Nutrition

 

• Dogs and Cats

• Rabbits

 

 Dogs and Cats

 Commercially available diets include -

• Complete diets - Tinned meat or dry kibble. Such diets are very well researched and carefully formulated to provide the optimum daily amounts of carbohydrate, protein, fats, vitamins and minerals for your pet.
• Tinned meat and cereal diet - Such diets rely on a combination of tinned food mixed with a biscuit based cereal component to produce a 'complete' end product.
• Supplementary foods - chews, biscuits etc. Not nutritionally balanced and should not make up a large proportion of the diet.

 

Which is best? If feeding guides are followed, both complete and meat/cereal diets can provide all the requirements for a healthy diet, however for ease a complete food has everything worked out in advance for you. Dry complete foods have several additional practical advantages -

• Most economical - you are not paying for the water in tinned foods
• No need to refrigerate once opened
• Not smelly or messy, waste much reduced
• Convenient to buy in bulk

Can I feed a home-made diet? Yes, provided it is balanced for the species, lifestyle and age of your pet - and this is where the difficulty arises. It is very difficult to be sure of achieving the ideal quantities of carbohydrate, protein, fats, vitamins and minerals at home.

Can the same diet be fed throughout life? Many complete diet manufacturers test their food on a 'lifecycle' basis - the diet is fed exclusively to a breeding colony of dogs for several generations and the animals checked for health and nutritional deficiencies. Thus complete diets are OK for use at all ages. However this is not to say that added health benefits cannot be gained by the use of recently developed age and breed-specific diets.

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Rabbits

Severe tooth problems are extremely common in pet rabbits as a result of inappropriate nutrition. These problems are very difficult to treat, frequently resulting in abscesses, fly strike (through inability to groom), tear duct blockage and even death.

A rabbit's diet should include three main components - commercial rabbit food, hay and greens.

Rabbits can be fussy eaters, sometimes leaving the the pellets which contain most vitamins and minerals, and this can lead to tooth problems.  Giving less food might encourage the rabbit to eat all of it.  Alternatively, certain commercial rabbit foods such as Supa Rabbit Excel (Burgess) contain all the ingredients in a normal mix combined into a standardised kibble,  so the rabbit can't pick and choose which bits to eat.  It's important to feed according to the manufacturer's instructions as overfeeding can lead to obesity.

Hay is an important part of the diet. It provides fibre helps prevent dietary upsets and promotes normal gut motility. Hay is also a source of vitamin D and provides dental exercise which is important for normal wear of the continually growing teeth. Hay should always be available and is good for bedding as well as food.

Alfalfa is a good source of both fibre and calcium but it's not as tasty as hay so some rabbits will not eat it.

Greens and vegetables should be given to rabbits. Some rabbits may develop mild diarrhoea when a new food is introduced so greens should be given in moderation. Rabbits should be offered a wide range of greens including weeds such as dandelions, groundsel, grass, brambles, and tree leaves. They also enjoy stripping the bark off branches.

Rabbits should be allowed daily exercise if possible. The opportunity to bask in sun allows them to synthesise vitamin D. Access to grass and other plants will provide a varied diet and fibre.