Lecture 9: Nutrition Truths

What is fresh pet food?

wet pet food that requires cold storage

What are the rewards to feeding fresh?

digestibility

What is the greatest concern with feeding a raw diet to pets?

microbes/pathogens

What bacterial infection in humans is linked to dogs and the dog’s raw diet?

salmonellosis and E. coli infections

How can raw be fed safely?

non-thermal pathogen mitigation strategies - high pressure processing (HPP)

What pathogen do non-thermal pathogen strategies appear to NOT be effective against?

H5N1 (avian flu) from dairy and poultry products → cats are highly sensitive

Besides pathogens, what are the other risk factors for raw feeding?

• bones: GI foreign body risk

• antinutritional factors: avidin in raw eggs, thiaminases in raw fish

What are “natural” food ingredients"?

“derived solely from plant, animal or mined sources, either in its unprocessed state or having been subject to physical processing, heat processing, rendering, purification, extraction, hydrolysis, enzymolysis or fermentation, but NOT having been produced by or subject to a chemically synthetic process and NOT containing any additives or processing aids that are chemically synthetic except in amounts as might occur unavoidably in good manufacturing practices.”

What is and is not allowed in natural food?

• non-natural ingredients are allowed (ex. natural with added vitamins, minerals, and other trace nutrients)

• no artificial colors or preservatives (companies do not have to list preservatives unless they personally add them or are in significant quantitites)

What words describing diet have regulatory meaning?

• organic

• human-grade

• natural

What does the term organic mean in regards to pet food?

refers to handling and processing of ingredients and products (not quality)

What makes byproducts nutritious?

• protein/amino acids

• micronutrients

What are poultry byproducts?

“non-rendered clean parts of carcasses of slaughtered poultry, such as heads, feet and viscera, free from fecal content and foreign matter except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice. If the product bears a name descriptive of its kind, it must correspond thereto.”

What is poultry by-product meal?

”consist of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered poultry, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers except in such amounts as might occur unavoidably in good processing practices.”

What are meat byproducts?

“the non-rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes, but is not limited to, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially de-fatted low temperature fatty tissue and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. It does not include hair, horns, teeth and hoofs. It shall be suitable for use in animal feed.”

What is meat meal?

“rendered product from mammal tissues, exclusive of any added blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices.”

What is gluten?

grain protein

Are grains a filler?

no, they are a source of energy (starch) and essential nutrients

What is the considerations for vegetarian/vegan diets for dogs and cats?

• dogs and cats have higher protein requirements than humans

• cats have a dietary requirement for arachidonic acid that only comes from animal tissue

When deciding on a pet food diet with a client, what do you start with?

clarifying goals for the pet

What pet food characteristics drive purchasing decisions?

• Ingredients → Avoidance of some ingredients

• Look

• Smell

• Sustainability

• Cost

• Where it is manufactured

• Various opinions