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Easy Steps to Improve Your Pets Diet!
- Use a ceramic or metal food and water dish. Plastic dishes degrade quickly and expose your pet to toxins. They also are harder to clean. Wash bowls with soap and water and rinse completely.
- Only buy a small amount of food at a time and check the date on the bag. Fats are the major reason foods go bad. Fats oxidize quickly and reduce the amount of beneficial fats your pet is getting and will reduce the amount of protein and vitamins that is also available to your pet from its food. To help avoid this KEEP THE FOOD IN THE BAG. Most bags are now made to slow down this process. Also keep bag closed and as air tight as possible. Freezing is also a good option.
- Because fats oxidize quickly you can add extra fats like fish, krill, flax or coconut oil when giving your pet its food. We carry a product called freeform that adds beneficial fats to your pet’s diet. Be careful though too much of any of these can cause diarrhea.
- ADD PROBIOTICS!! Probiotics usually do not survive long in any food that is exposed to a heating process. So even if your food claims there is probiotics in it, there probably is not enough in it to be of any real benefit. Probiotics help with the immune system and also help with the production and absorption of some essential vitamins!
- You can also add up to 15 to 20 % of healthy people food to your pet’s diet without worrying about causing the diet to be unbalanced. If you add more than that, fats, calcium and other nutrients will become unbalanced in your pet’s diet.
Veggies need to be cooked, pureed or frozen. This will break down the cell walls so the nutrients
are available to your pet.
When your pets get a hold of something they shouldn’t, it is less likely it will cause a problem if you
mix things up.
- The best website for information on your pets food and diet is do/catfoodadvisor.com or the AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) talkspetfood.aaf.org
- We DO NOT recommend raw or homemade diets. These diets are usually unbalanced. Don’t just follow the internet! You could cause your pet more health issues if they are not getting a balanced diet.
- Don’t be afraid of the words Meal or Byproducts. Meals have a higher percent of protein than plain meats. Plain meats are 70% water.
- DO NOT feed your pet a Grain Free diet! There are recent studies that have shown that grain free diets are more harm than good and are a leading cause of DCM (Dilated Cardio Myopathy)
We do not recommend designer pet foods. Please buy foods that are veterinary recommended. (Pet stores will tell you differently to sell the foods they carry.) Veterinary Recommended Diets that have actual veterinary research behind them are:
Purina One or Purina Proplan
Royal Canin
Hill’s Science Diet
- Use a ceramic or metal food and water dish. Plastic dishes degrade quickly and expose your pet to toxins. They also are harder to clean. Wash bowls with soap and water and rinse completely.
- Only buy a small amount of food at a time and check the date on the bag. Fats are the major reason foods go bad. Fats oxidize quickly and reduce the amount of beneficial fats your pet is getting and will reduce the amount of protein and vitamins that is also available to your pet from its food. To help avoid this KEEP THE FOOD IN THE BAG. Most bags are now made to slow down this process. Also keep bag closed and as air tight as possible. Freezing is also a good option.
- Because fats oxidize quickly you can add extra fats like fish, krill, flax or coconut oil when giving your pet its food. We carry a product called freeform that adds beneficial fats to your pet’s diet. Be careful though too much of any of these can cause diarrhea.
- ADD PROBIOTICS!! Probiotics usually do not survive long in any food that is exposed to a heating process. So even if your food claims there is probiotics in it, there probably is not enough in it to be of any real benefit. Probiotics help with the immune system and also help with the production and absorption of some essential vitamins!
- You can also add up to 15 to 20 % of healthy people food to your pet’s diet without worrying about causing the diet to be unbalanced. If you add more than that, fats, calcium and other nutrients will become unbalanced in your pet’s diet.
Veggies need to be cooked, pureed or frozen. This will break down the cell walls so the nutrients
are available to your pet.
When your pets get a hold of something they shouldn’t, it is less likely it will cause a problem if you
mix things up.
- The best website for information on your pets food and diet is do/catfoodadvisor.com or the AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) talkspetfood.aaf.org
- We DO NOT recommend raw or homemade diets. These diets are usually unbalanced. Don’t just follow the internet! You could cause your pet more health issues if they are not getting a balanced diet.
- Don’t be afraid of the words Meal or Byproducts. Meals have a higher percent of protein than plain meats. Plain meats are 70% water.
- DO NOT feed your pet a Grain Free diet! There are recent studies that have shown that grain free diets are more harm than good and are a leading cause of DCM (Dilated Cardio Myopathy)
We do not recommend designer pet foods. Please buy foods that are veterinary recommended. (Pet stores will tell you differently to sell the foods they carry.) Veterinary Recommended Diets that have actual veterinary research behind them are:
Purina One or Purina Proplan
Royal Canin
Hill’s Science Diet
FDA Investigation into Potential Link between
Certain Diets and Canine Dilated
Cardiomyopathy
Updated June 27, 2019
In July 2018, the FDA announced that it had begun investigating reports of canine dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in dogs eating certain pet foods, many labeled as "grain-free," which contained a high proportion of peas, lentils, other legume seeds (pulses), and/or potatoes in various forms (whole, flour, protein, etc.) as main ingredients (listed within the first 10 ingredients in the ingredient list, before vitamins and minerals). Many of these case reports included breeds of dogs not previously known to have a genetic predisposition to the disease. The FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine and the Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network, continue to investigate this potential association. Based on the data collected and analyzed thus far, the agency believes that the potential association between diet and DCM in dogs is a complex scientific issue that may involve multiple factors.
We understand the concern that pet owners have about these reports: the illnesses can be severe, even fatal, and many cases report eating “grain-free” labeled pet food. The FDA is using a range of sciencebased investigative tools as it strives to learn more about this emergence of DCM and its potential link to certain diets or ingredients.
If you have further questions or concerns, please talk to your veterinarian.
Visit www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/news-events for the full article.
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