stylish?
Firstly, if you want to spoil them, head over to Pet & Country, they have the cutest things! Take a peek!
Now lets talk about food…Lily’s kitchen is a very popular food brand with my clients so I thought I’d give their website a good read. They use proper, fresh meat and natural,balanced recipes and they claim their food is responsibly sourced. This last point is important to me as a vet. Why should I only care about where I source the meat I eat from and not where my pet’s meat comes from, it’s all meat, no?
This should then make you think, why should I only think about whether I’ve had my ‘5 a day’ and not whether my pet has had theirs? Surely you think about your child’s nutrition? In the long run, if I eat my veggies and cut out as much processed food as I can, it will do me wonders no? So, in the long run, our pets will do better if they eat well. This may also prevent future ailments like obesity, and following on from that, possible diabetes and osteoarthritis. Surely, this means less time at the vets…..spending lots of money. Think about it for me!
So, many people feed their pets some of their own food. Now this is how we get fat pets! Calories do not equate like for us. So many times a day in the clinic I hear “he only has a little bit”, and my reply is always “that will do it”. One crisp for a cat is like eating three cookies for us and people do not realise this. If you give your pet a good quality, complete diet, then no matter how many times he/she stares at you with huge, sad eyes, please ignore them! I know it’s so much easier said than done but remember, it’s cruel to be kind!
The pet food brands I know most about are the brands my clinic stocks – Royal Canin and Hills. I know this seems like a sales ploy when I say it to clients but, I do know more about them AND I feed my own cats Royal Canin, so I will always reccomend them.
I dislike pet food brands that put cereal and lots of vegetables in to cat food – these guys are obligate carnivores which means meat, meat and more meat. They do not need the added extras. Check the ingredients. They do however, need Taurine. This is an amino acid they cannot produce themselves so they need it added to their food. Without enough, we as vets, see serious health reprocussions such as blindess and heart failure. As long as your cat is on a complete food the taurine level should be adequate. Ask your vet 🙂
Before I go, I have a little present for you from Lily’s Kitchen. Use the code FISHTREAT when you spend £20 or more with them, to receieve a free gift! You can find Lily’s kitchen here 🙂 Lily’s are not expensive and their packaging is delightful!
Pet and country also stock a few brands that sound delicious, if I do say so myself. Greenhill farm have a grain free dog food that is made up of trout, salmon, sweet potao and asparagus, yum! They also have Taste of the Wild ( great name), which include prebiotics and probiotics, for gut health and venison with garbanzo beans, delish!
We are a nation of animals lovers so lets treat them!
Kelly
The vogue vet
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The Vogue Vet 