Itchy, Inflamed or Smelly Skin? Sore Ears, Anal Gland issues or Bad Breath? One of the biggest reasons for dog health issues is down to their diet. When I was grooming, at least 1 in 6 dogs I seen on a daily basis would have had a health issue, this could have been dry/flaky/itchy skin, bad breath, anal gland issues, smelly gunky ears, red inflammation in their paws or inflammation & hair loss over their body usually noticed in the groin area or between their front legs. When I asked their owners about diet it was usually the same big commercial brand names that popped up in conversation, or a lot of people actually admitted that they just lift whatever is cheapest or on offer in the local supermarket during their weekly shop. Dog nutrition has always been one of my favourite topics to discus and I love to educate owners on the benefits of feeding high quality and nutrient dense foods. A lot of the lower quality brands of food contain wheat and grains which quite a number of dogs are now allergic to. Most of these foods are also made of meat or vegetable derivatives which means off cuts and other parts of the animal unfit for human consumption. A high quality food will always state the exact ingredients right down to the botanicals and herbs included in their products, this means you can see exactly what your dog is consuming. Sugars and salts and other additives are usually quite high in the cheaper quality foods, occasionally I hear from customers that their dog will only eat a certain brand of food, this is usually caused by an addiction to these Sugars, Salts or additives found in the food, a bit like us and sweets or crisps, the sweetness, salt or additives can be addictive for us, this is exactly the same for our pets. But isn’t feeding good quality foods more expensive ? – Not necessarily, better quality foods are more nutrient dense and will provide more nutrients your dog needs when feeding a smaller amount than the cheaper commercial brands. We recommend using www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk to check out your dogs food and also some of our brands we stock. How do they compare? When we compared Akela Original 80:20 food to a big brand commercial food it only cost 4p more per day to feed a 5kg 2 year old dog on the Akela Original, and with it being a much higher quality food the dog is much less likely to suffer from any issues with skin, hair loss, anal gland problems or yeasty ear infections. When feeding a higher quality food, you should also find some high quality treats and chews to accompany your pets new diet, many cheap treats found in pet stores & supermarkets have nasty ingredients and fillers in them also which can cause your pet to react badly. You can find out all about our dog foods in our online shop or should you have any questions feel free to contact us via email info@forpetzni.co.uk or by phone on 07907037004.
