Advice: What Does Your Dog Or Cat Really Want To Eat?

Dog food

There is a lot of information available about what dogs and cats should be eating on a daily basis, and also on what they want to eat.

Now researchers in the US have carried out a study designed to find out what kind of food dogs and cats prefer when flavour is taken out of the equation. The team at Oregon State University (OSU) offered canines and felines four food choices: high fat, high carb, high protein and balanced, all of which were designed to taste the same, KTVZ reported.

Each of the dogs and cats was allowed to eat all they wanted up to a predetermined calorie intake, and the results were interesting.

On average, cats chose to get 43 per cent of their calories from carbs and 30 per cent from protein. Dogs, meanwhile, typically chose to get 41 per cent from fats and 36 per cent from carbs.

However, author of the study and professor in the Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine at OSU Jean Hall explained that the age, lean body mass and fat body mass also played a part in the animals’ dietary choices.

Professor Hall commented: “Because the choice of macronutrients was influenced in both dogs and cats by age and either lean body mass or fat body mass, that suggests a physiological basis for what they chose to eat.”

When you start looking at your pet’s diet, don’t forget to consider the benefits of natural health supplements for pets.

Markets Insider recently offered some advice to dog or cat owners who have picky eaters, noting that you should make sure you’re not offering your companion too much food at meal times and that they’re not getting more than ten per cent of their daily calories from treats.