WITH EACH PASSING YEAR AS A VET, ANIMAL NUTRITION BEcomes simpler and simpler to me: feed appropriate foods. This is similar to what Michael Pollan says of human nutrition.
I often ask my clients to bring in the labels for everything they are feeding their pet. It is a fail-safe way for me to assess the animal’s functional nutrition. I’ve even created my own database that helps my clients understand the myriad of foods and ingredients out there.
There were over 4,000 pet foods for dogs and cats from which my staff and I collected data. I was shocked to find that I could not recommend more than 11 percent of the pet foods we analyzed. This, of course, means that a whopping 89 percent of them were unacceptable, and some of those were woefully unhealthy.
Years ago, when I was a new doctor fresh out of veterinary school, a woman brought in her three Newfoundlands for their annual exam. It was the first time I had ever seen them. These dogs were undeniably the healthiest, most energetic Newfies I had ever seen, and their exams only confirmed this. Their coats were positively glowing, their teeth had no tartar, and their weight was perfect. One of the dogs was eleven years old but looked and acted like a puppy.
I had one major concern: their diet. It was a raw-meat based food, prepared by the owner herself. Joan ground bones, added lots of meat, veggies, and a few supplements. My biggest worry was how to convince her to stop feeding the dangerous raw food she’d been using for twenty years. I was certain they needed to be on a “completely balanced” hard commercial kibble, as described in my nutrition class in vet school. After calmly listening to my unfounded concerns, this pleasant woman looked me straight in the eye and said, “Dr. Royal, let’s never speak about diet again.”
Was it possible that these pets were so healthy because of their raw diet? At the time I thought it unlikely, but I felt less certain that what I’d been taught was true. This was the first of many experiences that planted seeds of doubt in my mind.
Most of the 4,000 commercially produced foods in my database have the AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) stamp of “quality.” Package claims like “Our pet foods are made following AAFCO guidelines and must pass stringent testing” (italics mine) sound great, until we take a close look at the basics of AAFCO testing. And it is basic.
After some preliminaries are followed to ensure that the ingredients aren’t overtly toxic and include representation from basic food groups, the food is animal-tested. But, the only requirement is that they test it on a minimum of eight animals. As long as the eight animals don’t die of “nutritional causes,” they can lose up to 15 percent of their body weight and have significant health issues during the trial, and the food will pass as “complete and balanced.” The eight animals’ blood is tested for a few basic parameters, and then an average group number for each test is determined.
If the average blood test values show no anemia, and there are normal values for hemoglobin, protein levels, and a liver enzyme, the group is considered normal. These tests are overly general, and too limited to assure a client that the diet is truly nutritious. In my mind, these tests are in no way “stringent.”
It doesn’t matter if the animals are itchy, lame, unhealthy, downright sick, or hate the food: the food still passes. I’m not comfortable feeding my dog a food every day for the rest of his life based on a six-month, eight-dog trial.
AAFCO certification of pet food may be a good place to start, but it is not a measure of excellence.
As a scavenger, a dog is uniquely suited to “make do” even with poor-quality food for a short period of time. However, a dog that must “make do” long term is headed for trouble. Diet-related health issues may not show up immediately, but they can become serious over time. There is no organized system that evaluates whether food is of high quality and will stand the test of time, but we can use our common sense and knowledge of what animals would eat in the wild when deciding what to feed our pets.
We have changed the outer packaging—size and shape—of the wolf/coyote/fox or lion/tiger/jaguar ancestors of our dogs and cats, but the inner workings of their GI tracts have remained essentially the same. The pet food industry, government agencies, and, sadly, even caring veterinarians will not always warn against foods that are unfit for our pets.
Many specialized and prescription diets were created because original maintenance formulas were never really adequate for any pet.
Owners are increasingly skeptical about pet food claims and desperate for some answers. When a client asks a veterinarian, “What food should I feed my pet?” the answer is often, “Feed them any dog food.” Nutrition is not a favorite subject for many vets and just like in human medicine, this attitude only reinforces diet-related health issues.
Pet food labels can be confusing and provide a false sense of comfort. Marketing ploys are used to convince a consumer to buy a product. Catchwords like natural or healthful make us feel good about buying a bag of dry food for our companions. Manufacturers will split the less appealing components to make them appear farther down in the list of ingredients. The names are changed to protect the undesirable or toxic. Products known by the public to be detrimental will sport a more likable name: it’s not wheat or corn; it’s spelt, pasta, and maize—which are, of course, wheat, durum wheat, and corn.
Many ingredient names are changed to protect the undesirable or the toxic.
Labels do not have to include ingredients such as ethoxyquin (a preservative derived from DDT) that may have been added before the food even arrived at the manufacturing plant. Unhealthy ingredients abound. Poor protein content, inappropriate protein sources (potato, pea, or soy), a too-high percentage of grains, even ingredients like onion, a known toxin to dogs, are found in several dog foods.
When I first started my database, my staff analyzed diets using a few parameters: protein percentage, and the first five to ten ingredients. We were looking for corn, wheat, soy. I also wanted to screen for preservatives and carcinogens like BHA/BHT and ethoxyquin. We screened the nightshade family—potatoes/tomatoes—because of their potential to induce inflammation. We found a lot of powdered cellulose, which is chemically prepared plant material cellulose from pulps. Ann Martin says in her book Food Pets Die For: Shocking Facts About Pet Food that powdered cellulose is, “in other words, sawdust.” As a veterinarian, I do not favor sawdust as one of the first five ingredients in a pet food.
I anticipated that many commercial foods would pass my criteria. I was naïvely confident that some arm of the pet food industry was watching out for pets. Sadly, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Most protein levels hover around 20 percent. With few safeguards and regulations in the pet food industry, unwanted ingredients are a staple in most dry foods. Too many nutritionists and veterinarians obtain their knowledge from information disseminated by large pet food companies, which can be misleading. Here is a sample of how it looks. I’ve randomly chosen a section and copied it below.
DRY FOOD |
% |
INGREDIENT CONCERNS |
Authority Adult Formula w/Real Chicken |
24 |
Ground corn 3rd, corn gluten meal |
Authority Adult Formula w/Real Lamb |
22 |
Ground wheat 3rd, wheat germ 4th |
Authority Harvest Baked Chicken Adult Dog Food |
25 |
Whole ground wheat 2nd |
Authority Harvest Baked Chicken Less Active Dog Food |
24 |
Whole ground wheat 2nd |
Authority Lite w/Real Chicken |
21 |
Ground corn 3rd, corn gluten meal |
Authority Lite w/Real Lamb |
20 |
Ground wheat 3rd, wheat germ meal |
Authority Puppy w/Real Chicken |
26 |
Ground corn 3rd, corn gluten meal |
Authority Puppy w/Real Lamb |
25 |
Ground wheat 3rd, wheat germ meal 4th |
Authority Senior w/Real Chicken |
20 |
Ground corn 3rd, corn gluten meal |
Authority Harvest Baked Chicken Puppy Dog Food |
29 |
Whole ground wheat 2nd |
Avoderm Natural Brown Rice/Oatmeal/Chicken Meal Lite Adult |
18 |
No corn/wheat/soy |
Avoderm Natural Chicken Meal & Brown Rice Adult |
23 |
No corn/wheat/soy |
Avoderm Natural Chicken Meal & Brown Rice Puppy |
26 |
No corn/wheat/soy |
Avoderm Natural Chicken Meal/Brown Rice/Oatmeal Senior |
20 |
No corn/wheat/soy |
20 |
No corn/wheat/soy |
|
Avoderm Natural Vegetarian Adult Dog Food |
18 |
Soy flour 2nd |
Eagle Pack Adult Reduced Fat for Overweight/Less Active Dogs |
20 |
Ground yellow corn 1st, wheat germ |
Eagle Pack Adult Small Bite for Dogs |
25 |
Ground yellow corn 2nd, corn germ meal 5th |
Eagle Pack Holistic Select Anchovy, Sardine, & Salmon Meal |
22 |
No corn/wheat/soy, ethoxyquin probable |
Eagle Pack Holistic Select Chicken Meal & Rice Formula |
24 |
No corn/wheat/soy |
Eagle Pack Large & Giant Breed Puppy |
23 |
Ground yellow corn 4th |
Eagle Pack Maintenance Formula Chicken Meal & Rice |
20 |
Ground yellow corn 2nd, wheat germ meal |
Eagle Pack Natural Lamb & Rice for Dogs |
23 |
Ground yellow corn 3rd, wheat germ |
This grouping represents what I have discovered: rarely is any dry food over 25 percent protein and most include grains or other unwanted ingredients.
Here are the most beneficial commercial pre-prepared pet foods (in the order of my preference) for dogs and cats when the option of making the food from scratch at home is unsustainable. Again, food you choose should not contain corn or wheat ingredients.
1. Frozen raw foods
2. Freeze-dried raw food
3. Canned food that is BPA free
4. (A distant last preference) kibble food that is processed using low heat
I prefer raw and canned foods to dry foods (especially for cats) for the following reasons:
There is typically higher (more natural) protein content in raw and canned foods.
There are typically fewer chemical preservatives in raw and canned foods.
Wet food is licked clean off the teeth, which is better for healthy mouths.
Moisture content is better for regulated hydration for all pets, especially for kidney health in cats that would normally become hydrated from their food, not from drinking water.
Food with normal moisture content is more suitable for a carnivore’s GI tract motility.
Extrusion (high heat) processing creates two potent carcinogens, heterocyclic aminos and acrylamides, which are then (in small amounts) eaten with every mouthful of dry food.
MYTHCONCEPTION
Dogs and cats eat grass primarily to settle an upset stomach.
Not true.
Dogs and cats may eat grass because the thick blades of grass in springtime smell like protein. However, this protein is not easily digestible for a dog or cat.