Choosing Your Pets Food

Dear Dr. Lee,

I just got a new puppy and want to be sure to do the right thing choosing a food for her. I am health conscious myself, and prefer to eat a lot of whole, organic foods. I’ve started my puppy on a holistic puppy food, but I’d like to supplement with people food for variety and added nutrition. Is this OK? I get such different opinions from my friends, I’d appreciate your input.
C. N.

Dear C. N.,

This is a great question. The answer really depends on your dog. Certain medical conditions, such as allergies or cancer often require a home cooked diet exclusively for an optimal outcome. However, assuming your dog is healthy, you can probably get away without cooking every meal for her (it is definitely hard to find the time to cook for a dog, just like an extra person on a special diet). Let’s start by looking at common feeding practices for our four legged friends, then we can talk about some alternatives.

For thousands of years, dogs (and to some extent cats) ate peoples’ left over food. During the time of the Second World War, kibble was first used by the army to feed the service dogs who went abroad with the soldiers because it was a compact, convenient source of food for these dogs. After the war packaged/processed dog food became popular, and indeed became the standard for feeding pets. (I might point out that during the time after the War, processed foods also became very popular for people.) Dog and cat food has come a long way since then and most premium brands do offer a good range of nutrition. However until recently, the popular belief has been that you should choose one good food which seems to agree with your pet and feed it for life. Some even will tell you that you should feed dry kibble only, no canned food, and definitely no people food. In my opinion, there are problems with these theories. Feeding some dry food is fine (I feed my own dog holistic dry food along with her other foods), but I do like to make some adjustments. First, I usually recommend adding canned food with the dry food, then adding water until it is like a stew and feeding it right away. Since kibble is a dehydrated food, it becomes rehydrated as it is digested. If we don’t add moisture to the diet, the dogs own moisture stores will have to be used for rehydration. Also I recommend changing brands or flavors of dry and canned food at least every four to six months. Without any variety, the gut over time can become sensitized to the same food, causing irritation. Once the gut is irritated, or inflamed, we can see proteins leaking from the gut into the body. This process can lead to disease, and we definitely want to avoid it. Remember, when you change your pets’ food, gradually mix the new and old foods together until your pet is weaned on to the new food. A sudden switch may cause diarrhea. Giving a good quality probiotic (a concentrated form of the “good bacteria” we need for digestion available over the counter at drug or health food stores) during the switch also helps to prevent stomach upset.

Now to people food, how much and what is OK to give? For certain pets you have to be careful. The pets with sensitive stomachs, allergies or other conditions may have very limited choices. However for most pets, we can offer them a great variety. Foods that you should stay away from for your pets are starchy/carbohydrate type foods (pets eating dry food already get plenty, if not too many carbs in their diets), greasy/fried foods and fatty foods. These foods will likely cause a fair number of pets to be sick to their stomachs. On the other hand, steamed, roasted or baked foods can be great supplements to your pets’ diet. (I generally recommend washing off any sauce prior to “sharing”). Most vegetables and meats are well liked by dogs, cats tend to just go for the meat. Avoid anything with onions in cats, as they can cause damage to the red blood cells. Richly colored vegetables are high in antioxidants. Seasonal vegetables can be very comforting, such as butternut squash in the winter as a warming comfort food, and cucumbers in the summer to cool us down. Fruits are also great for sharing. I recommend avoiding grapes/raisins since they have been linked to cases of kidney failure in dogs. Personally I think probably it was a pesticide on the grapes/raisins causing the problem, but I do not have proof of that and avoid them just to be safe. If the amount of fresh food you are adding to your pets’ diet is more than 20-25 percent of the total amount of food eaten, consult your veterinarian about vitamin/mineral supplements, since you will likely need to add them to the diet. You can also stash some cubed meat or steamed veggies in a baggie in the fridge to offer for treats instead of processed treats.

So your pet really can enjoy fresh, whole foods and their health benefits just like you do. Just go slow, make sure your pet tolerates each individual food, and avoid certain problem foods. Most of all, have fun!