Preventative Medicine: Pet foods

Pet foods are broken down into two categories, prescription diets and non-prescription diets. Prescription diets are used for specific diseases, for example, liver disease, kidney disease, dental disease, etc. These foods are sent home by veterinarians and should NEVER be used without express permission. Non-prescription foods or over the counter foods comprise diets found here at our office pet stores, and grocery stores.

They are foods like Science Diet, Eukanuba, Iams, Nutro, Purina, Pedigree, and many, many others. There are so many choices; it can be very difficult to choose the right one. Let's see if we can help.

What's a good food? While everyone has a personal favorite (mine is Eukanuba and that's what I feed my pets), there are many very good foods out there. Pay no attention to commercials, even foods that a veterinarian on a commercial tells you are good. They are being paid to do the commercial. All the information you need is right on the bag or can. There is an organization that tests pet foods called the Association of American Feed Control Officers (AAFCO). They perform two types of tests, a calorimetric test and a feeding trial test. A calorimeter test is where they burn the food and analyze the residue to determine what levels of what compound are found in it: how much protein, carbohydrate, magnesium, etc. A feeding trial is where the food is actually fed to pets and analyzing them (physical examination, blood tests, feces and urine test, weight, coat quality, etc) assesses their overall health Feeding trials are broken down into life stages: puppy/kitten, maintenance, gestating (pregnant), and lactating (nursing.) NEVER feed your pet a food that does not at least meet the criteria for AAFCO. This means that it has not even passed a calorimetric test. My recommendation is to only use a food that is either recommended to you by a veterinarian or has passed a clinical feeding trial by AAFCO for the life stage of your pet. If it has passed the feeding trial, then it is a good food.

Canned or dry, which is better? For all dogs, I recommend a dry food only, with no human food. An AAFCO feeding tested diet is perfectly balanced for dogs and needs no supplementation. Human food is too rich and fattening for dogs and should only be given on veterinary advice. Dry food is much better for their teeth. All young cats should be on dry food only for the same reason. Some older cats need more water and do not drink enough. They should be given canned food as well, but only on veterinary advice.

Life stage and big vs. small breed, which is better? Puppies and kittens should be on a food approved for puppies and kittens. Any dog that when adult will be over 40 pounds should be fed large breed formulations. This helps minimize the damage from genetic orthopedic diseases like hip dysplasia. Adult pets should be on a maintenance diet, and pets over 8 should be on a senior type diet. Pregnant dogs and cats should be on a diet approved for puppies and gestating pets. Nursing pets need to be on a diet for lactating pets.

Overall, you should look at the bag or can of food you are buying for your pet. You want it to say somewhere on it that it is passed a clinical feeding trial for the life stage of your pet. If it does, then it is a good food for your pet.