I keep hearing the grain free diets for pets is just a fad that isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. My cat’s food that I chose happens to be grain free but I more chose it because of the high protein and organs in the ingredient list then it being grain free. Is there anything inherently bad about grain free diets? Or are they just a way to up the price tag?
gettingvetted here.
Yep, grain-free diets are a way to up the price tag. They started out as a fad since so many humans were adopting a gluten-free diet, and these days brands often like to claim that dogs and cats should not eat grains as part of their diet since they wouldn’t do so “in the wild”. Since dogs and cats are domesticated, they shouldn’t be eating anything in the wild, and are so far removed from their wild ancestors that their ability to digest grains have substantially increased. More recently, grain-free diets have been shown to contribute to dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM, or heart failure).
However, it’s not just about grain-free diets. The diets that are causing DCM are now referred to as “BEG” diets – boutique companies, exotic ingredients, or grain-free diets. The apparent link between BEG diets and DCM may be due to ingredients used to replace grains in grain-free diets, such as lentils or chickpeas, but also may be due to other common ingredients commonly found in BEG diets, such as exotic meats, vegetables, and fruits. In addition, not all pet food manufacturers have the same level of nutritional expertise and quality control, and this variability could introduce potential issues with some products.
A diet should not be selected based on ingredients (or lack thereof). Rather, a pet owner should be asking these questions of a company:
1. Does the manufacturer employ at least one full-time qualified nutritionist? This means a PhD in animal nutrition or board-certification (and, ideally, both) by the American College of Veterinary Nutrition or the European College of Veterinary Comparative Nutrition.
2. What are the qualifications of the person who formulates their food (if it’s not the same person as their nutritionist)? This expert should have the same qualifications as in #1.
3. Does the manufacturer own the plant(s) where their food is manufactured? Most small companies do not own their own plants which can reduce the control they have over quality.
4. What quality control measures does the manufacturer practice? These vary widely among manufacturers but strict quality-control measures are critical to ensure safe, consistent, and nutritious food for your pet. Saying it’s the highest quality doesn’t make it true. Nor does having a statement on the label saying the food is complete and balanced. In fact, many of our studies have shown nutritional deficiencies in pet foods that claim on the label to be nutritionally complete and balanced (and the foods that had those deficiencies would not have met the standards detailed on this list). Examples of quality control measures the manufacturers should be using include certification of a manufacturer’s procedures (e.g., Global Food Safety Initiative, Hazard Analysis, and Critical Control Points, or American Feeding Industry Association); testing ingredients and end products for nutrient content, pathogens, and aflatoxins; materials risk assessments; and supplier audits.
5. Are their foods tested with the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) feeding trials? (this information also can be found on the label – find out how). If AAFCO feeding trials are not conducted, the manufacturer should at least ensure their diets meet AAFCO nutrient profiles through analysis of the finished product (rather than by predicting they meet the profiles based only on the recipe). This information can only be determined by asking the manufacturer.
6. Does the company conduct any research? Do they publish it in peer-reviewed journals?
7. Can the manufacturer provide you with the amount of any nutrient of interest (for example, sodium, protein, copper, or calcium)? They should be able to provide this information not just as guaranteed analysis numbers (which will be only minimums or maximums and are nearly useless), but as the average (or typical) analysis. This should ideally be provided on an energy basis (i.e., grams per 100 kilocalories or grams per 1,000 kilocalories), rather than on an as-fed or dry-matter percent basis, which does not account for the variation in energy density among foods.
8. Can the manufacturer provide you with the number of calories for any of their foods on any requested weight or volume basis (for example, per cup, per can, or per kilogram)?
9. Does the manufacturer bash other pet food companies (especially using information that is based on myths, rather than factual information) in their advertisements or on their websites?
These questions are all based on the checklist from the WSAVA Nutrition Toolkit, which is a very cool set of resources!
Hey doctors! I went back in your tag for grain free but I didn’t quite get the answer to my specific question. It’s been said with dogs it can be dangerous to do a grain free diet, and with cats it didn’t seem to mention if it was dangerous too. The foods I feed my cat are grain free but I never chose them for that reason (the wet food was what she actually eats and the dry food had a lot of good things I liked but looking at the ingredients again, it looks grain free as well) but now I’m a bit worried that a grain free diet could harm her in the long run. Is it dangerous for cats as well? Or just unnnecasary?
gettingvetted here.
Yep, cats are included in the FDA report of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM, or heart failure) associated with grain-free, boutique, and exotic (BEG) diets. DCM used to be a much bigger problem in cats about 40 years ago until nutritionists figured out that they cannot synthesize their own taurine, and started putting extra taurine sources into cat food. These days it’s pretty darn rare to see cats with DCM. Probably the main reason why not nearly as many cats are included in the counts is because like most other things, cats get the short end of the stick as far as medical and behavioral research. Additionally, the amount of care and money that people are willing to put into them is lower than dogs, and many BEG diets are quite expensive, so far fewer cats are on these diets than their canine counterparts. Finally, diagnosis of dietary-influenced DCM requires a cardiologist examination (which can be $$$) and far fewer cat owners are willing to go through with that cost than dog owners.
