Medical
experts and nutritionists continually encourage people to eat more of certain
food types to promote general well-being and overall health. Emerging
scientific evidence shows that some foods can help to treat and even prevent
certain conditions, not only for humans but also for pets.
Maintaining
the health of dogs and cats by providing wholesome, nutritional diets is
becoming an important component of esponsible pet ownership. Besides
complete and balanced nutrition, product safety and quality parameters, in
connection with traceability, are becoming more important.
As pets are now living well into geriatric ages it is everyone's
responsibility to keep them as healthy as possible. The high metabolic
demands of the eye are now a priority for antioxidant research.
Kicking off what will be a biennial event, Sarah Mellor joined nutritionists
from around the globe in the picturesque setting of Salzburg, Austria for the
first world nutrition forum. Not content to confine themselves to ingredients
and additives, the trailblazers of animal nutrition discussed the future.
Back in 1973 Cranswick plc started life
producing basic feeds for East Yorkshire pig
farms. Today, Cranswick is a leading UK stock market quoted company with
a turnover of £318 million. Recently the company built a brand new bird food
plant in East Yorkshire
Consumers can already buy food specially made for old and
young dogs, large and small dogs and dogs battling the bulge. Now comes food and
treats based on a dog's lifestyle, bite strength and
breeding.
Pet food low in calories and fat is gaining popularity in Japan following
reports that a growing number of indoor dogs tend to become overweight and face
the risk of metabolic syndrome, just like humans.
As we include more cereals in dry petfood,
the risk of mycotoxicoses in pet animals increases. Most obviously affected are
dogs and cats, but mainly because cases are identified. Unfortunately, this
problem cannot be contained solely by petfood manufacturers- pet owners have to
take some responsibility too.
The term “companion
animal” has replaced that of “pet”. Today’s challenge is to provide complete
diets meeting all requirements in a safe and highly palatable form. The highly
specific requirements of the cat illustrate just how far we have come since the
first processed diets appeared almost 100 years ago.