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A veterinary blog for pet lovers, vet voyeurs and the medically curious...
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Time once again to discuss the epidemic of obesity suffered by US pets. But this time we’re talking about solutions the pet food industry might offer—in this case, the act of listing calorie counts on their labels.
Yesterday, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) recommended the FDA require calorie information on pet food labels. In his testimony, John Branam of the AVMA spoke out in favor of this labeling requirement on the grounds that more information can only help the consumer make better choices.
The AVMA’s position is that consumers understand calories on labels and would use this information wisely to decrease their dog’s weight when necessary. According to Branam, “Pet owners do not always know how much to feed. They may not realize the high number of calories associated with some of the pet food they are giving their pets.”
The pet food industry’s counter-argument? “[Calorie counts don’t] work for people.”
The Pet Food Institute’s VP of technical and regulatory affairs, Nancy Cook, was responsible for that gem of a statement. The presumption is that we don’t need labels on foods because we consumers wouldn’t know what to do with them anyway.
Mind you, I half agree with Ms. Cook. Probably one-half of the pet owning population will never even look at these labels, much less utilize them to achieve their pets’ optimum health requirements. But what about the other half of us?
Sure, consumers may not know what to do with this kind of labeling yet, but veterinarians are there to help you out and after all, you’re smart enough to compare one brand to another based on calorie counts, right? That’s not rocket science. And I think that’s indisputably helpful right off the bat.
So what is it the pet food companies are scared of? Do they not want us to trouble our little brains with the kind of higher math calorie counting requires? I think not.
Because the pet food companies already keep these caloric tallies, handing them out to consumers when they call to ask, you’d think it wouldn’t take a significant capital investment to pay for a printed calorie count on the next version of the label. That way when you’re at the pet store you can compare them side by side. Think you can handle that?
It’s my take that the pet food industry simply wants to keep at bay any intrusive regulation that may change how the industry’s strategic marketing game is currently played. The Pet Food Institute is there to keep the big guys on top. Admitting that PFI rock stars Alpo and Old Roy have 20% more calories per serving might not go over so well, right?
But then…those who buy these low-barrel brands may not even care. Hmmm…
Nonetheless, cynical consumer that I am, I’m willing to support this labeling requirement on the basis that the pet food industry doesn’t want me to have it. On those grounds alone I would feel thoroughly justified in calling for its mandatory adoption.
Luckily, I don’t have to. It’s obvious that obesity in pets is a problem. It’s also obvious that consumers use calorie counts on a regular basis. Does it not then stand to reason that we deserve the chance to improve our pets’ lives through the greater transparency afforded by one simple tool?
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That's like a whole one of my dogs.
Of course I've never had a fat dog. As for the forty-pounds-heavier-than-today me, I'm taking the Fifth.
Getting kcal/ounce or kcal/gram figures for pet foods is like pulling teeth with most manufacturers. I've tried.
What do you suppose the PFI would say if someone floated the idea that they should have to list actual *percentages* of ingredients (by dry weight, or calorie contribution, or volume, or whatever)?
It's interesting to see how the manufacturers are gaming the system: MEAT IS THE #1 INGREDIENT. Uh, yeah. In a food with seven different kinds of low-grade grains and fillers. (And correct me if I'm wrong, but that is done by weight, which counts the water weight of the meat.)
As I mentioned, I currently have to get this information from my veterinarian. Thankfully, she is also a close friend, and voluntarily snoops-out the foods with the highest calories...knowing my dog as well as she does. But man, if I could find other high-calorie brands at my local pet food supply store, that'd be terrific! As it is, the somewhat vacuous owner of that store (the best chain for super-premium foods) only started looking into calories once I moved to this city, and asked him about it. (Alas, he only knows the calorie counts of a few brands. It's cute that he shares that kind of information with such zeal now, once he learns a new one.)
I've always wondered what the big secret is.
CANNED FOOD:
http://www.geocities.com/jmpeerson/CanFoodNew.html...
DRY FOOD:
http://www.geocities.com/jmpeerson/dryfood.html
While the dietary needs of diabetic cats were the inspiration for this effort, its information that is useful for all cat owners. Having said that, it is a godsend to diabetic cat owners. (I saw a huge difference in my diabetic by dropping the % carbs from 8-10% to 2--5%. He really benefitted from an ultra low carb diet and so have my fosters).
I am just the messenger but I know the woman who maintains this (Janet) from the feline diabetes list. She is highly motivated to do the best job she can with this info and gets the input from the companies. So I supposed the companies could be lying (I, too, am a cynical consumer), but that's what she generally has to go on. Info on how she calculates it can be found on the FAQ page:
http://www.geocities.com/jmpeerson/foodfaq.html
It is my understanding that a 10 pound cat needs about 200 calories to maintain weight. That's what I shoot for. All my cats eat wet food/low carb, I shoot for 200 cals give or take daily, and they are all between 8 and 12 pounds (good weights).
Someone should do this for dog foods . . . then vets could give out the info to their conscientious clients wanting it. (Actually, many vets DO hand out Janet and Binky's Food Charts, it always earns them gold stars on the list when they do).
Which is not to say that I think pet owners are stupid - far from it - just that I believe information is never useful in isolation.
and i have fed them commercial purina for dohs and merrcik and fancy feast for cats
3 rules very few human food as treats
exercise
exercise
I am more than convinced that most of the obesity i pets as well as humans arise from not exercising walk your doggies play with them
be creative enough to fiind whrt your kitty likes to play with and when she gets bored, find somethong else .
And, as for the likely calorie content, I suspect it's rather low. The guidelines suggest feeding anywhere from 3/4 of a can to 1 1/4 can per every 15lbs of body weight. The range, I presume, is based on activity level and whether or not the dog is at optimal weight. Still, that seems like a lot of food, based on what most owners (of smaller dogs) feed each day.
If I followed that guideline, my dog, 105lbs, needs anywhere from just over 5 cans to just under 9 cans per day. That's quite a lot of food, and quite quantity range for dogs of the same size. (My last male was 170lbs. That would mean a quantity range from 8.5 cans to 14 cans per day. Yikes! I have trouble getting my dog to eat much more than 5 or 6 cans per day.)
Since my dog is super-fit and needs the calories, I'd definitely feed the upper limit, if I were only feeding Instinct canned. However, I don't feed only canned food, nor do I only feed Instinct. But I do feed at least 5 cans per day and about 2-4 cups of dry food, in addition to that. (Some days more. Some days less. I simply try to cram as many calories into her as I can, each day. Treats help too.)
It sure would be nice to do a little comparison shopping for a change. I'd love to find more high-calorie foods.
I think the ethical companies don't have a problem with putting calorie counts on the label. The companies that will have a problem are the ones who may switch ingredients between batches depending on what's cheaper on the global wholesale market. I suspect there's a lot of that going on & there could be some variation from batch to batch.....
I cook for my pets now 4 times a week....all zillion of them. they are thinner, have a huge amount of energy, gorgeous coats and while I have not seen any immediate obvious health benefits, I do expect to down the road.
I have bunch of old cats, no one has any diseases( diabetes, crf, hyperthyroid) I have previously seen in my older cats...at least so far.
But the proof will be in their health in the future.
hornblower, that is good to know. I'll check into it. But after I've bought the food, it's not much more than a curiosity. I'd like to be able to compare calories while I'm at the store, so having those figures on the label would be the most help.
(I don't have any particular brand affinity. I feed the best quality commercial brands I can get, and try different ones to see which my dog will actually eat with zeal. So while I feed my dog multiple brands per day, and she'll typically stay on any one of those brands for a year or more, she'll eventually grow cool on it, and it'll need to be switched out. We're doing just that right now, after she grew a bit tired of n/d and j/d...and even the Instinct, a bit. So I'm trying new-to-us brands, and some old favourites, to see what sparks her interest in eating again.) :-)