Food and nutrition
Food is the single decision you repeat two or three times a day for a decade. It is worth ten minutes of getting right.
Reading a label without the marketing
Most of the front of a pet food bag is advertising. The information you need is in small print on the back, and there are only three things to find.
- The nutritional adequacy statement. It should say the food is complete and balanced for a named life stage under a recognised standard such as AAFCO or FEDIAF. 'For intermittent or supplemental feeding' means it is not a diet.
- The life stage. Growth, adult maintenance, or all life stages. A food for growth is too rich for most sedentary adults.
- Contact details for the manufacturer, and ideally a qualified nutritionist on staff. A company that cannot tell you who formulates its food is telling you something.
Ingredient lists are ordered by weight before cooking, which is why fresh meat with a high water content often appears first while contributing less protein to the finished food than a meal further down. Ingredient order is a poor guide to quality; the adequacy statement and the manufacturer's testing are better ones.
Feeding by life stage
Requirements change substantially over a life, and the changes are larger than most people assume. Growing animals need more energy, protein, calcium and phosphorus in a carefully controlled ratio; adults need considerably less; seniors often need protein maintained rather than cut, with calories reduced.
| Stage | What changes | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| Growth | Higher energy and controlled calcium | Feeding large-breed puppies a rich adult food, or over-supplementing calcium |
| Neutering | Energy needs drop noticeably | Keeping the same portion and blaming the surgery for the weight gain |
| Adult | Steady maintenance | Free-feeding from a permanently full bowl |
| Senior | Fewer calories, protein maintained | Cutting protein by default, which costs muscle |
| Illness | Whatever the condition requires | Adding supplements or treats that undo a prescription diet |
Portions, and why the bag is wrong
Feeding guides on packaging are population averages with a wide safety margin, calculated for an intact, moderately active animal. Most pets are neutered and less active than that, and many need meaningfully less than the bag suggests.
Weigh food on a kitchen scale rather than using a cup. Scoop volume varies enormously with how it is filled and how the kibble is shaped, and studies of owners measuring with cups have found errors large enough to matter over a year.
- Start at the low end of the guideline for your pet's target weight, not its current weight
- Weigh each meal in grams
- Reassess body condition monthly and adjust by about ten per cent at a time
- Count treats, chews and table scraps in the daily total
- In a multi-pet home, feed separately so you know who ate what
How often to feed depends on the species. Most adult dogs do well on two meals. Cats evolved to eat many small meals and often do better with three to five portions or a puzzle feeder. Rabbits and guinea pigs should have hay available continuously, with measured pellets and greens on top.
Water
Hydration is quietly one of the most important things on this page, particularly for cats. Descended from desert animals, cats have a weak thirst drive and evolved to take most of their water from prey. A cat eating only dry food is often running at a chronic mild deficit that shows up years later as urinary and kidney disease.
- Offer wide, shallow bowls — many cats dislike their whiskers touching the sides.
- Place water away from food and litter, and in more than one room.
- Consider a fountain; some animals drink markedly more from moving water.
- Wet food is an easy way to add substantial water to a cat's daily intake.
- Change water daily and wash bowls; biofilm forms quickly.
Treats and training food
Treats are not the enemy — they are how training works. The rule that keeps them safe is the ten per cent rule: everything outside the complete diet, including chews, dental sticks and what falls off the table, should stay under about a tenth of daily calories.
For a small dog that ceiling is startlingly low, which is why the practical answer is to use the animal's own daily ration as training currency. Weigh the day's food in the morning, put it in a pot, and train from that pot. The dog gets hundreds of rewards and gains nothing.
- Break treats into pieces the size of a pea; the count matters more than the size.
- Keep a small stock of something exceptional for genuinely hard situations.
- Safe fresh options for many dogs include green beans, carrot and cucumber — check the toxic list first.
- For rabbits and guinea pigs, herbs and leafy greens are the treat; fruit is a rare, tiny one.
- Skip anything sold as a treat that lists sugars high in the ingredients.
Foods that harm
This list is worth reading properly once and putting on the fridge. Several of these are ordinary items that live on kitchen counters, and some are dangerous in quantities small enough to be an accident rather than a meal.
| Food | Affects | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Chocolate and cocoa | Dogs, cats | Theobromine and caffeine; darker chocolate is far more dangerous |
| Xylitol / birch sugar | Dogs | In sugar-free gum, peanut butter, baked goods. Causes a rapid, dangerous drop in blood sugar and liver failure at very small doses |
| Grapes, raisins, sultanas, currants | Dogs | Can cause acute kidney failure; no reliably safe amount is known |
| Onion, garlic, leek, chives | Dogs, cats | Damage red blood cells; cooked, powdered and dried forms count |
| Macadamia nuts | Dogs | Weakness, tremors and hind-limb ataxia |
| Alcohol and raw yeast dough | All | Dough rises and ferments in the stomach, producing gas and alcohol |
| Caffeine | All | Coffee grounds, tea bags and energy drinks |
| Cooked bones | Dogs, cats | Splinter and cause obstruction or perforation |
| Avocado | Birds, rabbits, rodents | Persin; particularly dangerous to birds |
| Lilies (not a food, but critical) | Cats | Every part, including pollen and vase water, can cause fatal kidney failure |
Common questions
Is grain-free food better?
Not inherently. True grain allergy in pets is uncommon; protein sources are a far more frequent trigger. Regulators have also investigated a possible association between some grain-free formulations and heart disease in dogs. Choose on the adequacy statement and the manufacturer's expertise rather than the absence of one ingredient.
How much should I feed my dog?
Start from the bag's guideline for your dog's target weight, weigh it in grams, then adjust by roughly ten per cent at a time based on monthly body condition checks. The animal in front of you outranks the chart.
Can dogs eat chocolate in small amounts?
No. Toxicity depends on the type and the dog's weight, and dark chocolate and cocoa powder are dangerous in small quantities. Treat any ingestion as a call to the vet.
Do cats need wet food?
They do well on it. Cats have a weak thirst drive, and wet food adds significant water intake, which supports urinary and kidney health. A mix of wet and dry is a reasonable middle path.