Pet Food Facts and Fallacies

Veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and the general public are inundated with information, some accurate and some not, on pet nutrition.  Put in “dog nutrition” or “cat nutrition” in Google, and you get 13- 17,000,000 hits.  Add to this, articles and books in print, advice from neighbors, store employees, and commercials on TV and you quickly realize the information is overwhelming.  Discussing pet nutrition is sometimes akin to discussing religion or politics; people are passionate, with strong beliefs and opinions.  There are many “fallacies and facts” that could be discussed; however, due to time and space limitations, we will limit it to the more common can current ones i.e. pet food and canine dilated cardiomyopathy. Many “nutritional landmines” are not always straight forward, but educating yourself and applying the principles of evidence-based medicine enables you to use evidence-based medicine to provide balanced information and sound nutritional recommendations.

Learning Objectives:

•     Know and understand how to use evidence-based medicine to resolve pet nutrition controversies
•     Provide the latest update on pet food and canine dilated cardiomyopathy
•     Understand the positives and negatives of pet food processing