30 Day Pet Nutrition Challenge with Pets at Home – Week 2-3 – One down, one still going

So we are now just over three weeks into the challenge and I only have one dog left in the running.

My big boy is out.

Just after I posted my last post, I began to notice a few hot spots returning on Bunks skin. I am not absolutely sure if this is the foods fault but I am not going to take any chances. He was eating a grain free food before the challenge and his skin problems were almost none existent… but then it was also summertime and therefore there was much less moisture in the air… so who knows… anyway he is out and I am getting him back onto his old food or to be specific on a senior version of it.

So this is leaving me with only Lilly who is still following the advised food regime.

Last Wednesday we went back into our local Pets at Home store for a check-up. To our huge surprise and confusion Lilly had put 2kg on yet she looks much slimmer. Both her visual and hand examinations showed a lot of improvement – she has one more rib “sticking out” just as she should have… yet she is heavier… The only answer we could come up with for this strange development with the lovely people from Pets at Home was the fact that muscle is heavier than fat… so maybe she has lost some fat and gained some more muscle…

As it was just us girls out shopping, we stopped at the groomers and Lilly had her nails trimmed. Normally we do it at the vet… clip, clip… down on the floor… few minutes and all is done. At the groomers it was a totally different story. Lilly went onto a proper grooming table… for the first time… I think she was a bit scared but she kept a happy face 🙂 She was nicely secured and the trimming began. I was tempted to check her weight again afterwards but I guess that a nail trim wouldn’t make a lot of difference.

Lilly runs a lot more these day; especially since Friday, as we have Barnie staying with us again. The extended exercises are doing her good and she looks much healthier. She likes her new food, but I am not sure if she isn’t a bit hungry…

So you see picking the right food isn’t so easy. Like I said before I do not necessarily blame the food for Bunks skin problems, after all he is prone to hot spots, though it is a little coincidental that the new hot spots started just after the new diet started and thus if the food is indeed aggravating it, it is time for a change… again…

Have you ever had or have a pet with any food related health problems?

Do you feed your pet grain or grain free food?

If you feed a grain free diet I would love to hear your recommendations.

Hungry on the new diet?

Normally Lilly would run and fetch the sticks, but lately she just lies down and chews them…

Do you think she is hungry on her new diet?

30 Day Pet Nutrition Challenge with Pets at Home – Week 1-2 – Transition to the New Dog Food

It’s coming up for two weeks now since our initial nutrition visit at Pets at Home and we are almost entirely on the new food now. From now on I should be able to see if the new food makes any difference to how my dogs behave or look.

Why does it take so long, you might ask… well… changing dog food is a slow process. Dogs don’t take well to changes in food, so it can’t be done overnight. The balance of the bugs in their digestive tract need time to develop so that they can digest the new foods.

Most vets advise changing your dog food over a period of at least 7 days. You are starting with 75% of the meal in their old food and 25% in the new one and increase the new food as the days go by. To make things easier, Rachel (the lovely advisor from Pets at Home) suggested doing it over the 10 days period, increasing new food intake by 10% each day. We liked this plan and it seemed to us much easier, taking the complicated math calculation into consideration 😉

When changing your dog food it is very important to examine the maximum feeding guidelines very carefully. You have to know exactly how much your dog should be fed. And if you are feeding a mixed meal, such as adding fruit or veggies on a regular basic, this also has to be taken into account. Ideally you should put on paper everything your dog eats, count the total intake and reduce some of the main food to make space for all the additional bits and pieces.

Let’s take our Bunk as an example.

He eats dry kibbles mixed with:

• 2/3 of Nature diet pouch or jelly from home cooked trotters
• ½ apple
• 1 carrot
• 1 tsp or 2 tablets of fish oil
• 1tbsp of coconut oil

+ He gets about 10 treats a day (doggie milky bones, quite small in size but he really likes them).

He weights 62kg and according to Arden Grange Senior feeding guide he supposed to get 670g of dry kibbles a day. This would be perfect if he didn’t eat anything else. Now, because he gets all these additional foods, his daily allowance of kibbles had to be reduced. Taking into consideration all the additional things he eats his daily amount of dry kibbles eaten has dropped to 420g. Quite a big difference, isn’t it?

I think this is the main reason why there are so many overweight dogs.

Normally we just look at the back of the food bag, make our calculations and then just stick to them. Most of us have never even considered reducing the amount to make “space” for all the extras we feed our pets.

To be honest I didn’t know that a carrot or some apples would have to be taken into consideration too, but they have to… they contain sugars and are not calorie free (I wish they were).

What do you feed your pets?

Do you feed just one brand of food or like to mix it up?

Review – Harringtons Cat Food – Chicken With Rice

Harringtons cat food chicken with rice

As you can tell from the title my guys received some Harringtons cat food in chicken with rice flavour and there has been much munching going on with it for the last few weeks.

Both our boys are a bit fussy when it comes to food… something’s they will eat with such enthusiasm and leave their bowls looking like they were just taken out of the dishwasher yet totally ignore another seemingly equally yummy food – like with wet cat food – give them pouch and it is gone in seconds but give them the same food but from a tin and it would stand there for weeks (or in reality just a few minutes until Lilly the Labrador comes along and hoovers everything up). Same with dry food… with some of them they just walk around making extremely unhappy sounds, bemoaning their imminent demise due to starvation. Therefore I always worry when I am getting a new brand for them as I am not sure if it will be to their liking. This time we got lucky and Harringtons cat food with chicken and rice was very much to their liking.

Harringtons cat food – chicken with rice – is a complete food for adults cats. According to the information on their website it can be eaten by kittens from 8 weeks onwards.

It is important to know and understand what is “inside” our pet’s food. Have a look below if you are interested to see how this is breaking down.

Composition: Chicken Meat Meal (40%), Maize, Rice (10%), Poultry Fat, Digest, Fish Oil, Beet Pulp, Minerals, Yeast (0.1%), Cranberry Extract (0.05%), Yucca Extract (0.02%).

Additives (Per Kg): Nutritional Additives: Vitamin A 21,000 iu, Vitamin D3 1995 iu, Vitamin E (alpha tocopherol acetate) 220 iu, Taurine 750 mg, Iron Sulphate 165 mg, Calcium Iodate 2.5 mg, Cupric Sulphate Pentahydrate 20 mg, Manganous Oxide 65 mg, Zinc Oxide 135 mg, Sodium Selenite 0.2 mg. Antioxidant – (contains tocopherol rich extracts – a natural antioxidant).

Analytical Constituents: Protein 30%, Fat Content 12%, Crude Fibre 2.5%, Crude Ash 7.5%, Omega 6, 1.7%, Omega 3, 0.3%, Calcium 1.4%, Phosphorous 1%.

To give you a comparison – Harringtons cat food with chicken and rice has 40% chicken meat meal and yet a household name and well know brand available in every superstore for your convenience and starting with “W” has only 4%! Shocking isn’t it?

Harringtons cat food chicken with rice comes in the form of flat disks roughly 1cm in diameter. All kibbles look the same (more or less I guess) just like this…

Many pet owners do not check what’s inside the box when it comes to pet food. It is sad but true. We all should be aware of what exactly we feed our pets.

It is hard to write a review for a product I did not actually try myself. Not like I can ask my boys – “Hey, what do you think?” What I can tell you is that my cats liked it. They have nice shiny coat, bags of energy, sparkly eyes and both seem most content while munching on their dinners. Yes I know, they probably go out afterwards and hunt some half asleep bird for their pudding but at least I know that I gave them a quality meal at home after that the rest is up to them. It may be a coincidence but we have noticed that we are experiencing a far higher demand for hugs and strokes since feeding them on the new Harringtons cat food, we like to think that it’s a karmic balance thing and we have been getting more love because they are pleased with our choice of grub…

To give you some more information about Harringtons cat food chicken with rice these are the product benefits as per the manufacturer description:

• No added wheat, dairy, soya, beef, artificial colours, flavours or preservatives.
• With Taurine to help support a healthy heart and eyes.
• With MOS a prebiotic yeast to help support a healthy digestion.
• With Cranberry, beneficial for urinary tract health.
• With Calcium and Phosphorous for healthy teeth and bones.
• With Vitamin E to help support immune function.
• With Omega 3 for a healthy supple skin and glossy coat.
• With Yucca to help reduce stool odour.

Harringtons cat food chicken with rice is available in 500g boxes or 2kg bags. Packaging comes with a printed panel that provides you with feeding instruction regarding the correct amounts according to the size of your cat (this is not very clear to be honest – I can see small, medium and large cat but no weight specifications). Food comes with no measuring cup and bag is not re-sealable. All other relevant information present on the packaging include: benefits, ingredients etc and best before date (yes, pet food can go off as well).

The plus is that Harringtons cat food is also available in some supermarkets for your convenience (Asda and Tesco). Next time you are doing your groceries take a minute to check the pet aisle and read what exactly goes inside your pet food!

And if you are not a cat person, Harringtons also makes dog food and dog treats as well as rabbit and guinea pig food.

How do you choose your pet food?

Do you read the labels?

* I received one 2kg bag of Harringtons cat food for free for review purpose. All opinions about the products are honest and my own.

Infographic – What not to feed your pets

This one is very interesting…

I really didn’t have a clue that grapes are not good for dogs or cats.

Oh hey, we learn something new everyday.

Did you know that your pet should avoid these foods?

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Pets and raw meet

Last night at dinner time Mark was making some homemade chicken kievs (that where delicious I must add), anyway we had a little bit of raw chicken breast left, what to do with it? My thinking was “What a great treat, let’s give it to the dogs”. Mark agreed as dogs are supposed to eat raw meat, as they would in the wild. To my surprise Bunk wasn’t very interested. He sniffed it and licked it but that was it, he just looked at me as if to say “Any chance you could roast that for me, maybe a bit of garlic or just some herbs…”. As for Lilly she didn’t even come close to it, looking like we were trying to poison her!

I really thought it was weird. It was fresh, good quality chicken breast. Ok, it was raw but I never heard about Cordon Bleu dog restaurants and master chefs or even fussy pooches Lilly is a Labrador they would eat their back leg if they go more than a couple of hours without something to eat… I thought they will enjoy it, how wrong was I?

Nothing lost; we gave it to the cats and they “hoovered” it in no time

Do your pets eat raw meat?

I don’t think we have ever tried to give them anything raw before; I just want to know, was it chicken they did not like or the fact it was raw? Or are they just a pair of spoiled brats….