Eating well involves three key aspects: selecting the right food based on ingredients and values, ensuring the food is safe to consume, and managing portion sizes.

The right food should meet nutritional needs and align with your values, such as ingredient transparency and sustainability. Ensuring food safety is crucial, as contaminated food can harm your pet regardless of its ingredients. Lastly, portion control is vital to prevent obesity or malnutrition, both of which can significantly impact your pet’s health and well-being.

1. Choosing the Right Food: Selecting the right food is fundamental to eating well. This means choosing food with the right ingredients and aligning it with the values discussed in previous chapters, such as ingredient transparency, ethical considerations, and sustainability. The best food is the one chosen consciously.
2. Ensuring Food Safety: Even the best ingredients are useless if the food is not safe. Food safety is paramount. No matter how premium the ingredients are, if the food is contaminated, it can harm your pet. Look for brands that follow strict safety standards and have a good track record of avoiding recalls.
3. Managing Portion Sizes: The size of the portion is one of the most significant factors in maintaining great nutrition. Overeating can lead to obesity, which is a major risk factor for many health problems in pets, including diabetes, arthritis, and heart disease. Conversely, undereating can lead to malnutrition and a weakened immune system. It’s essential to provide just the right amount of food to keep your pet at a healthy weight.

Practical Tips

1. Follow Guidelines: Feeding guidelines on pet food packaging are a safe place to start but must be adjusted accordingly.
2. Know Your Pet: No one knows your pet better than you do. You are in the best position to judge their weight and overall health. Adjust their diet based on their specific needs.
3. Puppies and Kittens: Young pets can eat all they want without accumulating unwanted weight, but as they grow older, adjust portion sizes to maintain their health.
4. Monitor Weight: Regularly measure their weight. If you have home scales, weigh yourself with and without your pet and subtract to find their weight. Keep track of it in a journal or with photos on your phone.
5. Consult Your Vet: Regular check-ups with your vet can help you adjust your pet’s diet as needed to ensure they are getting the right nutrients and maintaining a healthy weight. Remember, you do not need a prescription diet to achieve or maintain the right weight if your pet is otherwise healthy.