Dog food

Its a mine-field working out what dog food is the right one to buy for your dog, let alone worrying about it’s environmental impact. As a vet, this is something I would love to be clearer for consumers- other than making sure it meets the food standards set by the government, there is no regulatory body for pet food. So, in short, they can pretty much do and say what they want.

READ THE LABEL.

There are so many useful comparison sites out there to look at pet foods-

paws.com/dog-food-checker

allaboutdogfood.co.uk

https://petfoodexpert.co.uk

It is so important that you read the labels, but even if you do there is nothing to stop them changing the recipe batch-to-batch. Some of the cheaper brands will buy the cheapest source of meat at a time, be it chicken feathers or feet and they don’t have to state what cut of meat it is, just the percentage the food contains. There are brands that make up their wet food with a little bit of a few different proteins in, so they can package the exact same food as “chicken”, “beef”, “lamb” when in fact there is no difference in flavour to the pet.

Useful advice from pets.webmd.com:

Know the lingo. Certain words on a dog food label may not be as important to your dog’s health as you might think:

• Premium. This has no official definition, says Cailin Heinze, VMD, an assistant professor of nutrition at Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. It means nothing in terms of quality or nutrition. The same goes for “super premium.” Heinze has received consulting fees from several pet-food companies.
• Byproducts. A byproduct is part of an animal or plant that wasn’t a food maker’s original focus, Remillard says. Animal byproducts might be organs like liver, lungs, heart, or kidneys. These parts are very nutritious, and in the wild, dogs eat them first, Remillard says.
• Natural. This generally means no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives.But the word “natural” doesn’t say anything about a food’s quality or nutritional value.

So before I start ranting on! My advice would be; when you buy a new dog food, check with your vet whether they feel it has good nutritional value and whether it is appropriate for your pet. The veterinary grade brands Royal Canin, Hills and Purina have studies to back up their claims and if in doubt, they would be the ones to go for. There are lots of non-veterinary brands that are brilliant, just be willing to take a bit of time to read the labels and find out what you are actually feeding.

I personally wouldn’t feed raw to my pets or advise it to any of my clients, this isn’t to be controversial but I’ve seen it when it has gone wrong and for me the health risks far outweigh the benefits. It is a personal choice, and it requires a lot of research to make sure your pet is having a balanced diet. And obviously need to be very hot on hygiene and worming if you do go down that route.

A couple of disclaimers before I tell you about a couple of great products that I’ve found:

1. I have no affiliation with any product mentioned in my blogs – I am not being paid and I do not receive any benefits for mentioning any products here. I just genuinely love them and want to share my finds with everyone else.
2. If your pet is on medicated pet foods prescribed by your vet- stick to these and these only, its been prescribed for a reason!
3. I only feed dry food to all of my pets for various reasons; including portion control, hygiene in the house, teeth health etc. So if you feed wet, you’ll have to do a bit more research.

So, a complete doggy food that is good for your pet, good for the environment, no plastic waste from an ethical british company? Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it?

Yora, is an absolutely incredible product and I’d highly encourage you to take a look at their website: http://www.yorapetfoods.com

Yora is a grub based dog food- yup, those wiggly bugs are an amazing renewable source of protein and nutrients, that doesn’t damage the environment.

COMPOSITION 

Grubs (Hermetia illucens) (40%) (Insect Meal 26.2%, Freshly Prepared Insect 8.3%, Insect Oil 5.5%), Oats (19%), Potato (19%), Maize, Peas, Brewers Yeast, Seaweed (2%), Linseed, Tomato Pomace, Minerals, Vitamins, Dried Beetroot (0.5%), Chicory Pulp, Dried Pumpkin, Dried Carrot, Glucosamine (575mg/kg), Chondroitin (575mg/kg), Dried Kale, Dried Parsley.

ANALYTICAL CONSTITUENTS 

Crude Protein 23%, Fat Content 13%, Crude Fibres 5%, Crude Ash 5%, Omega 6 3.2%, Omega 3 0.5%, Calcium 0.8%, Metabolisable Energy 352 Kcal/100g.

NUTRITIONAL ADDITIVES 

(per kg) Vitamins: Vitamin A (retinyl acetate) 14,400 IU, Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) 2,000IU, Vitamin E (alpha tocopherol acetate) 95 IU; Trace Elements: Zinc (Zinc Sulphate Monohydrate) 48 mg, Iron (Iron (II) Sulphate Monohydrate) 48 mg, Manganese (Manganese Sulphate Monohydrate) 33 mg, Copper (Cupric Sulphate Pentahydrate) 14 mg, Iodine (Calcium Iodate Anhydrous) 0.96 mg, Selenium (Sodium Selenite) 0.29 mg. Preserved with natural antioxidants (mixed tocopherols).

So- what do all these nutrition-related words mean??

Each bag contains 40% protein- this is great and is what you should be aiming to feed to your carnivorous doggo. They also spell out exactly what bits of the grubs make up this protein- a breath of fresh air to me! The veg it contains, is all highly nutritious product- grown by the company itself in an environmentally friendly way. AND it already contains chondroitin & glucosamine- joint supplements that will help slow down progression of osteoarthritis. As a chronic pain & acupuncture specialist, this is something I have been DYING to see in an every day dog food.

The bag is compostable & there is no plastic in any of the packaging. They deliver straight to your door and the company themselves are lovely. I have bombarded them with questions and they’ve never failed to respond with helpful and useful advice.

Both my dogs love it- even the fussy chihuahua cross who I previously have always had to have 2 foods in stock incase he goes off one *face-palm*.

This is also a novel protein – so any dogs with allergies would be suited to doing a full allergy trial with this dog food (solely feeding this, with no treats) I wouldn’t be surprised if the allergy signs improve. It’s definitely helped both my pooches this summer, who were on a multitude of drugs this time last year and just the occasional 1/4 piriton this year.

Great for : all dogs, dogs with allergies- both skin or gastro-intestinal, dogs with potential for future or current osteoarthritis, dogs who want to save the planet, dogs who really want to try some grubs.

Taste-tester approved!!!

This food is a real game changer! So the big question is, when are they going to make a cat food? They have assured me this is on the cards, so for now this will be a watch this space!

Let me know if you get some, what your pooches think. They do a money-back guarantee if your doggo won’t eat it, but even better than that, they ask you to donate the bag to charity instead of sending it back. LOVE THIS!