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Healthy Pets - Diet and Nutrition
What to feed
Dogs are omnivores and can healthily eat almost anything: bones, meat, offal,
fat, grass, gut contents, fruit, greens, faeces, eggs, dairy products, soil,
insects - you name it! Hence natural diets consist of all these things, but raw
meaty bones most of all. A very good diet consisting of bones and Raw Food is
the (BARF) Diet.
The combination of animal products, plant products, oils and other additives
provide your pet with the necessary nutritional requirements of water, protein,
fats, carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals. Barf diet
have been inspired by the continued observation that dogs and cats fed their
natural whole food diet are far healthier than when fed cooked and processed
foods.
You can train your dog to sit, stay, come in process of feeding your dog. You
could also brush or groom your dog before giving your pet it's meal. Leaving the
brush near the dog food is a great reminder and if you are in a rush you can
just brush part of your dog instead. Preferably you should feed your dog AFTER
you and your family have eaten. Leaders eat first, dogs are non verbal
communicators, which wolf eats first?
How often to feed
Most dogs of nine months and older can be given their daily food allowance in
one meal. The same amount can be divided up into two or more meals if it is more
convenient for you or if it seems to suit your dog better. Growing or working
dogs, pregnant bitches, feeding puppies, sick or convalescing dogs will usually
need more than one meal a day. Water is the most important single nutrient of
the diet because a deficiency of water will cause disease and death more quickly
than any other nutrient. Several sources of water should be provided ad lib.
Some dogs are required to drink filtered natural water as they are allergic to
tap water.
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