It’s been a while since we’ve updated Jay’s status. But no news is good news, at least this time. He has been feeling well and taking his weekly visit to the clinic in stride. Today he came for a round of chemotherapy and took advantage of the opportunity to play “front office greeter”, a role that his little house mate Rory has been playing since her arrival before Christmas.
Jay tolerates Rory well, but is secretly waiting for the day when she goes to live with Randi, and just comes to his house for visits.

​We have gone over how to read the labels so you know how to select food based on the ingredients that are important to you.  Now, let’s discuss how to put that information to use for your pet. 
 
First and foremost you should select the type of food that matches the stage of life your pet is in.  For example, if your pet is under 1 year of age, you should be feeding it puppy or kitten food.  If it is between the 1-7 years of age, your pet should be fed a food formulated for adults.  Once your pet is around 7 years of age, you should discuss with your veterinarian if it is time to change to a senior/mature adult diet – and this is where yearly senior wellness exams and bloodwork will help to determine this (but we will discuss this in a different blog post).  The reason it is so important to select a food based on life stage is that your pet requires different amounts of protein, calcium, fat, etc. throughout its lifetime. 
Below are some guidelines in regards to protein, fat, salts, and minerals for different life stages.

​In doing this research, I noticed that some dog food brands don’t even list all of the nutrition facts on their bags.  What I noticed were the brands that market protein as being most important don’t list the percent of carbohydrates within that particular food.  Our domesticated dogs need a higher percentage of carbohydrates than they do protein.  This may sound crazy, so hang with me and let me explain.  Protein is an energy source, yes.  However, protein is used as a long-lasting, sustainable energy source.  The reason protein is so important to our wildlife predatory canines, such as coyotes, wolves, and foxes, is because they are hunters and don’t know when their next meal is going to come.  Therefore, they need to indulge on high levels of protein to carry them and give them the energy they need to hunt for their next meal.  Sometimes that next meal doesn’t come for a few days.  When was the last time your dog hunted for its food and then went days without eating waiting on the next meal? Probably never.  Our domesticated species have consistent meals coming to them.  We ensure that they have enough to eat (and most of the time an abundance of food), and because of that, carbohydrates are going to be of most importance to them.  Carbohydrates provide for a short-term energy source.  Therefore, in a ratio, carbohydrates should make up 1-2X the amount of protein in a diet.  Many of these dog food companies that don’t have carbohydrates listed in their nutritional guidelines, it is solely because of marketing.  The food, most likely, still contains a majority of carbohydrates with protein being second on the list.
 
Cats on the other hand do still require more protein than dogs, but still not as much as the predatory feline species.  Domesticated cat food should have a ratio of 1-1.5X protein to 1 carbohydrate.  These values should be very close in percentages in the food with protein being slightly higher. 
 
Other considerations are to select for the size pet you have.   A Great Dane puppy requires more calcium for its fast growing bones than a Chihuahua.  Therefore it is important to feed a Great Dane puppy a puppy food formulated for large breed dogs.  A Yorkshire Terrier may have a difficult time chewing up regular sized kibble, therefore you may need to feed him/her a food with small kibble pieces. 
 
The recommendations above are the most important when selecting food for a healthy pet.  And some of the dog and cat food brands will not get any more technical or diverse than that.  However, if you choose to dive deeper into feeding a diet that is specific to your pet’s needs, your pet’s health status is another thing to consider.  If your pet has problems with its joints, then feeding a healthy mobility/joint diet can be helpful.  If your pet has sensitive skin or a sensitive stomach, then choosing a food that is specifically formulated for that can keep your pet’s stomach happy and healthy.  If your pet is overweight, feeding a food classified as “light” can help reduce their weight and keep them in a healthy body condition.  There are a number of health issues where over the counter foods can be helpful, however, there are some that can also be harmful.  So if your pet does have some health concerns, you should discuss with your veterinarian the type of food that is best suited for you and your pet.

Jay had a wonderful Christmas with his whole family, and hopes everyone’s New Year is filled with Joy. Over the break, he went back to Metropolitan Veterinary Specialty Services in Louisville. There, Dr. Scott Campbell preformed an Echocardiogram and pronounced Jay’s heart fit for his next treatment. One of the chemotherapy agents used in his cancer protocol can cause heart problems but Jay’s body is tolerating his treatment very well, (hopefully the cancer cells are not!) Also, for Christmas, Jay received a wonderful package from the “Live Like Roo” foundation- a non-profit organization that supports families with pets that have cancer. Check out their website at www.livelikeroo.org.

​I just came back from Tractor Supply looking through the dog food aisle and I can’t believe how incredibly confusing it is! There are so many different dog and cat foods that it makes you question what you need.  Do I need soft or hard food? What meat do I need? Do I need grain-free or does my pet need grains? Do I need small bites or regular sized bites? I can imagine that if I had been trying to buy food, I would have just prayed one fell off the shelf and used it as a sign that it was the right food for my pet. 
 
My purpose for visiting our local TSC (which is the closest pet food retailer in our town) was to do some research on what pet foods are available.  This blog is not to choose one brand over the other, but to break down labels so you can make an informed and educated decision on how to select the right food for your pet.
 
First, let’s start with the front of the bag.  The bag that is the most colorful and pretty is not always the best.  The bag that is the most “natural-looking,” doesn’t mean the contents are natural in origin.  Pet food brands are all about marketing for the consumer, so don’t get blinded by the bag that looks the most appealing.  Take the time to read the ingredients and the nutritional content of the food. 
 
There are only 3 things on the front of the bag that are required by AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials – they regulate the pet food industry).  These 3 things are: the product name, the species the food is intended for (cat or dog), and the net weight/quantity of product within the package.  There is some importance to the product name.  The product name is not exclusive to the brand name – such as Dog Chow, 4Health, Blue Buffalo, etc.  The product name also includes the ingredients.  Purina Pro Plan Chicken and Rice is considered the product name – not just Purina Pro Plan.  When a food is labeled this way, it is saying that chicken and rice makes up at least 25% of the food.  Also, you will notice that a lot of canned foods use the words “dinner,” “formula,” “entrée,” or “recipe”.  These words aren’t just marketing – these words actually follow the 25% rule.  This means that if a canned food says “turkey and rice dinner,” then 25% of the food is turkey and rice.  This does not mean that 25% is turkey and 25% is rice, it means that a combination of turkey and rice makes up 25%.  There is also another rule.  This rule is called the “with” or 3% rule.  If a food says “with” an ingredient then it contains at least 3% of said ingredient.  For example, chicken and rice with vegetables contains at least 3% of vegetables.  The 3% rule does not apply to added vitamins and minerals in food.  The last rule of the product name is the flavor rule.  If a food states that it contains fish flavor, then that only means that a fish flavor is “detectable.”  This rule is hard to evaluate as true unless you eat your pets food to see if you can detect the said flavor.  The product name is probably the most misleading on a pet food bag and I hope this clears it up.
 
Something else you should look for that is usually on the front of the bag is the life stage for which the food is intended – such as for puppies, adults, or senior/mature adult pets.  You will see some pet foods that say they are intended for all life stages.  Steer clear of that particular bag (not necessarily that brand).  Pets have different nutritional requirements at each stage of life, just like we humans do.
 
On the back (or side depending on the brand) is where the ingredients list and the nutritional levels (guaranteed analysis) are located.  First let’s look at the ingredient list.  This is where pet food companies tend to battle it out as to who has the most whole, natural ingredients.  You’ve all seen the commercials comparing brands and some claiming that they don’t contain any by-product or chicken meal.  I have yet to see a pet food that does not contain either by-products or meal.  The definition is of a by-product is non-rendered clean parts of carcasses.  The definition of meal is the dry, rendered product from a combination of clean flesh and skin.  While this might not sound like the most appetizing to us, our pets know no different.  How many of you have cats or dogs that like to eat mice, squirrels, birds, or whatever moving thing runs near them? When it comes to their prey, pets are not selective on which parts they eat.  Generally, they will eat it all – which is why they end up coming to us with diarrhea or a bone in the intestinal tract.  Therefore, you shouldn’t reject a food purely based on its inclusion of by-product or meal.
 
Something else that pet food companies do for strategic purposes is split ingredients.  If you see an ingredient list that has corn, corn meal, and corn gluten all listed separately, then understand that corn, in and of itself, should be the first ingredient listed.  Just as in human foods, ingredients are listed in descending order of inclusion before any cooking or drying takes place.  So when you break corn into 3 different ingredients, it can be moved down the list versus just listing corn as the first ingredient.  Also, don’t necessarily reject a food with corn listed as the first ingredient.  This leads me into the discussion of the grain-free movement.  As a general rule, our pets don’t have an aversion/allergy to grains.  There is the occasional pet with a food allergy to grains, but it is generally not a problem.  Most of the time when a pet is allergic to foods, it is the protein/meat source in the food that the pet is allergic to.  Therefore, do not feel that you must feed your pet grain-free, unless it has been determined your pet is allergic to a specific grain through testing. 
 
As far as the guaranteed analysis is concerned, the only thing I want to touch on here is the crude fat.  The manufacturers are only required to put the minimum percentage of crude fat on the label unless it is labeled a low fat, lean, or light food.  If it has those labels, then the manufacturer is required to put a maximum crude fat percentage as well.  If you are trying to keep your pet trim and healthy you should take note of the variation between minimum and maximum crude fat percentage.  Look at the label below.  This food is labeled as a light food, therefore shows the minimum and maximum crude fat percentage.  The maximum crude fat percentage is double that of the minimum.  

​Now look at this food label.  This pet food is labeled as a healthy weight.  If you were comparing these 2 foods (same brand), you would believe this food below is better for managing the weight of your pet, however it is not disclosing all of the information (maximum crude fat percentage). If it follows the trend above, then the maximum crude fat percentage could be as much as 19%.

​Just be careful when reading the labels and know what to look for.  What I touched on in this blog post is really the most important parts to reading a food label.  In the next post, I will explain how to apply this information when picking out a food for your pet.