Food for thought … and pets
By Gina Spadafori
February 7, 2007
When it comes to how to feed our pets, your Pet Connection blog crew has a wide range of opinion and practice.
Dr. Marty Becker recommends feeding a premium commercial product, backed by the reputation and research of some very well-respected companies. I suspect the Susan and Dr. Rolan Tripp fall into this camp as well.
Christie Keith feeds a home-prepared diet made from fresh, whole ingredients, backed by much of the same research that went into the formulation of many of those premium pet foods.
And I … hedge my bets, supplementing a high-quality commercial diet with fresh, whole ingredients.
And guess what? We all have healthy pets.
In her first online pet-care column for the San Francisco Chronicle’s Web site, SFGate.com, Christie examines the issues around how to feed your pets, and how to choose the plan that’s right for your pet’s health and your budget and time constraints:
Today, it’s comparatively easy to learn about using fresh foods in canine diets. Feeding our dogs out of our own kitchens has become such a widespread practice there are even dozens of competing ideologies: Raw food, prey model, home cooking, breed-specific, vegetarian and more — pretty much every ideology found in human nutritional circles has its canine counterpart. Thousands of dog owners in the Bay Area feed their dogs diets wholly or partially based on fresh foods, and there are tens of thousands more nationwide.
Many dog owners have even formed regional co-ops to buy fresh foods for their dogs in bulk, to bring down costs. There are many veterinarians who enthusiastically support homemade diets. Dog owners can investigate the dozens of books, e-mail lists, Web sites and articles to find out more about feeding dogs a fresh-food diet.
The best results usually come when the dog owner is exposed to a variety of approaches and ideas, rather than blindly following one guru or feeding plan. There are many worthwhile books on canine diets, and it’s a good idea to read several of them.
Two useful starter books are the Rodale Press classic, “Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats
,” now in its third edition, and “Home-Prepared Dog & Cat Diets: The Healthful Alternative
Read the whole piece and keep an eye out for more from Christie on SFGate.com …. and for PetConnection here and in your local newspaper.
Oftentimes I find myself frustrated over what to feed my dogs and whether I’m doing them good or bad by feeding them what I do. It seems like every site you visit endorses one specific diet plan and it’s overwhelming to try and sort through all of the different options to find “what’s right.” That being the case, I really appreciate your offering that there is no 1 diet that’s right. It’s reinforcing to hear that 3 different diets are all resulting in healthy pets! Thank you for that!
Comment by Michelle — February 8, 2007 @ 9:47 am