Did you make any new year resolutions?
Around 44% of people do – but the majority of the resolutions made are broken by February – sad fact.
Dieting is a common resolution, either to lose weight to make another sort of change. Daughter no 2 announced she was going to become vegetarian some years ago – and she has stuck to it. My best friend decided to go gluten free three years ago, because she felt better not eating gluten.
It’s now clear that it’s better for the planet if we to cut down or cut out meat – to eat a plant based diet rather than a meat based one. I’d be quite happy with that and we have tried to cut down on meat here at Down Dog Towers, but Himself is resistant to eating too many vegetables because he doesn’t like them – he’ll only eat peas, beans (green and baked) and sweetcorn. (He also likes hummus – but I don’t like chickpeas.)
People who choose vegetarian or vegan diets for themselves often want their dogs to join them. A friend gave me an article from a recent Daily Telegraph all about how a family moved themselves and their dog, a sweet looking cockapoo, onto vegan diets.
Luckily dogs are omnivores, which means they can eat a wide range of foods and they do not need meat (unlike cats). Many moons ago, when I was a child, dogs were mainly fed on food scraps from the human table. Nowadays, all sorts of different types of dog food are available, each year adding to the many different types and brands already out there.
It is your choice how you feed your dog. Whether you’re a raw feeding advocate, or want vegan or vegetarian dog food, or you just want to get the cheapest dog food you can, it’s your choice.
All you need to check if you’re feeding your dog correctly is that your dog looks well and has plenty of energy. Check the poo – “healthy” poo is firm, quite dense, doesn’t smell much, the volume is small and it’s produced 1-2x a day. If the diet isn’t suiting your dog well, the poo may be softer or even runny, smelly, voluminous and frequent.
Another common sign the diet may not be ideal is frequent noxious emanations from your dog’s rear end – also known as smelly farts.
The rules for choosing a good dog food are the same as choosing good quality human foods – that you recognise all the ingredients and that there are only a few ingredients.
I suppose that means I should really give up chocolate…
Keep training and good luck with any resolutions,
Carol