Do You Know What Food is Best for Your Senior Pet?
By Dr. Becker
According to pet industry estimates, half the dogs in the U.S. are over the age of six, and over 40 percent of cats are over seven years old.
In order to come up with special formulas that can be marketed to consumers with older animals, pet food manufacturers make assumptions about some of the health challenges your companion will face as he ages. These include obesity, reduced immune system function, reduced cognitive function, and osteoarthritis.
I think we can all agree many pets do encounter one or more disorders associated with aging, but I don’t think it’s wise to build pet food formulas based on the assumption all older animals suffer from a set group of maladies.
Pets are individuals just as people are. There are plenty of senior pets with good body condition, no apparent loss of cognitive skills, and no signs of arthritis.
Assuming all older pets are sick with A, B and C, and therefore should be fed pet food formula D is the sort of one-size-fits-all approach to nutrition that seems to sell commercial pet food, but doesn’t work well when applied to real dogs and cats.
In addition, in my professional opinion most pet food manufacturers would do better to improve the quality and species-appropriateness of their products first … and worry about ‘specialty formulas’ after they have perfected the basics of high quality pet nutrition.
So how do pet food companies use these so-called common old age ailments to develop senior pet food formulas?
To continue reading this article, please click on the link below..
http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2012/06/20/aging-pet-food.aspx
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