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| Emails to the new puppy owner (Part 4 of 8) |
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By Mary-Ann Bowman The grocery shelf is lined with dog food choices and a trip to the local PetSmart or PetCo offers an even greater variety of bagged and shelved food. How are we to know what is best for the new puppy? Millions of dollars are spent on marketing pet food to both consumers and veterinarians. The goal of the marketing efforts is to sell dog food and make money. These are not bad goals, but we must be careful about assuming that making a healthy dog food is part of that winning formula. The Whole Dog Journal, a small publication that does not accept commercial advertisements, offered this analysis of one type of Purina food: "Unfortunately, there's rarely a correlation between what's shown on the bag and what's in the bag. Perhaps the most notorious example of this is Purina's new food, Beneful. (What a name, eh? Beneficial, bountiful, it's all there. You have to hand it to them.) The front of Beneful's bag shows fresh ears of corn, snappy unshelled peas, and gorgeous green-topped carrots. In fact, what it actually contains is ground corn, used here as a dried grain and a lower-cost source of protein, and dried peas and dried carrots. The latter, by the way, appear 17th and 18th on the list of ingredients, far below sugar (10th), sorbitol (another sweetener, 11th on the list), and even sorbic acid, a preservative that appears 15th on the list of ingredients. Purina must be counting on people to take one look at the color photographs of the vegetables, read the word "vegetables" on the front, and assume that "Gee, Purina really has come around, putting fresh veggies in its food!" Most of our information about dog food comes from advertisements and veterinarians. Although veterinarians might seem like a good source of information, most have very limited training in nutrition. Further, veterinarians are human and also susceptible to the marketing efforts of major pet food companies. If you go into most veterinarians' office, you will typically see two brands of food. Did you know that those two major companies provide "nutrition education" at veterinary schools, subsidize veterinary textbooks, and that veterinary students receive free pet food from those companies during their time in veterinary school? My husband's uncle works for a dog food company and in the past year has lectured at more than one-half of the veterinary colleges in the United States. It is no surprise that the brands carried in most veterinary clinics are the same brands that the veterinarians became familiar with during their student years and the brands that continue to market to veterinarians through incentive programs. None of us, even well educated professionals, are immune from skillful marketing efforts. The goal of feeding a puppy should be to maximize health and well-being, and there are many ideas about how this is best done. Some people believe that dogs should be fed a natural raw diet, and others would not dream of giving their dogs "people food." Popular dog foods like Iams and Science Diet are not viewed as good choices by those who have spent time examining dog food choices, and yet many veterinarians push these foods as "the best" and, not surprisingly, sell these foods at their clinics. How are we to decide what is the best course of action to take?? When you pick up your puppy, I will provide articles from the Whole Dog Journal about various aspects of feeding dogs. I believe that their recommendations are informed, balanced, and fair. In addition, I encourage you to do your own research and a nice starting point is the website of the Animal Protection League. Finally, I will share what I have elected to feed my own dogs, and explain my rationale. I believe that there is sufficient evidence to believe that diet impacts both health and longevity in humans. I believe that the same is true for dogs and other living creatures. Therefore, I base my feeding practices on a belief that what I feed my dogs has the potential to increase their health and maximize longevity. In the past, I have fed completely homemade, both cooked and raw. I do not have a problem with this type of approach and believe it is a good alternative for those willing to make the commitment. At this time, I feed a mixture of homemade food and kibble (Canidae). The homemade food is typically meat and veggies, and when I feed kibble I always add something else to it — yogurt, fruit, veggies, buttermilk, sardines, etc. My goal is to provide a variety of whole foods in moderation, in addition to the kibble. My thinking is that while a complete food might have the proper nutrients , it does not address the other valuable functions of a well-balanced diet. For example, consider that we now know that some type of cancers are linked to lack of fiber in a diet. I also supplement my dogs. I give Glucosamine on a regular basis (one tablet twice a day) and typically give a antioxidant formula vitamin supplement three times a week. The one I use is made by Nature Made but there are others that are also good. I do not want to over supplement, but I do think that providing additional vitamins and minerals has the potential to benefit the dog. I also give a spoonful of flax seed oil a couple of times a week. Again, I think moderation is the key when it comes to supplements. The puppies will need to eat at least three times a day. I will feed mine four times a day until about 12 weeks and then reduce to three times a day u until she is six months old, but starting at three times per day is also just fine. After six months, I feed our dogs twice a day. The puppies should be fed a set amount of food at each meal, and I will provide the amount and some suggestions for what can be added to the food. Cindy will be feeding her puppy a raw diet, and perhaps she will share with us what that will consist of so that we can learn more about that option. While on the topic of food, I want to stress how important it is to keep the puppies very lean. Our goal is to "grow the puppy" slowly in order to protect the developing joints of a puppy. Therefore, at all times you should be able to easily (without pushing!) feel ribs on a puppy. If possible, try to weigh your puppy every week or two in order to assess weight gain and this will also help you determine if the puppy is growing too quickly. Keep the puppy lean by monitoring food intake, and cutting back when ribs becomes difficult to find without pressure. Do not listen to the puppy about how much s/he should eat because they would have you believe that they should eat all day long with snacks at night. Back to Part 3 Part 5 |
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