Feeding the Canine

Ever so often we can observe a dog day dreaming about his next meal? Head on paws, eyes wistful and tongue lolling the picture is hard to ignore. But be warned dogs don’t dream about the same food that we do. They don’t wish for tubs of ice cream or bars of chocolate. Dogs need healthy nutritious meals that suit their metabolism.

Home food Vs Prepared food

Dogs are different than Humans!!

While your dog may be a lot like you in many ways, he doesn’t need the same food that you do. In India the dog is now treated like a member of the family. Feeding home-prepared food is largely prevalent because of a variety of factors like, cultural attitudes, economics and lack of information or education on pet nutrition.

Studies world over have proven that many home-prepared diets are deficient, excessive or unbalanced in essential nutrients. Also, there are questions regarding digestibility, safety and palatability of home-cooked food.

Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition conducted a study wherein they evaluated the nutritional adequacy of 25 typical home diets fed to dogs in India. All 25 of the home-prepared diets examined in this study were deficient in at least four essential nutrients. When compared to global recommendations like NRC, all diets were deficient in potassium and vitamin E, 96% were deficient in vitamin D and 80% were deficient in calcium.

Such a meal may also not satisfy life-stage requirements of the dog. For example, Puppies’ not only need significantly more protein than adult dogs like babies (approximately 6 times each day) but also requires highly digestible proteins and energy dense food for optimum growth Feeding prepared pet food like the world’s largest brand Pedigree every day ensures that pets live a longer, happier and healthier life.

Remember that it is not possible to feed the dog a consistent and adequate home-prepared diet without considerable time, effort, and expertise. It is difficult even for an experienced breeder to prepare balanced diet for growing puppies or adult dogs. Pedigree dog food is available for all life stages and lifestyles of dogs.

Veg vs Non-Veg

What a dog needs essentially is complete and balanced diet – he is not a veg or a non-vegetarian – it is the owner’s preference!

A combination of ingredients from plant and/or animal sources is required to meet the requirements of a dog. For example, cereals are rich in some vitamins but lack many nutrients required for a dog or puppy. Meat is rich source of proteins but low in Calcium and Vitamin A.

Likewise Milk is low in iron and Vitamin D. Therefore. It is difficult even for an experienced breeder to prepare balanced diet for puppies or dogs at home. Unless properly formulated by a nutritionist, diets made at home are not likely to be nutritionally complete and balanced.

Dog food today use both plant and animal ingredient sources. Most common source of plant sources includes combination of Soya derivatives, vegetables, corn, wheat and rice. No single ingredient/ source of diet will provide all the nutrients and energy requirement of a dog.

Veterinary nutritionists always ask us to deliver complete and balanced food for any dog at any life stage. Also for pet owners who are strict vegetarians Pedigree has developed a food with pure and best quality vegetarian ingredients!

By: Dr KG Umesh, Waltham Scientific Communication Manager, Mars India