Ask the Veterinary Nutritionist

Do you have a specific question related to pet nutrition?

Our database contains over 1200 questions asked by pet owners and veterinarians. Enter a search term, then use the "topic" filter if you would like to narrow your search further. If you don't find an answer here, submit your question and a nutritionist will respond to your questions as best possible. Email responses will come from Info@PetDietsNutrition.com.

We believe pets make us better people.
Donations provide nutritional consultations to disabled military and seniors citizens with sick pets.
If you wish to make a contribution for the information you have received, please click to donate.

Thank you for your contribution!

Wysong contains 12% fat, 413 calories per cup. Solid Gold contains 12% fat and 456 calories per cup. As you could see, they are very similar. I spoke to the nutritionist at Solid Gold, they informed me that Millineum is a Performace Dog food meant for dogs who are very active and my dog would gain weight. My question is if they are almost identical in content, why would Solid Gold Millineum cause weight gain?
Any food will cause weight gain if overfed. As for the different answers between to different companies; there is no consensus on what is or is not a performance dog nutrient profile. Each company decides on their own profile.

I have a 1 yr old pitbull who weighs 35kg. She is my first pet and am therefore not sure if I am feeding her correctly. I feed her 1 700g can of dog food in the morning, 2 cups of dry food in the afternoon. Could you reccomend a daily diet for her.
I cannot assess your dog without either seeing her or you telling me her body condition score. Check out www.purina.com/dogs/nutrition and read through the "rib check" and "Body Condition Chart" sections.

We have a 3 mos kitten and 9 yr old cat in our home. We have always left dry food out for the older cat but the kitten has gotten into the habit of eating it. Will it harm the kitten's growth to continue to eat the adult cat food and only small amounts of the kitten food? Please help!
Read the AAFCO statement on the back of your adult cat food product. If the statement says the product is complete and balanced for "all stages", then the kitten can continue to eat this product. In fact you may then be overfeeding your older cat!

I am looking for some good solid information on raw meat diets. I certainly do not mean Dr. B's book but some solid peer reviewed citations on the dangers and nutrition. It seems to me there is a lot of easily accessible poor quality information for people who want to believe this is safe but very little information on the facts. So if you might have some citations on this I would be grateful to see them.
Please visit the AVMA, USDA and FDA CVM web sites.

Here are few articles from the peer reviewed vet literature:

1. Public Health Concerns Associated With Feeding Raw Meat Diets to Dogs. J Am Vet Med Assoc 219[9]:1222-1225 Nov 1 2001 Public Veterinary Medicine 56 Refs

2. Evaluation of Raw Food Diets for Dogs. J Am Vet Med Assoc 218[5]:705-709 Mar 1 2001 Timely Topics in Nutrition 5 Refs

You may consider visiting our Nutrition Library. Additional referenced in-depth information on Raw Diets and Homemade Diets is available.

I am having a debate with some BARFers about your site. Someone stated that you claim that "each meal must be complete and balanced". She says that is a myth. I can not find where you make this statement.
I do not believe you will find such a statement on the www.petdiets.com site.

The denominator of time is a relatively unimportant issue pick any time frame you (or they) wish (day, week, month, etc). I would be happier if they could convince me that all the nutrients were present. I have yet to find a barfer who knows the nutrient profile of the diet they are feeding over ANY time frame.

I bake natural dog biscuits and thinking of using a natural preservative for them because otherwise they cannot be kept at all! I was thinking about Vitamin E. What do you think about it and how can I use it? In which dosage? Where can i buy it ?
Vitamin E comes in 8 different "natural" forms. The vitamin E used as a preservative is not the same as that used as a nutrient.

We are nutritionists; hence, you will have to seek advice from a Food Science Technologist.

Why are people so stupid? I was reading some of the things that people were saying/asking about raw meat and bone diets. I suppose that they think their cat is a lion and should eat zebras and gazelles to truly be happy and healthy.

Thank you so much for exploding the myths about pet food, Dr. Remillard! Good, sound, science-based evidence is the "common sense" most needed on the web on this topic. Your website will save me hours in futile newsgroup exchanges! Cheers for the ACVN. Sanity at last!
Thank you..

I notice that several vets and even yourself have misquoted what a true BARF diet is? I also found that vets in the US and Canada have taken "case studies" of BARF diets and when directly asked what the diets are composed of they had no idea, they had just taken what they believe the model of a BARF diet was (and innacurate at that) and published it as bad without proper controls and research.
I, and most of my nutrition colleagues, have read Dr. Bills books and others. I have listened to several proponents speak. It is all the same verbiage. BARF is a feeding method, a philosophy even referred to as an ugly cult by some. It is not a specific diet but rather a method. I deal with clients and vets both pro and con on a daily basis because it is my job and I find the mantra a bore. These zealots appear to lack (or failed) Science 101 and should review the basics of scientific method. BTW: case studies are not research with experimental designs and hence do not have controls that is why they are called case studies and not published as research.

It is an interesting day when one client claims the wonders of feeding BARF a feeding method akin to taking the top of your garbage can and letting the dog free choice feed. And then the next client comes in vowing not to feed a pet food containing by-products because that is just garbage, you know.

So the American Veterinary Medical Association sanctions a group of highly trained veterinarians as nutritionists who as a group know more about canine nutrition, evolution and the pet food/feed industry than anyone else (including Vets selling pet nutrition books), and clients still fail to take advantage of their expertise.

Yes, we as experts in the field of pet nutrition are obligated to read the good, the bad and the ugly to keep current and do.

Why the misleading attitudes and statements? I find it interesting that the sponsors and half the board of the ACVM are employed by Ralston Purina and Hill's Pet Nutrition. It says so under their names on the web page. It is amazing how pervasive this is.
Correction: It's the ACVN (American College of Veterinary Nutrition) and it's Executive Board does change annually (June). Beginning July 2001, the board had one member working in the industry, the other 9 worked outside the pet food industry. Beginning July 2002, no one on the ACVN Exec Brd will be employed by the pet food industry.

Yes, some pet food companies have hired some members AFTER their residency training and Board Certification. Most members have never worked for the pet food industry. A few have worked in the industry and then move on to other types of jobs. The majority of members work at Universities or Schools of Vet Med while a few remain in private practice, consulting and FDA.

Hills, Purina, Waltham and Royal Canin have ACVN boarded DVMs on their staff. I think that says more about the pet food companies than it does about the ACVN. If you have a more specific question, I am most willing to address it. This site has no relationship with any pet food company.