Whilst it’s fair to say that dog food may have seemed simpler in the past, we do now seem to be able to cater far more to the specific needs of our dogs than ever before. The canine food market is full of grain free, hypoallergenic, vet recommended, low calorie and all kinds of other choices these days.
However, there are still a few myths out there that we want to try and put to bed. If you have any other info you like us to cover off in future, send us a note to hello@chewbox.co.uk we love to hear from you guys.
Changing your dog’s food is bad for their digestion
Not entirely true! Dog should have a balanced and varied diet, and can handle a little variation – in fact they’ll probably welcome it. A lot of food manufacturers would love to have us believe that once our dog is settled on a one of their products it’s better to say on that product for life and it simply isn’t true.
Would you want to eat the same food at every meal, every day, at the same time forever? If you do decide to vary meal time choices you should always make sure that you change over one food to another gradually. A quick change can lead to an upset stomach, so best to be on the safe side and do it slowly.
Another great way to vary up your dogs diet is to supplement their main meal with tasty treats and snacks. Take a look at our range of products specifically designed for your dogs size and age.
Vet-recommended foods are top quality
This isn’t always the case. Sure, there are some vet recommended foods that are genuinely premium and top of the range. Equally there are plenty of foods that are no different to everything else out there or worse. Some simply rely on the vet recommended badge to hope that you won’t look further into the ingredients list.
Don’t just be convinced by a label, always check that its full of nutritional, natural ingredients rather than fillers and artificial additives.
It’s dangerous to feed your pet raw food
False. There’s a lot of discussion out there about raw food diets for dogs, and we’re not going to get into it here. But your dog’s digestive system is around half the length of yours, and their stomach environment is far more acidic. This means that even if there are some bacteria still on the raw food, the speed it passed through their system, plus the bacteria killing acidity of the stomach means it’s generally unlikely that the bacteria would affect your dog.
On top of that, many raw food producers have strict measures to prevent bacterial contamination and if you buy frozen raw food, the process of freezing actually helps to kill off bacteria too.
Dog and Cats can eat the same thing
They can—but they shouldn’t. Cats are pure carnivores, and dog have actually evolved alongside humans to be omnivores. Therefore, their nutritional needs are quite different. Cats require more fat and protein than dogs, along with a variety of amino acids. Dogs won’t get the carbs they need from cat food, and it can even lead to them getting very sick.
Avoid anything that claims to be for both species, because it shouldn’t be!
Note: If your dog has grabbed a mouthful of your cats food or vice versa, don’t panic. It’s highly unlikely that a small amount would do any lasting damage, other than maybe an upset stomach. But you should make sure they’re not regularly eating each other’s food.