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Reaching Your Pet’s Heart Through Its StomachDesigning pet-friendly diets that keep your loved ones healthy and happy

Like humans, pets love to eat. According to the American Pet Products Association, nearly $19 billion was spent last year just on feeding our pets. But not all pet food is created equal. With hundreds of brands, types, and flavors available, it can be

“One of the most important things you can do for your pet, is to feed them high quality, nutritious foods,” says Dr. Jennifer Mlekoday,

solid nutritional foundation, your pet is more

more easily recover from emergency or surgical situations. Good food is essential to your pet’s overall health and well-being.”

While West Chelsea Veterinary stocks a number of veterinary-grade food products to suit special dietary needs, there are a number of commer-cially available products designed to keep your pets nutritionally sound. All high quality prod-ucts are formulated with the six essential nutri-ents fundamental to your pet’s healthy living:

Water: As with humans, water is essential to your pet’s life and diet. Water accounts for 60 to 70 per cent of your adult pet’s body weight and pets must have a source of clean, fresh water at all times.

Protein: Proteins are the basic building blocks for your pet’s

growth, maintenance, re-production, and repair,

and are made up of essential and

non-essential amino acids. While your pet produces its own non-essential amino acids in-ternally, essential amino acids must be derived through diet. Amino acids to look for include arginine, methionine, histidine, phenylalanine, isoleucine, threonine, leucine, tryptophan, ly-sine, valine, and taurine (especially required for cats). The best source of essential amino acids in your pet’s diet are animal-based proteins, including chicken, lamb, turkey, beef, and fish.

Fat: Fats provide the most concentrated form of food energy for your pet, and help provide insulation and protection of the internal organs, as well as allow the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins. Essential fatty acids, such as linoleic acid and omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids, play a vital role in the maintenance of your pet’s skin and coat, and also prevent inflamma-tion in the joints, intestines, and kidneys.

Carbohydrates: Carbs provide energy for the body’s tissues and also play an important role in the health of your pet’s intestine, by helping to manage the presence of good bacteria. For cats and dogs to obtain the most benefit from fiber - an important kind of carbohydrate - the fiber source must be moderately fermentable. A common example found in cat and dog food is beet pulp.

Vitamins: Vitamins are essential for enzyme reactions and must be obtained through the diet, however vitamin supplements (unless prescribed by a veterinarian) are unnecessary. Excesses in vitamins can even result in bone and joint pain, and soft tissue calcification.

Instead, look for foods that contain essential vitamins A, B, C, D, and E.

Minerals: Minerals are important for the health of your pet’s bones and teeth, and for their involve-ment in many metabolic reactions within the body. Minerals cannot be produced by your pet, and must be derived through a healthy diet.

SETTING THE STANDARDS

Nutrition For Your Aging Pet

As your dog or cat ages, their bodies require special dietary needs to maintain optimal health. Both cats and dogs begin to show several signs of aging at about seven to 12 years of age. One of the goals in caring for an aging pet is to maintain a healthy weight, slow or pre-vent the development of chronic disease, and minimize or improve signs of disease already present.

Overall, it’s important to feed your senior pet fewer

calories to avoid weight gain while still maintaining

healthy, but not excessive, protein levels to help maintain

In addition, maintaining a healthy coat, promoting healthy bacteria levels, and increasing your senior pet’s

Ever wonder who polices pet food? The

(AAFCO) does and they work hand-in-hand with

the United States Food & Drug Administration

and the Center for Veterinary Medicine (FDA-

CVM) to set standards for complete and balanced

pet foods. They define feed ingredients that are

acceptable for use in animal feed, including pet

food. Pet food, as defined by the AAFCO, is all

food, supplements, chews, snacks and treats in-

tended for dogs and cats.

The AAFCO works to ensure our pets’ food labels

display product claims are truthful and not at

all misleading to consumers. They also require

that packaging graphics represent exactly what

is in the product. For example, a picture of apples

on a package without any apples in the product

would be considered misleading by the AAFCO.

If you’re concerned about how to choose the

best food product for your pets, ask your West

Chelsea veterinarian to recommend some good

options the next time you’re in for a visit. We also

highly recommend the website BalanceIt.com

for those who would like to make their own fresh

and nutritionally-appropriate food for their dogs

and cats. BalanceIt.com is easy to use and

using each pet’s personal characteristics and the

food ingredients they prefer.

JULY 2011

DVM, and WCV’s Co-Chief of Sta�. “With a

muscle mass.

intake of omega fatty acids and antioxidants, such as

in ensuring they are as healthy, strong and as youthful

vitamin E and beta-carotene, can also be very beneficial

as possible.