Pukekohe Waiuku Veterinary Centre

We Treat Your Pet As We Would Our Own

At Pukekohe / Waiuku Veterinary Centre we stock a range of premium pet foods.

Our staff are trained to assist you and give you advice to ensure your pet receives the best possible food for its age, breed and dietary requirements

 

Why is nutrition so important?

You are what you eat – and the same applies to our pets!  Your pets diet should be complete and balanced, supplying enough vitamins and minerals to ensure that your pet remains healthy and happy.

It is essential that you feed a diet that is correct for your pet’s life stage –

Kitten and puppy food contains more protein and calcium to ensure that they grow and develop properly

Adult food contains everything needed to maintain your pet’s weight and ensure they remain healthy.  Special diets are also available for dogs that are particularly active and are prone to being underweight.

Senior food is more easily digestible than the others, this helps senior animals to maintain a healthy weight, and the fibre level is increased to promote regular bowel movements.

                                              

Why is dry food better than canned?

We recommend feeding dry food for 3 reasons:                    

* Dry food helps keep teeth clean

The biscuits require the animal to chew them, as the teeth move through the biscuit the biscuit helps to removes plaque and tartar from the teeth, keeping them clean and healthy.

Canned food or dog rolls are not as hard, require less chewing and can stick to the teeth rather than help remove build up from them.  As an added bonus of this, pets that are fed dry food usually have better breath than those that aren’t.

* Dry food doesn’t go off

Dry food doesn’t need to be stored in a fridge, therefore making it safe to leave sitting in a bowl outside until the animal feels like eating it.  Dog rolls or canned food can quickly go off or attract ants, vermin and flies, especially in summer.

We do however recommend that you store your dry food in an airtight container where possible; this ensures it remains crunchy and appetising.

* Dry food doesn’t contain extra water.

Wet foods are typically 70% water – which you are paying for!

 

Can I feed my pet scraps?

Yes, within reason.  The majority of your pets’ diet should be proper pet food; ideally you should be feeding no more than 10% food scraps.

It is also important what kind of scraps you are feeding your pet.  Bones are generally not a good idea as they can get stuck in the bowel and also splinter, possible injuring your pet.  Fat is also not ideal to feed your pet, firstly because it’s not healthy and secondly, because it can cause serious medical problems if the ingest large amounts of it.