08/28/2023
Today I want to touch on nutrition for our furry friends. Have you noticed a rise in the rate of diabetes among our cats and dogs? It's due to the highly processed pet food we have been feeding them, sometimes the same companies that make our highly processed foods! No wonder we are both gaining weight. We should look for low glycemic index carbs in our food and in our pets food. Avoid white potatoes, wheat, corn (seriously this is what you feed cattle or hogs to fatten them up cheaply), white rice, and BY product meals (this is icky stuff like beaks, feet, etc.). The rule is to feed the best quality of food to your pet that you can afford. Feeding a good diet can eliminate or cut down on costly vet visits just like us eating a healthy diet can cut down on dr. visits and extend our lives. If a cat gets diabetes, sometimes you can reverse it by feeding a cat a raw diet (mostly meat, not cooked). But with dogs, it is much harder to control diabetes, so prevention is essential. Full disclosure, I work for Nulo pet food, but it is a good brand and I use it myself for my cats. Nulo is a high meat, low glycemic pet food brand with a patented probiotic bc30 for the digestive and immune system. If you are interested in a raw diet, Stella & Chewies and Primal are two excellent brands. Feeding raw can get awfully expensive if you have a large dog, or multiple pets. You can use raw as a supplement and choose a high quality kibble to feed as a base. Ziwi Peak is air dried and is another option. For dogs and cats, I like Farmina, Orijen and Nulo. For cats only I also like Tiki Cat. Cats need a kibble that is at least 40% crude protein and you wont find that in alot of the brands out there on the market. While you think you might be saving yourself money by buying that bag of Alpo or Purina it might come back to bite you later with huge vet bills or insulin costs. Cats also need water. They don't have a natural thirst drive and this is why you see so many older cats dying of kidney failure. One of the best ways to get more moisture in their diet is with canned food. If you cant do that, you can try using some filtered water in your cats kibble or putting out multiple bowls of water in your house. Other products your cat might like are goats milk (known as the universal milk because your cats can digest it) and bone broth. If you have any questions about pet nutrition feel free to reach out to me. Have a happy day everybody!
At Nulo, we believe the key to your dog or cat’s health — and happiness — starts with their diet. Find out which food is right for your pet.