Many pets will continue to look for food or treats even when they are full. It is very important to get good habits started from a young age, so avoid feeding your pet from the table from the get-go. Don’t let it become a habit that your pet gets the end of someone’s meal or that the meal is shared with them. If you are finding it hard to resist those sad, puppy-dog eyes looking up at you as you are having your meal it might be best to have your pet in another room during meal times or teach them a ‘go to bed’ command.

It’s best to feed dogs twice a day. Once daily feeding can slow down your pet’s metabolism. Cats tend to be grazers and graze throughout the day. Cats that are not overweight or overeating can have food left with them throughout the day. This is only a problem in a household that has more than one pet of if your pet is overweight or overeating. If you have more than one cat, you could think of getting a feeding device that recognises a microchip or  feeding meals separately.

The most important thing when choosing what to feed to your pet is that it is good quality. Good quality food will have all the nutrients your pet requires already in it. Some foods may have higher salt and additives content which makes the food tasty but this is not healthy for your pet.

Dogs can be fed good quality dry food only with no need for wet food. If you wish to feed your dog a combination of dry and wet food, providing it is good quality, this will not be harmful for your dog.

Some cats require a combination diet of both wet and dry food. Providing the food is good quality there is no problem feeding a mixed diet.

There are a wide variety of commercial pet food diets available. Always get your pet food in your local pet shop or veterinary clinic. There will be someone there who can discuss the different options available with you and recommend the best option for your pet. Choosing a good quality food for your pet is extremely important to keep your four-legged friend healthy.

Raw diets should not be fed for both health safety and nutritional deficiency reasons. Raw foods are uncooked which means they can be contaminated with bacteria. Common contaminants include Salmonella and E.coli which can be harmful to both your pet and to humans. Many raw food diets are unbalanced and do not have all the nutrients that your pet requires. Raw foods also contain bones and it’s important to remember that bones can cause life threatening problems for your pet.

Food filled enrichment toys like Kongs (stuffies) are a fantastic way to enrich your dog’s life, by using their natural instinct to hunt for their food.

The recipes below are based on a medium sized dog, so please reduce the portion size if your dog is small.

Remember:

• Remember to reduce your dog’s regular food amount to compensate for feeding them treats like those listed below so they so they don’t become overweight
• Introduce new foods slowly over time

What you’ll need:

• A suitable sized dispenser toy (depending on which one your dog finds most fun)
• A spoon and a butter knife to stuff the mixture in
• A blender or a masher
• Wooden spoon for mixing
• Mixing bowl
• Cling film for frozen recipes

Tip

Give your dog the right amount for their size/weight and keep any leftovers for them to tuck into another day. If your dog has any underlying conditions, please speak to your vet to ensure the below ingredients are safe for them to eat!

FROZEN STUFFY RECIPES

Frozen Kongs are perfect for those hot summer days to help dogs cool down!

Tip

Add something to act as a stopper (like a dry treat) on the hole at the bottom so food can’t get out when it freezes. Wrap your Kong in cling film so the mixture can set in the freezer without spilling.

Frozen Kong recipes for dogs

• Mix plain yoghurt with a tbsp of dog specific peanut butter (available in pet shops)
• Wet dog food – nice and simple!
• One tbsp soft cheese, 50g cooked pumpkin and 80g wet dog food
• Blend 120g cooked rice with 40g peas and 40g carrots

Recipe Suggestions

• Mash one scrambled egg and tbsp of cottage cheese
• Mix one tin of salmon with a level tsp of runny coconut oil
• Mashed sweet potato with peas and one tbsp of cottage cheese
• Mix tin of tuna, cooked rice and small amount of cottage cheese
• Mash cooked pumpkin with pieces of plain, cooked chicken

• Mix plain yoghurt with dog specific peanut butter
• Mash a banana, yogurt and dog specific peanut butter
• Mix blueberries or strawberries with plain Greek yoghurt

Important

Peanut butter must be xylitol free – as xylitol is toxic to dogs. As it can often be listed in the ingredients as a different name, such as birch sugar, wood sugar, birch bark extract, sucre de bouleau, the European code E967, or Meso-Xylitol, it’s safer to give dog specific peanut butter which you can find in pet shops.