Pet Food Myths

by Shelagh Hislop | Feb 20, 2015 | news

SEPARATING FACTS FROM FICTION: Pet Food Myths

There are many myths about pet food. Where do you get your information about pet nutrition? Is it from a salesperson? Is it from a TV or YouTube advertisement? There are many misleading pieces of information being propagated through media and sales.

Consider the science. Ask your vet.

Corn: Corn actually has many benefits. It’s an excellent source of protein, carbohydrates, fiber, and antioxidants. Corn is highly digestible when cooked and is not a common cause of food allergies. Because of all these things, corn is not “just filler”.

By-Products: Many by-products are excellent sources of nutrients for pets.  (Some of the reasons that humans don’t prefer by-products is because of emotional reaction rather than scientific, nutritional information.) Examples include animal fats, internal organs and fibrous ingredients like beet pulp.

Meat First: Meat is not the only valuable source of nutrition for your dog. When meat is listed first, remember that the high water content makes it weigh more than dry ingredients such as grains, meals and vitamins. Also dogs are omnivores, meaning that they naturally get their nutrition from meat and plant-based nutrition.

High Protein: Animals cannot store protein, so their organs have to work extra hard when they are fed a food that has higher protein than needed. This can lead to health problems, especially in the older pet.

Grain-Free: There is nothing to support the benefit of a grain-free diet for pets, and some grain-free diets are suspected to cause health problems in dogs.

Natural, Holistic, Organic …  These words have varying meaning and do not mean the food has better nutrition.  Individual ingredients do not determine the quality of a food. It’s the nutritional value of the combined product = the whole diet (and its digestibility) that delivers appropriate nutrition for your pet.