Nutrition and Diet

Nutrition is the most argued about and most misunderstood subject in cat and dog health. The right food is not the most expensive one; it is the one that matches this animal’s age, weight, activity level and any condition it has.

Feeding by life stage

Young, adult and older animals have different requirements. Growth foods carry more concentrated energy and protein; keeping an adult on kitten or puppy food leads to weight gain. In large breed puppies the balance of calcium and energy matters particularly, because overfeeding disrupts joint development.

Cats are obligate carnivores. Dog food cannot be given to a cat: cats must take in substances such as taurine ready made, because they cannot produce them, and a deficiency causes permanent damage to the heart muscle and the eyes.

Weight management

Excess weight sets up joint disease, diabetes and liver problems in cats and dogs. Weight is assessed not by the scale alone but by body condition score: whether the ribs can be felt through the skin, and whether the waist tucks in when seen from above.

A weight loss plan must be slow. In cats particularly, rapid weight loss causes hepatic lipidosis, and that condition can be fatal.

Prescription diets

In some conditions food is as much a part of treatment as medication. Adjusted phosphorus and protein in kidney failure, controlled urine acidity in urinary stones, highly digestible ingredients in chronic diarrhoea, hydrolysed protein in food allergy.

These foods are started after veterinary assessment and changed according to progress. A prescription diet given for the wrong condition does not help, and in some cases does harm.

What not to give

Onion and garlic, chocolate, grapes and raisins, caffeine, alcohol, anything containing xylitol, and bone fragments. Xylitol crashes blood sugar and destroys the liver in dogs at very small doses; it is found in sugar free gum and some diet products.