Healthy diet depends on your dog - Boston Herald

I turned on the television this past weekend and there you were on the news talking about pet diets. I would love to hear more on the best foods to give my dog or novel diets.

I am currently giving my dog a Purina food and he seems to do well on it. However, many of my friends are spending crazy amounts of money for their dogs on fancy diets of all sorts, including organic or grain free.

What should a dog owner do? Does it really matter? 

Thanks for noticing the news this weekend. I appeared on”CBS Morning News” Saturday from the American Veterinary Medical Association convention, where I wrapped up my year as president of a great 93,000+ member national veterinary organization. There is always a lot of great information on the website, including about foods, at avma.org.

The story revolved around the incredibly confusing amount of choices in the pet food market and what diets might be appropriate for a dog or any pet, for that matter. Your choice is a reputable one with years of research and development. I always suggest owners purchase name brands that have some history and adequate nutritional study behind them. It is easy to develop and sell a new food and barely a day goes by without a new food coming to market that has something “special” in it or something removed.

Grain free is not supported much in the literature as being of benefit. Organic is playing to consumer guilt. While there are decent foods sold in both of those categories and while occasionally they might make a difference, there is not much science behind them despite some claims. Years ago, raw diets were popular but those come with issues of handling and secondary problems. There are people that swear by all of these types of foods and in many cases, their dogs do well on them.

I always encourage pet owners to speak with their veterinarian about choices and what might be appropriate for an individual pet. Clearly, one wants to give their dog or other pet a nutritionally balanced and appropriate diet but there is lots of room for all sorts of solutions. As I said on the show, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

In the end, work with your veterinarian to insure your dog is getting a good diet. The dog’s health will depend on it and good health will reflect good lifestyle and diet choices.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/08/25/healthy-diet-depends-on-your-dog/

2019-08-25 04:31:22Z
CBMiSWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJvc3RvbmhlcmFsZC5jb20vMjAxOS8wOC8yNS9oZWFsdGh5LWRpZXQtZGVwZW5kcy1vbi15b3VyLWRvZy_SAU1odHRwczovL3d3dy5ib3N0b25oZXJhbGQuY29tLzIwMTkvMDgvMjUvaGVhbHRoeS1kaWV0LWRlcGVuZHMtb24teW91ci1kb2cvYW1wLw

Bagikan Berita Ini