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We at Bridlewood Veterinary Clinic have used home prepared and raw food diets for many years (Dr Mark has fed his own and clients pets for over 20 years) with the greatest success. We have found our pets to not only love this diet, but to gain many benefits. It can be used for both weight loss and gain with good results. The pet’s coats are always shinier and softer, they display increased energy, this food is good for allergies, dogs at risk for gastric torsion, and stool volume is hugely decreased. Dental condition improves, especially where raw bones are used as part of the protocol.
In the past we have fed Mountain Dog Food which is mainly a chicken based diet. Currently we are using Farm Fresh Pet Foods which comes as either cooked or raw preparations. It is also available as a beef base with oatmeal which is our preference. However for dogs that have allergies there is a Bison and Berry
Q: I am wondering your thoughts on the Organic pet foods available. Are they worth the extra money?
ReplyDeleteA: Thanks for your interesting question.
We have so many choices when it comes to pet diets. For general ease while remaining with a well balanced and scientifically tested and evaluated food, it is hard to do better than a veterinary recommended and supplied diet for the specific needs of the pet. There is no doubt that many of the commercial pet diets now available are vastly superior to those previously formulated. Most veterinary clinics will carry a broad range of high quality “life style” and “prescription” diets to cater for healthy and special needs dogs and cats.
When it comes to home prepared diets, depending on how these are formulated they can be either the best or worst diets that we can feed. Similarly they can be relatively easy to prepare, or be awfully complex requiring a huge investment of time and effort both to acquire the ingredients as well as to prepare them. I believe that we can provide excellent quality home prepared diets which are nutritionally sound without going to great trouble, effort or expense, and that our pets will love the food and thrive on it.
Now specifically to your question: I believe that there is advantage in using natural foods that are processed as little as possible. I believe that it is beneficial to minimize artificial additives, colorants, flavorings, preservatives, etc. I believe that certified organic ingredients in a home prepared diet would be the best of all options. I believe that anytime a food is processed you would loose the benefits of any "organic” claims and thus would not be achieving the advantage in paying a premium price.
Unfortunately there is very little scientific published data comparing health and longevity with an organic versus a non organic food. I doubt that there will be any such studies as it is unlikely to be funded by any major pet food company. And so we end up making an anecdotal decision based on the common wisdom. We know how erroneous that can be.
Interestingly in veterinary medicine our current major nutritional challenge causing decreased quality and often length of life is overweight and obese pets.