Some Scotties can be fickle eaters. Fortunately in our household that is most certainly not the case. Just looking at our gentle giant Gus, gives you an indication of that. However for some, the matter of what to feed a Scottie is quite important. Certain foods may cause an upset tummy; or the scottie will just turn away from the offered dish; their coats may suffer and appear lack-lustre; they may be lethargic or over active.

You only have to look down the Dog Food aisle in any supermarket and displayed before you is a huge choice. No wonder some of us struggle to get the right balance.

Scotties here in our household are fed a variety of foodstuffs on a daily basis. The choices on their menu range from commercial dog food, freshly roasted chicken, rice, carrots, apples, celery, tuna in sunflower oil, cottage cheese, suitable table scraps, homecooked pies, potatoes, courgettes, all mixed with complete biscuits (just in case we’ve missed a vital nutrient).

We have not gone down the route of raw foods in our household, especially bones as Bobby had a serious mishap with a piece of bone which became stuck in his anal passage resulting in an emergency operation, to the tune of £750.00. This took place whilst on a camping holiday a long way from home!

In carrying out research recently, I noted that what we feed our Scotties varies greatly. When I think back to what my parents and grandparents fed our family dogs – well, they more than usually got tablescraps with the odd tin of whatever small choice of commercial food was available at that time. It seems that, down the long passage of time, those dogs of yesterday lived a little longer, or perhaps being a young child then, maybe time passed much slower – who knows!