Since diet is important for a pet’s health, the main focus is on nutrition. She emphasizes that as pet parents, what we feed our pets is largely up to us, so we must make sure we do right by them!
Anjali Kalachand, a pet nutritionist, has been helping and guiding many pet parents across India in maintaining the holistic and healthy well-being of their pets since 2019. She has listed some of the simplest yet effective rules for pet nutrition that every new and old pet parent should follow.
1. Species Appropriate Ingredients – Avoid milk, bread and too much rice. Our dogs and cats need good quality meat protein to thrive.
2. If you must feed processed food, feed high quality food. Always flip the packaging and read the ingredients. If the first few ingredients contain wheat, corn, soy, rice, meat meal, stay away from it. Pet food companies have to list ingredients according to the proportion of that particular ingredient in the food, so the first 5-6 ingredients tell the quality of the food.
3. Don’t overfeed Just like in humans, obesity is on the rise in dogs and cats! And along with obesity, comes a host of other health complications.
4. And last but not least, water. Fresh or raw food is rich in moisture. However, if your dog or cat is on processed kibble, make sure they are drinking enough water. If your pet is not attracted to their water bowl, many people have found that water fountains mimic the flowing drinking water sources these animals would otherwise drink from. Invest in one. Other ways to entice your pet to drink water are to give bone broth or even a mixture of yogurt and water.
