Myths About Pets and Pet Foods
MY TH: Dogs are carnivores
MY TH:
Corn is a filler, is hard to digest, and is a major cause of allergies in pets.
TRUTH: Taxonomic Order Carnivora,
in name only <TRUTH >
Dietary Classification Omnivore Essential Nutrients Highly Digestible Not a Top Allergen
✔ Anatomy
Fillers add no nutrients. Grinding and cooking True food allergies are
✔ Behavior
Corn provides pets with: can increase corn’s quite rare in pets. Yet,
✔ Feeding preference
digestibility so that corn has been implicated
✔ Ability to eat/remain healthy on
• Protein pets can easily absorb in fewer food allergy
a diet consisting of both plant
• Carbohydrates key nutrients. cases than other common
and animal foods
• Essential fatty acids protein sources such as
MY TH: Cats should not eat carbo-
• Antioxidants beef, dairy products,
wheat, chicken, egg,
hydrates because they are carnivores.
lamb, or soy.
TRUTH:Taxonomic Order Carnivora
✔ High dietary protein requirements
Nutritional Requirements
✔ Many studies have proven
cats can readily digest and use MY TH: Grain-free food is better than • These are by-products:
carbohydrates foods containing grains. • Organs
• Beet pulp (dried sugar
MY TH: Cats should not eat carbo- TRUTH: Grain-free foods are not nec- beet residue)
hydrates because of the risk for dia- essarily better than foods containing • Tomato pomace (skin,
betes. grains. Discuss your preference with seeds, pulp)
your veterinary team to learn more
TRUTH: Currently no evidence of di- about whether this an appropriate Many by-products such as meat by-
rect cause and effect between carbo- food option for your unique pet. products provide excellent nutritional
hydrate intake and diabetes in cats. value compared to non-by-product
Studies have shown that some of the MY TH: counterparts.
risks for feline diabetes include having
an inactive lifestyle and being over- Pet foods containing MY TH: Reading the ingredient list is
the best way to assess the suitability
weight. ingredients listed as of a pet food.
In fact, because of relatively increased “by-products” are
amounts of protein, phosphorus, and inferior. TRUTH: Appropriate amounts of pre-
fat, some low-carbohydrate foods may cisely formulated nutrients are just as
not be ideal for diabetic cats with important as ingredients. In fact, focus-
other health concerns such as kidney ing on ingredients alone puts all the
disease, and liver disease. TRUTH: attention on before the pet food gets
. • A by-product is simply something made, not after. Pet food ingredients
MY TH: Natural means organic. produced in the making of some- are listed in descending order, based
thing else. For example, when you upon their weight prior to processing.
TRUTH: Natural and organic are boil chicken, the leftover broth Thus, relying on an ingredient list does
not interchangeable. Use of the could be considered a by-product. not provide an accurate representa-
term “natural” requires a pet food to tion of how much of an ingredient
consist of only natural ingredients your pet is actually consuming.
without chemical alterations.
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