Eat your greens! I was asked the other day, three times in a row during busy morning consults, how to feed vegetables to a dog. Each time I was a little baffled by the question… Just cook or blitz them for your pooch! But by the third consult, I realise that this is obviously a topic that perplexes many of our clients. And so, here it is. What vegetables should I feed my dog? There are some vegetables that are best served cooked for your dog.  These are all of the starchy vegies, such as potato, pumpkin, sweet potato and carrots. The starches are easier to digest once they have been cooked. And then if that cooked starch has been left to cool, it becomes even more beneficial to those ever-important gut bugs by converting into ‘resistant starch’ which is essentially a prebiotic form of starch, or fibre. There are also some dogs that will have trouble digesting the brassica vegetables and will show this in the form of tummy pain, gas or even loose stools. The brassica family include broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, cauliflower. All other vegetables are best served raw.  Although they do need to be finely chopped, grated or better yet, blitzed in a food processor to be easily digested. How do I prepare vegetables for my dog? So how do I prepare vegetables for my Bonsai Wolfhound, Ash? You all know that I am a time poor, working parent running a family business. I’d like to say that I have the time to dedicate to preparing each meal for my precious furry family member each night but in all honesty, she’s lucky if I remember to feed her… and the kids… Apparently they need feeding every day too – at least according to the school they do…. So, to make it easy for myself! I prepare a large batch of vegetables for Ash on a weekly or fortnightly basis. I buy the ‘Winter Veg’ snap frozen bag of vegies from the supermarket and blanch these in boiling water until just cooked. Drain and mash with a […]

Raw feeding for Cats At Benton’s Road Veterinary Clinic we are advocates for wholesome nutrition for your pets.  Unfortunately, our feline companions are often limited in commercial nutrition options compared to the range that is available for dogs. Furthermore, home prepared raw feeding for cats can become overwhelming with the preparation and necessary calculations to appropriately balance a nutrition plan. We all know that correct calcium and phosphorous levels are essential, and don’t forget that all important taurine! We are proud to present a new option for clients who wish to feed their cats and kittens a more natural diet, but in a convenient way. Raw Meow is an Australian company based in Perth specialising in producing high quality feline nutrition products. The creators at Raw Meow use only the best quality ingredients and have worked alongside nutrition professionals to ensure their products are appropriately balanced for our feline companions. You can rest assured knowing you are feeding a high quality, balanced product. We will be stocking the following Raw Meow products: Raw Meow Mix – Formulated based on the prey model of feeding, Raw Meow Mix is a meal completer which can be added to muscle meat of your choice to provide a balanced meal. We recommend using human grade muscle meat to make your cats meals. Raw Meow Mix is also available in a formulation appropriate for growing kittens. Raw Meow Freeze Dried Meals – This is a complete meal, just freeze dried! Simple store in the pantry and re-hydrate your portions with water before feeding. Raw Meow Freeze Dried Chicken Breast – Human grade single protein treat option. We think about getting dog treats all the time for our canine companions, why not felines too? Freeze dried chicken breast is a dry product which many cats adore. Especially the reformed biscuit eaters who miss that crunch! Freeze dried chicken breast can also be utilised as a meal topper to help you transition your cat onto raw food. Raw Meow does have a larger range of freeze-dried treats available, if you would like something that we don’t have […]

Feeding a Natural Diet for Optimal Health   All species on the planet thrive best when they eat the foods that nature intended them to eat. When the digestive system is receiving items that its evolved to eat that animal, person or bird will be able to achieve optimal health. This is the philosophy behind our dietary recommendations at Bentons Road Vet Clinic.  We encourage all pet owners to embrace food as the natural source of a healthy lifestyle.  We also help clients to incorporate at least some, if not all, natural ingredients in their pet’s diet. But what does a natural diet look like for our pets today? There are a multitude of bags of dry food in the pet stores claiming to be “natural”, “organic”, “grain-free” and “holistic”; but what do these labels mean and how “natural” are they? At Bentons Road Vet Clinic we believe that a dry food or kibble based diet is the furthest from the natural diet of our small carnivores, as you can get. These foods are low in meat proteins.  High in refined grain carbohydrates. Devoid of any moisture.  And biologically removed from the natural meat and fat based diet of our pets. The more processing that a food goes through to get to its finished state, the less healthy it is for that species. We know this. There is a huge amount of advertising for our human health that encourages us to stay away from processed foods and to eat as much fresh, wholefoods as we can to stay healthy. The same is true of our pets’ diets. For cats and dogs, a diet that contains meat, organs and bones, essential fats and oils and some green leafy vegetables and herbs is the closest to their wild type diet. This diet can be nutritionally balanced over time, not every meal needs to be the perfect mix. There are some proportion differences between cats and dogs; puppies, kittens and geriatrics and also some changes that should be made with diseases or illnesses. But the baseline ingredients remain the same. Natural diets can be […]