What should I feed my pet?

http://view.ceros.com/marktoe/julie-14-leefstyl/p/33

Pet owners are often confused by the array of Pet Foods out there. Some people prefer to prepare their pet’s food themselves.  As a vet, I see more and more pets living into advanced age as people feed better foods.

Nutrition is an exact science. It takes  specialist veterinary nutritionists to really know what nutrients  should be included in a pet’s food and in which quantities and relative balance, how age, disease and activity levels influence those needs, and what ingredients will deliver enough of the right nutrients. Digestibility of the  ingredients also need to be considered.

Although preparing one’s own pet food is possible, I would not advise it unless a specialist  nutritionist has worked out a recipe for your pet and the recipe is revised for advancing life stages. It is definitely much easier to leave the preparation of pet food to the experts and purchase a good quality commercial diet.

The reality is that premium pet foods cost more per kg than other brands.  The price difference is less significant if one compares the actual amount the dog needs. A great advantage of good quality food is the fact that one has a lot less dog poop to scoop!

But if you are not an expert , how do you compare foods?  All pet foods have to be labelled. Better brands will list all ingredients in detail. Ingredients are the vehicles that provide nutrients e.g., meat provides nutrients such as protein, fatty acids and vitamins. Ingredients will be listed in descending order by weight. Because chicken, beef and lamb have a high water content, they will weigh more than dry ingredients such as grains, meals and vitamins. They are generally listed first for this reason.

The next part of the label should indicate a guaranteed analysis. This indicates the minimum or maximum levels of nutrients such as protein, fat, fiber and moisture. It does not indicate the exact levels of nutrients  and is not a guarantee of quality. Varying moisture levels in pet foods make comparisons difficult. Premium brands will usually list  ingredients in more detail  than cheap brands and will not generally change the ingredients. Cheaper brands often only list the guaranteed  analysis and not all the ingredients. This may be because they vary the recipe according to which ingredients are least expensive at the time.  No one food can support all life stages adequately. The higher levels of protein required for puppies and kittens may be harmful for adult or senior pets.  Excesses can be as harmful as deficiencies. Especially in the case of dogs, “ one size fits all” is not suitable for different breeds. Incorrect feeding may lead to obesity, skeletal problems, too rapid growth, poor muscle and bone development, and a poor  immune response at an age it is most needed.

Puppies and kittens need more protein, energy and calcium than adult pets. A large breed puppy needs a food carefully formulated to ensure proper bone and muscle development.  Calcium:phosphorus ratio also needs to be considered. .

A dog is regarded as an adult between the ages of 1 and 6 years . They require nutrition with controlled levels of phosphorus, sodium, protein and energy. An individual dog’s needs are influenced by their activity level.  Certain breeds, e.g., labrador retrievers, dachshunds, cocker spaniels  are prone to obesity, and allowing them to be overweight has health consequences such as arthritis..

Maintaining  kidney health is very important in dogs and cats . Dietary phosphorus, protein and salt excesses may speed the progression of kidney damage that leads to kidney failure and death. Unbalanced high amounts of phosphorus, protein and salt are significant risk factors, as they have to be excreted by the kidneys. Some commercial pet foods do contain excess protein, phosphorus, calcium and salt.

Senior dogs are  older than 7  (or 5 in the case of giant breeds)  They need less energy and protein than younger dogs  and kidney health becomes even more critical. Prescription diets for many disease conditions are also available, but should initially be prescribed by your vet.

The following nutrients need to be considered in the formulation of pet food:

Water: A loss of 15% of the body’s water will lead to death. Generally speaking a healthy dog or cat needs about 50 ml of water per bodyweight per day. This will be influenced by ambient  temperature and activity level. As a general rule all animals should have free access to clean water all the time.

Carbohydrates and starches in foods are used  as a source of glucose. They provide energy, produce heat and can be used as building blocks for other nutrients such as certain amino acids and  lactose. Energy from these sources can be stored as glycogen or fat.

Although there are hundreds of different amino acids, only 21 are used in animal proteins. Proteins have a structural role in all cell walls and are required for all tissue growth and repair. They are essential to muscles, connective tissue, skin, hair and nails, blood proteins, enzymes, hormones and antibodies. Excess protein may also be used as a source of dietary energy.

Dietary fats are required for energy, and to aid in absorption of fat soluble vitamins(A,D,E and K).

Dogs and cats need at least 1 to 2% fat in their food to absorb fat soluble vitamins. Fats also supply essential fatty acids, Omega-3 and Omega-6. .

The essential fatty acids are required  constituents of cell membranes. They are also needed in the synthesis of active substances required by the body, such as prostaglandins. They control water loss through the skin.

More than 18 mineral elements are believed to be essential for mammals. Seven macrominerals, namely sodium, phosphorus, calcium, chloride, magnesium, potassium and sulphur  are required by the animal in the diet in larger amounts and 11  microminerals or trace elements in much smaller amounts. The major microminerals are iron, zinc, copper, and selenium. Others are iodine, chromium, fluorine, cobalt, molybdenum, boron, and manganese. Minerals are required for maintenance of skeletal structure,  acid-base balance,  fluid balance, cellular function, nerve conduction and muscle contraction. Many cat foods sold in grocery stores have a very high salt content.

Other constituents of a balanced dog food are antioxidants  in a specific combination, as well as fat soluble vitamins (4), water soluble vitamins (11) and vitamin like substances (3).

Ultimately  it comes down to the difference between survival and optimum nutrition.  If you want the best for your pet, my advice is to feed the best quality pet food you can afford.

.

     style="display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px"
     data-ad-client="ca-pub-0215442441007762"
     data-ad-slot="6529652331">

Clanwilliam

What a stunning place and perfect mild winter weather at the moment!

I spent Easter touring Tasmania. These are some of the photos I took. What a stunningly beautiful landscape!

Horned Baboon Spider by Dr. Erik Verreyne

Watching the Red Moon while a Pearl Spotted Owl, crowned lapwings and thick knees painting the night silence. And another of the horned Baboon Spiders ran past us. This time a male confirmed by LD. And this bloke was perfectly happy to sit on his shirt until we finished the photo shoot. Then hurriedly continued his lonely hunt for insects, small lizards, geckos and even small rodents. The female is lurking in her burrow, waiting for her trigger-lines to be disturbed before she pounces on prey, or on him. And he has to mate for his life if she is ready, or run for his life if she is not, using the hooks on his legs to keep her at bay. He has to prevent her from reeling him in with her "charm" and making him dinner to sustain the fertilized eggs or young. Imagine making love with a vampire while holding her arms stretched out to prevent her fangs from getting close to your throat.....Not so nice way to go I suppose... Thanks LD. Very informative, yet filled with suspense.............

Practitioner in Residence: Lunchtime Lectures at Werribee

                               

2 April	Mr. Michael Bird, Student Development Officer. Professionals Australia	Professionals Australia Career Development Seminar.
9 April	Krissy Hamilton and Grace Campbell, Investec	Finance 101
16 April	Judy Wookey - Social Work Uni Melbourne. Director, Field Education/Associate Lecturer	Difficult Conversations about Grief and Euthenasia
Thurs 1 May	Dr. Cathy Beck, BVSc(Hons) DipVetClinStud MVS FACVSc (Radiology)	Mental health and suicide in the Veterinary Profession
Friday 9 May	Dr.Rebecca Belousoff RSPCA	Animal CSI - Recognising and dealing with Animal Abuse
14 May	Dr. Phil McDonagh, Technical Services Veterinarian, Boehringer Ingelheim	Canine Parvovirus - What you need to know in Private Practice.
21 May	Dr Kate Stevens BSc BVSc (Hons)	The Art of Communication - how to effectively communicate with clients and colleagues
28 May	Faculty	We all make mistakes, but how do we learn and move forward?

              

Deborah Elizabeth Jordaan (Sieberhagen) Born 15 June 1924 - died at Vergelegen Hospital, Somerset West at 6.15am on Tuesday 18 March 2014

8 March: My mother is dying. I am a continent away. She has survived a few crises in recent months. Maybe this time she will pull through again.  I was torn - I had a job offer in Australia for a short contract. Besides the financial motivation, taking the job would also enable me to see my son, daughter-in-law and grandson. I decided to take the risk. I considered the risk of her condition taking a turn for the worse. She has advanced dementia and is generally frail at the age of 89.  I considered the risk of letting this opportunity pass me by and things being no different by June.

I decided to come to Australia. I had considered the risks, but in my heart I hoped that she would remain stable.  Now ... she is a world away. But she is not alone. My sister is by her bedside. My daughters visit her frequently. I last saw her a month ago.

Many months ago, before there was a plan to come to Australia, she suddenly said one day "I am so afraid that you will tell me you are going away and I will never see you again." At that stage she rarely talked in full intelligible sentences.  But she always smiled and said "thank you".

26 March: On Friday 14 March, I decided to fly home. The man at Qantas was most helpful in changing my ticket at no extra cost and ensuring good connections all the way through. I feared that I may arrive too late. On arrival in Cape Town, I went straight to the hospital. My sister was there. She believes that my mom perked up when she heard me. She had been with her for more than a week, so perhaps she could see what I could not. My mom was minimally responsive, although she did open her eyes and seemed to look at us at times. She could not speak. She had stopped eating and drinking a few days before. Since Friday they had been unable to place a drip, as almost all accessible veins had been used and damaged. She grunted in objection is she was rolled . On Monday she seemed to groan for no obvious reason. The doctor was concerned that she may be in pain and wanted a morphine drip to be placed. Aware of the agony of failed drip placement efforts on Friday, I asked about the feasibility of a Fentanyl patch instead. (Finally, my veterinary training paid off!)  It took the hospital more than two hours to get the patch from the pharmacy down the corridor. After it was finally applied, my mom seemed more comfortable, but also less responsive. I went home late on Monday evening to sleep, very concerned about what the night may bring. The sister on duty called at about 5 am on Tuesday morning saying that my mom's blood pressure had dropped and she was breathing faster. I got to the hospital at about 5.30 am. My sister arrived soon after. We both talked to my mom reassuringly, holding her hands and telling her how much we loved her, that she had been a wonderful mother, and grandmother and not to be afraid, that she was a child of God, and that he would take care of her and us.

She lived her life as a Christian in every sense of the word. At times religion gave her great peace. At times it greatly disturbed her equilibrium and seemed to contribute to the depression she battled for decades after my father passed away in 1989. Has it really been 25 years? However, I believe, that if there is a God and a heaven, that is where she will be. Either way, she has not lived in vain, because she has made this world a much better place for all who came into contact with her.

Deborah Elizabeth Sieberhagen was born on 15 June 1924 in the Karoo, at Richmond. Her father, John Henry Reinhardt Sieberhagen, was a farmer, her mother, Hester Catherina Groenewald,  a teacher turned housewife. They farmed at Bitterpoort in the Carnarvon District. My mother always talked longingly of her early childhood at Bitterpoort. They had irrigation there, with green lucerne lands. There was a dam, and a big fig tree, and a rondavel where the children were supposed to play quietly while the adults (parents and grandparents) had their afternoon nap. In the veldt, there were engravings of wild animals on rocks - possibly left there by the San people. They were amongst the first families to own a car and the first phone in the district was installed on their farm.

After the great depression and they moved to Cradock where they continued to farm at Wait and See. The children went to a farm school by donkey cart. Sieberhagen and Son bred top quality Merinos, Friesland and Dairy Shorthorn cattle. They had horses which they showed. My grandfather insisted that my mother ride a horse. She hated it, but was a good rider none the less. Maybe the horses appreciated her gentle nature.

She finished school very young. I think she was only 15 or 16. She then went to the Teachers Training College in Grahamstown. Upon attaining her diploma her adventurous side came to the foreground. She taught in Cintza on the garden route where leopards were commonly spotted in those days. She also worked in Springbok in faraway Namaqualand and even found a job at a small school north of Francistown in Botswana (Bechuanaland at the time). She then returned home to Cradock where she met and married a fellow teacher, my father Hendrik Petrus (HP) Jordaan. He was dark and handsome, she slim and beautiful.

He built a house on a hill in Cradock. They had three children while living there. I remember baking cakes with her, going on walks on the town common and on my grandparents farm. She taught me to appreciate nature and love animals and see the beauty in everything. She planted pretty annuals in the garden and filled the house with flowers. I remember her singing a lot when I was little.  I never heard an angry word from her, and I never, ever heard her gossip or say anything mean about anybody. Some of her school friends still write to her. She kept up correspondence with my paternal uncle's widow until her death as she had promised my paternal grandmother that she would not allow the two brothers to lose contact.  Until she became unable to write, she corresponded with her daughter (my cousin).  She also kept up correspondence with my grandfather's cousin's children in the USA. And of course she wrote to every one of her children once a week without fail when they were far away from home.
The first one - soon after I arrived by train at the University of Pretoria:
 "Liefste Koeken, Die trein het nou net sy laaste nare fluit gegee by die draai naby die buitebad......."
Koeken was my early childhood nickname - rarely used once I started school!

 The only time I ever remember her being angry was when a neighbour swore at me.
When we were a little bigger, she taught at the local schools, often in relief positions in both primary and high school positions. Many of her ex-pupils remember her with love and respect. She was especially good at building self-esteem in insecure children.

 My parents later lived in a house closer to the schools, and on the farm my father bought and developed, and later on in Bloemfontein, Springbok and the Strand, where he was Inspector of Schools and in his last job, a Language Practitioner at Sanlam. Sadly he died of a heart attack at the age of 70 - a mere two weeks after retiring.

As a mother she was always patient, loving and kind. I was competitive and ambitious as a child, but when I was about 14, school work, sport and orthodontists visits became overwhelming and I said in despair that I could not do so well anymore. I will never forget her words. She calmly reassured me that I did not have to be the best at everything. She knows that I do my best and that it was good enough for her.
She drew and painted very well and she encouraged me to do art. All her children have many of her paintings adorning their walls.  She read to us every night and taught us to be fluently bilingual. She also wrote children's stories for us and later wrote poems which captured the natures of her five grandchildren very perceptively. Until very recently she could recite long poems off by heart.

She is loved by her 5 grandchildren, who also enjoyed her reading and stories. Her three great grandchildren are too young to know her, but I trust, they too will benefit indirectly from her wisdom.

Even after her 89th birthday she spent a lot of time drawing. From about the age of 68, until she was 86, she lived  in her own apartment at the old age home in Cradock. She entertained all by drawing humouristic sketches of life in the old age home. She made good friends. She also spent many an hour visiting and reading to the people in the frail care section of the home. She often said that she hoped she would never be in their position. Sadly, for the last 3 years, she has needed that level of care. After first breaking her pelvis, she was moved to the frail care section  in Cradock. After she broke her hip, she was moved from the hospital in Port Elizabeth to Grabouw to be close to me and my daughters, who between us, could see her regularly. She was now also much closer to my sister who visited weekly. We also preferred the level of care in Grabouw. In spite of that, her mind and intellect seemed to be slipping further and further out of reach. She had a stroke last year, which left convulsions in its wake. She has also been wheel chair bound since then. In spite of this, she always greeted me with a smile and often expressed concern that I was spending so much of my time with her. She always expressed her appreciation for my visits. When I pushed her wheelchair in the garden, she could still name many of the flowers.

She has lived her life with grace and serenity. It has not always been easy.  In fact, her calm, controlled personality was the perfect counterfoil to my father's occasional vocal temper outbursts from the point of view of a child.  He loved her deeply and took good care of her - ensuring that she would be supported even after his death.

Without him, she was lost and afraid and soon sunk into severe clinical depression which required long term treatment. Yet to the very end, she was the epitomy of graciousness.

I am so, so sorry that I was far away when she became ill and started dying. Yet, I believe, that she of all people understood my restless nature. I returned for the last 3 days of her life. She was barely responsive. Whether she knew that I was there or not, I will never know.

We have scattered her ashes on a hill overlooking the Fish River Valley and distant mountains near Cradock, on Voordag - the farm where she lived with my father for many years.  It is fitting that her last resting place is in the Karoo, where she spent almost her whole life.