The Truth About Cat And Dog Food?

Yesterday's Science Section of The Times had an article by Jane Brody, who has a weekly column in that section called "Personal Health". Well, this week her column was entitled, "The Truth About Cat and Dog Food", so you can bet I read it first thing-I want to know the truth! You can read it too, right here: www.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/health/01brod.html?ref=science

I have to admit, I was a little dissapointed, and have two big "bones to pick":

Bone #1: Ms. Brody spends the first several paragraphs of the article teasing those pet owners who insist on high quality food for their pets, and then says this: "I'm not against feeding pets well. They are, after all, much loved members of the family, providing valuable emotional support." What I want to gripe about is that according to Ms. Brody (and lots of other humans, it seems), animals have to do something, do some sort of work for our human friends, including earning them money, in order to justify being treated well. So if companion animals provide humans with "emotional support" it's then O.K. to feed them high quality pet food? Think race horses and Greyhounds, who are treated like kings until they can no longer race, i.e., earn money, and then are abandoned or sold for meat.

Bone #2: Ms. Brody quotes two esteemed scientists throughout the article that provide some fascinating information, but seem to come down on the side that all pet food is the same, and in fact, that when you pay more, you don't necessarily get a food that's better for your pet. According to the article, that's because no pet food company [or government agency] is willing to invest in the scientific studies needed to test each of the claims. So it seems that their conclusion is that an inexpensive pet food with corn as a first ingredient, followed by, say, "chicken by-products", will keep most pets just as healthy as a first ingredient of free range organic, deboned chicken, turkey meal, sweet potatoes, etc.

So I was wondering if you all could help Parental Unit and me by reading this article and telling us what you think and what you feed your precious pets and why. Do you think that premium brands are better for your pet?

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