At the end of January, dog and cat owners who consumed some American and Italian pet foods banned from importing into Russia risked having to switch their pets to other foods. Evgeniya Kozhevnikova, veterinary nutritionist at Vetcity Clinic (part of the Misty ecosystem), told socialbites.ca how to do this without harming the health of the animal.
“These feeds – Hill’s and Farmina – are among the most in demand. The reasons for its popularity include high-quality composition (both foods belong to the “super premium” class), reasonable price and, importantly, the availability of a therapeutic series for animals with special needs. Today there are no problems with the availability of high-quality analogues of Hill’s and Farmina on the Russian market. These are mostly foreign foods: Royal Canin, Purina, Happy Dog, Eukanuba, Monge, Grandorf. “There are more and more varieties of feed coming from Asia, such as Inaba,” he explained.
According to the veterinarian, if we consider food as a whole in terms of quality class, then the division into “premium”, “super premium” and “holistic” is rather arbitrary.
“I don’t see any significant difference between super premium and holistic classes. “Both classes include balanced feeds made from high-quality raw materials that undergo strict quality controls,” added the expert.
At the same time, “holistic” products use rare types of meat and often do not contain grains. Manufacturers of “holistic” products are trying to present low particle content as a significant advantage. However, animals are not gluten intolerant, and humans purchase these foods largely due to humans’ propensity for gluten intolerance. Marketing is aimed at the animals, not their owners, which is why grain-free foods have become so popular. That doesn’t make them bad food, but it also doesn’t make them any better than super premium food. “Super premium” foods usually contain a low percentage of grains, and standard types of meat are used for their production: chicken, turkey, lamb.
“In our conditions, I would also recommend starting from the availability of food: you should not switch to food that will be difficult to purchase in the future. For this reason, I prefer feeds that are produced in our country or have a production license in Russia. Another important factor is whether your pet has special needs, if any, and the brand of food you choose. “We are talking about food for neutered animals, animals with urolithiasis, allergy sufferers and diet food,” said the doctor.
If the diet of a cat or dog consists only of ready-made premium or super-premium food, the expert did not recommend switching to economy class.
“Such feeds are not designed to be the only feed in the diet, as they are often made from raw materials that are not of the highest quality and, in general, rarely have a constant composition. For example, the package says “meat and bone meal”, but today it may have one composition, tomorrow it may have another, and the manufacturer will not warn about it. Therefore, the transition to low-quality feed is fraught with a deficiency of vitamins and minerals,” warned Kozhevnikova.
The negative consequences of consuming poor-quality feed often appear after several months or even years: these are mainly disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, musculoskeletal system, bladder disease and heart disease.
“You need to gradually transition a cat or dog to another food. The fact is that the animal’s gastrointestinal tract cannot adapt to new products as quickly as the human gastrointestinal tract. And foods of different brands do not have exactly the same composition and ratio of proteins and carbohydrates, even if they are of the same quality class. Therefore, a sudden switch from one food to another can cause various complications such as vomiting or diarrhea. The greater the differences in composition, the higher the likelihood of complications during the sudden transition, the veterinarian emphasized.
He explained that the process of switching to a new food should take at least four days. On the first day, you can feed your pet at a ratio of 25% new food and 75% old food. On the second day, the ratio can be equalized, on the third day, you can increase the share of new food to 75%, and on the fourth day, you can switch to completely new food. During the entire period you need to monitor the condition of the pet. If he is clinically healthy, nothing bad will happen during the transition.
Previously in Russia offered Treat animal feed with gas.