Dietary fibre (roughage) is beneficial for healthy digestion in dogs and leads to an increase in the feeling of being full.
Dietary fibre is not essential to life like vitamins, for example. It provides little energy but supports the dog’s digestive activity. Generally, dietary fibre consists of plant fibres which are only partially digested or not digested at all in the small intestine. After further transportation to the large intestine the dietary fibre serves as a food source for bacteria and influences the intestinal flora. It can also bind with water, increase the stool volume and stimulate bowel activity, especially in the large intestine. In the case of problems concerning the gastro-intestinal tract, dietary fibre often has a beneficial effect by counteracting either too dry or too watery stools. Dietary fibre is contained in, for example, apples, carrots and wheat bran. Branded complete food products, such as animonda wet or dry food, contain a suitable quantity of dietary fibre which makes supplementation unnecessary.
Vitamins for dogs
If you feed your dog a high-quality complete food, you do not need to give it additional vitamins and minerals. This is not necessary and can actually have negative effects as a number of vitamins and many minerals can indeed be harmful to health if overused.