Super Seeds for Pets

Seeds and nuts are some of my favourite additions to my dogs' bowls, because they tick pretty much every box I'm looking for when I want to add a hit of supplementary nutrition. They're:

• Super nutrient dense 
  
• Pretty cheap
• Already in my pantry
• Specifically rich in the nutrients I know my dogs don't receive sufficiently from the meat part of their diet

These small but mighty plant embryos help fill nutrient gaps that protein-rich diets often miss, like the minerals zinc, magnesium, selenium and manganese. They're also great sources of the antioxidant vitamin E - which is crucial for wound healing - and they're a good source of fibre, for digestive health. 

Two of my favourite seeds are hempseeds and activated sunflower seeds, which are in our meal balancing blends and Old Soul functional meal topper. We add these powerhouse seeds to ensure your pets are hitting all of their essential nutrient goals, and for their antioxidant properties that promote health and help your pet defend against disease. 

But regardless of what you feed, you can add a nutritional boost to any bowl with seeds and nuts like these for just a few cents per day... 

Seeds and nuts are best fed blitzed to powder or a butter, so the plant fibres are broken down enough that the nutrients are available to our four-legged friends. 

Seeds and nuts are a great way to add interesting texture and complexity to things like Kongs, especially if you have a busy brain dog that spends a bit of time alone. It can be really easy to overdo the PB if you're feeding enrichment every day, so keep this in mind when feeding seeds and nuts.

This is because seeds and nuts are naturally quite high in fat, which is an important nutrient that our pets need. However, we do need to ensure we're not endlessly adding energy to our pets' diets that isn't sufficiently offset with either exercise, or sacrifices in other areas of the diet (without compromising nutritional balance).

I recommend rotating through a few different options for their unique nutrient profiles, and feeding up to half a teaspoon daily to small dogs and cats (under 10kg), up to 1 teaspoon daily to medium sized dogs (10-20kg) and up to a tablespoon per day for large dogs over 25kg. If you're feeding seeds and nuts as a topper (and not as part of a balanced recipe), 2-3 times a week is a good guide so things don't get out of hand. 

A final note; never feed Macadamia nuts to pets! These are toxic and can cause nausea if eaten. 

Check out Wild blend for dogs and cats and Essential blend for dogs if you want to harness the magic of hemp, or if activated sunflowers are more your vibe, Vital blend and Old Soul have got you covered 🌻