Commercial Pet Food

Pet nutrition has become more important then ever. Pets are living long, healthier lives in part due to better diets. However, pet obesity has become an epidemic and is estimated to effect one out of three pets, according to Banfield statistics. Obesity leads to diabetic and cardiac issues. According to the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) there is an “increase in prevalence of various canine and feline preventable diseases, including diabetes mellitus, dental disease, parasitism, otitis externa, obesity and overweight, kidney disease, and osteoarthritis”.

Related Article: AAHA Wellness Report

Related Article: WSAVA Nutritional Guidelines

Related Article: Pet Obesity Prevention

Related Article: American College of Veterinarian Nutrition

Biological Difference of Dogs and Cats

Commercial Time-line

• 1885 - “Dog cake” created by James Spratt

• 1908 - F.H. Bennett Biscuits Co created the first Commercial Dog Food called “Milk-Bone”. Ingredients included meat, cereals, milk and minerals fortified with liver oil, wheat germ and irradiated yeast.

• 1909 - AFFCO formed to regulate the legality on package labeling.

• 1920’s -  One of the first Veterinarians, Dr. Leon Whitney, DVM from Orange, CT, became involved in pet nutrition and formulated Created Bal-O-Ration

• 1922 - Two dog foods where commercially produced Spratt’s or Milk-Bone

• 1930’s - First canned food was created by P.M. Chappel which consisted of Horse meat called Ken-L-Ration Brand

• 1931 - Milk Bone was purchased by the National Biscuit Company but still considered very advanced for its time.  People were still reluctant to spend money on food for their dogs.

• Late 1930s - Half a dozen canneries supplied over 200 brand canned foods.

• 1941 - Canned foods made up 91% of consumed diets where 9% was Dry food.

• 1960 - Canned food made up 40% of consumed diets where 60% was Dry food.

Urban Myths

• Brewer’s yeast prevents fleas

  FALSE (good source of B Vitamins)

• You should never feed a dog human food? 

  False: All food is the same, its how its prepared. Pet food is ground ingredients, creating a batter and cooked to form hard pellets. The left overs of our meals do not supply all the nutrients our pets need and can cause animals to gain weight.

• Homemade diets are usually fully fortified by adding veggies

  FALSE – Calcium deficiency occurs.

• Antioxidants should only be given to older or ill dogs 

  FALSE these can be supplement as needed throughout a dogs life.

• Raw eggs are great for my dog’s coat

  TRUE AND FALSE Raw egg whites are toxic – Biotin is reduced by protein (avidin) in raw egg whites, but yolks are a rich source of protein.

• Wet food causes dental disease

  FALSE – bacteria build up causes dental issues, irrelevant of hard or soft preparation.

• Wet food causes weight issues

• FALSE – traditionally owners have increased overall calories by adding wet food into a diet without decreasing the amount of dry food given.

Diet Philosophies 

There is no perfect or best diet. Each theory, like in human nutrition, is based on the individual system.  Dogs and cats, even of the same breed, have different systems and some work better with a specific diet approach.  Other key factors that effect diet are genetics, diseases and environment.

Related Resource: Tufts University, Pet Nutrition

Related Resource: Dare to Ask

Related Resource: Balance It

The basis for rotation theory is to rotate foods so that the animal’s system continues to:

• Adapt to new proteins by creating a wide spectrum of digestive enzymes (eating the same food all the time only allows the digestive system to break down a limited amount of material).

• Provide a broad spectrum ingredients allow for a better immune system.

• Offer wider variety for picky eaters.

• Offer more formula choices beyond the popular protein driven chicken, beef and lamb formulas.

For pets that do not easily adapt to this approach due to digestive issues:

• Change formulas every 6 to 12 months

• Change the food over a 7-10 day period starting with ¼ new / ¾ old and work toward the last day to 100% new.

All Life Stage

These diets are formulated for all life stages.  Calories in calories out with all the fully formulated agents needed for all stages.  Think of our human counterpoint.  We do not necessarily have toddler food, senior food.  Human baby food is just the same food we eat up pureed.  Therefore, puppies and kittens eat more food and then it decrease as the animal ages.

Life Stage

The food is a marketing ploy only.  The stages are formulated to allow the consumer to not have to think about what is happening with nutrition.  So, puppy/kitten food has higher calories versus less calories and fat in senior diets.  The consumer just needs to remember to feed there dog a specific amount.  I.e.  1 cup of puppy, and then 1 cup when I switch to the same manufacturer’s adult version.  Start with the following novelty proteins:  Fish, lamb, pork.

Limited Ingredient for Allergies

The commercial pet food industry started marketing hyper-allergenic formulas to capture market share for the growing number of pets diagnosed with digestive and skin allergies. No food is hyper-allergenic. Novel, limited ingredients have less of a chance to cause an hystamatic response. We recommend working with a veterinarian versus the over-the-counter, trial-and-error method. 

However, if you want to try a limited ingredient before working with a veterinarian, we recommend starting with a “novel” protein (Fresh Water Fish, Guinea Fowl, Goat or Pork) that is not utilized in the production of veterinarian prescription, therapy diets (Duck, Rabbit, Venison, Kangaroo).

Veterinarians typically start with a non-invasive feed trial for 8 weeks. A pet is placed on a single protein, limited ingredients formula and matching treats that the pet has never been exposed to in order to determine if the allergy persist. If the allergy resolves itself, then a client has an idea of which types of foods their pet can tolerate. If the allergy persists then the investigation continues.

Food Allergies

Some animals have mal-absorption issues (aka “food allergies”) in which they cannot easily digest certain proteins or ingredients.  Thus, the easier, more simplistic diet work better. Symptoms include:  Diarrhea, loose stool, vomiting and anal gland issues. Its important to note that if a dog is allergic to a specific protein then it is usually allergic to the entire DNA protein for that animal.  I.e. if a pet is allergic to chicken, in theory, it will be allergic to chicken eggs.  A human peanut analogy best explaining this concept  Any part of a peanut will cause a human to have an allergic response.

Skin Allergies

These formulas need to be simple to limit the hystamatic response. Skin allergies usually physically manifest as round lesions called “hot spot,” dry flaky skin, itchy/inflamed skin patches, chronic ear and anal gland infections, and should not be confused with food allergies. Skin allergies are complicated to diagnose and sometimes treat due to the fact that:

• Skin allergies can manifest at ANY time in a dogs life.  There is no one specific time any start.

• Many times it coincides with a lowered immune system

• Only 25% of skin allergies are caused by protein.  75% are from everything else such as pollen, skin dander, dust mites, grass, wool, other plant food ingredients etc.

• Veterinarians recommend medicated baths weekly so that allergens can be eliminated from the animal’s coat.

• Limited ingredient diets may not be enough and prescription medication may be required.

• Skin allergies can last your pet’s entire lifetime.

• The number one reason that new diets fail and their pet does not resolve its issues quickly is due to not complying with the program and giving treats that do not have the same ingredients as the new food.

Grain Free: (Paleo approach)

This theory became popular when humans started working with Paleo diets. The concept is that dogs do not digest carbohydrates and therefore need more meat-based diets.  However, in order to make kibble (aka cereal) a binder is needed in the form of starch. To create a kibble, starches using potatoes, legumes and peas are used instead. Dogs can genetically digest carbohydrates. In the 10,000 years they have been domesticated they have developed the gene to do such.  However, grain-free diets work well for active dogs and certain breeds with high metabolisms. These diets are preferred for cats which are obligatory carnivores.

Raw Diets:

Raw diets are the least processed formulas on the market. Dog and Cats still have the capacity to digest raw meat. In fact, processed commercial dog kibble has only been used extensively since the 1950s and really only developed around the turn of the century.  Prior to that, dogs and cats lived exclusively outside and ate cooked left-overs, hunted or scavenged. In many parts of the world, dogs and cats still live in this manner.

Although it takes a lot of bacteria for dog or cat to contract Salmonella, they have the enzymes to actively kill it in their systems. JAVA (vet research reporting magazine) has reported that most dogs will shed the Salmonella bacteria and not actually get infected with it. Many exotic, domestic cat breeds are only two to four generations removed from the wild such as Bengals or Savannas. Raw benefits include:

• Easier to digestibility

• Better oral health due to the enzymatic activity via the entire digestive process.  These dogs have less dental issues.

• Many dogs stay leaner

• More have better coats due to less processing.

Key factor to keep in mind while feeding raw:

• Food must be thawed.  Frozen food is not good for digestion.

• Bowls must be washed before and after.

• Because pets can shed salmonella, owners must be diligent about washing food bowls immediately and their hands after picking up waste material.