Our last bit on nutrition topics for now......
Myth #7:
By-products are bad ingredients and
must be avoided
Some food companies will try to convince you that
by-products are nothing but junk, undesireable leftovers that have no
nutritional value and may include things such as hooves and horns. This is blatantly false. By-products are cleaned and processed organ
meat that by law and definition must specifically exclude hair, horns,
hooves, skin, feathers, and gastrointestinal contents. Ingredients defined as by-products can
include lungs, spleen, kidneys, liver, blood, stomach, intestines, and other
organs. While we may not typically eat
these parts of animals, these other organs contain important nutrients, some of
which are not found in muscle tissue.
By-products are included in pet foods because they are lower cost
sources of good nutrients, not as "filler".
Myth #8:
Over-the-counter "restricted ingredient" diets are sufficient
for food allergies
Food allergies are triggered by exposure to a
protein and/or carbohydrate source to which a pet has a sensitivity. The treatment in these cases is to eliminate
exposure of these ingredients in a pet's diet.
Typical commercial diets may not include these components on a label or
in the recipe, but that doesn't mean that the allergens are not present. Several studies have shown trace ingredients
in pet foods that were not listed on the label.
This is not a problem for an average dog or cat, but for one with
confirmed food allergies it could be enough to trigger a reaction. Just because
"chicken" isn't listed on the label doesn't mean that there can't be
trace amounts in the diet. This finding
is why veterinary dermatologists always recommend more strictly controlled
"prescription" diets when diagnosing and treating food sensitivities.
Myth #9:
Lamb and rice diets are better for a pet's skin
This myth derives from a misconception about food
ingredients and allergies. When a pet
has a reaction to food you will typically see symptoms related to the skin:
hair loss, itching, skin infections, etc.
The way to resolve the problem is to feed a diet that eliminates the
allergens and replaces them with ingredients to which the pet has never been
exposed. Many years ago we would use
diets that had lamb as the protein source and rice for carbohydrates, as dogs
and cats rarely ate these ingredients.
Because the allergens were eliminated the pet's skin would improve, but
this only happened because the pet was allergic to other foods and not due to
inherent qualities of the ingredients.
Currently lamb and rice are common in pet foods and are no longer considered
good "hypoallergenic" diets because many pets have been exposed to
them. These components are no better or
worse for an average pet than any other protein or carbohydrate, and for most
pets won't give any benefit compared to other ingredients.
