Animal nutrition – making it easier for owners to digest

Nutrition is crucial to the well-being of any animal throughout its lifetime. It can be the difference between a healthy long life or a compromised one.

Owners will often think they are doing the best for their pet, but it can be very difficult for them to understand the complexities of their needs. This is where we can step in to advise them and ensure they aren’t “killing them with kindness”.

Newborn

When animals are born, their mother’s milk is perfectly created to ensure all the nutrients are provided in exactly the right quantities. Even if initial complications exist and supplementary feeding is needed, we have proprietary-branded milk formulas that are created with specific species in mind.

Owners need to be made aware that the milk from other species – such as cow’s milk bought from supermarkets – is not ideal for puppies or kittens, as it may not contain the right levels of calcium and phosphorus needed for their development.

Weaning

Weaning is generally when we need to start making decisions about what we will feed. We probably all know of breeders who wean puppies and kittens on to unsuitable foodstuffs, but these are becoming less common now as more products are available to offer optimal nutrition at this stage.

We need to remember dogs and cats are generally considered lactose intolerant. They have the enzyme lactase present when they are born, but it becomes less prevalent as they age.

Without lactase, they can no longer digest lactose, which passes into the colon as an undigested sugar and draws fluid from the cells into the lumen, causing diarrhoea.

Weaning is a stressful time as animals are spending longer away from mum, and this is often followed by transitions to new homes, as well as challenges to their immune system. As such, we need to avoid placing extra stress on them and support them with a diet that matches these needs.

A high-quality, well-balanced diet should include high levels of antioxidants (such as vitamins E, C and taurine), and appropriately balanced essential amino acids and fatty acids (such as docosahexaenoic acid; Williams, 2013).

First vaccinations

Initial vaccination consultations can be doubled with a nurse consult, where nutrition can be discussed with owners, helping to ensure they are feeding appropriately and guiding them for the future. We need to remember any dietary changes in these first few weeks need to be actioned slowly due to the additional stresses these young animals are facing, as aforementioned.

During these first few months with a new owner, the puppy or kitten will be growing rapidly, with many reaching half their adult bodyweight by six months of age. The food we provide at this time needs to support this growth and development. Protein, calcium and phosphorus requirements (needed for bone and tissue development) are double that of an adult, and the food needs to be energy dense to ensure we can provide sufficient nutrients without having to feed huge portions to small digestive systems that are still developing. Feeding several small meals a day (four to six times) can help.

Developing gastrointestinal tracts have low acid levels compared to adults and, on top of the low immunity levels, they are more susceptible to infections from unprocessed food or poor hygiene, so additional caution should be taken if an owner is feeding a raw diet.

Neutering

The next major stage that holds nutritional complications is neutering. Neutering commonly takes place at four months in kittens and from five months in puppies, so their nutritional needs should be reviewed at this point.

Neutering dogs and cats causes a decrease in oestrogens and androgens, resulting in a lower metabolic rate, which means the energy needs are lower immediately post-surgery. Oestrogen is also known to decrease appetite, so many bitches and queens may have an increased appetite post-surgery.

Intact pets have hormonal urges to roam and protect territory, so are commonly more active than neutered pets. Without adaptations, you can see how individuals will become obese as they over-eat and under-exercise.

This is not a good reason to discourage neutering – many other benefits are known and, with support, no reason exists as to why we cannot combat these issues. In general, neutered cats require only 75% to 80% of the food needed by intact cats to maintain optimal bodyweight (Pet Nutrition Alliance, 2019).

We should advise a food that is restricted in calories for neutered pets and see them monthly for weight checks until we know they are not becoming obese as they grow. In some breeds of dog, body condition scores are best used alongside weight guides as they are potentially still growing (Hill’s Pet Nutrition, 2018a; 2018b).

Adulthood

Adulthood is one of the periods in a pet’s life stage where we commonly don’t have a lot of interaction with owners in general. A healthy animal can manage to adapt and function with less-than-optimal conditions, but not for the long term. Many commercial diets are sufficient to provide the basic requirements of a healthy adult animal, but complications may arise as the pet ages.

Obesity is an issue for many animals through adulthood, and is a very complex subject in itself. It can have a huge effect on joints and is a contributing factor in many diseases for both cats and dogs – including, but not limited to, blocked bladders in cats (Figure 1), diabetes mellitus, insulin resistance and pancreatitis. We need to ensure we encourage owners to monitor and maintain a healthy weight in their pets.

Many clinics run healthy pet clubs in some form and free nurse consults that give us the opportunity to help owners with this. However, this can be overlooked by owners as they aren’t aware their pet is overweight. We shouldn’t be afraid to tell them, and offer help and support to rectify the issue by explaining the health benefits and providing a strategy for the owner to implement gold standard care.

It is important to remember that, in trying to maintain a healthy weight, simply reducing the volume we feed can create an issue with satiety. A hungry animal may scavenge and steal, which can lead to dietary indiscretions, foreign bodies or toxins being ingested and a miserable pet – no one likes to feel hungry.

Many diets can help ensure the pet is satisfied with its allowance. Commonly, increased fibre content is used, but we may look at high protein/low carbohydrate diets. Lots of options are available and we need to find the best one to meet the pet’s needs.

Naturally, animals will self-regulate nutritional intake according to need, and we do see cats and even some dogs being successfully “free fed”. Not many Labrador retriever owners would try that, though. Feed manufacturers have spent a great deal of time creating foods that are palatable for our pets, and this means we commonly need to time limit feeding sessions or measure food out in all species.

Owners love the fact their pet enjoys its food, just like we do; however, we are seeing an increase in the number of obese rabbits, as well as cats and dogs, due to the combination of tasty food and sedentary lifestyles. Not many owners adhere to the manufacturers’ guidelines and even fewer weigh the food out.

We are also seeing a move towards grain-free diets, with many people believing grains are used as cheap fillers to bulk out the food and make the food lower quality. Some dogs may be sensitive to certain grains and do better on grain-free diets; however, the majority tolerate them very well.

Whole grains do pass through the dog’s short digestive tract very quickly, but cracked grains are a very good source of vitamins and minerals, as well as fibre. High-quality cooked grains, such as rice and barley, are a very good way to provide slow-release energy and are used to support working dogs. They can eliminate bad behaviour in some animals, as they reduce glucose “spikes”, as well as benefit some diabetic patients.

Home-cooked diets or home-prepared raw diets can be more problematic as we may see vitamin and mineral deficiencies or excesses creating concerns. Vegetarian diets and even vegan diets are now available for dogs and cats and, while a dog can survive on a well-balanced vegetarian commercial diet, this is not appropriate for cats. As obligate carnivores, cats must consume the amino acid taurine – they cannot synthesise it as dogs can.

A diet deficient in meat, which is the only place taurine is found, will lead to irreversible blindness and heart failure as a result of dilated cardiomyopathy. On the other hand, hypervitaminosis A is a concern in animals that are fed a diet high in organ meat (offal). This can lead to painful new bone formation around joints, including the vertebrae in the neck, restricting movement.

It can take a long time to develop and, although the changes are irreversible, the progression can be halted by reducing the vitamin A intake. Other clinical signs can include gastrointestinal disturbances, paralysis, long bone fractures, coagulopathies and increased liver enzymes/decreased liver function (Ward, 2017).

Senior

As animals move into their senior years, their requirements change once again. Many disease processes occur as we age and have specific nutritional requirements – the details of these are not for this article either. Ageing itself is not a disease, but we have to look at certain elements that may compromise the health of a pet.

So, what do we need to consider to support them nutritionally? We may need to look at their physical ability to eat the food if dental disease has crept in, so may need to make practical adjustments – such as switching from dry to wet food or soaking the kibble first. As we age, we may become less efficient at digesting food, so we require foods of higher biological value, but often lower calories if we are becoming less active. Older pets may have poor body condition scores as a result of muscle deterioration.

Healthy older dogs may benefit from diets with an increased protein-to-calorie ratio, providing a minimum of 25% of calories from protein (Laflamme, 2005). We need to balance this against their organ function to prevent exacerbating an undiagnosed, underlying condition (Figure 2).

Similarly to young animals, geriatric pets may have a weaker immune system, so the same concerns apply regarding raw diets and hygiene.

Antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids can help support joints and brain function, which may both decline as our pets age. These all provide us with a great reason to promote senior pet clinics and take the opportunity to communicate with our clients to ensure their ageing pets are getting the best food for their needs.

Summary

Knowing the main nutritional needs of differing life stages can help us provide the information to our pet owners at the right time.

Many great resources are available and the food manufacturers will all provide support if we want to develop our skills or knowledge. The Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association website provides a great deal of information that can help us look at nutrition independently.

All this information is really useful, but we need to communicate it with owners as easily as possible – and nurse clinics are a great way to do this, as are puppy socialisation classes and client education evenings.

Other crucial pieces of information can be passed on, too, such as how many meals a puppy needs, how to transition a diet and whether wet or dry diets are best. How we can prevent a pet becoming a picky eater or developing food aversions may be relevant in some situations.

How many treats are fed also needs to be taken into consideration here. Some owners will not appreciate the calorie content of these, and it can quickly add to obesity and pets becoming fussy. These will all be based on individual events and we need to take into consideration the needs of the owner, as well as the animal, to make it a successful and sustainable strategy.

Good communication skills are essential to getting the correct information from your client, as well as being able to pass relevant information back to them. This is created using a series of soft skills, such as active listening and paraphrasing, that may require a little work at first, but the benefits to your patients will be seen if you take the time to do so.