“Is this kibble okay to feed my dog?” This is a common question asked of veterinary team members. With the amount of press pet obesity garners, animal owners are sensitized to get the right food for their pets. Human food trends also impact pet owner choice. Label confusion and lack of knowledge about nutrients and ingredients add to the challenges.
Clinicians need to focus owners that their pet needs nutrients, not ingredients”
The good news is that pet owners are concerned about what they feed their pets. Deborah E. Linder, DVM, MS, DACVN, provides perspective and resources veterinary teams can use to guide and educate pet owner choices.
Source: Clinician’s Brief, June 2020. Link. Providing expert assistance can be helpful to owners who may be overwhelmed by the available pet food information. This can also help focus information gathering on adequacy and evidence as opposed to unfounded information in the form of marketing.
INSIGHTS: Linder provides considerations that make a yes or no answer difficult. Adding confusion to her discussion is the challenge of variable Kcals between diets for the same volume of kibble.
“Helping pet owners make improved food choices can strengthen the clinician–owner relationship,” says Linder, “and avoid well-intentioned, but ill-informed—and possibly inadequate—food choices for pets.”