Pet Nutrition Basics

To maintain a healthy diet, dogs and cats need to have a food that provides three main things:

• Fresh, high quality meat-based nutrients
• Beneficial oils
• Vitamins and minerals.

Many mainstream dog and cat foods do not meet these criteria and can often have negative consequences for your pet. These are some of the issues you can run into when buying large commercial pet foods:

• High amounts of plant protein that dogs and cats cannot metabolize
• High grains and fillers that can lead to allergic reactions, intestinal blockage and other problems.
• Harmful by-products, chemicals and preservatives
• Outsourcing to other countries with low standards and less regulation

Dogs and cats can survive on commercial pet foods, however the risk of disease and illness is much higher and the quality of their life can be severely impacted. At The Hip Hound, we do the research to ensure we are providing you with the best food options available. We choose small, conscientious pet food companies that have reputable sourcing and excellent quality control. Changing your pet to a high quality food can be life changing for them, as it not only helps with overall health but can also help specifically with:

• Dry/itchy skin
• Lethargy
• Coprophagy (eating feces)
• Immune failure
• Tumors
• Joint breakdown

Canines and Felines do best on a low-processed diet high in good quality meats, low in fillers and minimal/no grains. Cats especially need an all meat protein diet due to being obligate carnivores. These criterion are met by every food we carry at Hip Hound. In our opinion, the easiest food for dogs and cats to metabolize is raw food. Raw food provides all the essential nutrients dogs need by incorporating raw tissue, organ meat and bone meal.

Why Feed a Raw Diet?

Raw foods come in two main forms: dehydrated and frozen. Dehydrated raw can be reconstituted with warm water or in some cases eaten in its dry form. Raw diets have not been exposed to high heat like processed kibble or canned foods, and therefore contain enzymes, probiotics, essential amino acids and other nutrients which are not found in traditional diets. These aid in digestion and provide many other benefits such as dental care, joint support, immune support and many more. Raw diets are especially beneficial for animals that suffer from:

• Diabetes
• Pancreatitis
• Kidney/liver failure
• IBS
• Urinary Tract issues
• Other severe digestive problems

What is Best for my Dog?

Each pet has his or her own personal nutritional needs based on allergies, medical issues, age and taste preferences. Here at The Hip Hound we have a trained and knowledgeable staff who can help you find the best fit for your pet! We are more than happy to have a free food consultation with you to find the food that would benefit your pet the most. We have in depth literature on all the foods we carry and can provide samples of our most popular foods for you to try with your pet. While we are very picky about the foods we carry, we do have several different lines for customers to choose from.

At The Hip Hound all of our food is guaranteed!

If your pet doesn’t like a food for any reason we will take it back and find something that works for both you and your pet(s)! Another benefit to buying your pet's food at The Hip Hound is that we offer frequent buyer programs for many of our cat and dog food brands!

Do your pets have nutritional challenges? Have you considered changing their food, but haven't had the time to chat with a specialist? Head over to our Nutrition Consult page and submit a form with yours and your pet's information, we will get back to you to schedule a FREE Nutrition Consult over the phone!

Paws & Kisses,
The Hip Hound Team