Nutrition Basics for Your Dog or Cat

Growth, adult, senior and all-life-stages are not marketing words — they are formulated to different protein, calcium-to-phosphorus and energy profiles. A large-breed puppy on adult food can develop skeletal problems; a senior cat on kitten food will gain weight it cannot shift. Check the packaging for the life-stage statement before anything else.

The chart on the bag assumes an average animal that does not exist. Score your pet every month instead: you should feel the ribs under a thin layer of fat without pressing hard, see a waist from above, and see an abdominal tuck from the side. Weigh the food with kitchen scales — a cup of dry food varies by up to 40% between brands.

Dry food goes rancid. Fat oxidises in heat and light, and rancid fat destroys vitamin E and is unpalatable at best. Keep food in its original bag inside a sealed airtight container — the bag lining is designed for it. Buy no more than six weeks at a time in summer, store below 26 °C, and never decant kibble loose into a plastic bin.