h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I have had the chance to talk to a vet at length about cat and dog food.

There has been a rise in health problems that appears to be linked to the quality of the foods available, especially the dry food. Son of the foods evev sound dangerous to long term health. There has been a rise in bowel and stomach disorders, kidney and liver problems some very serious. And the death rate from these disorders is ridding.

The opinion is it is caused by the cheaper dry food and some of the better brands, throughout Europe. Has anyone come across this problem.

We don't use much animal feed, our pets usually eat mainly fresh food, but I'd say that a fresh food diet has a positive impact on their general health.

Basically, they're cutting back on quality. The economic downturn has affected the pet food industry badly. Only last week, Winalot called in the retrievers.

*eggs Icy off*

Well, I don't eat pet food, so I can't really say.

Smudger.

So what do you feed them benjamin

My cat got cheap dry food (always available in a bowl), Whiskas cans and fresh meat. She also got fresh milk every day. She died last year at the age of 15. It seems she had pneumonia, but her blood tests were perfect and no vet ever believed she was that old already.

Our dog (1.5 years old now) gets digestion problems from wheat, which unfortunately is in many dog foods. It wasn't easy at first to figure out where his problems come from and now it's He gets high energy dry food which only contains rice and meat, no other things. It's a low to mid price dog food. In addition he gets cans without wheat.
He also gets fresh stuff, usually whatever we eat ourselves, like meat, rice and vegetables (but without the spices and salt of course).

Hi Bob. Our Rabbit and Hare get a lot of salad and other veg, they have fish, olives (our rabbit LOVES olives) as well as hay, which is good for their teeth. Anything we eat that is safe for them we will let them try, and if they like it they can have it again, moderation allowing.

That sounds like a fantastic diet Ben, but it seams that not all pets are that fortunate.
Is there a way that anyone can have confidence in mass produced pet foods. The quality is not always reflected in the price paid, is there anyway to find out the best food. Dose anyone check this and post the results.

Well, with cat and dog food it's always good to start with reading all the ingredients. If the amount of meat it contains is quite low it's certainly not good. Usually they add more grains to make up for the little meat, which is not good. Even if your pet is not sensitive to it.


Also the better the food the less the amount you have to give your pet per day. There are some pet foods which expect you to give your pet a ridiculous amount per day but most of it doesn't give the animal any energy or really useable stuff. The main result of that is lots of poo and an empty money bag.

Some pet foods even have added flavour enhancers and stuff like that. As a general rule I'd say the longer the list of ingredients the more suspicious you should be.

As far as I remember you can also read tests for pet foods online. So try searching relevant tests on google if you want to know more.

Generally cheap pet food can be much better than expensive one.