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Adult Nutrition
How do you know what is a good food for your pet? A good food is one that provides all the know required nutrients in a serving size that satisfies hunger and energy requirements and is made from quality ingredients you feel comfortable feeding to your pet. Most pet food are "complete and balanced" with 100% of daily required nutrients of you feed the recommended serving size. The problem is that the serving size is based on the energy needs of average dogs and cats. Most of our pets are above or below this average. If you are feeding less than the pet foods recommenced serving size, the diet may be deficient in protein or other nutrients. It is important to evaluate how well your pet's food fits his needs.
Energy
The way to determine your pet's energy needs is to evaluate his body condition. Too much body fat means he is eating too much, too little body fat may mean that too little food is being eaten. When we look at how much you are currently feeding and at graphs of acceptable ranges, we can arrive at an estimate of your pet's energy needs.
Protein
Although there is a great variety in individual energy needs, protein needs are uniform. Our goal for a healthy dog is between 3-5 grams of protein per kilogram. For cats there should be 5-7 grams of protein per kilogram. Sometimes medical conditions require us to change this goal. After getting the 'typical analysis" of the food you are feeding, we can calculate how much protein your pet is getting.
Other Nutrients
Most pet foods are properly balanced if fed at the recommended levels. It is beyond simple calculation to assess the levels of these nutrients. As long as we feed within 70% of the recommended serving size, these nutrients are usually in acceptable levels. In some situation, we may recommend a supplement to ensure proper levels.
Serving Size Must Satisfy
No matter how well you measure out the required feeding amounts, dogs and cats have a way of supplementing by begging, eating garbage, or catching vermin. If the daily serving size does not satisfy, many problems can occur. We may need to recommend switching to a lower calorie food to allow for those pets with large appetites.
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