Good Health Starts with Healthy Food
Your Pet’s Health Depends on Good Nutrition
One of the most important things you can do to to protect your pet from disease is feed a healthy, species-appropriate diet.
The views on what foods and brands to feed your pets are many and varied depending on individual preferences as well as what brands the stores or vet clinics prefer to promote.
Our recommendation is to do your own research – fresh or raw, premium canned or kibble, homemade or store bought, – it’s up to you to decide what’s best for your furry friend.
Our recomendation is to feed a variety of foods both fresh and dry to provide your pets with all the nutrients they need over time. Feeding a variety of different foods may also minimise the risk of developing intolerances to specific meat or grain proteins.
Dry Kibble – The Convenience Food
Dry kibble is the most popular food of choice for most cat and dog owners because it’s convenient and most often – cheap.
Although we’re strictly againts feeding a 100% kibble diet to any cat or dog, if you choose to do so then please invest in a premium product that meets regulatory standards and ensure your pet always has access to ample fresh water to maintain hydration.
What is Nutitional Counselling?
Nutritional counselling should always be part of any veterinary examination. It is where we discuss your pet’s current overall diet and make suggestions for improvement based on physical examination of your pet as well as the results of any lab testing.
Many common problems such as itchy skin, poor coat condition and overall poor health have been solved simply by switching to a better quality diet and / or supplementation with appropriate micronutrients.
Nutritional counselling becomes important as your pet ages – senior pets have different nutritional requiremenst than younger pets. Also, if your pet has been diagnosed as having a specific illness such as heart, liver or kidney disease, arthritis, diabetes or cancer. These conditions require a tailored disease specific diet often referred to as therapeutic diets.
Food allergies vs Food Intolerances
A food allergy exists where there is an immediate and violent reaction in the body to a specific food. A true food allergy however is rare and is often confused with a food intolerance. In contrast to food allergy, food sensitivity or intolerance is more common and can involve long term delayed reactions.
Food Intolerance Testing
Does your dog have itchy skin or an irritable bowel?
If your dog has a food intolerance, it can be easily remedied by a change in diet. For years however it has been difficult to determine which foods were problematic without enduring months and months of feeding trials
We can test your dog for food intolerance against a total of 22 different foods using the Nutriscan Food Sensitivity Test for Dogs.
Nutriscan can test your dog for sensitivity to these foods:
| Panel 1 | Panel 2 |
| Beef | Chicken Eggs |
| Corn | Barley |
| Wheat | Millet |
| Soy | Oatmeal |
| Cows Milk | Salmon |
| Lamb | Rabbit |
| Venison / (Deer) | Rice |
| Chicken | Quinoa |
| Turkey | Potato |
| White Fsh | Peanuts / Peanut Butter |
| Pork | Sweet Potato |