During the month of June, TruthaboutPetFood.com initiated an informal survey. Does type or style of feeding influence obesity. Here’s what we learned.
We received 205 responses to the survey; 48 cats (23%), 157 dogs (77%).
149 (73%) were considered ‘Fit’; 28 cats, 121 dogs.
35 (17%) were considered to be ‘Slightly Overweight’; 8 cats, 27 dogs.
21 (10%) were considered to be ‘Overweight’; 12 cats, 9 dogs.
National statistics of pet obesity is very different than our survey; FoxNews reported that 35% of pets are overweight. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,334679,00.html Even if Slightly Overweight and Overweight results were added together, our survey remains lower than national statistics.
Results could be lower due to pet owner education; certainly pet owners that visit this website are far more educated than the majority. Or perhaps high obesity results are provided to the media to subliminally promote the sale of weight loss pet foods.
Our results also showed several pets as Overweight despite being fed a weight loss pet food. Regardless as to what type or style of food being fed, our survey showed lower results than reported national averages of overweight pets.
At almost half; 99 pet owners (48%) fed strictly one type of food, 106 pet owners (52%) fed a combination of styles.
66 Pet Owners (66%) fed strictly Kibble
6 Pet Owners (6%) fed strictly Can
22 Pet Owners (22%) fed strictly Raw
5 Pet Owners (5%) fed strictly Home Cooked
Of the 99 pet owners that fed strictly one type of food…
73 Pets (73%) were considered Fit
16 Pets (16%) were considered Slightly Overweight
10 Pets (10%) were considered Overweight
Of the 106 Pet Owners that fed multiple styles of food…
76 Pets (72%) were considered Fit
19 Pets (18%) were considered Slightly Overweight
11 Pets (10%) were considered Overweight
Results here are very similar. According to our informal survey, there is no significant difference in weight between pets fed only one type of food as to pets fed multiple types of food. However, I had hoped to discover more pets being fed a variety of food types. (Suggestion…mix it up! Add some meat or fish and fresh vegetables to your pets food several times a week, variety is the spice of your pets life too.)
Including multiple responses (from Pet Owners that fed multiple styles of pet food)…
Total of 344 responses
153 Pets were fed Kibble (44%)
65 Pets were fed Can (19%)
75 Pets were fed Raw (22%)
51 Pets were red Home Cooked (15%)
Including multiple responses (from Pet Owners that fed multiple styles of pet food)…
Pets considered to be Fit
Total of 248 responses
103 Pets were fed Kibble (42%)
43 Pets were fed Can (17%)
64 Pets were fed Raw (26%)
38 Pets were fed Home Cooked (15%)
Including multiple responses (from Pet Owners that fed multiple styles of pet food)…
Pets considered to be Slightly Overweight
Total of 67 responses
33 Pets were fed Kibble (50%)
16 Pets were fed Can (24%)
8 Pets were fed Raw (12%)
10 Pets were fed Home Cooked (15%)
Including multiple responses (from Pet Owners that fed multiple styles of pet food)…
Pets considered to be Overweight
Total of 27 responses
15 Pets were fed Kibble (56%)
6 Pets were fed Can (22%)
3 Pets were fed Raw (11%)
3 Pets were fed Home Cooked (11%)
Kibble was clearly the most common style of feeding; followed by Raw and Can. Home Cooked was the least provided style of feeding.
Foods fed to Fit Pets
Virbac, Praire, Wellness, Solid Gold, Red Barn, Nature’s Variety, Taste of the Wild, Merrick, Evo, Blue Wilderness, Innova, Newmans, Fancy Feast, Life’s Abundance, Canine Caviar, Orijen, First Mate, Wureva, Pedigree, Nature’s Logic, Natural Balance, ProPlan, Acana, Horizon Legacy, Blue Buffalo, Felidae, Eagle Pack, Iams, Ziwi Peak, Earthborn, Instinct, Addiction, Science Diet, Friskies, Canidae, Royal Canin, Purina, Nutro, AvoDerm, Chicken Soup, Holistic Selects, Honest Kitchen, Versus, Dr. Harvey’s, California Natural, Evangers, Diamond, Now, Annamaet, Alpo, Beneful, Mighty Dog, Before Grain, Brandon Farms. 55 different pet foods; 13 (24%) include by-products, animal fat, or similar rendered ingredients.
Foods fed to Slightly Overweight Pets
Blue Wilderness, Diamond, Eagle Pack, Orijen, Merrick, Wysong, Taste of the Wild, Alpo, Solid Gold, Wellness, Pinnacle, Go Natural, Acana, Nature’s Logic, Orijen, Flint River Ranch, Evo, Dogswell, California Naturals, Organix, Royal Canin, Fromm, Iams, Holistic Select, Halo, Natural Balance. 26 different pet foods; 4 (15%) include by-products, animal fat, or similar rendered ingredients.
Foods fed to Overweight Pets
Meow Mix, Friskies, Innova, Orijen, Life’s Abundance, Wysong, Wellness, Kumpi, ProPlan, Fancy Feast, Eagle Pack, Science Diet, Blue Spa Selects, Purina, NutroMax, Natural Planet, Castor & Pollux, Premium Edge, Kibbles ‘n Bits, Alpo. 20 different pet foods; 9 (45%) include by-products, animal fat, or similar rendered ingredients.
As you can see, there is a wide variety of pet foods being fed from our survey participants. Significantly, of the overweight pets, 45% were fed a pet food that contained by-products, animal fat, or similar rendered ingredients. (Get rid of those foods that contain any by-product ingredient, animal fat, meat and bone meal, animal digest, or beef and bone meal.)
Thank you to everyone that participated in this informal survey! We’ll do more of these in the future.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author, Buyer Beware
Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
PetsumerReport.com
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Is your dog or cat eating risk ingredients? Chinese imports? Petsumer Report tells the ‘rest of the story’ on over 2500 cat foods, dog foods, and pet treats. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. www.PetsumerReport.com
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Laura
October 1, 2015 at 2:47 am
I know this article is old, but I’d like to point out that one reason pets consuming better food tend to be thinner might be cost. Given that quality pet food costs significantly more than cheap garbage feed, pet parents who aren’t rolling in dough are going to be more mindful of portion control so as not to waste money, versus those who let their pet eat as much junk as they please because it doesn’t cost much.