REHYDRATION OF MULTICOMPONENTS PRODUCTS

Some dogs prefer to eat multicomponents products without rehydration. Is it a problem ?

Multicomponents products (or dinners) are proposed for rehydration:

- first because it is the way to obtain a final consistency close to a traditional diet or a canned-food,
- secondly, the natural flavour of vegetables are more easily smelled when the product is rehydrated.

Therefore, this advice is given for palatability reasons.

However, the extruded cerals that form the basic ingredient for each component (or the whole component if it is corn or wheat flakes, popped rice ...), are completely digestible as dry, without rehydration first. It is the cooking itself that make them assimilable by the dog, not the water addition.

Usually, there is no problem to let the dog eat dinners without water addition.

In some cases, however, it is recommended to rehydrate the product :

• greedy dogs that wolf their portion down too quickly, and who easily vomit after their meal ;
• dogs suffering from stomach dilatation and torsion : the rehydration would accelerate the emptying of the stomach ;
• overweight dogs, that have to be fed a strict amount of food : the rehydration makes the volume of the meal larger, then the owner feels less guilty for the food restriction, and the appetite of the dog is partially satisfied.

Of course, when you realize that the dog picks up the components he prefers, and neglects the others, the rehydration is well-advised !

On the contrary, it is preferable to feed dry, dogs suffering from poor assimilation and stress diarrhea ; it helps the regularization of the transit.

Donated by the Borg Cardona and Co. Ltd. visit Borg Cardona website