Health

With pet obesity rates reaching record levels in the UK, health has become one of the biggest concerns of pet owners. The UK is the largest market for pet healthcare and dietary supplements in Europe. This explains the increasing success of new health-focused, multi-functional foods featuring ingredients such as omega 3 fatty acids, gluten-free, hypoallergenic, organic and life stage products.

"Super Premium" and "Ultra Premium" are words used by the pet food industry to describe pet foods that are generally of better quality than supermarket branded dog food. They are more expensive, but are nutritionally denser, so often require smaller feeding amounts.

When deciding which food to feed your dog, think ingredients first. Pet foods labelled with ingredients such as "meat and animal derivatives", "derivatives of vegetable origin", "cereals", "meat", "meat by-products" are clearly not descriptive. They could be made up of any combination of ingredients. Some product ingredients are so loosely described that a manufacturer is free to include almost anything, which is not the best way to feed your pet!

"Meat and animal derivatives" is a generic term that covers all animals and parts such as heads, feet, guts, lungs, hair, feathers and wool! This term can be used to hide undesirable ingredients and allows the manufacturer to change the meat source from batch to batch to whatever is the cheapest available at the time of manufacture. Meat and animal derivatives are used in many successful pet foods without owners knowing what is actually in the food. Choose pet foods containing named meat source such as "dried turkey meat" or "chicken meal".

A dog's metabolism and digestive system is very different to ours. There are foods that are perfectly safe for us to eat, which are potentially dangerous to a dog. This is one of the reasons you should think carefully before feeding table scraps.

Here is a list of foods that you should not feed your dog:

chocolate, gravy, onions, garlic, grapes, raisins, corn on the cob, cat food, dough, macadamia nuts, avocado, rhubarb leaves, mouldy and spoiled foods, mushrooms, tomato leaves and stems, potato peelings and of course, alcohol.

Another important point is to avoid highly coloured foods. These contain high levels of colourings, additives and preservatives. These can cause many dogs to become hyperactive, which could lead to aggression. The same principle applies to training treats. Use pieces of carrot or for harder, outdoor work where you need your dog to concentrate, small pieces of cheese, chicken or sausage are usually a favourite...spoil your dog by giving them what is good for them!