With numerous varieties of pet food on the market today, it can be very difficult to find the perfect fit for your fur baby. As a veterinary professional, I have gone through schooling, various continuing education webinars and presentations and worked in the nutrition department with a board-certified veterinary nutritionist to gain a vast amount of knowledge regarding different food options.
In more recent years, B.E.G. diets have become increasingly popular. What exactly are B.E.G. diets? Boutique, Exotic ingredients and Grain-free. These may come in the form of kibble, canned or the ever so popular but pretty gross if you think about it and never recommended, raw (fresh or frozen).
In this blog I want to focus on the G- grain free.These diets typically contain a carbohydrate source of peas, legumes, or lentils. There is a strong misconception that grains are bad for our pets. However, there is no real evidence to support this. It is quite the opposite, as grains contain vitamins, minerals, omegas, fats and fiber. All these things are going to benefit the health of your pet in a positive way. I can already hear people suggesting that dogs should eat what wolves ate which some believe is raw meat. Wolves also eat plant materials like grasses and berries. And although dogs did evolve from wolves, they have also evolved alongside humans for the past few thousand years, which also evolved what they have been eating and their digestion.
There has been a considerable increase in pets developing a heart condition called dilated cardio myopathy- DCM, that have been on a grain-free diet. This is why it is so important to analyze what nourishment they are receiving and from what source. The FDA started to collect cases to investigate this. It has been strongly suggested these diets are lacking in the amino acid, ta urine, as a possible contributor, but testing and research are still ongoing. It is suggested the producers of the foods were not adding taurine to their diets. It is possible it is now added, however, unlike our veterinary exclusive diets, many of these diets are not formulated by a nutritionist. They have not gone through feeding trials, which makes your pet the test subject.
Unfortunately, we have seen some cases of DCM that we believe are diet related and I did see cases at my previous job which did result in owners having to euthanize their pets due to the severity of the heart disease. A taurine level blood test can be performed, but regardless of the results, it is strongly recommended switching to a grain inclusive diet as soon as possible and supplementing taurine if directed to by your veterinarian.
We will always recommend one of our veterinary exclusive diets for your pet as our top pick to ensure their health and well-being. The companies that produce these foods can provide any information we ask for; their foods have gone through feeding trials and their quality control is extremely impressive. If one of those does not, we will do our best research to find the right one for them.
Below is a link to an excellent document providing questions to ask when considering what food to choose for your pet:
https://wsava.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Selecting-a-pet-food-for-your-pet-updated-2021 WSAVA-Global Nutrition-Toolkit.pdf
If you have additional questions or are looking for a new food recommendation, please reach out to the clinic, we are always happy to help!
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