Veterinarians remind: homemade food should be approached wisely.

Dominique Granjean, MD, author of books and research on pet nutrition: “Of course, you can cook yourself. The only problem here is that pets need certain nutrients: for dogs there are 52 of them, for cats 54. And it is not so easy to balance home food so that all of them are present in the diet. And malnutrition shortens the lives of animals, it's been proven."

Experts advise not to experiment on pets: there is no guarantee that homemade food will provide everything you need. Moreover, some of our products are simply poison for them. And others are slowly but surely harming health. A lot of people give their cats milk. Just for the reason that from childhood they are used to seeing it in pictures.

Natalia, breeder: "Cow's milk is not digested at all by cats, and it can cause diarrhea in cats, that is, indigestion, that is, this is malnutrition, improper milk."

Another trend BARF feeding stands for "Biologically Appropriate Raw Food" in English. It is also called evolutionary. The system is based on the fact that dogs and cats are carnivores that in nature feed on unprocessed food. Therefore, BARF diets are primarily raw meat, bones, and liver, with added fruits, vegetables, herbs, eggs, and some dairy products. There are also ready-made feeds they are sold frozen. However clinical research not yet on this. And many experts are suspicious of such nutrition: science does not confirm the idea of ​​​​savagery of dogs and cats. In addition, raw meat can contain pathogenic bacteria.

So what to feed? The author of numerous encyclopedias on animal nutrition, Professor Granjean from the French National School of Veterinary Medicine, insists that it is good ready-made food (it does not matter, dry or wet, most importantly, not the cheapest) that should now form the basis of the nutrition of any cat or dog. In these pieces, all the right ingredients are best matched.

The main complaint about inexpensive food is that there is usually too little meat, which is critically needed by former predators cats and dogs. It is necessary to understand the manufacturer's wording correctly. According to existing standards, if the package says “from turkey” or, for example, “from lamb”, there must be at least 26% meat. If “with meat” or “contains such and such meat” is indicated, then at least 4%. The inscription "tasteful" means that such a product may not contain meat at all.

Biologist Olga Levtsova, who has been developing pet food for many years, gives specific advice on choosing. In the first places in the list of ingredients should be meat and offal. Meat meal and dehydrated meat may be present in the composition of dry food - they are also not terrible. And if at the very beginning of the composition there are cereals, it is better to pass by. In addition, in good wet food, protein should be at least 10%, and fat no more than 710%, in dry food protein should be at least 25%, and fat no more than 20%.

The main recommendation is to regularly show the animal to the veterinarian and adjust the diet in accordance with his advice, not forgetting to control the volumes. Dogs and cats always tend to beg for food, and you should not give in to them every time. Unless, of course, you really love your pet and want him to be with you as long as possible.

Having tamed domestic animals and settled them near his dwelling, the man took care of their feeding. The old peasant saying "A cow has milk on its tongue" has not lost its wisdom even today.

And today the amount of milk, meat, eggs that we get from animals depends primarily on feeding. How should animals be fed in order to get a lot of products from them? First of all, the feed must contain all the nutrients that the animals need.

And their needs are considerable - for example, in the "menu" of a wild boar, zoologists counted 43 species of plants and more than 30 species of small animals - frogs, worms, snails. At the same time, the wild boar leads healthy lifestyle life” - moves a lot and chooses food himself. His domestic relatives spend their whole lives in captivity, move little and therefore need special human care. So, the first requirement for feed is their nutritional value.

What else? The second is their price. It would never occur to anyone to feed cows, pigs and chickens with expensive products, as well as bread, food cereals. The third condition is the safety of feed, because for the animals they store food for the winter, and for a huge complex they need a lot. It is also necessary to think about how to distribute feed to animals. If the owner has 2-3 cows, it is not so difficult to feed them. And if there are 2-3 hundred cows? There is no need for mechanization. This means that feed should be in such a form that it is easy to distribute it to animals using special mechanisms. And one more of the requirements for feed is their palatability. It is known that cows, for example, distinguish well between sour, sweet, salty and bitter. And they not only distinguish - like you and me, they prefer the sweet, and reject the bitter. Of course, there is no secret that pets need to be well fed. They knew about it two centuries ago.

In the “Pocket Book of Agriculture and Household Economy”, published in St. Petersburg in 1791, one can read: “A decent owner should never keep more horned cattle than he can feed in a year, because unsatisfied cattle does much more harm than arrived". But unfortunately, in tsarist Russia, in most peasant households, just unsatisfied cattle mooed plaintively in winter. And not because the owners did not take care of her - they simply did not have the means to stock up food for the winter. Due to the lack of fodder, the peasants deliberately tried to acquire smaller cows. In 1872, the Agricultural Newspaper wrote: “Our peasants think that a small cow requires less feed than a large one, therefore, peasants are often found looking for smaller cows.”

The norms of feeding animals developed by science did not exist then. Juicy fodder was not harvested at all. Not only in the peasant, but also in the majority of landlord households, they knew nothing about the methods of preparing silage. By the end of winter, the cows in the peasant households were sometimes so exhausted that they could not get up and had to be lifted with ropes. It is not surprising that the weight of most cows at that time did not exceed 200 kilograms, and the average annual milk yield per cow was 500-600, and only in the best years reached 800-900 kilograms. And now? In the leading collective farms and state farms of our country, 5000-6000 kilograms of milk are milked from one cow per year - 10 times more! Yes, and the current cows weigh 400-600 kilograms - 2-3 times more than their great-great-grandmothers.

These changes have occurred in no small part due to proper feeding. During the years of Soviet power, the science of feeding farm animals has been formed in our country. The problem of feed is dealt with by people of various specialties: livestock specialists and veterinarians, biochemists and agronomists, and, of course, economists. And yet, what do they feed animals on modern farms and complexes?

Let's start with cows: they have the highest requirements for feed, both in terms of quantity and composition. Dairy cows are especially picky in their choice of food. To check the quality of their feeding, you have to do dozens of tests! And no wonder - after all, milk contains a huge amount of nutrients, and a cow can only get them from feed. What do they need first?

Let's remember what we eat. Dozens and hundreds of different products! The most basic products - meat, eggs, milk - provide our body with proteins. We also eat butter, sunflower oil, margarine daily - with these products we get fats. And of course, bread, cereals, sugar are constantly on our tables - sources of carbohydrates. This means that the main components of our diet are proteins, fats and carbohydrates. The same goes for pets! Of course, no one is going to feed cutlets to pigs and give butter sandwiches to cows.

The animal organism is designed in such a way that it absorbs the proteins of plant foods well. Most plants contain a small amount of protein, but there are special fodder plants that contain a lot of protein. And some of these plants are well known even to city schoolchildren. These are the most common clover and peas. Alfalfa, soy, rapeseed are also rich in proteins. A very valuable protein feed for animals is meat and fish industry waste, which is processed into special flour. With meat and fish meal, animals also receive fats. A good source of fats for feeding animals is waste from the production of sunflower oil - cake. Well, and those substances that we get with sugar and white bread - carbohydrates, cows and pigs get with grain and sweet root crops - beets, carrots. In addition to proteins, carbohydrates and fats, animal food must contain many different chemical elements. Some of them are needed in large quantities - they are called macronutrients (from the Greek word "macro" - "big"). Others are needed in very small quantities - trace elements (from the Greek word "micros" - "small"). For animals, the most important macronutrients are calcium and phosphorus. These elements are part of bones and teeth. Calcium is especially important for dairy cows - after all, this element is excreted with milk. Even if cows do not receive calcium with feed, they still excrete it with milk from the body, and because of this, their bones weaken. Bones also weaken from a lack of phosphorus.

Such cows, having stumbled on a pasture, easily break their legs. Chickens also need calcium - after all, the eggshell consists mainly of compounds of this element, and with each laid egg, the chicken loses about 4 grams of calcium. And in order to make up for such a loss, laying hens are fed with crushed shells, chalk, shells. In addition to calcium, phosphorus and table salt, animals need many more microelements: sulfur, potassium, iron, manganese, cobalt, copper, zinc, molybdenum - almost half of Mendeleev's Periodic Table of Elements! And people should make sure that the animals get all this with food.

With a lack of potassium in the body, animals bite the wooden parts of the machines, lick the hair of other animals. It happened that bald cows began to chew ... rubber boots! Such quirks should alert the people who care for them - these are the first signals that the animals are missing something in feeding. Probably, many of you know how cows love bread sprinkled with salt. For them, this is a real treat. But ordinary table salt is not only a delicacy - it is necessary for all kinds of animals. Animals, if they do not have enough salt, lose their appetite, lose weight, their eyes become cloudy, their hair coarsens.

Their behavior also changes: the cows begin to lick the stalls, the ground, and the clothes of the workers. Wild animals, to satisfy the need for salt, are looking for it. natural springs. And for domestic animals - cows and sheep - on farms, pastures and watering places, large pieces of table salt are specially laid out, which they lick. These pieces are called lickers. Interestingly, wild animals, especially those kept in captivity, are also susceptible to diseases caused by a lack of microelements in feed. At the same time, animals also begin to gnaw on various inappropriate objects and even swallow some.

In Poland, in the Poznań Zoo, the hippopotamus Bongo lived for a long time. It so happened that he fell ill, he developed sepsis, and the hippo fell. During the autopsy, veterinarians found in his stomach a piece of skin from a mail bag, almost three kilograms of stones, more than a hundred Polish coins, a revolver bullet, a piece of wire, many other inedible objects and ... a grenade. The latter is not surprising, given that in his forty-seven years of life, the hippo had to go through two world wars. The conclusion from all of the above is clear: so that our four-legged wards do not have to look for sources of trace elements themselves, it is necessary that all this is contained in feed. Talking about the full feeding of animals, one cannot, of course, not mention vitamins. The word "vitamin" comes from the Latin "vita" - "life". Indeed, without vitamins, neither people nor animals can exist normally. Negligible amounts of vitamins - milligrams and even fractions of milligrams can change the metabolism in the body, cure a serious disease.

The main "tasks" of vitamins are to regulate life processes in the body of people and animals. (It is interesting that animals need the same vitamins as you and I. A person receives vitamins with fresh vegetables and fruits. For animals, the best source of vitamins is fresh green grass, which they eat in the pasture. But this applies only to cows. And, as you know, pigs and chickens are not grazing in the complexes, they spend their whole lives indoors. What to do with them? They have to add vitamins to regular feed. Sometimes this vitamins in their pure form, sometimes special preparations, for example, vitamin flour from needles... We want to tell a little more about this inexhaustible source of vitamin C.

You probably know that a lack of vitamin C in the human body leads to the development of a serious illness - scurvy, which, by the way, killed many sailors and discoverers of the northern lands. In Russia, 200 years ago, pine needles were used to treat scurvy - after all, coniferous trees grow in the North, where there are no vegetables and fruits. Russia even exported needles to the countries of Western Europe. After many vitamins, including vitamin C, began to be obtained at chemical plants, needles began to be forgotten. And again remembered during the Great Patriotic War. In besieged Leningrad, pharmaceutical scientists developed a method for preparing a vitamin infusion from pine needles. To provide the body with a daily dose of vitamin C, it was enough to drink 100-200 grams of this infusion. With the help of this miraculous drink, it was possible to save the lives of thousands of emaciated people, save them from scurvy, and return the wounded soldiers to service.

Now needles are not used as a source of vitamin C for people - after all, fresh vegetables and fruits are brought even to distant northern regions. But in the diet of animals, needles are a necessary product. They feed it in the form of coniferous flour or just small spruce paws. It is necessary to collect coniferous paws in the cold, then they contain less harmful substances. A cow can eat 1-2 kilograms of such vitamin supplements daily. With a coniferous foot, animals receive not only vitamin C, but also carotene, from which vitamin A is then formed. True, our four-legged breadwinners have a happy gift: they can synthesize many vitamins in their bodies. For example, vitamin D is formed in the skin of animals under the influence of sunlight, and B vitamins are formed in the stomach and intestines. But this does not apply to all vitamins.

Many of the vitamins animals, like you and me, can only get from food. The lack of vitamins causes a wide variety of deviations in appearance and in animal behavior. For example, if chickens do not have enough vitamin D, their bones soften and even their beak becomes soft like rubber, when chickens lack vitamin A, their comb turns pale, and their neighbors in the chicken coop stop respecting such a Corydalis, they start pecking at it. Of course, the absence of many other vitamins is not so easy to notice, but experienced livestock specialists, carefully observing animals, can determine which vitamin is lacking?

Love for your pet, cat or dog, involves caring for him. Proper nutrition of the animal affects its life expectancy. You must take care of proper nutrition your pet with full responsibility and knowledge of the matter. There are two main types - commercial and home feeding.

Homemade food is a natural food that has vitality. Let me explain: unprocessed foods contain more vitamins and minerals. This includes meat, fish, poultry, vegetables and dairy products, and eggs. Let's draw a sharp line right away - cats are carnivores, which means: in oral cavity there is no initial fermented digestion; they have a short digestive tract; the cat's body does not process linoleic acid, which is present in plant foods, into arachidonic acid, found in animal foods. Natural cat food includes animal products. All other products are added, coordinating them with the veterinarian. Quantity required, and in what form.

A dog, by definition, eats everything, i.e. is an omnivore with a different digestion process. For the correct preparation of the dog's diet at home, it is necessary to take into account the breed, age, climate, conditions of detention, etc.

A very important tip for all pet owners. Do not mix natural products and manufactured feed. They have different digestion times, the composition of one food affects another and an imbalance occurs in the body. If you feed the animal with dry food in the morning, then natural food can be given only in the evening and vice versa. Break - at least 6 hours between different feeds.

In our fleeting age, it is easier, faster and easier to feed pets with manufactured feeds ... And this is what we will learn about now. To immediately dismiss all thoughts of cheap feed, you need to know that they are made from low-quality ingredients, sometimes containing no more than 5% of meat, they contain chemical additives. Immediately remember the sausage for your loved ones - which one you buy and which one you don’t! Feeding cheap low-quality feed leads to a decrease in work immune system, to weight loss, deterioration of wool quality, etc. A pet is a member of your family, and treat it with the same dignity as other family members.

Therefore, we will only talk about professional and high-quality feed.
What information should the food packaging contain? First of all, it is the company logo, barcode, factory series number, name and address of the manufacturer. Name of the product, net weight, information about the composition of the feed, its energy value. Important information will be an indication of the special purpose of this type of feed and its compliance with this purpose. A good firm selects suppliers according to strict criteria. Conducts quality checks before using ingredients. A good company - the manufacturer uses only high-quality meat meal, which is obtained from the meat of healthy animals, and is suitable for human consumption.

The world leader in dog and cat food is Hills:
Hills Science Plan™ Series (Regular Hills Foods)
Hills Prescription Diet™ series
Eukanuba, Iams, Eagle Pack, Royal Canin, Purina Pro Plan, Canidae are some of the most famous manufacturers.
The packaging of high-quality feed contains data from a study of the effectiveness of the product and the results of its use. In order for the product to be given the characteristic of a complete and balanced", it is also necessary to comply with standards and requirements scientific centers, which have very large and reputable manufacturers.

Important components (ingredients) for dry and canned food are the same, only the composition of dry food also includes natural antioxidants. The ideal composition can be considered: the presence of meat at least 35%; as a filler should be about 20% egg or milk protein; about 10% bone meal, natural and vitamin supplements, no more than 20% vegetable fibers. The list of ingredients should be in order of weight content.

Which is better, dry food or homemade food? Why can't you feed your pet "human" food? How to feed a very small puppy or kitten? You will find answers to these questions here. In addition, you will learn what the consequences of malnutrition can be - this will help you avoid mistakes and troubles, as well as give your pets good health and well-being.

Types of feeding

The owner of a dog or cat should adhere to one of two pet diets: feeding ready-made food or food prepared by oneself. Which method is right for you - decide for yourself, and we will give some recommendations for each type of nutrition.

Ready feed

Animals fed commercially prepared rations are provided with all the necessary nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Manufacturers strive to ensure that your pet's diet is balanced and healthy. As a result, dogs and cats fed this way are less likely to experience intestinal disorders, weight gain, dental problems, and diseases of the internal organs.

With this type of feeding, several rules should be followed:

1. Follow the amount of food indicated on the package.
2. Please check the date of manufacture before purchasing.
3. Try to avoid economy class feeds, as well as bulk feeds.
4. Make sure your pet has free access to clean water.

Cooking our own food

If you decide to cook food for your pet yourself, then remember that his digestive system is different from yours, and therefore it is harmful to feed your pet with "human" food. The diet of a carnivore (dog or cat) should not be varied, although many pet owners think otherwise. As a rule, the ingredients of such a diet should not be cooked, mainly include raw meat (and / or offal), sour-milk products, and a moderate amount of vegetables.

When compiling such a diet, the owner of the animal is simply obliged to calculate the weekly diet, according to the needs of the dog or cat, balance it, introduce additional vitamin and mineral supplements. The main advantage of this mode is that you will know exactly what your pet is eating, and the main disadvantage is the difficulty of compiling a balanced diet that meets the physiology of the animal.

What not to do:

1. To mix different types nutrition. In factory feeds, the ratio of nutrients is clearly calibrated. By giving your pet additional “goodies”, you will inevitably break this balance, which can lead to illness.
2. Giving foods like: pork, fish and seafood, sweets, canned food, smoked meats, milk, potatoes.
3. Feed the animal leftovers from the table. In addition to digestive problems, your pet may develop the bad habit of begging.
4. Overfeed.

How to feed a kitten or puppy?

The answer is simple - there are special diets for animals from the first day of life. If you decide to pick up such an animal, or there is no way to carry out maternal feeding, then you can use them. Puppies and kittens from the age of one month are already practically able to eat the diet characteristic of adult animals. It is definitely not worth feeding newborn kittens and puppies with cow or goat milk, this will lead to problems with digestive system and will not allow your pet to grow into a full-fledged, healthy cat or dog.

The concept of natural animal nutrition came into use with the advent of commercial feed on the market. It is believed that natural nutrition includes everything except commercial feed. But it's not.

Natural nutrition refers to the naturalness of food for a certain type of animal. Natural product for a cat or dog - meat, oats - a natural product for a horse, but not for a dog. So it turns out that if you feed a dog or a cat with cereals, then this has nothing to do with a natural diet.

Our pets are predators by nature, and talk about the domestication of dogs and cats is just talk. Ready-made industrial feeds greatly simplify the life of the owner of a cat or dog, but do not forget about the quality of these feeds.

The range of prices in the market for animal feed products is wide, and many people think that you can not overpay for the brand of food, its packaging, but limit yourself to the cheapest bags, adding meat or fish to the contents. It is absolutely impossible to do so.

The additional introduction of meat, fish and other ingredients into the diet of commercially fed cats and dogs leads to very serious pathologies. gastrointestinal tract contributes to the development of chronic diseases.

Dry food made in the form of a croquette has been well studied and adapted to specific needs. physiological needs animal body (for growth, reproduction, etc.), size (small, medium and large). But it's about food. good quality(premium and super-premium): they are more expensive due to the use of higher quality raw materials. These feeds are balanced and contain fewer additives and preservatives harmful to the animal's body, unlike economy class feeds.

Owners of a puppy or kitten who have not yet decided what to feed their baby should stop at super-premium canned food. Such feeding can be considered a complete diet.

Super-premium feed manufacturers offer a large selection of canned beef, poultry, fish, lamb and rabbit meat. allergic reaction it will be difficult to identify its cause.

For adult animals, and even more so for older dogs and cats with already established dietary preferences, it is not recommended to switch to dry food from natural and vice versa. However, it happens that this is not possible without it. In this case, it is necessary to consult with a veterinarian.

If your dog or cat has problems such as loose stools, hair loss, skin scratching, spitting up when choosing food, this may mean that this food is simply not suitable for your pet.

Some pet owners prefer homemade food. In this case, you need to understand that cooking animal proteins changes some amino acid chains, making them useless for a domestic predator. In addition, such food loses many minerals, without which the animal cannot build healthy body and the immune system.

Pet food should be nutritious, balanced in fats, proteins, carbohydrates, fat- and water-soluble vitamins, macro- and microelements, which is difficult to do at home. Protein in the diet - should be from 40 to 70% - it depends on the age and physiological state of the animal. For good bowel function, there must be fiber (cereals, vegetables and fruits). Fermented milk products serve as a source of calcium, sea fish is a source of phosphorus and animal unsaturated fatty acids, and chicken eggs are a source of easily digestible and well-balanced protein in terms of amino acids.

Of course, you can use the services of a nutritionist who will calculate a balanced menu for your pet. But in addition to this, you will have to sacrifice your time or invite a personal chef.

Also, do not forget about the introduction of vitamins and nutritional supplements into the diet. Of course, it is not necessary to give all the vital nutrients at every feeding. Balance is achieved over time, within weeks, just as it happens in nature.

The predisposition to one or another type of food is not least due to heredity. I would like to note that in recent times due to unprofessional selection work, the number of animals with low immunity has sharply increased. They are prone to food allergies and diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. In this case, you need to select food individually together with a veterinarian.