Canine Nutrition
At Lillico Attlee we pride ourselves on giving expert impartial advice on feeding your dog.
Regardless of what stage of life your dog is at we can help you choose the right food for your dog and for your lifestyle.
We have a wide range of foods from puppy stage right through to senior nutrition for your golden oldies.
The correct food for your pet is vitally important, incorrect feeding or a poor diet plan can lead to lots of problems including obesity, skin issues, joint problems and dental issues to name just a few.
In store support
We have feed experts on hand in our store to ensure you are getting the correct feed and diet advice for your specific dog and their lifestyle.
If you wish to speak to our experts about your dogs diet, we can offer an instore nutrition check where we will ask the important questions about your dog, do a body score for them, and take their weight on our instore weigh scales therefore allowing us to give you the best food and feeding plan advice we can for your dog.
Types of food and diets
We stock a wide range of food brand such as Royal Canin, James Wellbeloved, Skinners, Beta, Grain Free, and Natures Menu to name just a few.
To accommodate all types of feeding plans we stock a vast range of diets including wet, dry, frozen, grain free, natural and working.
What do we need to know to help you choose?
There are several factors which affect your dogs diet plan and choice of most suitable food. Below are just a few of these factors and what our experts will look for and ask you about.
- Age – the age of the dog is vitally important. Dog foods come in lifestages such as puppy, junior, adult and senior. The composition is very different in these foods as puppy food is designed to help a dog grow and develop so have higher levels of calcium and protein for muscle and bone growth whereas senior foods tend to have lower calories and fat content due to older dogs being less mobile.
- Size of dog – most dog foods offer a size of dog option in their ranges. There is a couple of reasons your dogs size is important, firstly the levels of vitamins and minerals will differ, for example a senior Yorkshire terrier will require a certain level of joint support in their diet but a Great Dane sized dog will require a much higher level of these minerals and additional support. Secondly is the actual size of the kibble, small dogs naturally would struggle to eat very large kibble and too small of a kibble to a large or giant dog can cause choking and vomiting from eating too quickly
- Breed of Dog – you may think this is for the same reason as the size of the dog when it comes to choosing the right food and diet but it is mainly down to what we call breed characteristics, different breeds of dogs have common breed related sensitivities such as prone to sensitive skin, commonly sensitive to grain in their food and prone to digestive sensitivities
- Workload – this isn’t just something that effects working dogs. Us knowing the workload of the dog helps us choose the right diet for them. Work load means the amount of work/exercise the dog has. For example a dog which is walked for 10 minutes, three times a day will not need as much energy from its food to a dog which goes for 3 x 1 hour runs a day with their owner. Also if the dog is a working dog such as a sheepdog or gundog, this too will affect the energy levels needed from their diet.
- Any health issues – if your dog has any underlying health issues it is vital that you let us know as this will affect which food we recommend to you. Health conditions in dogs can often be aggravated by ingredients in the food, for example if your dog suffers from colitis we would look for a food high in FOC (fructooligosaccharide) as this encourages the growth of friendly bacterial in the gut and helps cleanse the colon.
- Lifestyle of the owner – this is one which many people forget about but is important for us to know about when helping you choose the correct diet for your dog. Some foods require more preparation and storage, an example of this is frozen/raw dog food, these require a freezer for storing and also need to be thawed before feeding and some raw diets require additional preparation such as added vitamins and minerals, in comparison to a complete dry diet which can be fed straight from the bag to the bowl.
Can you change your dogs food or diet type?
We often hear from owners that they are worried about changing their dogs food and worried about causing upset to their dogs stomach. It is very important to get the changeover process correct to ensure your dogs digestive system is not upset by the change in diet or type of feed.
The best and most successful way to transition your dog onto a new food is to do it gradually over a 10 day period. Below is a chart which shows the percentage of new and existing food to feed over the 10 day period
Day | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
Percentage of Existing Food | 90% | 80% | 70% | 60% | 50% | 40% | 30% | 20% | 10% | 0% |
Percentage of New Food | 10% | 20% | 30% | 40% | 50% | 60% | 70% | 80% | 90% | 100% |
How much to feed and when to feed?
This is a question we are often asked by our customers and there is no rule that fits all dogs and customers. When we do a nutrition check with you in store, we will recommend the best times and frequency to feed your dog, taking into account all the factors we ask you about when choosing the right food.
The amount of food to feed depends on the type of food and brand we recommend.
To treat or not to treat
Dog treats are a great resource when teaching your dog new skills, when training your new puppy, as a reward for good behaviour or to occupy your dog as a boredom reliever.
There are some simple rules to follow when deciding which treat is right for your dog
- Dog treats should only be 5-10% of your dogs calorie allowance, if you need to use lots of treats, for example if you are going to a training class think about using a portion of their daily dog food as the treats, this means you are not adding in unnecessary calories.
- Try to avoid human foods. Lots of people use cocktail sausages, ham and cheese as a high value reward but these are not good for your dog as they have a very high fat content, high salt level and can be harmful to your dogs stomach. Some human foods such as carrots, blueberries and banana are safe to use as treats in small quantities, all owners should make themselves aware which foods are toxic to your dog.
- Think about what’s in the treat – if your dog is on a grain free or sensitive diet due to its health its vitally important you check that the treats you are feeding follow the same rules as their main diet. There are a huge range of treats available in store such as grain free, 100% meat, natural freeze dried, vegetable treats, dental treats and calming treats. If you need help in choosing the right treat our team are here to help, treats will also be covered if you book a nutrition check with our experts.
- Training treats should be small and low calorie as they tend to be given in higher quantities, they should also be highly desirable and smell delicious, treats such as dried tripe, liver and 100% meat treats are ideal
- Boredom breaker treats should be long lasting and low calorie as boredom treats tend to be larger treats, they should be difficult to chew or hard enough to last a period of time. Treats such as natural rawhide, Kong treats and toys, prepared bones and freeze dried animal treats such as deer legs are a great option to relieve boredom
Take a look at the range of dog food we have available.
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