My How Things Have Changed!

Many, many, years ago, dogs and cats were important members of the family (just as they are today), but not many owners gave much thought to their diet and health beyond the basics, like rabies vaccines.  Visits to the veterinarian were few and far between.

When I was growing up we had a spaniel cross named Butch (back then you could call dogs Butch and nobody blinked an eye), who loved playing hide-and-seek in the tall grass and going for long walks with my brothers.  As was common back then, Butch was un-neutered (or intact as veterinarians like to say).  This was no big deal, until our family moved from a lot on the edge of town to a subdivision in another town.  Butch liked to go “looking for the ladies”, and, as a result, was picked up quite often by the dog-catcher.  So often in fact, that said dog-catcher finally stopped putting Butch in the back with the other dogs and let him ride up front with him AND delivered him home to my mother.  No doubt he felt some sympathy for my mother who, at home with four kids and a husband often away on business, had other things to do besides making frequent trips to the pound to pick up our dog.

We know so much more these days about the benefits of neutering/spaying.  In addition  to the decreased risk of testicular cancer, uterine infections (pyometra) and mammary cancer, neutering/spaying helps to prevent roaming, aggression and unwanted pregnancies.

Butch also had the odd ear infection.  Back then, Butch would come home from the veterinary clinic with a cardboard box on his head.  Thank goodness we now have new and improved methods of preventing self-injury with plastic collars designed like cones.  They work AND they are inexpensive.

We are discovering more about the connection between food allergies and ear infections, and ear medications have come a long way from 50 years ago.

Pet diets have improved greatly over the years. It used to be that your pet’s food was purchased at the grocery store – a kind of “one size fits all”.   We now have specially formulated diets for urinary, liver, and kidney issues as well as diets to help with dental health, obesity, cognitive function and even diets for pets with no issues at all but who need a high quality, maintenance diet.

Fleas!  My, how things have changed!  Do you remember flea powder?  Ugh! I clearly remember petting family pets who had been liberally dosed with the vile stuff.  If I was repulsed by the smell and powdery texture, you should have seen the expressions on their faces. With oral and topical flea/heartworm medications, our pets are so much happier and healthier these days.  No fleas or flea infestations in the house, fewer intestinal parasites and protection from heartworm – all in one convenient medication.

Back in the day, our dogs frequently received bones from the butcher at the grocery store.  We didn’t worry about fractured teeth or intestinal blockages.  They were dogs after all.

Our dog, Mukluk, (brought home as a husky puppy by my father who was working in the Arctic at the time) was perturbed one day because my mother had neglected to “bring home the bones”.  No worries – Mukluk simply walked up the road to the grocery store, right through the doors and followed her nose to the meat counter, sat down and waited.

Eventually, the butcher gave her one, and with bone firmly clasped in her jaws, Mukluk trotted out of the store and back down the road to home.

These days, we know more about the benefits of healthy teeth and gums (like how a healthy mouth can extend the life of your pet) and an intestinal system free of foreign bodies and obstructions.

So, you can see how things have changed. What hasn’t changed, however, is the significant role our pets play in our lives. They live forever in our hearts and in the family stories we like to tell over, and over, and over. 

Patty, Receptionist 

Bowmanville Veterinary Clinic 

Pet Food Nutrition: Raw Food Diets

Do you feed your dog or cat a raw meat diet? Have you heard talk at the dog park about the numerous health benefits of such a diet? Are you curious about it but not really sure if it’s right for your pet?

If you have questions regarding this type of diet, you are not alone. Pet nutrition is one of the most hotly debated topics out there, and wading through the information can be exhausting.

Raw meat diets come in all shapes and forms: it can be homemade, or can even be found on the pet-store shelves. Commercial diets are typically frozen or freeze-dried, but sometimes they can look like regular food. Kibble diets can sometimes come with a raw-meat coating.

There are many supposed benefits and reasons behind feeding a raw meat diet. These include:

•          a natural diet, similar to what our pets would eat in the wild
•          cooking destroys the enzymes required for digestion
•          a grain-free or “filler”-free diet
•          avoidance of harmful by-products
•          a safer diet, free of chemicals and potential food recalls
•          a human-grade meat source

However, the real truth is that there are no scientific studies that have proven the benefit of raw-food diets. What scientific studies have shown is that raw food diets have a high tendency to be nutritionally imbalanced, increase the risk of many health issues, and have a high risk for bacterial contamination.

Nutritional Inadequacies: This is a concern with both homemade and commercial diets. Often recipes for homemade diets give vague preparation instructions or feeding guidelines. Even diets from books written by veterinarians can result in imbalanced foods, and commercial diets do not fare much better. Most typically the imbalances involve vitamins and minerals. Quiet often calcium is insufficient in these diets, which is especially significant in young and growing animals. Sometimes there are toxicity issues with over-supplementation of nutrients, especially vitamin A and D. Even if these diets meet the minimum and maximum nutritional requirements, they are rarely providing optimal nutrients.

Health Risks: The link between health risks and raw-food diets is still being explored, but some of the links that are currently being made include the possibility of gastroenteritis (inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract), fractured teeth from diets that include bone, and also intestinal injury from bone fragments. It is important to note that both raw and cooked bones can block or tear the esophagus, stomach or intestines. A new link is being explored that suggests dogs fed raw-food diets can develop hyperthyroidism.

Contamination: Nearly all raw-food diets are contaminated by bacteria. Not all those bacteria are harmful, but some can have serious health concerns for pets and the other animals and people around them. Dogs and cats can become infected with Salmonella, Clostridium and Camplyobacter (and other bacteria found in raw-food diets), and they can become sick from this. Even animals that show no signs of illness can shed bacteria in their feces, increasing the risk of infection for other animals and people, especially young, old, pregnant or immunosuppressed individuals.

Raw food is becoming a very popular diet, but is it important for pet owners to be able to sort through the facts and fictions surrounding this diet, and be aware of the potential risk factors in feeding diets containing bones or imbalanced ingredients. Selecting proper nutrition for your pet requires taking an active role, asking questions to help understand what is in your pet’s food. There are many things to consider when selecting diets, either home-made or commercial, and your veterinary health team can help you pick the diet that is perfect for your pet.

For more information regarding raw food diets, see this article from the US Food and Drug Administration regarding raw foods and ways you can protect your pets and your family.

Dr. Vanessa Tonn

Bowmanville Veterinary Clinic

Pet Food Nutrition: By-products

Let’s talk about that nasty “B” word when it comes to pet nutrition: “By-products”.

Unfortunately by-products have become the dirty word in pet food manufacture, and part of the problem is that many people do not understand what is included in by-products. Legally, by-products can only include internal organs. They do not include hooves, feces or roadkill, as is commonly assumed by consumers and pet owners.

AAFCO, the Association of Food Control Officials, defines meat by-products as “the non-rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes, but is not limited to, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. It does not include hair, horns, teeth and hooves.”

For people in North America, some of these ingredients may seem strange, as we are generally more accustomed to eating the muscle portion of the animal only. However, there are many regions and cultures who appreciate these different parts as delicacies.

• Sweetbreads – thymus
• Rocky Mountain oysters – testicles
• Haggis – Sheep heart, liver, lungs and stomach
• Steak and kidney pie

Besides many of these products being higher in essential nutrients than muscle meat, feeding by-products can help the environment and reduce waste, as it allows the entire rendered animal to be put to good use, rather than discarding by-products that would otherwise be unused in most human circumstances.

• Brain – provides DHA, an anti-inflammatory fatty acid important in neurological development
• Blood – provides iron, and essential mineral, and protein, which contributes to daily requirements of protein
• Bones – source of essential minerals that support strong bones and teeth
• Connective Tissues – source of chondroitin, which supports joint health
• Heart – provides taurine and L-carnitine, both which support heart health (taurine is essential for cats)
• Liver – provides iron, B Vitamins and Vitamin A, which supports multiple systems including nervous system, growth, vision, etc.

Also, did you know that many dog treats are actually by-products? Lung, liver, tendons and pig-ears are very popular dog treats. Bully sticks, fed by 26% of consumers who said that they avoided feeding their dogs by-products, are actually bull penises.

Providing that a pet food is made from a reputable manufacturer who adheres to stringent quality control and employs full-time, qualified nutritionists, feeding a diet that contains by-products can be a safe and nutritional choice. 

Dr. Vanessa Tonn

Bowmanville Veterinary Clinic

Pet Food Nutrition: Interpreting Pet Food Ingredient Lists

Lamb, brewer’s rice, smoked salmon, mango juice, cassava root, grapefruit extract, sea urchin…

Have you ever looked at the ingredient list on a pet food label? If you have, you may have been blown away by the sheer number of possible ingredients out there, and the large differences between one type of food and the next. Manufacturers will use ingredient lists to tempt pet owners to buy their food, but it is very important to be able to read pet food ingredient labels with an educated eye.

AAFCO is the Association of American Feed Control Officials. It sets the nutritional standards for pet food in the United States, and these standards are recognized in Canada. According to AAFCO, ingredients must be listed on the label according to weight. Thus, foods high in water (like meats and vegetables) are typically listed first on the ingredient list, even though a lot of their weight is actually just water. Chicken, for example, is 70% moisture, while chicken meal is less than 10% moisture. In portions providing the exact same amount of chicken protein, whole chicken will always list higher on the ingredient list because of its water-weight.

AAFCO also provides regulations and guidelines on the definitions that can be used in pet food labels. “Meat by-product” is allowed to include organs and bones, but no intestinal contents, hair, horns, teeth or hooves. For more information on by-products, stay tuned for our next blog in the nutrition series.

Many pet foods will advertise their ingredients as “human-grade”. The term “human-grade” has no legal definition, and is actually used for marketing purposes only. Foods are labelled as either “edible” or “inedible, not for human consumption”. The only way for a pet food ingredient to be labelled as “edible” is for the meat to never leave a human food chain, to have it manufactured in a human food facility and transport it using human food trucks.

Recently a new trend is to include lots of new and exotic ingredients, including blueberries, eggs, honey, kelp and tomatoes. These ingredients sound healthy, but they may have unproven health benefits, or may be present in such small amounts that their value is minimal.

Sometimes adding new and exotic ingredients can be harmful to the environment. Initially novel protein sources, like fish, venison, rabbit and bison, were used only in hypoallergenic diets. The new trend towards including these ingredients in every-day diet not only increases the challenge of managing animals with true food-allergies, but it also increases the strain on wild populations of these alternative protein sources. In 2010, five populations of Atlantic salmon were declared endangered, one threatened, one extinct, and four others of special concern. 

With more ingredients, the degree of quality control should be increased, ensuring that each ingredient is free from contamination and that the final product adheres to the desired nutrient formulation. However, this is often not the case with many pet food companies. When choosing a pet food company, some important questions to ask include:

1)      Do they employ at least one full-time qualified nutritionist?

2)      Do they have their own manufacturing plant?

3)      Do they conduct and publish nutritional research so that continued improvements are made to their diets? (This can be tricky information to ferret out, as some companies will “publish” results internally that are not available to the general public)

4)      Do they use strict internal quality control testing and standards?

Checking out ingredients is a great way to educate yourself on what you are feeding you pet. However, try not to be swayed by marketing tactics and consider carefully what each ingredient means for your pet. Pets need nutrients, not ingredients, and it can be difficult to separate the two. Educate yourself, and be sure to ask questions.

Dr. Vanessa Tonn
Bowmanville Veterinary Clinic