Pets with good body condition experience fewer diseases and live longer, more comfortable lives. We can help you achieve an ideal weight for your pet with individualized diet and exercise plans.
We can advise you on the ideal weight for your pet. Generally, both dogs and cats should have a slight waist behind the ribs when viewed from above. If you see jiggling when walking, your pet is probably overweight.
Dietary Needs
You are what you eat! A lower quality food can predispose your pet to problems like obesity, itchiness, skin infections, vomiting and diarrhea. With many of the low quality foods, you will tend to feed more kibble than you would with a higher quality food. This is because your pet cannot digest the nutrition available in the lower quality foods. Many low quality foods have the same listed ingredients as higher quality ones, but they are very different in the grades (quality) of ingredients. Low quality foods tend to have less quality control of the ingredients and, therefore, are more likely to contain toxins that get into the food supply at the manufacturing plants.
There is no such thing as the perfect pet food. Different foods are better for different pets. Pets can have intolerances or allergies to ingredients in their food, just like people can have to milk, gluten, etc.
There is a lot of misinformation about pet foods on the internet. For example, byproducts have gotten a bad reputation, but are not necessarily bad. Byproduct means any part of the animal that is not muscle meat, such as the liver, intestine, and other organ meat that can be very nutritious for your pet. A good company will use byproducts appropriately to provide proper vitamins and nutrition for your pet. A low quality pet food company will use scraps from a rendering plant, including many things that are not digestible, rather than targeted organ meat. We will be happy to help you distinguish myth from fact regarding nutrition in your pet.
Food labels are very difficult to read. Please ask us if you have questions about the quality of your pet’s food. You cannot always judge a food by what is listed on the label, OR BY WHAT THE BAG LOOKS LIKE. There are many ways food companies can “doctor” a label to make it look like a good, high quality diet. An example is by labeling the food “holistic”, “organic” or “natural. These companies also use the packaging of the food to make it appear healthy for your pet. A low quality diet may have chicken cutlets, carrots, and green peas on the bag, but it is still a low quality diet.
Be aware that some human food such as onions, chocolate, and grapes, among other foods are toxic to both cats and dogs. Please ask before giving ANY type of human food to your pet, whether it is intended as your pet’s primary diet or just treats.
It is not recommended to feed your pet human food as their primary diet. Despite your best efforts in providing a complete diet, human food does not contain all of the necessary vitamins and nutrients that your pet needs.
Treats should be limited to 10% or less of your pet’s daily intake to ensure that your pet is receiving a balanced diet, as well as an ideal amount of calories.
Dogs and cats lose the ability to digest milk once they wean from their mothers. Milk can cause an upset stomach in pets, which results in vomiting and/or diarrhea.