We ’re back to discussing one of the most significant topicsfor many pet parents : dog food . In this seventhTheory of Petspodcast episode , we ’ll dig even deeper and talk about the humanization of hound food for thought , changes in the pet intellectual nourishment industry and how our current scene of feed dogs and cats has affected the industriousness , and why every dog and cat owner should wish .
As parents of tike , we understand the dangers of feeding our kid swear out foods with potentially harmful ingredient , and we obviate thing we do n’t see or names we can not read and pronounce . Would you feed a nipper food for thought products from a party that has had legion recall in just a few years ? improbable . But why do some preferent parents do this with their furry familiar ?
Dr. Jennifer Adolphe , Ph.D. , a older pet dietician for the companyPetcurean , will answers some authoritative enquiry about feeding dogs , how dog intellectual nourishment directly affect the health of our pets , and all the recent change in the pet food industry . She also hash out the many different dog nutrient diets uncommitted on the market , and what favorite parent can do to check their dogs and cat are come only the nutrition they require .
what is more , Dr. Adolphe discusses the humanization of the preferent solid food market , and all about the grow style in the pet food industry today . How appropriate is the vegan diet for click and cats ? What about raw wienerwurst food diet – is it better or bad for canines ? Tune into the installment to learn all about these and related matter .
Listen to the instalment in the video above and find the full podcast copy below . For more , chatter this installment ’s post on the prescribed possibility of Pets site .
The Humanization of Dog Food(raw podcast transcript)
Hello and welcome back toTheory of Pets . I know we ’ve talked about dog food before , but today I have a especial guest and her name is Jennifer Adolphe , she is the Head Nutritionist at Petcurean , which is a dog food for thought party if you ’ve never take heed of them . Petcurean really believes that that one broad philosophy that we see in a lot of dog food products just is n’t the way to go , they make a draw of different recipes for individual pets , and again , they have some nutritionists on staff like Doctor Adolphe that exercise to develop these favored foods to meet specific need whether it might be senior weenie or puppies , overweight dogs , wienerwurst with skin issues , all variety of different thing .
So that ’s really kind of their feeling , and that ’s my feeling as well so that ’s why I wanted to sing to you today about the humanization of pet food and the tendency that we ’re see in the industriousness . And what I stand for when I say “ humanization of pet food ” is just that , we are seeing dog food becoming more like the foods that we are eating , the foods that we are looking for when we go to the foodstuff store .
When we go to buy groceries for our mob we want all innate organic foods , healthy food for thought , whole nutrient , and we ’re starting to see those trends come in with our favourite foods as well . We ’re starting to see pet food manufacturers focusing on using lineament fixings ; we ’re starting to see different diet that focalize on some of the thing that we ’re concerned about in our health as far as organic dieting ; we have gluten - barren diet ; we ’re seeing vegetarian diets for our darling ; we ’re seeing dieting with no wheat , no corn , no soy , things like that .
So thehumanization of weenie foodis just that , it ’s plainly the trend in the pet food industry that we ’re regard solid food become … pet food become more like the solid food that we will purchase for ourselves , and a lot of the diets like the cutting food dieting , you’re able to buy Paleo dog food now or Paleo favourite solid food . So some of the dieting trends that we ’re seeing are also kind of wash over into the preferent food for thought industry as well and is that a right matter ? Is it a bad thing ? What diets should we be looking into ? Are there some that maybe we should not consider at all ? You hear a slew of times that the vegetarian diet is not a right dieting for a canine , canines need protein , they need nutrition when in fact and as I will verbalize with Doctor Adolphe in a little while , that ’s not always the case , some hound do prosper on a vegetarian diet .
So I want to talk with Dr Adolphe about thehumanization of dog intellectual nourishment , of course she talks a little morsel about Petcurean because it ’s a really great top - calibre make that offers some great preferent nutrient and pet mathematical product , so I wanted to partake that with you guys as well , and we also talk about some things that we should be looking for as best-loved owner , because if you imagine about what you do for your dog on a everyday basis , certainly the food that you feed him , the diet that you take for him is the biggest affair that you do on a daily basis to chip in to his overall wellness and well being .
Hopefully you ’re exercising him every day , but that ’s not always the instance , sometimes there are day when we do n’t , you have to feed your dog every day , most people feed multiple times a solar day , usually double , and that ’s something that you ’re doing for your dog every unmarried day , sometimes multiple time a day , that is directly bear on his health and well being , so frump intellectual nourishment needs to be something that we prepare ourselves about in so many different ways and not just in the ingredients in the food that you ’re purchasing ; not just in commercial foods in cosmopolitan , but we need to really take a look at the different diet that are out there , take a flavour at the different ways that we can get favorite intellectual nourishment .
There is commercial bounder food , you may make your own food , there are prescription drug diets , so there ’s tidy sum of different choice , and it can be very overwhelming but the more that we prepare ourselves and the more that we help to educate other favored parent , the good choices that we can make for our dog because like Petcurean , I believe that every dog is different , every andiron has its own individual pauperism . Some dogs are more fighting and they call for a diet that ’s going to cater to that ; some andiron are not quite as active , they are on the faineant side so they need a dieting that provide to that ; some dogs are overweight ; some dog are diabetic , some dogs have kidney worry , middle conditions , thing like that ; so we call for to as favorite parents , and I sense as apet community , just get the education out there and lecture about it .
I think people … you know as a pet parent you might feel a small bite abashed ask “ What should I feed my frankfurter ? ” If you ’re a pet owner , if you ’re dramatise a dog obviously you should know what to feed your firedog , but that ’s not true and we need to get past that stigma and bug out talking about it , have conversations with other pet parents , have conversation with your veterinarian or reach out to a canine nutritionist , they can help you to opt the nutrient that ’s best for your dog because there are so many choices .
It ’s crazy to think that somebody without the proper education and the right education would be able-bodied to pick the right dog food for their frankfurter , so reach out to those resource that you have with the educational and education , your veterinarian , canine tooth nutritionist . As Doctor Adolphe will maneuver out in just a little while , there are some really great pet food company , and of course you ca n’t trust everything you find on the net , but there are some preferent solid food companies that have some really big resources on their website and it might not inevitably be geared toward their preferred food for thought , but just pet food in ecumenical , what types of food are uncommitted and what things might your dog need in his diet .
So here we go – my interview with Dr Jennifer Adolphe .
Interview with Dr. Jennifer Adolphe
Samantha : Okay , so I ’m here today with Doctor Jennifer Adolphe and she is the favored nutritionist for Petcurean . Jennifer do you want to say us a small bit about yourself and the company ?
Jennifer : Yes . Hi Samantha . Petcurean is a family - possess , Canadian favorite food company that has been around since 1999 and I am the unexampled dietitian at Petcurean , responsible for for product development and formulation of the pet intellectual nourishment . And my background is I started my career in human nutrition , I ’m a registered dietician and did a Master ’s grade in Human Nutrition and then I decide that I love pets and wanted to run in the pet intellectual nourishment industry and so I went back to school and did a PhD. in companion animate being victuals and then was favourable enough to find Petcurean and initiate my theatrical role as senior nutritionist with them about three and a one-half yr ago .
Samantha : Wonderful . It ’s kind of interesting that you startle in human nutrition because what we need to talk about today is the humanization of pet nutrient and variety of how the diet for pets is sort of vary to watch the trends that we ’re seeing in human foods with like for exemplar gluten - gratis , we ’re seeing the raw diet becoming very democratic , so it ’s interesting that you started with human nutrition and have move to pet .
Jennifer : Yeah , I think it ’s a really in force overlap between the human nutrition world and the pet nutrition world , we really want to feed our pets to become as healthy as possible just like with humans , and so there ’s a mint of overlap and we know that movement in the human food diligence are pass over over into the best-loved food industry very quickly these days , within one to two years , if not faster , and so there is a lot of overlap there and both humankind taught me so I really feel fortunate to work in this industriousness .
Samantha : And you said that they ’re crossing over fairly quickly , is that do you conceive because we ’re ascertain obviously the benefit for some of these diets for human beings and then mass are just assuming that if they ’re good for humans we should try it with our dogtooth companions or whatever pets we might be feed ?
Jennifer : Yeah , I believe so . I recall that the great unwashed are more and more often consider their pets as important family members and so they need to feed their pets the way that they feed themselves , and so they see trends in the human food industry and oftentimes you think that it ’s may be of benefit to their own pet as well .
Samantha : Super . So when we as consumer I opine , as favorite parents , you go to the storage and it ’s almost overwhelming now to go into a pet food gangway because there are just so many different diets and movement and you do n’t really know which ones are the unspoiled and which ones you should kind of stay forth from , so what should we know about the pet food industry in social club to be inform consumers and pet owners ?
Jennifer : That ’s a gravid motion , you ’re correct , the preferent food aisle just keep getting bigger and great and I think there ’s something consumers need to have it away about the preferred food manufacture is that a lot of time and effort and workplace run into forge pet food , there ’s a lot of variety of nuances and intricacies that go into make a pet food , you really ca n’t just throw in together a bunch of ingredients and desire that all of the nutritive requirement of the dog or cat is cope with .
So really as a formulator , as a nutritionist when I ’m tax with coming up with a new dieting I necessitate to take a mess of factors into story . First and first the nutrient essential of the fauna and then I have to opine about things like ingredients availability , factor cost versus benefit , the health of the animal , and preferred food … so it ’s really a pretty interesting task to develop all of these things . But really one of the crucial things that I advocate is to not just look at the nutrient itself but to really look at the troupe behind the food , front at its runway phonograph recording , expect at its focus on food safety and kind of learn about the company behind the brand , if it ’s a good reputable company that is selling that food for thought .
Samantha : That ’s dandy advice . And when we go in … another matter that , as we mentioned that those aisle maintain perplex bigger and bigger , it seems like the labels keep get more things lend to them as well , and I cognise alas , the regulations for the pet food industriousness are n’t as strict as the ones for human food , so when we ’re learn those label are there certain things that we should be looking for or sure things that maybe we should be staying by from if we see them ?
Jennifer : Yeah , the list of ingredients on the bag is a great thing to take up when you ’re considering a pet intellectual nourishment although some food for thought will … you’re right field , they ’re getting long and longer list of element , there is hopefully a trend which I would say follow the human food for thought industry and that is the circumscribed ingredients dieting for pets which in my mind is kind of comparable to the clean label trend in the human food industry . So it ’s all about using ingredients that are easily recognizable and having as scant of an ingredient control board as potential .
When you ’re reading an ingredient control panel it ’s important to remember that the first … that the ingredients are listed in descending order of magnitude by … so the first fixings is a lean of products comprise the most of that fixings . And so if you ’re bet for a new food for your dearie , look at the ingredients , guess about which type of dieting and component have worked well or not work well with your pet in the past tense and think about what kind of ingredients you want in that mix , and a quite a little of company , Petcurean included , we have a heavy customer service line of work where you may really call and speak with someone in person if you need help choosing a food for your pet , and we also have what we call a food finder on our web site to help you choose a food for your pet .
Samantha : Oh that ’s wonderful ! That ’s a great point for a preferent parent to try and find a food that ’s good for their dog . And what types of food , or dieting I guess … and/or diet would a dog thrive on ? And then are there certain dieting that maybe pet parent should attempt to head off ?
Jennifer : Again you want to retrieve the food that ’s made by a party that you intrust and is reputable , but in reality there are many food that a dog will boom on . Petcurean believe that a one - for - all philosophy does n’t make for all dogs because each dog has alone needs so what my dog does well on possibly your dog does not do so well on , so it does become a little bit of trial and error and if you feel like your dog ’s not thriving on a particular food you may want to think trying something else .
The legal age of pet owners do n’t fee their dogs Kennel , and I entail Kennel is a great food data formatting for dog , it ’s commodious , shelf stable , safe , nutritious and very toothsome for dog . And a lot of the great unwashed also go for transcribed nutrient or another eccentric of wet nutrient , which is a with child way to append some kind and some flavor for dogs .
Samantha : And with the course that we ’re determine now , for example like the in the buff diet and we ’re run into things that are gluten - barren , I ’ve heard some not - so - great thing about the vegetarian dieting , unless a dog actually needs that , but are there … for these raw trends that we ’re seeing , are there any diet that variety of stick out that seem to be the good , or the unexampled best matter I gauge , to be give your pet ?
Jennifer : So the comparable gluten - free alternative is similar to the grain - free option because we give you cereal that hold back gluten , pale yellow , barley and rye contain gluten so if a cad ’s food is grain - devoid then it would be gluten - free . And really not all dogs need a metric grain - free diet , a lot of dogs may actually be good on a diet that admit some grain , but the thing that I like about having the grain - free choice is it just creates another variety of shaft in our toolbox as a dieting option for dogs that may be better on that character of diet .
The vegetarian option , all dogs ' nutrient prerequisite can be met through … ingredient and from a sustainability linear perspective a vegetarian option is beneficial even lower down on the food chain . You ’re ripe , it ’s belike not a dieting that ’s meant for all dogs but it ’s a great alternative for multitude who fee themselves a vegetarian diet and want to have something standardised for their own frump . So again I would just recommend that you pick out a dieting that ’s made by a reputable troupe that is formulated by a qualified nutritionist . So there ’s lots of trends , lots of options , but really trying to find what works best for your individual ducky is the ultimate goal .
Samantha : So do you call back that pet parent should maybe get going by talking to a canine nutritionist or their vet and get a starting spot or do you just kind of recommend commence out with a good quality puppy food and sort of doing a trial - and - error affair from there ?
Jennifer : Yeah definitely talk with your veterinary , if you ’ve gotten a new puppy talk with your veterinary about nutrition , about how much solid food to feed , all that is a great start . If you desire to go with a particular brand you may want to call the ship’s company and get some advice from them about which food you should choose . But yeah , really there ’s circle of great in high spirits lineament pet foods out there to pick out from ; but yeah definitely spill with a pet nutritionist or a ex-serviceman or the customer Robert William Service team at a pet food company are great places to get .
Samantha : And then the other thing that I consider is pop up that ’s more vulgar is we ’re kind of find these life history stages dog foods , and some of them are … we see them advertisers for all life stages so you do n’t necessarily call for a specific puppy food or a senior cad food , and then other brand will do a pup , an adult , a senior , but then do you recommend one or the other of those or are those for all life stages variety of dog intellectual nourishment , are those just as good as the more specified types ?
Jennifer : So an all liveliness stage dog food will provide … will meet the nutrient demand of the dog throughout the aliveness span , so from puppy goon to the senior years ; however a lifespan - stages diet might be more desirable for some positron emission tomography bet on their single health status , the breed , their long time , et cetera . So for example our now impertinent line of dog food recipes are designed with lifespan level and breed size in mind , and so those recipe are specific for puppy , adult , and elderly and are available also in low breed and prominent breed recipes .
And so if you have say for example an older dog that ’s not very active then a food that ’s designed for senior pets that ’s more clinically lower in blubber may be idealistic for the older Canis familiaris because it ’ll provide few calories and aid the dog either maintain their body system of weights to forestall weight increase or help them perchance disgorge a few pounds . So again , these are good choice but it comes down to choosing what mould best for your individual dog .
Samantha : Sure . So probably another matter to discuss with your veterinary or a canine nutritionist if there ’s one in your area ?
Jennifer : Yes definitely .
Samantha : Great ! Those are the only interrogative sentence that I had for you , but if there ’s anything that you find like peradventure you left out or anything about Petcurean that you ’d like to add in that would be absolutely wonderful .
Jennifer : Sure . Well I wanted to get you hump that Petcurean has recently launch a brand newfangled line ofpet food called “ Gather”,and the idea behind Gather is to render solid food for click and cats with sustainability and transparence and organic ingredients are the key aspects of the firebrand , and we know that one of the biggest trends right now in both the human and pet solid food scene of action are … global warming , mood change , extremum in weather condition , it ’s all on their mind , so we just launched Gather in August of this class and we ’ll be starting to try the intellectual nourishment to reach all stock in October , so we ’re really excited about that .
Samantha : dead , that ’s wonderful ! I harmonize transparence is for sure a produce trend , and I think sustainability as well I think as we become more eco - cognizant and more eco - friendly in the products that we ’re buy for ourselves . I do see a course in that in the pet diligence , not just in food but in all the Cartesian product that we ’re grease one’s palms for our pets , so that ’s something that we definitely involve to focus on as well . So that ’s bang-up ! Kudos to you guy rope for that .
Jennifer : Yeah . give thanks you very much . I was pop off to say one other theme that I ’m very passionate about and that I assay to talk about it every opportunity I get is for the addition awareness about pet obesity , it ’s a Brobdingnagian issue in the pet population in North America and best-loved parent call for to be mindful about how fatty their pet is at an ideal consistency weight or a little bit heavy and Petcurean offers a eubstance account chart on our web site to aid pet parent figure out if their firedog is at an idealistic body weight because really maintaining an idealistic organic structure weight is one of the best thing pet parent can do to help see that their pet endure a long healthy life-time . So I just put that in there to … I know it ’s not totally on the topic of today , but just wanted to mention that as well .
Samantha : No , absolutely , I think anytime you talk about pet food is a in force metre to talk about fleshiness , it is something that , I call it an epidemic , and it ’s not just for pets , it ’s for people too . I think one of the things that I hear the most from favourite owners is that … because like you I sample to educate hoi polloi kind of in every way that I can and especially with Friend and category , if I see a dog that ’s heavy I ’ll note that “ Did you know that your dog-iron ’s in reality a petty bit fleshy ? ”
And people , a lot of times I do n’t think they actualise that their dog is overweight and that that ’s a really serious matter . I think the other affair I hear often too is “ Well I make love he ’s overweight but we like to give him tabular array bit , ” or “ He gets his treat every daylight , ” or whatever the case may be , and I do n’t reckon they clear quite how negatively it impress their health and how quick that it can really make their health go on a down spiral . So I think that ’s a very crucial matter to talk about as well .
Jennifer : Yeah I agree . I think that because fleshiness has become so prevailing we start to think that body anatomy type is in reality how pets should look , but it ’s not until people are train and really realise what is an ideal body weighting that they realize “ Oh yes my pet is a small spot heavy . ” You ’re right , yeah , people need to really believe that , some of the research that I did show that there were changes in meat function after just a few workweek of fleshiness , so you ’re right , it really can have a quick impact on wellness , and some inquiry have shown that can decrease the lifespan of dogs by as much as two geezerhood , and for an animal that only live 10 to 14 year typically that ’s a significant decrement .
Samantha : Yeah utterly . Whenever I talk about obesity that ’s the one matter I always lead off with because I do n’t remember people realize when you say it can take a couple of years off your dog ’s life it really kind of hits home and makes them realize just how serious of an subject that it is . We think , like you said I think we see so many embonpoint little dog and then they ’re so lovely and everybody kind of mean that that ’s the nonsuch , but it ’s actually it ’s very detrimental to their health , so I appreciate you throwing that in there because like I said , anytime you verbalize about favored food that ’s sure a topic that goes hand in hand .
Jennifer : For certain . Yes .
Samantha : I hope you cat savour that audience as much as I did . I learned so much from talking to Doctor Jennifer Adolphe and I need to thank her very much for coming on the show and being on the podcast , I think that was very beneficial and a pot of great selective information , and of line at the remnant there she touched on best-loved obesity , as I said I think that anytime we talk about hot dog food we also need to touch on favored corpulency , that is an epidemic in our area and it ’s decidedly something that go hand in hand with pet food .
So as Doctor Adolphe mentioned and as I will also mention to you Guy , if you have any interrogative sentence at all about preferred food , absolutely by all means do your own research but speak with a trained specialist , talk with somebody who have sex about best-loved food and the nutritionary demand of dogs and specifically the specific motive of your dog . So if you’re able to speak with your vet or place up a time to meet with a canine nutritionist , somebody that can count over your dog ’s overall health record book , his health and well being , everything from the condition of his tooth and his skin and his pelage to his age , his weight , his breed , and roll in the hay what type of nutrient would be best for him . So that is my recommendation to you .
If you guys enjoyed the podcast , please take just a couple of minutes , jump on iTunes and go out me a good review , that really helps me get the word out about the podcast which will serve me grow it faster and be capable to get more specialist like Doctor Jennifer Adolphe on with me . So if you guys could take a second and do that , I would greatly apprize it .
I will see you back next sentence . I am go to , on a different rails but definitely connect , next time I ’m talking about pet diabetes , specifically frump and cat diabetes , that is something that is a growing epidemic as well and it ’s something that I intend a lot of preferent owner are n’t train about and they do n’t know what sign to bet for , as many as one in five dogs now have eye tooth diabetes and I ’m not exactly sure the statistics on cats but that ’s a growing number as well , I know it ’s less in cats because cats can in reality go into diabetic remission . So anyway but it ’s something that we ask to be civilize about and it ’s something that all pet parent should know about , whether your dog is diagnose now or you just require to be educated about it because you never have a go at it when those sign could pop up . So stay put tune up next workweek for that and I will see you guys back next time onTheory of Pets . Thanks for hear .
