We adopted a stray cat ~ 1 year ago who had a ravenous appetite once we let him in the house. Local vet did all the necessary tests to make sure there was no underlying medical issues (there's none). After he started to pick up a bit too much weight (we don't free feed, we have a robot feeder but he just wanted food all the time), I went down the food 'rabbit hole' looking at ingredients, for a food that would satisfy his hunger and also slowly lose a couple of pounds. High carbs, lower carbs, fiber levels, proteins, diet foods with 400+ calories a cup, grain free, etc. What a nightmare, my head was spinning. Then I spotted your channel and it clicked - it's nutrition. After reading the "Small Animal Clinical Nutritional" manual you recommended, it even made more sense. I was surprised at the mineral content of the food we were feeding him - hard stop there. We eventually went with Science Diet Perfect Weight and I have to admit, we are at a place where the begging subsided, weight is stabilized and should slowly go down. Dr. Rea, you get all the credit. Thank you.
I LOVE your videos. Please do a review on Purina Pro Plan Sport 30/20 (salmon and rice) I just bought a bag for my Doberman who can’t seem to keep on weight on Stella and Chewy or any “boutique” brand.
25:20 - Glenn has a video explaining the difference between Classic amd Gold. Classic is the original, and gold is an updated "anniversary" celebration tweaking to fit current consumer trends
Hello Dr. Rea, Out of curiosity do many companies outside of the big 3 conduct food trials? I would assume food trials are quite costly? But of course I don’t know for sure.
Dr Rae, today I have been introduced to you, your expertise andwhat a blessing. I reviewed your page in amazon and would like to ask your recommendations on wet dog food ? Currently, you list dry kibble. I do appreciate your feedback.
Hey, I love your videos but I’m trying to determine what’s the best wet food option for a cat. I was looking more towards Tiki but I don’t like the high protein! Please advise on what you would recommend out of all of the options. Thank you so much!
Dr. Rebecca Frances from Freshwater Ichthyology was on Animals at Home podcast and she and Dylan did an episode about how a lot of the studies on fish welfare are from aquaculture and what's profitable for fish-farming doesn't necessarily translate to good welfare for home aquariums
Anyway, sorry for going off-track about people in fish hobby confuses welfare of fish in fish-farms vs fish in home aqariums. Just thought that applies to Fromm's expanding into pet food markets and its safe to discard all the fancy marketing and focus on nutrition
I just want to say I appreciate companies who just include the DMB for their foods on their website. It’s really baffling to me that all companies just stick with the bare minimum and only include the guaranteed analysis. You really cannot find what you need from the GA alone especially if you have senior pets.
Tell me about it, you won’t believe the number of companies that have a vet portal and still only list the guaranteed analysis. I emailed 2 companies yesterday asking for actual meaningful information, typical…no reply yet.
I fed the Senior Gold to my adult dog for a while. He loved it, but it seemed to make him very gassy and his breath smelled terrible. So I didn't stick with it. I know people who swear by Fromm and they insisted I try it, but I wasn't overly impressed. I will say they have very nice, premium packaging though!
Fromm's calcium to phosphorus ratio is a consistent 1.2-1.3 across varieties. Their ash content is a low 6.1%. One of the lowest in the industry indicating quality protein. The low ratio also says perfect balance of nutrients. Compare that to Hills Adult Chicken...yes they have lower calcium and phosphorus but their ratio is 1.4. Their ash content is higher and their carb content is a whopping 54%. What reasonable person would feed their animal that much starch on a long term basis exposing their dog to weight gain and diabetes? Look at human exposure to processed carb intake. You also have a flaw in your system by grading grain inclusive which is all inclusive of a lot of grains. Some grain free foods are very good and healthy. Those are ingredients, and as you say, if the nutrients don't add up then you don't look at the ingredients. In this case you should sub that for including ash and carb. Both are excellent indicators of ingredient quality and nutrients quality. Good ingredients reflect good nutrients.
Research shows that carbs have no effect on causing diabetes in our pet patients. This is a human phenomenon that does not cross over to pets. So using “carbs” to lower cost and lower minerals while still providing protein sources and other nutrient such as linoleic acid ect, is a balance of many factors that surpass nutrition alone. I think many marketers use the naivety of consumers that will willingly make a correlation between human disease and animal disease to polarize the market. Yes the moderation of carbs can control obesity and diabetes once diagnosed, but it has no bearing on the initial trajectory. I have no issue with using the ca:phos ratio, it’s just for a more advanced audience than what this channel is intended for, and is to be used secondary to the total dietary ca and phos% (according to my boarded nutritionist reference). Same as differentiating grains.
Ash is no longer a good indicator since the 1990s. Pet Food Puzzle Guy has a video explaining why thats no longer being used as a metric in cat food, unless there's no other available information
We adopted a stray cat ~ 1 year ago who had a ravenous appetite once we let him in the house. Local vet did all the necessary tests to make sure there was no underlying medical issues (there's none).
After he started to pick up a bit too much weight (we don't free feed, we have a robot feeder but he just wanted food all the time), I went down the food 'rabbit hole' looking at ingredients, for a food that would satisfy his hunger and also slowly lose a couple of pounds. High carbs, lower carbs, fiber levels, proteins, diet foods with 400+ calories a cup, grain free, etc. What a nightmare, my head was spinning.
Then I spotted your channel and it clicked - it's nutrition. After reading the "Small Animal Clinical Nutritional" manual you recommended, it even made more sense. I was surprised at the mineral content of the food we were feeding him - hard stop there.
We eventually went with Science Diet Perfect Weight and I have to admit, we are at a place where the begging subsided, weight is stabilized and should slowly go down.
Dr. Rea, you get all the credit. Thank you.
Kudos to you for reading the textbook, it’s not an easy read and definitely a time investment!
I LOVE your videos. Please do a review on Purina Pro Plan Sport 30/20 (salmon and rice) I just bought a bag for my Doberman who can’t seem to keep on weight on Stella and Chewy or any “boutique” brand.
Thanks!
Your welcome
25:20 - Glenn has a video explaining the difference between Classic amd Gold. Classic is the original, and gold is an updated "anniversary" celebration tweaking to fit current consumer trends
TL;DW: Glenn found they foregone quality control with Gold. Blue Buffalo is guilty of this as well
Around 7:30 he has nutrient numbers on the screen
Hello Dr. Rea,
Out of curiosity do many companies outside of the big 3 conduct food trials? I would assume food trials are quite costly? But of course I don’t know for sure.
Not many, but I have run across a few.
Glad to have you back 👍
Sorry 😢. I had some stuff I needed to prioritize and I had some filmed videos to buffer the gap
Dr Rae, today I have been introduced to you, your expertise andwhat a blessing. I reviewed your page in amazon and would like to ask your recommendations on wet dog food ? Currently, you list dry kibble. I do appreciate your feedback.
I’ve not done many cans because it involves a conversion but if you can ask the company for a dry matter analysis you can use the PSS on any food
@AnimalDocRea
PSS?
@tammya5754 that’s the scoring system I use
Yay!! Glad you are back
Will you please consider reviewing earth balance wisdom air dried dog food? I haven’t been able to find any reputable reviews
I’ll take a look
Can you do YumWoof dog food and Goodness Gracious dog food please. I got my Fromm my 2 dachshunds didn’t like their food.
Hey, I love your videos but I’m trying to determine what’s the best wet food option for a cat. I was looking more towards Tiki but I don’t like the high protein! Please advise on what you would recommend out of all of the options. Thank you so much!
Cat foods Scoring 7-10
th-cam.com/play/PLpfecaMYsipIgGi_Urvw-xeLrFWE7stAc.html
Lots of good options in that playlist. If you haven’t yet, you may also want to watch the heated cat house video, we have a giveaway going on.
7:23 - i would jiat rip the band-aid and say they built their empire based on fox-farming...
Dr. Rebecca Frances from Freshwater Ichthyology was on Animals at Home podcast and she and Dylan did an episode about how a lot of the studies on fish welfare are from aquaculture and what's profitable for fish-farming doesn't necessarily translate to good welfare for home aquariums
Anyway, sorry for going off-track about people in fish hobby confuses welfare of fish in fish-farms vs fish in home aqariums. Just thought that applies to Fromm's expanding into pet food markets and its safe to discard all the fancy marketing and focus on nutrition
Sorry, Rebecca is still a PhD student. My fault for not checking
Please review Ketona and Lotus
Will take a look!
Vets honest opinion of Lotus Oven Baked dog food
th-cam.com/video/P8lw_FVLOrw/w-d-xo.html
Can you review Grandma Mae’s country naturals food.. thank you
Could you review Dr Harvey’s the new complete meals?
Can you do peformatrin (pet valu) food from Canada please? Specifically the small bites chicken and brown rice.
Yes, I’ve casually been looking at that one
I just want to say I appreciate companies who just include the DMB for their foods on their website. It’s really baffling to me that all companies just stick with the bare minimum and only include the guaranteed analysis. You really cannot find what you need from the GA alone especially if you have senior pets.
Tell me about it, you won’t believe the number of companies that have a vet portal and still only list the guaranteed analysis. I emailed 2 companies yesterday asking for actual meaningful information, typical…no reply yet.
I fed the Senior Gold to my adult dog for a while. He loved it, but it seemed to make him very gassy and his breath smelled terrible. So I didn't stick with it. I know people who swear by Fromm and they insisted I try it, but I wasn't overly impressed. I will say they have very nice, premium packaging though!
I know many people that like it as well.
Fromm's calcium to phosphorus ratio is a consistent 1.2-1.3 across varieties. Their ash content is a low 6.1%. One of the lowest in the industry indicating quality protein. The low ratio also says perfect balance of nutrients. Compare that to Hills Adult Chicken...yes they have lower calcium and phosphorus but their ratio is 1.4. Their ash content is higher and their carb content is a whopping 54%. What reasonable person would feed their animal that much starch on a long term basis exposing their dog to weight gain and diabetes? Look at human exposure to processed carb intake.
You also have a flaw in your system by grading grain inclusive which is all inclusive of a lot of grains. Some grain free foods are very good and healthy. Those are ingredients, and as you say, if the nutrients don't add up then you don't look at the ingredients. In this case you should sub that for including ash and carb. Both are excellent indicators of ingredient quality and nutrients quality. Good ingredients reflect good nutrients.
Research shows that carbs have no effect on causing diabetes in our pet patients. This is a human phenomenon that does not cross over to pets. So using “carbs” to lower cost and lower minerals while still providing protein sources and other nutrient such as linoleic acid ect, is a balance of many factors that surpass nutrition alone. I think many marketers use the naivety of consumers that will willingly make a correlation between human disease and animal disease to polarize the market. Yes the moderation of carbs can control obesity and diabetes once diagnosed, but it has no bearing on the initial trajectory. I have no issue with using the ca:phos ratio, it’s just for a more advanced audience than what this channel is intended for, and is to be used secondary to the total dietary ca and phos% (according to my boarded nutritionist reference). Same as differentiating grains.
avmajournals.avma.org/view/journals/javma/260/5/javma.21.06.0291.xml
Ash is no longer a good indicator since the 1990s. Pet Food Puzzle Guy has a video explaining why thats no longer being used as a metric in cat food, unless there's no other available information
@@AnimalDocRea Nice. This would be an excellent topic for as video on how carbs effect dogs. Reviewing Ketona would fall right into this. Thanks.
@peteriwanec3472 yes, diabetes is one of my next topics for an education series