Pet
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What is a Balanced Diet - and are our pets getting one?

Dogs, cats, rabbits and most small animals that we keep as pets need a combination of fats, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and water in a diet to provide the energy requirements and nutrients to meet their daily needs for maintenance of good health, growth, activity, and repair. This is in essence what a balanced diet will try and attain.

A food labelled as 'Complete' and which has been developed in accordance with latest knowledge and good practice should provide a balanced diet, always assuming that the ingredients used are in a form that is easily digestible and in a form available for absorption into the pet’s system (For example, since cellulose and hemicellulose of plant cells cannot be digested in raw form by dogs, food based solely on grains for a source of protein and carbohydrates must be processed in a manner that allows the dog’s digestive system to extract these nutrients.)

For those who like to home cook or feed a BARF type raw diet to their dog or cat, then it gets a little more complicated because of the various combinations of ingredients and quantities. Achieving a balanced diet using these methods can be more difficult.

So what's the problem?

The problem is that we have far too many overweight pets, or pets that are suffering similar lifestyle diseases and ailments to their owners (diabetes, arthritis, food intolerances and the like)

When it comes to feeding a balaned diet the problem is not so much with the food... as with the owner!

Our problem is that we've stopped looking at our pets as animals and started to consider them as four-legged little humans - and we're pampering them.

The pet food companies don't help because they're making big bucks out of persuading you to fork out for treats and supplements for your pet. There's no profit for them if you feed the ocassional human biscuit, a little bit of toast or a raw carrot!

Consider the average dog owner (and I'm guessing that most readers of this article will recognise themselves to a certain extent in this description) but the arguement holds, with slight ammendments, for owners of all small animals. Give yourself a tick if you can answer 'Yes' to any of these points:

1. I feed a good quality branded pet food that is labelled as 'A Complete Food' - I don't actually weigh out the food, but I'm sure I'm not over-feeding.

2. I give the ocassional treat, maybe a hide chew or a little bit of cheese to encourage good behaviour or when training.

3. When we're tidying up after eating, a few scraps might find their way into his dish.

4. At bedtime there's a couple of small biscuits
   
   

OK, hands up who pleads guilty to two or more of the above??

Let's go through those points one by one

1. You feed a complete food, which is good, but you have no idea how much you are feeding, so the chances are that you are probably over-feeding (more likely than under) in which case your pet is getting more fat, protein and carbohydrates than they actually need for healthy active life. If you eat too much you know that your health is less than 100% - the same is true for your pet.

2. Treats - a great profit earner for the pet food companies and pandering to the humanising of our pets (which they encourage). Some treats may be lower in protein and oil than a regular food, but they are still food and feeding them as well as giving a complete food means that you are effectively adjusting upwards the amount of protein, oil and carbs that your pet is eating through the day (unless you feed less main diet to account for this.)

3. Table scraps - often high in fat and salt... need I say more?

4. Bedtime snacks - see Treats above!

   
   

What can we do?

To redress the balance (excuse the pun!) we can do several things:

Firstly, if you are feeding a complete food, choose one that is on the low side for protein and fat - a 'Light' diet will probably do this and there are plenty on the market. Ask your pet shop or the brand owner for a measuring cup that is specific to the food you are feeding (as food density varies between brands)

Secondly, if you are feeding treats why not switch to a more natural alternative. Dogs generally will quite happily eat raw carrot or brocolli stalks. Try to cut out the table scraps unless they are free of salt and not high in fat.

Above all, if you are feeding extras then cut back on the main diet - consider all that you are feeding through the day as your pet's food intake, and adjust accordingly. If you do, then there's les likelyhood that your pet will be overweight or develop easily preventable health problems.

'All things... in moderation'

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