Understand Food
Food glorious food! You’re on safe ground spotting a steak is not a cabbage, but can you tell proteins, carbohydrates and fats from vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants? Learn nutritional aspects such as:
- Food groups: What foods are made up of
- Types of food: How commercial diets are packaged
- Food labelling: Decode the small print
- Know how much to feed
Understand Your Pet’s Nutritional Needs
A dog has different nutritional needs to a cat, which is different to a rabbit. Indeed, don’t stop there because birds, fish, and reptiles all have specific needs. Learn about:
- Different types of digestion: Herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores
- Life stage feeding: Youngster, adult, or senior pet
- Matching lifestyle to nutrition: How to feed the active animal, for pregnancy or lactation
- Why a cat isn’t a small dog
- Mealtimes vs ad lib feeding
- Avoiding fussy eaters
The Weighty Matter of Weight
It’s official: Lean animals live longer.
Learn how to assess your pet’s weight and then diet them for longer life:
- Body score your pet
- Feeding for painless weight loss
- What every overweight diabetic cat should know
Food and Ill Health
Food choices cut both ways: It causes ill health and it can cure it. Learn:
- Signs of dietary allergy or food intolerance
- How to put your pet on a hypoallergenic diet
- Foods to improve renal, liver, heart, dental, and urinary disease
Options for Feeding
Learn how to switch diets without upsetting your pet’s tummy, and weigh up the pros and cons of various diets such as:
- Raw meaty bones
- A homemade diet
- Supermarket food
- Veterinary approved diets
- Prescription diets
Special Sections on Small Mammals, Birds, and Scaly Creatures
Learn the crucial importance of an unprocessed high fiber diet to your rabbit’s health and well-being. Also, how to feed the following for optimal health:
- Rabbits
- Guinea pigs
- Hamsters, gerbils, rats, and mice
- Birds,
- Fish
- Tortoises, turtles, and terrapins
- Reptiles, including snakes.
An appropriate, good quality diet is vital for our pets’ health and longevity but do you truly what you’re feeding them? If you can’t put your hand on your heart and say “Yes,” then this course helps you to ask, and answer, the right questions about feeding.
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COURSE SYLLABUS:
Module 1: Food Glorious Food
- 1.1 Food groups
- 1.2 Types of diet
- 1.3 Reading food labels
Module 2: Types of Digestion
- 2.1 Herbivores
- 2.2 Carnivores
- 2.3 Omnivores
Module 3: Cradle to Grave Feeding
- 3.1 Puppies and Kittens
- 3.2 Adults
- 3.3 The senior animal
- 3.4 Pregnancy and lactation
- 3.5 Feeding Dogs
- 3.6 Feeding Cats
- 3.7 Ad lib feeding vs mealtimes
- 3.8 How often to feed
- 3.9 Avoiding faddy eaters
Module 4: The Weighty Matter of Weight
- 4.1 The importance of a healthy waistline
- 4.2 Does your pet have a weight problem?
- 4.3 Honey I shrunk the dog
- 4.4 A special mention about cats and diabetes
- 4.5 Safe weight gain
Module 5: Food and Ill Health
- 5.1 Dietary allergies and intolerance
- 5.2 Hypoallergenic diets
- 5.3 Cats and Urinary Blockages
- 5.4 Renal problems
- 5.5 GI upsets
- 5.6 Pancreatitis
- 5.7 Dental disease
- 5.8 Cancer, brain ageing, and liver disease
Module 6: Pet Food: Opening Pandora’s Box
- 6.1 Homemade diets
- 6.2 RMB
- 6.3 Supermarket foods
- 6.4 Premium pet foods
- 6.5 Veterinary approved foods
- 6.6 Changing diets
Module 7: Rabbits and Guinea Pigs
- 7.1 Myths and mistakes
- 7.2 Healthy Eating for Rabbits and Guinea Pigs
- 7.3 Eating Related Issues
Module 8: Mice, Rats, Gerbils, and Hamsters
- 8.1 Mice and rats
- 8.2 Gerbils
- 8.3 Hamsters
Module 9: Birds
- 9.1 Cage birds
- 9.2 Poultry
- 9.3 Birds of Prey
- 9.4 Parrots
Module 10: Fish
- 10.1 Freshwater
- 10.2 Marine
- 10.3 Saltwater
Module 11: Reptiles
- 11.1 Tortoises
- 11.2 Terrapins and Turtles
- 11.3 Lizards
- 11.4 Snakes
