For dogs with seizures, any diet change should be carefully considered and will likely be different for each dog based on their underlying conditions. If your dog has idiopathic epilepsy, there may be some nutritional changes to consider but let’s look at the evidence and pros and cons behind some different strategies you may hear about.
Many pet food companies prominently feature the „veterinarian recommended“ label, enticing families seeking the best food for their pets. However, what exactly this label means and how it can help you to make an informed choice can be a bit of a mystery. In this post, we’ll cover what the regulations are for products bearing the “veterinarian recommended” claim.
While corn is often vilified as a pet food ingredient, it is nutritious and easily digested by both dogs and cats and rarely causes allergies. As such, it is not an ingredient that most pets need to avoid in their diet.
Dealing with urinary tract infections (UTIs) in our dogs can be a real headache. But fear not, we’re here to shed some light on this issue and discuss whether diet plays a role in preventing or treating UTIs.
There’s been a lot of media attention recently on “AI” or artificial intelligence. Several large tech companies have recently made available to the general public AI “chat bots” that can carry on relatively human-like conversations and even draft documents such as letters, poems, and blog posts. These tools can provide fast answers to questions of all types as well as entertaining interactions for those who might engage them. But, this powerful new technology is not without some considerable issues – there are concerns that AI chatbots may pull information from unreputable sources, plagiarize copyrighted material, or even completely make stuff up! An attorney found out the latter the hard way – he was put in a very uncomfortable situation when it became clear that he used ChatGPT to write a legal brief and the software completely made up a number of legal cases and judicial opinions. These issues were, of course, not caught by the attorney before the document was submitted to the court! With all of the discussion of the promise of these new chatbots, I found myself curious how they would handle common pet food questions. So, I undertook a little experiment! I made the same request of the three best known AI chat bots – Bing Chat, by Microsoft, Bard by Google, and ChatGPT by OpenAI : “help me find the best dog food”. Here’s what they told me: Bing Bing provided me with the briefest of answers. It provided the name of one specific food as “the best overall dog food” “according to a veterinarian”. It then suggested that a good dog food should have “meats, grains, vegetables, and fruits to meet the nutritional standards of dog food regulations”. Then it recommended going to a popular but unscientific pet food ratings website for help finding diets…
We know that many pet owners are desperate for accurate, trustworthy information about how to feed their pets, whether they’re healthy or if they have a medical condition. However, even knowing who to talk to about your pet’s nutrition can be confusing! Learn more about Board Certified Veterinary Nutritionists and an easier way to find one.
While you may have heard us say “pets need nutrients, not ingredients,” what exactly are those essential nutrients? Here’s a breakdown of all the essential nutrients according to the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) that are required for foods to be called complete and balanced for adult and growing cats and dogs. Included are also links to other blog posts that describe some of these nutrients and why they’re essential. Protein and Amino Acids While the amount may differ between dogs and cats, and between adults and seniors, all pets have a minimum requirement for protein to make muscle in the body and help in many important body functions. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein and there are approximately a dozen essential amino acids in addition to a minimum of overall protein that all pets need: Arginine Histidine Isoleucine Leucine Lysine Methionine Cystine Phenylalanine Threonine Tryptophan Valine Taurine (cats) Fats and Fatty Acids All pets have a minimum amount of total fat that they need in their diet and there are also some specific types of fatty acids that are also required for different lifestages. Overall fats and specific types of fatty acids help your pet maintain a healthy skin/coat, regulate inflammation, and aid in development in growing pets. Linoleic Acid Arachidonic Acid (cats) Alpha-Linoleic Acid (growth) EPA + DHA (growth) Minerals Minerals, some of which are also called electrolytes, are critical to keeping fluid balance, growing and maintaining bones, and helping to regulate many processes running in a pet’s body, such as movement of muscles. The amounts required can vary between growing and adult animals, and there is also a required ratio of certain minerals such as calcium and phosphorus for optimal health, especially for growing large breed puppies. Calcium Phosphorus Potassium Sodium…
A common task of a Board Certified Veterinary Nutritionist® is to design custom homemade diet recipes for pets that have health issues or for pet owners who prefer not to use commercial foods. We’ve covered some general mistakes that pet owners often make with homecooked diets when they don’t work with a veterinary nutritionist, as well as some situations where cooking for your pet may not be optimal. In this post, I’d like to focus on misconceptions and mistakes about homecooked diets that my colleagues and I frequently run into with our clients – pet owners who get their recipes from a veterinary nutritionist. These issues tend to come up after the consultation, when our clients receive the completed recipe and start cooking. These misconceptions often cause frustration for nutritionist and pet owner alike. Equating volume of food with calories – after a homemade recipe is created for a pet, it is common to have the pet owner question the volume amount of the food because it looks like less or more than they expected it to be, often based on the pet’s previous diet. There may be the perception that there isn’t enough food, but more frequently, the concern is about too much food. Homemade diets are formulated to provide the amount of calories that the nutritionist feels is appropriate for the pet, either based on the pet’s diet history, or on published equations. Nutritionists are trained to think in terms of calories, not volume, and so the volume of the food rarely comes into consideration during the formulation process unless it seems particularly high. Pet owners, on the other hand, tend to think about food in terms of volume, not calories. Especially for pets that were previously fed dry diets, many owners are surprised by the amount of…
Chronic diarrhea is one of the most frustrating medical conditions for both dog owners and veterinarians (and especially for us veterinary nutritionists!) However, while it can be challenging to find the optimal diet for a dog with chronic diarrhea, it’s worth the extra effort!
A new FDA update provides more information on diet-associated dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). While the specific cause is not yet known, the problem hasn’t gone away