Nutrition Information
We are always happy to make recommendations for maintaining your pet's health and fitness. We will prescribe foods and supplements best suited to their breed and lifestyle, and appropriate diets to manage special medical conditions. We are also happy to formulate specific, well balanced, homemade diets tailored to your pet's daily life.
Nutritional Information From Dr. Baldwin:
Vitamins/Minerals- A well formulated diet contains all the essential vitamins and minerals needed for the average dog in appropriate quantity. The quality of the vitamins and minerals is also paramount. Poor quality vitamins and minerals do not help the patient and can cause harm by "competing" with other vitamins and minerals making a poorly balanced diet.
Trace Minerals- Trace minerals are only present in high quality diets. Trace minerals are imperative for properly functioning muscles, skin, nervous system (brain), and good heart function. One of the most important things that trace minerals complement is the immune system. A well balanced trace mineral supplement or food can actually bolster the patients immune system.
Economics of Quality Foods- Contrary to popular belief, cheap foods are not cheap. On a per day feeding, they cost up to 50% more than a high quality food. In the early 90's, Hills and Iams performed a comparision and found that the most expensive dog food to feed on a per day feeding was Ol'Roy. On top of needing to feed more of a cheap food per day for maintenance, the vitamin and mineral content does not meet the standards that are needed per day. It is cheaper per day to feed the proper amount of a high quality food; the initial "sticker shock" is the biggest hurdle.
Always feed "In the Family" (wet and dry)- If a client wants to feed a wet and dry food, it is imperative that they feed the same brand. This is because every brand has a different vitamin/mineral formulation and combining different brands erractically alters the vitamin and minerals taken in by the patient.
Finding the Correct Brand- Poor stool, hair coat, and excessive flatulence are all signs of the incorrect diet for the individual. Just because it is a good food does not make it a good food diet for the individual. It is best to feed a food for a month and then determine if any of these signs appear before determining if it is the right food for the patient. It may take 2-4 foods being tried before finding the right food. There is no right food, just wrong foods.
Feed Amount- For the average patient, the ideal amount of food to feed (high quality food) is 1 cup per 20 lb. of animal per day. This really should be fed in at least 2 meals to improve digestion and metabolism. For example: a 10 lb dog should be fed 1/4 cup of food twice daily. Remember this is only an average. Atlas gets 3/4 cup of food twice a day and D.D. gets 1 cup twice a day. Atlas is 80 lbs. and is eating for a 30 lb dog while D.D. is 20 lbs and is eating for a 40 lb dog. Atlas is chunky and D.D. is skinny.
Cats- Based on genetics/evolution and metabolism, cats should be fed a diet high in high quality protein and fat and low in grains/carbohydrates. This type of food most resembles mice. If fed this type of diet, cats have a greatly reduced incidence of Diabetes, Urinary problems, Pancreatitis, and Heart Disease. The perfect diet would be a pelleted form of mouse slurry.
The Complete Carnivore- An indepth article on cat nutrition.
Pet Obesity:
An estimated 45 percent of all U.S. pets are overweight or obese, according to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention. While the best treatment is prevention, it's never too late to help your pet stay in better shape.
For more information please read this article on Pet Obesity.