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| INDEX OF ARTICLES | WAITING ROOM | EXAM ROOM | SURGERY ROOM | X-RAY ROOM | GENERAL TOPICS | IMPORTANT TOPICS | LAB and PHARMACY | PET PHOTOS | PET SUPPLIES | PET PHARMACY |
What You Should
Know...
Ask That Second Question
By T. J. Dunn, Jr. DVM
Feeding dogs and
cats... I made a major mistake for years
and didn't even realize it. Many veterinarians and pet owners continue to be misled
when considering cheap, grain-based pet foods. Here is what I missed...
When a dog (or cat) was presented to
me that looked and acted healthy and I asked "What are you feeding your
pet?" (unfortunately many veterinarians don't even think to ask this
fundamental question!), if the pet owner responded that the brand was some cheap,
grain-based food like Ol' Boy, I actually formed the impression that Ol' Boy was a pretty
good dog food. Heck, the dog looked great so that cheap food must be OK. What
I failed to ask was one more question and that vital next question was "WHAT ELSE DO
YOU FEED THE DOG?"
In every single case where the dog looked good, the
owners were also feeding table scraps or left-overs like chicken, meat,
bacon, eggs. In every single case where the pet was being fed only
a cheap, grain-based pet food...no table scraps or treats... the pet would show signs of
less than optimum health. Our entire hospital staff could predict which pets
were on a cheap food and which pets were fed well; we could even guess which brand the dog
ate with 80% accuracy... before we asked the owner what they fed. We called these
unfortunate, grain-fed dogs "CORNDOGS".
I will make a guarantee based upon observation of thousands of dogs and
cats...if you feed ONLY a cheap,
grain-based pet food and feed absolutely no scraps or left-overs, within 6 to 8 weeks your
pet will begin to have a course, brittle hair coat, will develop a dry skin but the coat
will seem slightly greasy and dusty. The image on the right shows a classic example
of what you will see when a pet is fed exclusively a grain-based diet. The pet will
probably itch. It will eat lots of food (owners mistakenly interpret this as "The
dog/cat loves that food!") because it isn't maintaining its weight properly and the
pet is nutrient starved. Now add some meat or high quality protein to the cheap
stuff or switch to a top quality pet food (it will have meat in it!) and within a few
weeks you will actually see an improvement in the pet's coat, there will be a decrease in
food consumed (owners mistakenly interpret this as "He doesn't really care for
that new stuff") and the pet will feel better. I have witnessed this scenario over
and over again.
So if you are feeding a cheap pet food based on grain AND your pet
looks quite good, I know for a fact that you are feeding some scraps or treats. Keep
it up! Table scraps are fine for dogs and cats; just don't feed bones. I have
surgically removed bone fragments from dogs' and cats' digestive tracts many times and
have seen pets die from obstructions or penetrating lesions that cause peritonitis.
There are better ways of dental care than feeding bones. Feed bones even to a big
dog and you may be taking unnecessary chances with your dog's health. I have seen many
surprised pet owners on emergency calls shake their head in disbelief that bones could be
causing all that trouble... until they see the X-rays. (See a few yourself here.)
On the other hand, you would be doing your pet a favor by buying a top
quality meat-based pet food. Iams and Eukanuba
make good ones. Purina Pro Plan Chicken and Rice is an excellent
choice for dry dog food, and there are a number of
other companies making high quality, meat-based dry foods. (There's a great
selection of foods that can be shipped right to your home, kennel or office
through PetFoodDirect.com.)
LARGE BREED PUPPY FOOD
How important is it to feed
"size-specific" dog food? Here is what I have found...
One of the first major dog food companies to come out with LARGE BREED
puppy food stated that there were reduced levels of calcium and phosphorus among other
ingredient changes. They claimed that rapidly growing breeds would benefit from
"slightly" reduced levels of various ingredients.
The interesting thing is that if you look at the recommended amounts
they tell you to feed when comparing their Regular Puppy Food with the
new Large Breed Puppy Food, you would see that the recommended amount to
feed was slightly MORE for the Large Breed Puppy Food! So where is
the effect of the dog getting "slightly " reduced amounts of calcium and
phosphorus if the dog should eat a greater amount of the Large Breed Puppy Food
compared to the Regular Puppy Food?
So I called the company and asked about this. Their reply was
that there really is "very little difference" between the Regular Puppy
Food and their new Large Breed Puppy Food. I asked
"So why bother to market all these foods and make the retailer stock all these
varieties when there are already thousands of types of pet foods already on the
shelves? Won't this confuse the pet owner even more?"
Their response was that consumers perceive a certain need for their
pets...pet food companies have to respond to that perceived need or the company will fall
behind the competition. Most well known manufacturers produce good
products based upon nutrition research; and much of the impulse to do the
research is driven by pet food consumers who demand high quality, breed specific
products. Pet food manufacturers know how to make top quality foods and by
necessity, the higher quality products will cost more because quality
ingredients are simply more expensive than poor quality ingredients.
Is it possible that some companies will just slightly tweak the
ingredients so that they can then label the product "NEW" or
"IMPROVED"? Will the consumer think a new product must be better
than the "old product". For example, the Iams Company (one of the best of all
the pet food manufacturers) makes...
SMALL BREED FORMULA PUPPY FOOD...for dogs reaching 20 pounds or less as adult.
MEDIUM BREED FORMULA...for dogs reaching 20 to 65 pounds as adult.
LARGE BREED FORMULA...for dogs reaching over 65 pounds as adult.
If you looked at the ingredients list for these
three foods you would notice that the first four ingredients are exactly the same and in
the same order of percent of the total. It isn't until the fifth ingredient that
there is a slight tweak to the ingredients to make each product very slightly different
from the others. Iams is a great pet food company but the multitude of minutely different
products being put on the feed store shelves is often overwhelming and confusing
to many pet owners.
So...is it necessary to feed size-specific (manufacturers like to use
the term "breed specific") pet food to growing puppies? Maybe
not, but there are enough pet food consumers who will demand a food specifically
targeting their breed of dog and that is what drives the pet food market.
There are some concepts, though, you really MUST keep in mind, especially with
large breeds of dogs. Please note the following...
* The notion that over nutrition in rapidly growing large breeds of dogs causes skeletal and other growth defects may not be true. It depends on what you mean by OVER NUTRITION! There has been some suggestions that high protein and fat diets contribute to "over nutrition" and cause problems...so some breeders and veterinarians resorted to actually suggesting that rapidly growing breeds be fed a poor quality food with lots of grains (carbohydrates) and low protein and fat. The (erroneous) theory was that this diet would under nourish the dog and thereby slow the growth rate. The dog would grow more slowly but eventually attain its normal stature at a later stage of life and it wouldn't acquire those nasty skeletal defects. Unfortunately this theory benefited no one... especially the poor dogs.
* If over nutrition means the dog is ingesting too many calories for its energy demands and is overweight, then there will be a much higher chance for skeletal problems. Newer research is showing that it isn't the protein or fat levels in a well balanced diet that causes problems but rather the excess weight a pup may be carrying while growing that is the real culprit.
* Never allow your growing puppy to become overweight! I will say it again...
* Never allow your growing puppy to
become overweight! I don't care how much it begs for more food. The major
problem that is at the heart of these large breed growth difficulties occurs when... THE
GROWING DOG IS OVERWEIGHT.
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ThePetCheckup™ |
Guess what! You have control over whether or not your dog is overweight. (Unless, of course, you discover the dog is surreptitiously making ham and cheese sandwiches late at night while you're surfin' the Net!) Don't blame the dog or cat if they are overweight, don't blame the spaying or neutering, don't blame the high quality pet foods, don't blame a slow metabolism. Blame whoever is feeding them too much. (Of course, there are a few dogs that do have medical problems such as hypothyroidism that may contribute to weight difficulties . Be sure to have your veterinarian check your dog over if your dog seems to have an obesity problem.)
Let me quote from Canine and Feline Nutrition
by Case, Carey and Hirakawa, page 294. When you read this remember that they are NOT saying that high
quality foods
cause the problem... it is the excessive feeding
practices such as feeding "free choice" that lead to extra body weight
that is the problem. (Free choice is fine for most pets, but IF the pet
has a weight problem, you must switch from free choice feeding to a restricted
feeding policy.)
"Excess energy intake [too many calories, tjd] during growth commonly occurs as a result of feeding a high
quality, growth diet to a young dog on a free-choice basis or feeding excess amounts of
food on a portion-controlled basis. Studies with dogs, humans, and other species
have shown that the consumption of excess calories resulting in maximal or above average
growth rate is not compatible with optimal skeletal development."
High quality pet foods are calorie dense (you get
more for your money!). YOU have to be careful not to feed too much of it to your
dog. The answer is not to feed lots of poor quality food but rather to feed
proper
amounts of good quality food. Why is this rational concept so difficult for so
many veterinarians, breeders, pet owners and even some manufacturers to comprehend? Please...
never
feed a growing dog poor quality food in a misguided attempt to restrict growth rates or to
avoid skeletal problems.
High protein and fat diets are not the problem... the pup's weight and
exercise levels greatly effect the quality of the pup's life. In fact one flawed
research report on rapidly growing Great Danes seemed to prove that high
protein and fat diets caused growth problems. This report initiated
all sorts of strange feeding practices. It was flawed because the pups in the study
were confined to a small area during the duration of the test and weren't allowed free
choice of exercise. When the test was repeated with Danes who were allowed
free access to exercise, no developmental problems showed up!
Remember this:
High quality diet +
free choice of exercise + regulating the pup's weight = good health
A recent article in
Petfood Industry Magazine (June, 2000, page 38)
summarizing the article Nutritional Management of the Large Breed
Puppy by A.J. Lepine in Iams Nutrition Symposium Proceedings,
1998, vol.2, indicates that there are three parameters that seem to be of
primary concern when considering skeletal abnormalities of the large breeds of
dogs: Dietary Protein content, Energy Density of the diet and Calcium content.
Regarding Protein... "Controlled research does not
support the hypothesis of an association between high density protein intake and
skeletal abnormalities."
Regarding Energy Density... "Maximal growth rates supported by
elevated energy intake increases the incidence of skeletal disease."
[This means you should NOT overfeed these nutritionally dense
diets such that your dog becomes overweight. TJD]
Regarding Calcium... "Calcium concentration has been shown to
have a significant effect on development, morphology and pathology of the
skeleton in the large breed puppy. High dietary calcium concentration
interferes with normal skeletal development and promotes skeletal pathology
in the large breed puppy."
"The results of ongoing research clearly document that the unique nutritional needs of the large breed puppy are best provided by a diet matrix containing a minimum of 26% protein (high quality, animal-based source), a minimum of 14% fat, and 0.8% Calcium and 0.67% Phosphorus."
Please note the
protein is specified as MEAT-BASED rather than GRAIN-BASED and the 26% is a minimum
protein content of the diet. Fat content has variable quality ranges and again
the bare minimum is 14%. Calcium and Phosphorus amounts and
ratios to one another are critical and an individual pet owner would have great
difficulty providing optimal ratios and amounts in a homemade product.
That's not to say that table
scraps should be avoided, but rather that supplementing with Calcium
products is risky business.
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For a report on the Nutritional Value of Bones, read this. |
For the best diet for your individual pet, select a name brand that lists meat (poultry, beef, lamb, fish) as the first ingredient. From there you can fine-tune your selection to fit your specific preferences.
More topics on Nutrition: Feline obesity seems to be an epidemic! Find out what you can do about the overweight cat.
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On The Web 87 Brands of dog, cat, fish, bird and other pet foods! Treats, Supplies, Accessories for Birds, Fish, Pocket Pets, Horses, and Wellness/Holistic Products
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