From time time we have new members asking what food they should purchase for their pet. It is perfectly natural for fellow members to recommend products that they feed or perhaps (for the retailers), sell. Whilst this cannot be avoided altogether, I firmly believe that the best way of helping people in their quest for a good dog food is to give them the tools to choose for themselves. If members wish to mention the food that they give, then that is acceptable but please say why you chose it. I hope that these guidelines might be of help when someone is requesting advice on what to feed their pet:
- If not already provided, ask for information on the dog - what it is currently fed on, age, lifestyle (activity level), general well-being, health problems. In other words listen to what the member has to say about their situation.
- Offer advice on how to select a suitable product (guidelines). It may be repetitive but each member is new and may not have this knowledge. They don’t always read other threads on the same subject so posting a link to a relevant one may be all that is needed.
- Please keep it simple - lots of people find the subject of nutrition quite confusing. It actually is confusing at times so if we stick to the basics and make the advice as clear as possible, information is more readily understood.
- In the long term, it is more useful to the member to search for a suitable food themselves so consider directing them to the Dog Food Directory on this site and perhaps explain what filters to use and how to use them. Remember that once the person has the knowledge and information to choose for themselves, they will probably pass that on to someone else. The end result is that it is much more useful in disseminating information than telling them to feed any one particular product.
All of us who are interested in good nutrition for our pets, whether personal or professional are hopefully eager to pass our knowledge and experience on to others. This is a good thing and I know that I am extremely grateful to people who give their time up to help others on forums like this. I would just ask that we try not to be too prescriptive and try to offer more general advice. In addition, although some may hold firm views on nutrition, there is no one way of feeding that is correct. I believe that it is best not to be too dogmatic (no pun intended) in our advice.
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”