Annual Wellness & Cancer

Cancer is a major cause of pet animal death. I say this based on a study that looked into more than 2000 necropsy cases. This study found that 45% of dogs that lived 10 years or older died of cancer (1). Of the more than 70 million household dogs and  90 million cats in the United States, at least 4 million dogs and about 4 million of cats develop cancer each year.

Why should you (a pet owner) and your veterinarian be concerned about cancer? The prevalence of cancer continues to rise in the US pet population. It continually rises due to several factors, but mainly because our pets are living increasingly longer lives. And they are living longer thanks to the advances in veterinary medicine for better nutrition (read my articles on Pet Foods), vaccinations against deadly viral and bacterial diseases, better preventive medicine (heartworm, tick-borne diseases, parasites) and possibly due to the increased bond between pets and their owners (human-animal bond).

I contend that ethical veterinarians will educate their clients about the need for at least one wellness appointment every year to make sure your pet is doing OK. Remember, they age a lot faster than humans, and a small decline in health could translate into a significantly shorter life-span. During a wellness visit your vet will check for signs of anemia, feel the lymph nodes, check for lumps, and palpate the abdomen in an attempt to feel the liver, loops of the intestines, spleen and kidneys to ascertain their size, texture and if there are possibly masses present in the abdomen.

During a wellness visit, I feel it is important to educate my clients as to the benefit of doing blood work. This is  particularly true for pets 7 years of age and older. I believe that the cost of missing a significant yet insidiously developing disease is too great to justify NOT testing just to save a couple hundred dollars. Blood work will also allow your vet to record baseline values for your pet. The best reference range for a particular pet are the laboratory values for that pet when he/she is healthy! Furthermore, once your vet obtains baseline values for your pet's current health status, serial data collection and evaluation provides the best objective way to assess how a disease is progressing.

And to those who believe that vets who consistently educate their clients about the supreme importance of yearly wellness exams and screening tests do so to increase their income, I strongly object! My own pets are placed on yearly screening tests (especially my senior pets); I believe it is poor medicine not to alert my clients to the fact that the older a pet grows, the more likely he/she will start brewing potentially serious health issues. This is true for obesity, metabolic/inflammatory disorders, organ failure (kidney, liver) and, sadly enough, the number one pet killer in the US: cancer.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word prevention as "to anticipate", "to see it coming and ward off".  A $50 wellness appointment together with $200 for a complete health screening may help prevent a potentially painful & expensive situation for you and your pet. Isn't your pet worth much more than $250 per year? Think about it!

1. Bronson RT. Variation in age at death of dogs of different sexes and breeds. American Journal of Veterinary Research. 43:2057-2059, 1982

Commercial Foods (Final Part)

Nutritional Adequacy Statement: the National Research Council (NRC) recommendations were once used to provide guidelines as to the nutritional adequacy of pet foods. The last NRC update occurred in the 80's  and they are no longer consider valid for this purpose. Since the NRC guidelines are no longer used, the AAFCO established its own standards by using its "feeding trial protocols". This means that a certain pet food has been fed to dogs and cats and has met established standards of proper nutrition, i.e. that it contains the proper amount of protein, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins, etc. in order to meet the pet's basic nutritional needs. Approved products must bear the following statement in their packages: "Animal feeding tests using AAFCO procedures substantiate that [name of product] provides complete and balanced nutrition". Clearly, all of the above does not tell much about the quality of the food, except that it contains the minimal amounts of nutrients that AAFCO deems adequate to keep your dog alive on that food. It is quite disappointing that AAFCO replaced the opinion of reputable, qualified scientists from the NRC with its own. What pet owners need to be aware of is that AAFCO feeding test standards are not scientifically sound, like one would expect in human research. AAFCO's feeding trial standards are very basic and only require the following:

1. Only a minimum of 8 dogs is required as a valid "test group"  There are no restrictions regarding breed or sex. Of these 8 animals, only 6 are actually required to complete the 26-week trial. The reasons for which an animal might drop out are losing too much weight or other negative side effects.  
2. During the trial, the only food available to the test animals is the food being tested. Water is freely available at all times.  
3. At the beginning and end of the trial the test dogs must pass a physical examination by a veterinarian. The veterinarians evaluate general health, body and hair coat condition.  
4. At the end (but not at the beginning) of the trial, hemoglobin, packed cell volume, serum alkaline phosphatase, and serum albumin are measured and recorded.  
5. The diet being tested fails if any animal shows clinical or pathological signs of nutritional deficiency or excess. The maximum permissible weight loss during the trial is 15% of the starting body weight. 
6. Specific minimum values for the blood tests are given, and applied to the average result of all participating animals that finished the trial. 

As you can see, these standards are not scientifically rigorous. What is even more concerning is that if a particular product meets the AAFCO standards, ALL products of that same line are given the same status of "balanced nutrition" - even if they have greater amounts of protein, carbohydrates, minerals, etc. In animals with specific nutritional requirements and in breeds with specific health issues this can result in serious problems, like developmental orthopedic (bone) disease in large breeds, metabolic deficiencies in Terriers, Malamutes/Huskies and diabetes in toy breeds, to name a few. AAFCO standards do not take these issues into consideration.

Feeding Directions: owners need to understand that pet food manufacturers provide an average, basic estimate of food intake for the size, breed and level of activity of a pet. Here good sense is important. I suggest clients to start feeding the amount recommended in the label and then "tweak" the amount given based on whether your goal is weight maintenance, weight gain or loss. It is also important to take into consideration your pet's age and level of activity AND any underlying health issues  such as metabolic diseases (diabetes, hypothyroidism, Cushing's) or liver, heart or kidney diseases. Your veterinarian is the most qualified person to assist you with this information. We are well trained to assess your pet's body condition score (BCS) to inform you whether you're feeding your pet properly or not.

Calorie Statement: if a caloric statement is made on the label, the manufacturer must express it in kilocalories per kilogram basis. It can also be expressed "per cup" or "per can". This information is very helpful for clients to make meaningful comparison between products to chose the most suitable for their pets. Since the caloric statement is made on an "as fed" basis, one must also correct for moisture content to make meaningful comparisons. Caloric content and guaranteed analysis should be always taken into consideration together. The more calories offered by a food per unit of weight, likely more digestible the food is. Keep also in mind that fats provide more than twice as much calories (energy) as carbohydrates. Don't forget that when you compare a cup of two different foods in terms of volume (i.e. cup) they most likely won't have the same weight. Dry foods in particular have different densities, so one cup of food A may have 90 grams of food while one cup of food B may have 115 grams. 

If available, use the metabolized energy (ME) to compare different products. Example:
Food A provides 1680 Kcal of metabolized energy per pound of product
Food B provides 1400 Kcal of metabolized energy per pound of product
Product A is of better quality and digestibility for it offers more calories per pound (in terms of ME).

Other Label Claims: don't be fooled by terms such as "premium", "gourmet", "natural", "organic", "ultra-especial", etc. As explained previously, the pet food industry is not regulated by the USDA and these names have no official meaning in regards to the real quality of the food or the way it was processed or manufactured. Additionally, pet food manufacturers are not required to describe substances like preservatives, ingredients, coloring chemicals, pesticides and additives that they did not add to their products themselves, but their suppliers did.  

Summary: the pet food industry is not under the regulation of the USDA. Rather, they are under the auspices of the AAFCO, whose standards for manufacturing pet foods are questionable. Pet owners and veterinarians have the right to know what they are recommending or feeding to their pets. This information is available on the food labels. However, despite offering a lot of information, such labels can be very deceiving and distracting to the naive person. Educate yourself and don't be swayed by marketing strategies! If you have any questions contact your veterinarian. In most instances, he/she should be able to help you. In addition, you can always call the manufacturer or regulatory agency and ask for further information.


Here is a list of foods that I highly recommend. I hope you find these articles very helpful. Should you still have any concerns don't hesitate to drop me an email!

CANNED FOODS
Artemis Pet Food Co, Inc.
Blue Buffalo Co.
Breeder's Choice Pet Foods
Canidae Corp.
Castor & Pollux Pet Works
Diamond Pet Products
Dogswell LLC.
Drs. Forster & Smith
Fromm Family Foods
Lotus Natural Food
Natural Balance
Natura Pet Products
Nature's Variety
Solid Gold Health Products of Pets, Inc.
Vet's Choice
Wellpet

DRY FOODS
Addiction Foods
Annamaet Petfoods
Artemis Pet Foods
Blue Buffalo Co.
Breeder's Choide Pet Foods
Canidae Corp
Castor & Pollux Pet Works
Diamond Pet Products
Dogswell, LLC.
Dr. Gary's Best Breed
Drs. Foster & Smith
Firstmate Pet Foods
Fromm Family Foods
Horizon Pet Nutrition
Lotus Natural Food
Natura Pet Products
Nature's Variety
PetGuard
Smartpak Canine
Solid Gold Health Products of Pets, Inc.
Vet's Choice
Wellpet     
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