Which food should I choose for my dog or cat?
Everyone understands that there is a direct relationship between what we eat and our health. Healthy eating contributes to good health and can help reduce the risk of certain diseases. The same applies to our pets: healthy, high-quality nutrition can help prevent many problems and influence the overall health of the animal.
Dogs and cats are naturally true carnivores. Healthy dog food should therefore, in our opinion, have a high meat content and be low in grains or preferably completely grain-free. Besides meat, dogs also need plant-based ingredients. In the wild, wolves hunt animals that eat plants (graze). Once they catch their prey, they eat the entire animal (including the digestive tract), which provides them with many plant nutrients. A dog's digestive system can handle this well, as they have relatively long intestines for a carnivore.
Cats require more high-quality animal proteins. They mainly get these proteins from muscle meat. Organ meat is not part of a cat’s natural diet. Both the teeth and digestive system of a cat are fully adapted to the carnivorous lifestyle of your cat. A dog can theoretically survive on cat food, but a cat cannot survive on dog food alone. Unlike cats, a dog’s body can produce Taurine on its own. To produce this substance, a dog needs high-quality proteins (meat). Because a cat’s body cannot produce Taurine, it is necessary to add Taurine to our cat food. Taurine is generally not added to dog food (because the body can produce it from methionine and cystine), so if you feed a cat dog food, the animal will develop a taurine deficiency, which can cause various unpleasant symptoms.
In healthy food for both cats and dogs, artificial fragrances, colors, or flavorings do not belong, in our opinion. The same goes for artificial preservatives; these also do not belong in high-quality food for dogs or cats.
Comparing dog kibble
Some people choose to make their own dog or cat food. If you choose this, it is important to ensure that all essential nutrients are added in the right amounts and proportions. You need to know what you are doing to prevent your dog or cat from missing important nutrients in their daily meals. For most pet owners, it is much easier to choose our ready-made Riverwood products. All our recipes are complete and balanced and contain all the necessary nutrients your pet needs for a healthy life. This way, you can be sure your dog lacks nothing.
There are many pet food brands on the market today, and the quality differences between these brands are very large. The first thing you notice is the price differences; high-quality food may initially seem more expensive than lower-quality food. By using cheap ingredients such as grains or a low meat content, food can be produced more cheaply and thus sold for less. The downside of cheap dog food is the lower nutritional value. In practice, this means you need many more kibble pieces from cheap food to meet the required daily nutritional value. High-quality food like Riverwood may have a higher price, but it does not necessarily have to be more expensive in daily use than a cheap product. By using high-quality ingredients, Riverwood’s digestibility is much higher, so more nutrients are absorbed by the body and less undigested food is excreted. This also results in significantly less stool production. Additionally, you need to feed your dog less food daily to provide all necessary nutrients. This means a package lasts longer, and a price comparison based on the required daily portion looks very different.
Of course, the nutritional needs of our pets vary greatly. The daily amount depends heavily on the species, breed, age, living conditions, and activity level. An active adult Irish Wolfhound, for example, has very different nutritional needs than a cozy house cat that prefers to sleep all day. On the back of our packages (and on the product pages in our shop), you will find feeding tables with the recommended daily amounts of our food for your pet. These recommendations are based on averages and vary per animal depending on factors such as activity level.
The taste of the food is obviously also important. What one dog likes, another may refuse. Tastes differ, just like with people. Sometimes it’s a matter of trying to find which food suits your dog or cat best.
If you want to switch to a new food, it is important to do so gradually, not all at once. Switching food too quickly can cause digestive problems. We recommend transitioning to the new food over about ten days as follows: on the first day, give your pet 90% of the 'old' brand and 10% Riverwood. On the second day, the ratio is 80% old brand and 20% Riverwood, then 70–30, 60–40, and so on until your dog’s daily menu consists of 100% Riverwood.
We advise not to switch food too often. Variety is much less important for animals than for people. A pet can eat our products for a long time without issue, so variation is basically unnecessary.
Dry food or wet food, which is better?
Whether to give wet food (also called canned food) or dry food depends on your personal preference. Both types have their own advantages. Of course, you don’t have to choose strictly between dry food or wet food; you can also combine the two very well.
Dry food consists of kibble from which almost all water has been removed during preparation. The moisture content of dry food is below 10%. The big advantage is that these products last much longer than wet food once the package is opened.
A major advantage of wet food, for both dogs and cats, is the high water content. This is especially useful when fluid intake needs to be encouraged, for example in dogs and cats with bladder problems or kidney issues. Without needing to drink much extra, they still get more moisture.
