Diets and Periodontal Disease in Dogs and Cats Sarah Champagne and Ursula Perdrizet(2014Nutrition Elective Assignmen Final Year)

During my years as a professor teaching veterinary students nutrition, the assignments they hated the most was any that involved math and the comparing  of nutrients in a diet to determine if the diet was complete and balanced based on some nutritional standards(AAFCO, NRC or Ancestral). They would generally get confused by the fact that each company would list their nutrient analysis in a different manner: e.g.. as % As Fed, as a % of Dry matter, as Units per 100 or 1000Kcal, to complicate this further they will site the Guaranteed Analysis (Min or Max), the Actual Analysis or A Typical Analysis.

In order to make valid comparisons each diet must be brought to a common denominator, including the selected requirements. Because such comparisons,  if done correctly, are time consuming. This type of time consumption does not pay much to a busy veterinarian, so is seldom done except by academics. To make a little easier for the students I developed Excel spread sheets, these are quite crude and the math is simple but comparisons can be done. I am sure any one skilled with spread sheets can take these crude sheet and improve on them. You can also use them to evaluate a client's pet's diet against the industry standards. Unfortunately, I do not have a clue how to publish them on this blog so you will have to contact me if you are interested in one. I would like to charge a nominal fee of $20.00 US; which you will donate to the WCVM Bursary fund for students who find themselves financially strapped during their DVM program. But I am not sure even how to do that except by e-transfer. If enough of my readers show an interest I am sure I can figure something out.
If interested please e-mail me at @mail.usask.ca

Student Paper#1 Canine Joint Mobility Diets

During my years as a professor teaching veterinary students nutrition, the assignments they hated the most was any that involved math and the comparing  of nutrients in a diet to determine if the diet was complete and balanced based on some nutritional standards(AAFCO, NRC or Ancestral). They would generally get confused by the fact that each company would list their nutrient analysis in a different manner: e.g.. as % As Fed, as a % of Dry matter, as Units per 100 or 1000Kcal, to complicate this further they will site the Guaranteed Analysis (Min or Max), the Actual Analysis or A Typical Analysis.

In order to make valid comparisons each diet must be brought to a common denominator, including the selected requirements. Because such comparisons,  if done correctly, are time consuming. This type of time consumption does not pay much to a busy veterinarian, so is seldom done except by academics. To make a little easier for the students I developed Excel spread sheets, these are quite crude and the math is simple but comparisons can be done. I am sure any one skilled with spread sheets can take these crude sheet and improve on them. You can also use them to evaluate a client's pet's diet against the industry standards. Unfortunately, I do not have a clue how to publish them on this blog so you will have to contact me if you are interested in one. I would like to charge a nominal fee of $20.00 US; which you will donate to the WCVM Bursary fund for students who find themselves financially strapped during their DVM program. But I am not sure even how to do that except by e-transfer. If enough of my readers show an interest I am sure I can figure something out.
If interested please e-mail me at @mail.usask.ca

A series of student papers evaluating and comparing veterinary therapeutic and wellness diets with equilivent over the counter diets (OTC)

Introduction to The Series

Veterinary associations and  colleges have formed lucrative and mutually beneficial partnerships with the multinational  pet food companies. These affiliations leave veterinarians accountable to the public, as trained professionals, to the verify the claims made by these companies.  As a result , veterinarians have become spokespersons for the pet food industry a responsibility  that should not be taken lightly. Since the melamine disaster and the increasing popularity of alternative diets, dramatic changes are occurring within in the pet food industry as their market share is being slowly eroded.  As advocates of the industry, veterinarians must understand nutrition  and its role in wellness and in the pathophysiology and management of disease.

I asked my fourth year nutrition elective students to independently review and compare  veterinary diets and over the counter diets used to manage pet wellness and common problems diagnosed in pets.These papers reflect the frustrations the students had trying to analyze, interpret and appropriately compare "across the board "the information provided by the companies on their websites and through their customer service representatives. Often the actual science behind the diets eluded them.This exercise demonstrated to them how difficult it would be for a busy small animal veterinarian to do; but necessary in order to advise clients appropriately and  independantly.

Alternative Diet: Raw Pet Foods By Marion Smart DVM, PhD

Alternative Diets

Alternative diets are those that are not the standard canned or Kibble diets. Over 50 years ago, alternative diets would be considered a normal diet for companion animals. Since the advent of kibble, the ease of manufacturing, the economics of the ingredient sources . the convenience to the consumer, and the global economy, dry and canned pet foods have become the standard for both cats and dogs.

Pet feeding practices were examined by a telephone survey in 5 locations in the USA and one in Australia.  The survey confirmed that veterinarians are the most common sources of information about pet health and nutrition. Over 90%of pet dogs and cats were fed a commercial diet, with 25%of the diet comprised of table scrapes, raw foods and home prepared foods in 17.3% of dogs and 6.3% of cats. Australia had the most numbers feeding raw foods an only 2.5% fed therapeutic diets (Laflamme D.P., Abood S.K., Facetti A.J. et al. 2008 Pet feeding practices of dog and cat owners in the United States and Australia. J AM VET Med Ass 232(5):687-694)

Raw  Pet Foods

AVMA and AAHA Partnership
On July 18, 2012 the and American Veterinary Medical Association  (AVMA) announced the formation  of  partnerships o in preventive health care  for pets in order to address the declining health of the nation's pets. Members of the partnership include the American Veterinary Medical Association, the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA), Association of the American Veterinary Medical Colleges, and health industry leaders including Abbott Animal Health ,Banfield Pet Hospital, their healthcare LLC animal health division, Boehringer-Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc, ButlerSchein Animal Health, Elanco Animal Health, Hill's Pet Nutrition, Merek Animal Health, Merial,MVVI Veterinary Supply, Novartis Animal Health US Inc., Pfizer Animal Health and Veterinary Pet Insurance all sponsoring initiative at various levels. This partnership was formed because of a decrease in regular veterinary visits and an increase in preventable illnesses in dogs and cats.

A task force assembled by the American Animal Hospital Association and the American Veterinary Medical Association  developed and approved concise easy to understand  comprehensive preventive health care guidelines for dogs and cats. For more information visit the website www.PetHealthPartnership

At the AVMA 2012regular annual session  passed Resolution 5, stating  "the AVMA discourages the feeding to cats and dogs of any animal based protein source that has not first been subjected to a process to eliminate pathogens because of the risk of illness to cats and dogs as well as humans".

AAHA has come out with a similar statement indicating raw protein diets are now demonstrated to be a health risk for several groups:

Ø  the pets consuming the diet

Ø  Other animals in contact with those pets

Ø  humans, and family members

Ø  The  public