Pet Diet Can Contribute to Animal Wellbeing

Ed Carlson, CVT, VTS (Nutrition), technician learning and development manager at Ethos Veterinary Health, explains the importance of feeding pets a complete and balanced diet.

Interview Transcript (slightly modified for readability).

“It’s like with us, I say; we all want to eat a complete and balanced meal every day, but we don’t always. Can animals survive and even thrive sometimes on eating something that may not be of the highest quality? Sure, but we all want the best for our pets, and we all want to be sure that we’re feeding [them] the very best thing that we can. That’s where the better quality foods, ones that have a lot of science behind them, really come in.

[Feeding your pet] wellness-type foods that we know [are] complete and balanced [and have] good nutritional value, then that animal is going to live a longer life and have a better quality of life than potentially some animal that is not eating something that is complete and balanced. So, depending on what the nutritional inadequacy might be in a diet, then that could cause a multitude of health problems. Cats, for example, can have heart problems and eye problems if they’re not getting enough taurine in their diet; it’s a very common thing that people understand.

Particularly when we start talking about animals having health problems, kidney disease for example, [is one] specific reason why we really need to use a therapeutic diet, [one] that’s not complete and balanced for every animal, but really is far superior for that animal’s particular health problem. That’s when it’s extremely important that people are really listening to their veterinary healthcare provider, to get good advice about what they should be feeding [their pets].”