Pet Nutrition
Helping you find the right pet food.
Diet is an often overlooked part of a pet’s overall health and wellbeing. It should come as no surprise that what your pet eats, as well as how much they eat, directly impacts their health. Achieving the right nutritional balance will allow your pet to better manage any existing medical conditions and significantly improve their quality of life.
Updates on pet food and pet health:
Certain Grain-Free Diets and Heart Disease in Pets
Veterinary Cardiologists across the country have noticed a possible connection between feeding certain grain-free, "boutique," or exotic-ingredient dog food and the development of a serious heart condition in dogs called Dilated Cardiomyopathy. We recommend that you read more about this condition and look for pet foods manufactured by reputable, established companies backed by scientific research, quality control, and with licensed veterinary nutritionists on staff. These diets have years of data to back their safety and ability to meet a pet’s nutritional needs.
If your pet DOES have a medical need for a grain-free or unusual ingredient diet (for example if your pet has food allergies), we can recommend brands which have not been implicated in the increase in risk of heart disease.
Please see the following links for more information:
- https://www.fda.gov/animal-
veterinary/news-events/fda- investigation-potential-link- between-certain-diets-and- canine-dilated-cardiomyopathy - http://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/
2018/06/a-broken-heart-risk- of-heart-disease-in-boutique- or-grain-free-diets-and- exotic-ingredients/ - http://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/
2018/11/dcm-update/
Raw Diets - Healthy or Harmful?
Raw or "Paleo" diets have been touted to be healthier than commercial pet food, especially on the internet. However, there is no scientific information showing any health benefits from raw meat diets. Creating raw diets at home for pets can expose both the pet and the owner to bacteria and parasites from the raw meat. A pet eating a raw meat diet can also expose their owner to bacteria directly from the mouth. Another thing to keep in mind is that many home-made (without the guidance of a veterinary nutritionist) or commercially-available raw diets are not nutritionally complete, and feeding them can result in nutritional deficits with health implications.
Please see this link for more information on raw pet diets:
Pet Food Recalls
For up-to-date information, we can connect you to the FDA's website regarding Pet Food Recalls.
If you’d like to schedule a pet nutrition or weight loss consultation, call us or schedule an appontment online.
White River Junction 802-295-6900 | Woodstock 802-457-2229
