Diana Myers
When the vet prescribes a diet, it’s usually not just about calories. With some diseases, a special diet is essential for survival.
The can was more expensive than the previous food, the contents didn’t look much different, and then the dog didn’t even eat it. Some people then ask themselves whether this diet is really as important and good as the veterinarian always claims. The answer is: yes, it even saves the lives of some animals.
Diet food must be tailored very precisely to the patient, which is why it can only be sold through veterinarians. This also makes sense, because therapy with medication is often required at the same time.
For example, animals with heart disease should be fed a low-sodium diet to support the antihypertensive effect of the medication. Overweight animals must also lose weight to relieve the circulatory system. This also applies to diabetes: If long-term insulin therapy is necessary, a low-sugar diet makes it easier to control blood sugar levels.
Food can also be medicine
In other cases, the diet is the main part of the treatment: A food allergy can be remedied most easily by giving an allergen-free diet. Since one rarely knows what exactly triggers the symptoms in their food, the only thing that helps is switching to things they have never had before. In the past, it was often necessary to buy larger quantities of a type of meat that was new to the animal and to cook it yourself. There is now a wide range of commercially manufactured allergy diets, and many veterinarians carry several varieties.
Some diets are specifically designed for puppyhood. For example, a special food prevents growth disorders that often occur in large dog breeds when they are fed too much energy as puppies.
What to do if the dog refuses the food?
But even the best diet is useless if the animal doesn’t eat it. But there are a few tricks to make it palatable to patients:
- Do not change the food abruptly, but very slowly mix a little more of the new food into the old every day.
- Warm up the lining slightly. Hand warm is enough, it must not be hot.
- Feed small portions several times a day. If a meal is not eaten, take it away after a quarter of an hour and give a fresh portion at the next feeding.