Pet food complements are traditionally known as the extras. The just-for-fun food. The treats.
While they are designed to complement a complete and balanced diet, we believe that toppers and treats are more than just-for-fun. In fact, Tiki Pets® complements offer many benefits besides exciting taste buds, and they serve an important role in your pet’s overall health.
Here are our top reasons why you should include complements in your pet’s diet:
Complements offer VARIETY, with both flavor and nutrition.
As we always say, boring has no place in their bowls. Who wants to eat the same thing for every meal of every day? Mixing up aromas, flavors, and textures not only excites your pet, it also mixes up the nutrients your pet receives. Quite simply, different ingredients provide different vitamins, minerals, amino acids, etc. that all serve different functions. Adding toppers and treats to their regular diet is a great way to introduce new flavors and nutrients with minimal digestive disruption.
They help STIMULATE APPETITES.
Whether your pet is older, recovering from illness or surgery, needs support transitioning to a new diet, or is simply a fussy eater, sometimes they refuse the food you offer. Talk about frustrating! Luckily, complements can help ensure your picky pet gets the nutrients they need. After your vet has ruled out any underlying medical issues, try enhancing their meals with wet food or a topper, which add enticing aroma and texture.
Aroma
Both dogs and cats have an incredibly acute sense of smell, which helped their ancestors track and hunt their prey. Dogs, for example, have up to 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses, compared to about six million in humans. With these highly sensitive sniffers, it’s no surprise that their food’s aroma is very important to them. It’s what first draws them to, or away from, certain foods. Wet foods have stronger aromas than dry foods, making them more enticing to dogs and cats. Adding a scoop (or tube!) of wet food to your pet’s diet as a treat, topper, or mix-in can make your pet more excited about eating.
Texture
We know that textural variety makes meals more enjoyable. Think about how something crunchy, like croutons, can improve a soup. Same goes for pets’ foods. In fact, your pet’s ancestors dined on a variety of textures in their prey and plant foods. If your pet primarily eats dry food, they may love a sumptuous Tiki Cat® Broth or Tiki Dog™ Flavor Booster poured on top. Or, if they eat wet food, they may drool over Tiki Dog™ Air-Dried Morsels or Tiki Cat® Dash™ fish flakes sprinkled on top.
Wet food and broth complements provide important supplemental HYDRATION.
Many pets don’t drink enough water, even if fresh, clean water is always available. This is especially true for cats, who have a naturally low thirst drive. Adding wet food to their diet – as toppers, treats, or their main, complete and balanced meal – is an awesome way to give your pet a boost of beneficial hydration.
Tiki Pets® complements offer (guilt-free!) INDULGENCE.
What better way to bond with your pet than giving them a treat they love? You can even feed them right from the tube! It feels good to make your pets happy, especially knowing that these indulgences are made with real, healthy, non-GMO ingredients. Be mindful, however, not to overindulge your pet. Those adorable, big eyes may be hard to resist, but it’s best to follow the feeding guidelines on the packages, and adjust portions when adding a topper.
So, go ahead and give them the “extras.” They deserve it!
