Pet Food: Should I feed an all-natural or grain-free diet?

Hardly a week goes by that I don’t hear a pet owner tell me that they have started feeding their pet a much more expensive food with no grain or an all-natural diet or a food with meat (instead of meat byproducts). The obvious question is: Are these the best foods to feed our pets and are they worth what we pay for them?

My opinion (also shared by the professional veterinary nutritionists I have spoken with) is that these foods offer no advantage to more traditional high quality diets, but we may be paying more to simply purchase some advertised ingredients. This post offers my opinion as a veterinarian who has researched and promoted careful dietary management for almost 40 years.

Let’s discuss low-end  pet foods first. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for when it comes to most pet foods. If you pay less, you are most likely getting less. Comparing labels and ingredients simply doesn’t help. To prove this point, years ago a major pet food company cooked down leather boots and then tested the product to come up with the guaranteed nutritional analysis. The results: the nutritional analysis was identical to most of the available canned pet foods, but a pet fed the cooked leather boots would have starved to death because the ingredients were not digestible. Some time ago when a new pet food was introduced by a major company, they wanted their label to have meat listed before meat byproducts (to look better  than a major competing brand). This diet contained less meat than meat byproducts, but by simply playing with the processing, they were able to list meat first. (Besides, quality meat byproducts are not necessarily an undesirable ingredient!)

When you look at the biggest pet food manufacturers such as Royal Canin, Iams-Eukanuba, and Purina, you see huge, multinational companies that can afford extensive research and feeding trials. They employ teams of professionals to formulate and evaluate their diets. These companies study the relationship between diet and disease and invest millions of dollars developing diets formulated to help control or treat many diseases. Often existing diets are reformulated and improved based on the results of these studies.

Yes, you do help pay for these studies, but you also benefit from the fact that these large companies can reduce their costs by buying large quantities of quality ingredients, and they pass this savings on to you. You are spending what is necessary to buy a diet with the very same ingredients that have been proven to keep our pets long-lived and healthy. So, what about the niche natural food diets, the no-grain diets, the diets with nothing but meat and vegetables and no byproducts?

There are pets that suffer from food responsive problems. Your veterinarian is best qualified to help you select the ideal diet for such a pet. Sometimes this may include a no-grain diet, but most often it will be a particular prescription diet that has been specially formulated to treat pets such as yours. But, when you are buying pet food, consider these facts. You have no idea who makes a store or generic brand pet food, but it’s not a major company that’s buying the highest quality ingredients or running extensive feeding trials. When you buy the niche diets, you are paying a premium for a special diet that for most pets has no advantage to the diets made by the major name-brand pet food manufactures. In fact you are paying a premium for what most professionals agree has no added value for a pet. Buy the higher quality and pricier diets from the companies you know and trust and you are investing in proven ingredients and not the marketing gimmicks that have led us to believe in the value of the all-natural and grain-free diets. Our pets have been domesticated for over 10,000 years and most thrive on high quality conventional pet foods.

(And, of course, regardless of what you feed, don’t overfeed your pet!)

    

Curing Diabetic Cats with Purina DM and Glargine Insulin

I went on a house call to put an old, debilitated dog to sleep, and as often is the case, we started talking about their other pets. They had a second dog and 2 other cats and all their pets were significantly overweight. The husband agreed there was a weight problem, but his wife didn’t want to deprive her pets. (Luckily, she had left the room as we continued our conversation.) Mr. Bedrow told me that one of his cats was diabetic, and they were giving him insulin shots every 12 hours. When I asked about special diet, feeding schedule and anything else the vet had recommended (because often with proper management, we can eliminate the need for insulin in these cats), I was quite surprised to hear that there were no other instructions. Both cats ate the same dry grocery store (name brand) food, and the food sat out all day every day.

“Did you know that most diabetic cats can be weaned off of insulin with scheduled and limited feeding of special (prescription) diets for feline diabetes and a human type of insulin. We can cure these diabetic cats."

His eyes widened as he responded, “I had no idea but I doubt we could get my wife to cooperate, but tell me more.”  

I first explained that we used to treat diabetic cats like they were little dogs. We used high fiber diets (just like we prescribed for dogs); some of the cats stabilized but none lost their need for insulin. “Then we started treating them like they were cats. We went to high protein, moderate fat with very low carb diets. After a thorough evaluation to rule out any other problems, I recommend limit feeding Purina DM (prescription diet for diabetes) diet (mix a small amount of this with the cat’s regular diet and slowly increase the new diet as you decrease the old). Your cat’s daily amount of food should be divided into at least 2 meals. If he needs to begin insulin injections (and most do), the feeding intervals are coordinated with the injections so that he is fed as the blood sugar begins to drop. Initially simply a change in diet and careful limit feeding (the goal is an ideal weight) can be attempted to “cure” the diabetes, but I wouldn’t wait longer than a week before adding insulin into the picture because the longer cats remain untreated the more likely they are to start having complications from their diabetes and the more difficult it can be to ultimately wean them off of insulin. Glargine insulin is the most effective for eliminating the need for daily injections. The bottom line is when you combine a careful feeding management (optimal diet, quantity and schedule) program with the appropriate type of insulin, most cats can be weaned off of insulin.  Work with a veterinarian who not only wants to manage your cat’s diabetes, but also wants to eliminate the need for continued insulin injections. He can even make suggestions for monitoring your cat’s sugar at home to reduce the number of office visits.

I need to stress that almost all diabetic cats (and dogs) have type 2 diabetes, and this is the result of how we feed our pets. Too many people believe that if pet food is left out, cats will not over eat. That is simply not true. In other blogs I will write about the other important reasons to limit feed our cats (and dogs).

For all you ever wanted to know about treating your cat for diabetes follow this link http://www.catinfo.org/?link=felinediabetes. I don’t necessarily agree with everything the author says (especially when she discusses appropriate diets), but she certainly provides a lot of valuable information.

Send me any questions or comments you might have!

Limit feeding dogs and cats to prevent obesity, arthritis, diabetes...

I created this blog to entertain and to educate. (And, if you enjoy the blog, you will enjoy my upcoming book LAUGHTER AND TEARS, a Veterinarian’s Memoir and Lessons.)  One of the most important and money saving tips that a veterinarian can teach is how to properly feed a pet. In other words, what exactly is limit feeding and why is it such a big deal. Too many pet owners think their pet(s) won’t overeat. They feel guilty if food is not always available. Others think they are limit feeding because once or twice daily they put food in their pet’s bowl and ultimately (maybe by the end of the evening) it is finished. But, if your pet doesn’t empty his bowl before he walks away, he is not limit-fed and he is at increased risk for obesity, arthritis, diabetes and many other serious, health issues.

I define limit feeding as first determining how much food is necessary to maintain your pet’s ideal weight and then dividing this amount into 2 daily feedings. (A pup may be fed 3 to 4 times daily but no pet should be fed once daily.) A healthy pet instinctively will eat enough to maintain or increase his weight. In other words, a limit-fed pet will empty his food bowl within minutes twice daily 7 days a week. (Dogs may take less than a minute and cats may take several minutes.)

What’s the big deal? If your pet is limit fed and one day he doesn’t finish his food, there is a problem and either you or the vet needs to determine what that problem is. If food is always available, it is never obvious when your pet’s appetite changes.  

Why else would you limit feed? I have been making house calls for almost 40 years. The most common reason I go to someone’s home is that their pet is having a hard time getting around. They are arthritic and the owner is deciding whether euthanasia is the most humane solution. Often the reason for the arthritis is chronic obesity from over feeding (and under exercising). Most pets will overeat if food is always available.
  

How do you decide how much to feed your pet? The pet food probably has feeding suggestions on the label. But, remember these recommendations are for maintaining an ideal weight. If your pet should weigh 25 pounds but weighs 35 pounds, you should look at the instructions for feeding a 25 pound dog and even this might be 25% more than your pet needs. Your veterinarian might be your best resource for feeding instructions, but the bottom line remains, your pet’s ideal daily ration will be less than he wants but enough to maintain his ideal weight. For example, if his ideal weight is 20 pounds, this may be 1 cup of a quality name brand pet food each day. Every morning I carefully measure this 1 cup. He is then given ½ in the morning and the balance in the evening. This is measured once daily because it is easier and more accurate than measuring twice daily.

Limit feed your pet (dog or cat)! You will prevent weight problems, you will be evaluating how your pet feels twice daily, and you won’t be wasting expensive pet food or cleaning up excessive poop after your pet (either in the yard or the litter box).

How can I start my pet on this limit feeding schedule? Is it even possible to change a dog or cat from a free fed schedule to a limit fed schedule?  It’s much easier than you might think and whether your pet is a dog or cat, the process is the same. Once you begin to limit feed, if your pet walks away before the bowl is empty, pick up the balance and either throw it away or add it back to the main food container. (If this is beyond an introductory period, you need to know why he didn't finish his food.) It is not added to the other meal and it is not left out. It doesn’t take long for your pet to learn that this is no longer an all day buffet. He is getting hungrier before each meal and soon (within a few days) he is eating what he needs to maintain his (current) weight. Over time you can slowly adjust the amount until he is maintaining his ideal weight.