Pet Nutrition

A balanced diet is important for a healthy pet. There are multiple needs for a prescription diet like urinary issues, obesity, gastrointestinal issues, renal or hepatic disease, food and skin allergies and much more. At Oxenford Vet Surgery we stock and recommend Royal Canin and Hill’s prescription diets for your pet’s needs.

Urinary Diets

Dogs and cats can get urinary tract issues like infection, stones, and even an obstruction. These can affect your pet’s overall health, especially cats.

Ensuring your pets have access to and are drinking plenty of water is a start to maintaining a healthy urinary tract. Unfortunately factors like stress, diet, and weight can cause the formation of crystals in the urine. In extreme cases can cause a blockage, which is an emergency in male cats.

If your pet has had urinary crystals, bladder stones, or constant UTIs a urinary diet like Royal Canin Urinary, or Hill’s C/D may be the best diet for your pet. Royal Canin Urinary works by helping the body dilute the urine which stops struvite crystals from forming and dissolve existing crystals. It also has a limited amount of minerals which make up crystals and stones.

Hill’s C/D controls the pH of the urine and has a controlled amount of minerals that usually contribute to the formation of crystals. This diet also has added Omega-3s and antioxidants which help to reduce inflammation. This diet is recommended for pets that have a history of calcium oxalate crystals.

Always consult your veterinarian before starting your pet on a prescription diet.

Weight Loss

Maintaining a healthy weight for your pet is so important for your pet’s overall health. Excess weight can cause issues with their joints, heart disease, diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure, breathing issues (especially if they’re a brachycephalic breed).

Many factors can contribute to obesity in pets; being overfed, lack of exercise, or diseases like hypothyroidism or Cushing’s disease.

Foods like Royal Canin Satiety and Hill’s Metabolic foods can assist in weight loss and management.

Our friendly vets and nurses can assist you in planning a weight-loss routine and meal plan. You’re more than welcome to pop into the clinic to weigh your dog or cat, and to have a chat.

Other Diets

Royal Canin and Hill’s have a whole range of veterinary prescription diets to suit your pet. They range from puppy and kitten food to adult and senior stages as well as diets for diabetes, renal (kidney) or hepatic (liver) disease, gastrointestinal issues, skin and food allergies. If you have a concern about what diet your pet should be on, give our friendly staff a call.

Raw Diets

A popular diet, Raw or BARF diets involve feeding your dog raw or organic meat, bones, vegetables, fruit, eggs, and sometimes dairy. There are both pros and cons when it comes to feeding a raw diet to your dog.

Pros:

• Knowing what exactly is being put into your dog’s food.
• Less ‘fillers’ and carbs resulting in maintaining a healthy weight
• You can customize and change up the diet
• People state that feeding raw improves dog’s coat and skin

Cons:

• Expensive and time consuming
• Nutritional deficiencies could occur and may not show up for months after starting the diet
• Bones can pose a choking hazard, cause blockages, and even could chip their teeth
• Potential bacteria contamination and spread causing your pet or yourself to get sick

If you decide that feeding a raw diet is for you, ensure you do research and can have a chat with us about what is best for your dog.

Vegetarian/Vegan Diets

Can your dog live off a vegetarian or vegan diet? Technically yes, they can but it is not recommended. Like a raw diet, will need supplements to ensure they have enough vitamins and minerals needed to stay healthy.

Can cats live off a vegetarian or vegan diet? No, cats are obligate carnivores. Cat’s bodies aren’t built to digest a plant-based diet. They require high amounts of protein, and taurine which is ammino acid only found in animal sources. Taurine deficiency can cause issues like cardiomyopathy, and severe eye issues like blindness.

For any enquiries, give our clinic a call on (07) 5573 1414