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Upper Canada Animal Hospital

Diet & Nutrition

Proper diet and nutrition can help your pet address allergies, fight disease, maintain a proper weight, and promote their overall well-being.

Overview

Maintaining a healthy body weight is an essential part of a pet’s overall physical health. Good nutrition will provide your pet with a happier, safer, and longer life. Many nutritional supplements can help fight against disease, maintain a proper weight, and promote the overall well-being of any animal, too.

Why is maintaining a healthy weight important?

Obesity is a common problem among pets. Being overweight is a serious problem for animals and can cause significant health problems. With a proper diet and exercise, all pets should be within a healthy weight range. The best way to make sure your pet’s needs are being met is to consult with us about a specific diet for your pet and their lifestyle. Our staff will help you find nutrition options that best meet your needs.

When is a diet change needed?

Pets should be fed a balanced diet based on several factors, including their life stage, breed, size, activity level, and any health issues or allergies they may have. Diet changes are recommended when they enter a new life stage. For example, transitioning is recommended from puppy or kitten to adult, or from adult to senior. These life stages are dependent on species and breed. Diet changes may also be recommended if your pet develops issues that could be treated with a prescription diet, such as food allergies or obesity.

How diet & nutrition can help your pet

We will help you make the right dietary choices for your pet so that they can live a happy, healthy life. A healthy diet and good nutrition can reduce or even eliminate the following problems:

  • allergies

  • itching and scratching

  • dull coat

  • arthritis

  • joint and hip problems

  • intestinal disorders

  • ear infections

Our Weight Loss Program

It has recently been estimated that nearly 80% of pets are overweight. Our team understands this and are committed to helping your pet lose weight! Once your pet's ideal weight has been achieved we can also help them to maintain this healthy body condition.

After a consultation with your veterinarian, our registered veterinary technician weight loss coaches will walk you through a personalized weight loss program for your pet to suit your needs.

Excessive weight can lead to long-term health problems for your pet, just as it does with pet owners! As your pet’s healthcare ambassadors, we want to see your pet live a long, healthy, and active life.

Raw Diets

Recently many pet owners and breeders are exploring RAW/home-prepared RAW foods. At first, this may sound appealing, but this approach has been shown to present some potential health concerns both to our pets and pet owners. The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association ( CVMA ) has issued a position statement cautioning against feeding Raw meat-based diets (RMBD ).