WHAT should I feed my pet? We get this question at the shelter all the time and would like to take a few minutes to discuss diet in dogs and cats.
Proper nutrition is a vital part of your pet’s overall health. In contrast, inadequate nutrition and feeding can lead to a number of problems.
One common example is a condition known as “Rickets” which is a disease that affects the development of long bones of growing animals causing bone pain (limping), swelling or bowing of the and increased risk of broken bones. The disease is associated with dietary inadequacies of phosphorus, calcium or Vitamin D and is most common in animals that are fed an all-meat diet.
In a perfect world, all dogs and cats would be fed a commercially available canned or dry (biscuit) diet that is certified by AAFCO (an organisation that conducts studies to evaluate the nutritional value of cat and dog foods) to be nutritionally complete and balanced. Unfortunately in Fiji, such diets are not readily available, especially for puppies and kittens. For many owners, home-cooked diets are considered to be the only viable option.
When feeding a home-made diet, it is very important to ensure that the diet is balanced and safe for your pet. Although for many households, dogs and cats are considered to be a part of the family, it is extremely important to realise that in terms of nutrition, cats and dogs are not small humans. Human foods such as grapes, raisins, garlic, onion, chocolate, macadamia nuts, gum containing xylitol) are highly toxic to dogs and cats and ingestion of even small amounts can be potentially life-threatening.
Although not as severely toxic, other human foods, such as cow’s milk and other dairy products are also not recommended as most pets lack the enzyme that breaks down lactose within the milk, making them lactose-intolerant.
To this end, in addition to being a completely unbalanced diet, feeding dogs milk and bread as a diet is strongly discouraged.
Feeding bones is also not recommended, as they can become lodged in the mouth, esophagus or intestinal tract, or can result in broken teeth.
Feeding tuna and tinned fish, although it is a common diet for cats can lead to thiamine deficiency, inflammation of the fatty tissues, bleeding disorders, and lower urinary tract disease.
Most veterinary nutritionists suggest that canned tuna and other similar dietary components should not constitute more than 10 per cent of your cat’s normal diet.
In the wild, the natural diets of cats and dogs allow them to take in all of the essential nutrients including amino acids, whereas when dogs and cats are fed a home-made diet, special considerations must be made to ensure all of their nutritional needs are met.
Aside from potential toxicities from human food ingredients, human diets generally lack many of the essential nutrients (nutrients that must be taken up in the diet as they cannot be made by the body) required by dogs and cats, particularly amino acids. This is especially true for cats which are obligate carnivores – meaning that they require an animal protein source and must eat meat in order to survive.
While humans only require nine essential amino acids, dogs require 10 and cats require 11. For example, inadequate intake of these essential amino acids can lead to severe, and potentially life-threatening consequences. In cats, inadequate dietary taurine levels have been associated with retinal degeneration and dilated cardiomyopathy and deficiencies in arginine may result in life-threatening ammonia toxicity.
Long story short, the dietary requirements of our four-legged family members are a much more complex topic than many people realise — some veterinarians even specialise in nutrition. In our next article, we will try to help you to determine an appropriate home-made diet for your pet.
