Nutrition (cont’ed)
07/05/05

Last time we were discussing nutrition and left you with the confusing subject of reading ingredient lists. The truth is it’s very difficult to tell which food is best in this way. I still encourage owners to read these things because it may be useful when your pet has a chronically upset stomach or skin or coat problems associated with food allergies which are quite common. However, as the sole source of information when choosing a diet it leaves much to be desired.

The pet food market is huge and highly competitive. This means that it’s a fairly accurate assumption that the more you pay for a diet, the higher the quality and digestibility will be. This doesn’t mean the most expensive diet is always best for your pet but it’s not a bad place to start. Furthermore, the larger companies tend to research their diets more extensively. The four companies who spend the most on research are Hills Products (Science Diet), Eukanuba, Purina, and Waltham.

Nutrition possibly more than other sciences is an evolving discipline. Diets high in fish oils are getting a lot of attention these days. They are high in Omega 3 fatty acids which have been shown to have a wide variety of health benefits in studies in both animals and humans.

Possibly the most important nutritional advice I can give is to avoid overfeeding. Overweight dogs in a well done study by Purina lived an average of two years shorter! Feed a measured volume of food and adjust the amount according to your pet’s body condition. The other best advice I can give may be to simply observe how your pet is doing on a particular diet. Be consistent with your feeding, don’t feed table scraps and observe his or her coat and body condition, stool consistency, activity level, etc. With good observations you will know if your pet is getting good nutrition.