|
Canine Nutrition,
our experiences.
Dog food, canine
nutrition, they are what they eat is probably one of the most
diverse, confusing and hotly debated subject in the dog world and
the dog owner has to rely on advertising and a minefield of
information available on which to make what can be a critical
decision which can and often does have lifelong consequences for
their dog. That question is, what do I feed my dog?
Over the past
twenty years of having dogs, we have probably tried most of the
foods available and we have arrived at our conclusion based on our
own experiences.
We live in a fast
paced modern world where convenience is now a byword and we expect
things and products to fit around our busy lifestyles. To this end,
dry complete dog foods were manufactured as they can sit in a bag or
bin for two or three months without going off, we can scoop some
into a bowl and plonk it on the floor and shoot off to work. Simple
isn’t it? Have you ever stopped to consider what you are doing to
your dog? That may sound a strange question to ask because you
probably think you are doing the best you can for your dog, given
the information available to you. On what information did you base
your decision regarding what food you would you’re your dog? Was it
information in dog magazines or adverts in magazines and on TV? Were
they adverts placed by manufacturers?
It’s quite
worrying how we believe the manufacturers over our own experiences
and how we are reluctant to try something different other than the
manufactured norm isn’t it?
Ask yourselves
one question next time you put a bowl of dry or soaked kibble down
for your dog. Ask, how does this compare to what my dog was designed
to eat if he were back in a natural environment? Would my dog prefer
dry kibble to fresh food?
Our experiences
with dry complete food, which included losing one of our German
shepherds to gastric torsion as a direct result of feeding dry
complete foods, are broad and involved as we have observed and
learned how each food has affected the trial dogs we used, all of
whom were our own. Our experiences have shown dry complete foods
when fed dry soak up the liquid in the dog’s stomach and swell and
expand to about five times their size. Because they soak up all
available liquid, the dog has to drink a lot more water to replace
the soaked up liquids. Couple the swelling food with the large
amount of water consumed, the stomach has no option to swell and
expand. If this continues over a period of time, the stomach loses
its ability to shrink back to a normal size and flops about. This is
when the risk of torsion is greatly increased as a slack stomach has
a far greater chance of flipping completely over and closing the
entrance to the stomach which then starts to swell with the trapped
gas giving the pronounced bulge in the side of the dog that tell us
our beloved pet is probably going to die, as did my own.
Another down side
of feeding dry complete food is the amount of money you are wasting.
What do I mean? Look at the amount of waste your dog is producing
and that is food your dog is not using and is depositing on you
garden which is money you may as well go and bury in your back
garden. Never mind the amount of clearing up you have to do. Is it
also soft, runny and very smelly? Is it difficult to clear up
properly so you don’t want your kids to play on the garden because
of what they might be playing in? Another factor of soft pooh is
soft pooh does not drain the anal glands as it comes out of the dog
and this can mean extra visits to the vets to have these squeezed. A
lovely job, but if your dogs pooh was firmer, it would do the job
for you and save those extra visits to the vets.
That’s the
physical side of our experiences of feeding dry complete food, what
about the behavioural aspects? You may not be aware that your dog’s
diet can have a direct impact on your dog’s behaviour. Did you know
that? Dry complete foods all contain flavouring, colouring,
preservatives and very high protein levels. Puppy food can have
protein levels of over 30% and this can force growth which can lead
to joint and mobility problems in later life. It can also lead to
hyper activity and increased stress levels all of which can
contribute to your dog having a highly stressed mind, being very
excitable and difficult to train. Increased stress levels can
contribute to destructive behaviour, fouling in the house and even
self harming. The flavouring, colouring and preservatives can also
directly affect stress levels.
These are our own
findings when feeding dry complete foods and needless to say, we do
not feed our own dogs dry complete foods and would always try to
avoid doing so in the future.
During our
research, we found the food we now feed to our dogs. DUCK excellent
complete is completely natural, that means there are no flavourings,
colourings, preservatives or additives. All of the ingredients have
been passed fit for human consumption. It eliminates the risk of
gastric torsion, it reduces waste to the point our dogs pooh once a
day and it is firm so it is easy to clean up and does not smell and
my dogs drink far less water. This food is suitable for all ages of
dog and all breeds of dog. We have found by feeding this food, our
dogs have calmed down, are far more responsive when training, they
don’t have bad breath or bad teeth, the food is eaten in seconds and
they have lovely trim stomachs, all of which should mean they will
be with me well into a ripe old age, which is exactly what I want.
If you would like your dog to try DUCK excellent complete call 01530
242209 or email
information@K9consultants.co.uk
|
