What Will Your Pet Eat?

If your pet is going to have a general anaesthetic or an abdominal ultrasound scan, we will request that you withhold food for 6–12 hours before the procedure.

If your pet is staying with us for a while, you may want to bring his or her own food with them. Alternatively, we will provide food that your pet is used to, if you tell us what they like.

Some pets will not eat when ill, either at home or in hospital. To tempt these reluctant feeders, we will try almost anything including cheese, corned beef, roast chicken, cooked sausages, ham, white fish, tuna or sardines to name but a few. Of course, these fancy foods are only offered if they are not harmful to your pet’s condition. We would not recommend using these foods in isolation at home as they may contribute to obesity, and many are not balanced diets or complete foods suited to your pet’s full nutritional requirements.

Occasionally, some pets are very sick or remain anorexic while their successful treatment demands that they get good quality nutrition. These cases may require assisted feeding such as through naso-gastric, oesophageal or PEG tubes, where we provide food directly into their stomach. If your pet requires such treatment our veterinary specialists will discuss those procedures with you.

We are very experienced in gently encouraging sick pets to eat, and we understand that this is crucial to their recovery.