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Dr. Michael W. Fox

Variety is the Spice of Life

For decades pet owners have been advised to feed their animals the same kind manufactured food every day in order to avoid digestive and other upsets, many people protesting how “boring” that must be for their animals having to eat the same stuff day in and day out.

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(Pet) Food for thought from Dr. Michael Fox…

For decades pet owners have been advised to feed their animals the same kind manufactured food every day in order to avoid digestive and other upsets, many people protesting how “boring” that must be for their animals having to eat the same stuff day in and day out. Human studies on the consequences of such boring consumer habits/lifestyles cast doubt on this erroneous advice being given to pet owners.

Holland’s University of Groningen press release of research by Alexandra Zhernakova and co-workers simply stated “Lifestyle has a strong impact on intestinal bacteria, which has a strong impact on health.” “Lifestyle” means what people eat and drink and essentially the greater the diversity of foods and beverages we consume, the more diverse is bacterial population in our intestines which is good for our digestive and immune systems and overall health. By extension this finding is relevant to what cats and dogs and other domestic animals are fed in terms of diversity of foodstuffs.

See Zhernakova, A et al. Population-based metagenomics analysis reveals markers for gut microbiome composition and diversity. Science, 2016; 352 (6285): 565 DOI: 10.1126/science.aad3369

Dr. Michael Fox

Michael W. Fox BVetMed, PhD, DSc, MRCVS Veterinarian, bioethicist, syndicated columnist (Animal Doctor with Universal-UClick). Website: www.drfoxvet.net

Author of Supercat: How to Raise the Perfect Feline Companion: also Cat Body, Cat Mind, and Dog Body, Dog Mind with Rowman & Littlefield; The Healing Touch for Dogs and The Healing Touch for Cats with Harper Collins & co-author of Not Fit for a Dog: The Truth About Manufactured Cat & Dog Foods with Quill Driver Books

13 Comments

13 Comments

  1. Connie

    May 13, 2016 at 12:00 pm

    I participated in the kittybiome project and send samples of my raw fed cats and my conventionally fed foster kitten. My raw fed cats had a very diverse biome, whereas the conventionally fed cats had a biome that consisted of mostly one type of bacteria.

    • Sherrie Ashenbremer

      May 16, 2016 at 8:04 am

      So Connie, I am just trying to understand it is better to feed your dogs Raw diet, they had a better type of bacteria in their tummy. It is so hard to figure things out these days.

  2. Kristi Clark

    May 13, 2016 at 12:51 pm

    I feel validated and vindicated! For years, I have been cooking for my dogs, feeding them a variety of organic healthy foods. Their general and intestinal health has been much, much better when fed this variety of food, as opposed to when I have fed one type of commercial dog food. Hurray for this study! Now, there MUST be research and public information about how to feed a balanced home cooked diet to our pets. I tried to get the professors at Univ. of Calif. Davis to release their study on healthy home prepared diets for dogs, but they refuse. (I seem to recall that the study said most home-cooked pet diets are seriously deficient, but there are 3 that offer complete nutrition). Instead, they require that you make an appointment at their clinic, travel all the way to Davis, CA and then pay a whopping fee for a complete physical work up and specialized individual diet for your dog. Home cooking for our pets may be the “revolution” that is required to wake up the pet food industry! I don’t mind cooking for my dogs, but would also love to have the option to purchase prepared, healthy, organic, nutritious foods for them from an ethical, dependable company!!!

    • Sherrie Ashenbremer

      May 16, 2016 at 8:12 am

      Kristi, I have five dogs, one has very bad allergies and skin (My dogs are all rescue so a few of them have problems) so I have been feeding him Vital Essentials Frozen Rabbit patties which was recommended by a vet for his allergy problem. I have wondered if I am supposed to feed him rabbit patties forever or do I switch to chicken or beef or lamb or venison? My other dogs are fed Evermore Pet Food which is gently cooked and recommended by Susan, Evermore is on her list of healthy Non GMO foods. Evermore has chicken, beef and soon to be released a lamb variety, so my other dogs get feed different proteins daily. I would love to cook for my dogs, I am thinking it would not be so expensive, but I am afraid I would not have a healthy mix of foods they need. It would be scary for me.

  3. Holly

    May 13, 2016 at 3:14 pm

    My dog gets a wide variety of different foods. Last night he had leftover pot roast. Tonite he might have raw beef heart and pork. And if I don’t have enough raw, I may throw in a good, grain free canned food, or a little synthetic free dry. He never has a problem jumping form one type of food to another. I work for a natural pet food company (gotta pay the bills) and try to discourage people from feeding their pets only dry food. I even recommend they change brands, occasionally. I always tell them to feed their pets ‘REAL’ food. If they’re eating chicken for dinner, I suggest they make a little extra and give it to their dog or cat.

    • Sherrie Ashenbremer

      May 16, 2016 at 8:16 am

      Holly, I have always heard that changing your dogs food will upset their stomach and give them gas and diarrhea. I ran out of dog food just a couple weeks ago and fed four of my dogs a different food. Two of them had diarrhea so bad, especially my little Shih Tzu Bella, she had the runs, I felt so bad. I have read that some folks do change up their dogs food like you do, but how do you prevent your dog from getting diarrhea. Thanks for any help and advice

  4. pat wisniewski

    May 13, 2016 at 11:30 pm

    my dog is nine years old and plays like a puppy. he has been eating baked chicken, bones and all, for nine years and has never choked once. he did choke on a pork chop bone and doesn’t get them anymore.

  5. darlene

    May 14, 2016 at 10:21 am

    Pat, while baked chicken is OK, cooked bones of any sort should be avoided because cooking makes them brittle …it’s not just about choking. cooked bones can have sharp edges when chewed and damage teeth, gums, the throat, intestines etc. Cooked bones are not the same as feeding raw bones. Please google about feeding cooked bones if you don’t believe me….I’m glad you haven’t had a problem feeding cooked chicken bones so far, but if you keep feeding them you could run into big problems….they could even kill your dog.

    • Jill

      May 14, 2016 at 8:45 pm

      My dog has had no problems with cooked bones. She particularly seems to enjoy raw beef bones, but cooked chicken and pork bones are enjoyed with her real food diet. Cooked and raw.

      • barbara m.

        May 15, 2016 at 12:53 pm

        It is playing Russian Roulette to give your dog bones. The fragments can get stuck in the esophagus, windpipe, stomach, intestines, which will cause peritonitis (fatal). She will be fine today, but tomorrow ??? You can google for alternatives.

        • Sherrie Ashenbremer

          May 16, 2016 at 8:18 am

          Barbara, so you don’t give your dog any bones?

  6. barbara m.

    May 14, 2016 at 10:08 pm

    Pat, Please consider not feeding chicken bones to your dog. I was at at bar-be-que where people were just tossing their bones to the animals. One dog got a bone stuck in its throat and would have died. Fortunately, there was a doctor there plus a few people to hold down the dog, who was frantic, of course. This was 20 years ago before people got smart.
    Regarding variety, we feed our 6 cats approx 4 different foods, two of them are raw, and one is dehydrated raw. We also give them home-made yogurt, which a few of them really love. Everyone is healthy.

  7. Judy

    October 2, 2017 at 7:38 am

    Yes. Raw bones are ok. Never give cooked bones to your pet.

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