animal
wellness For a long, healthy life!
FOOD LABELS Find out what's in YOUR animal's food
VACCINATION: Which ones do they really need? How to treat and prevent dog & cat
ALZHEIMER'S
MR. WINKLE Is this cuddly, pint-sized celebrity the real thing?
Enter our Amazing Animals Photo Contest
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communication $4.95 USA/$5.95 Canada
VOLUME 7 ISSUE 2
animal wellness 1 www.AnimalWellnessMagazine.com
contents 30
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38
features 14 Food labels 101
Take our crash course on finding a good food
vegetarian diets work 20 Do for dogs and cats? What you need to know before making a switch
24 Innovative vet clinics
30 Doggie and kitty
42 Vaccination: which ones
child of a cloud, on 38 "The loan from heaven"
47 When the fur flies...
Alzheimer's Can we prevent and treat cognitive disorder?
Meet Mr. Winkle, canine cutie extraordinaire
Visit three veterinary hospitals with a difference
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34 Dr. Martin Goldstein
animal wellness
Handling aggression in multi-cat households
50 Amazing Animal Story Contest Read two more remarkable entries!
columns 10 Yakkity yak
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do they really need, and how often? A close-up look at core vaccines
66 Animal
communication
74 Animal passages
80 Book reviews 90 The tail end
42
features 57 Special needs diets
– stop the itch with food from scratch How to feed an animal with allergies
62
70 A crate can be a safe
haven for your canine companion An easy three-day program for crate-training your dog
Reaching out to your horse can help solve behavior problems Enhance your understanding of your equine friend
77 Are adjustable
collars safe? One reader says "no".
79 Enter our Amazing
Animals Photo Contest Send us your best shots and you could win!
departments 6 Editorial 8 Pony express 53 Wellness
resource guide
65 Product picks 76 What’s gnu?
81 Ad spots 88 Events calendar 89 Classifieds
Animal Wellness Magazine (ISSN 1710-1190) is published six times a year by Redstone Media Group Inc. Publications Mail Agreement #40884047. Entire contents copyright© 2005. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, without prior written permission of the publisher. Publication date: March, 2005
animal wellness
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Do vegetarian diets work FOR
DOGS AND CATS? by Ann Brightman
A
s a lifelong dog lover, Samantha wants her two golden retrievers to enjoy the best care she can give them. But because her compassion extends beyond the canine family to embrace all living creatures, she has some issues about using animals for food. “I’ve been a vegetarian since my teens,” she explains. “But then I turn around and feed meat to my dogs, and end up feeling a bit of a hypocrite.” Perhaps you’re in a similar dilemma. Or, given the mad cow
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animal wellness
and avian flu scares, maybe you’re concerned about the cleanliness and safety of the meat supply. Alternatively, you might have a dog with meat allergies and are looking for other options, or perhaps you just aren't keen on the idea of handling raw meat. Whatever the case, you may have pondered the possibility of switching your companion to a vegetarian diet. The big question is, can a dog or cat thrive, or even maintain good health, without meat? The answer that best meets your companion’s requirements depends first of all on whether he’s a dog or a cat.
Cats need meat
“Cats are what are known as obligate carnivores, meaning that they must have animal protein in their diet,” says veterinarian Dr. Mark Newkirk. The reason for this is that felines have evolved to derive several essential nutrients from animal sources only. As an example, they can’t convert the beta carotene found in vegetables to vitamin A. Cats also need taurine, an amino acid not provided by plant-based foods. Taurine is found naturally in animal products, and is at its highest concentrations in seafood and heart tissue. Without taurine, cats can suffer a variety of health problems, including cardiomyopathy and retinal degeneration.
Fashionable. Functional. Comfortable.
Dairy products such as eggs and cheese are good protein sources and do contain some taurine, as well as a form of beta carotene that cats can convert to vitamin A. However, as Dr. Richard Pitcairn writes in his Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats, “I don’t believe there is enough positive evidence at this point to recommend a vegetarian diet for cats, even if dairy products and eggs are included. We just don’t know all there is to know about the nutrients cats normally obtain from meat.” This doesn’t mean you have to give up the idea of feeding your cat anything other than meat-based foods, although it should remain the foundation of his diet. “For cats, I generally recommend a diet of about 75% meat, 15% vegetables and fruits, and 10% other foods,” says Dr. Newkirk. This means a quarter of your kitty’s diet can be made up of non-meat foods such as eggs, cheese and plant-based items. “I like to add vegetables and fruits to all my patients’ diets, although cats in general don’t have great appetites for them,” says Dr Newkirk. Soy protein is not recommended, as cats have difficulty breaking it down.
The canine perspective
Dogs are more flexible than cats when it comes to vegetarianism, although experts disagree on whether or not it’s all right to exclude meat entirely. “Dogs are more opportunistic eaters than cats and many can do fine on a plant-based diet,” says veterinarian Dr. Autumn Drouin. “However, if you leave it up to the dog, 99.9% will go for the animal protein. If the diet is lacto-ovo vegetarian, cheese, yogurt, milk and eggs are good substitutes for meat. If the diet is vegan, it becomes more challenging, and you must rely on legumes, tofu, and so on. Vegetables can be put through the juicer raw, or lightly steamed. Winter squash is best cooked.” Dr. Newkirk, meanwhile, indicates that while a dog can get by with less meat than a cat, it should still make up half his diet. “The rest can be 25% vegetables, 15% fruits, and about 10% foods such as pasta, rice or oatmeal.” Some pet food companies, such as Natural Life and Evolution, now offer packaged vegetarian diets for canines that are made from a variety of plant proteins including brown rice, corn, soy, oatmeal, pearl barley, or whole wheat. “We formulated this diet because some of our customers are vegetarians and wish to have the same diet for their dogs,” says Marsha Palmer of Natural Life. “Another reason is because some dogs have meat allergies. It’s also useful as a weight-reducing formula because it has a high fiber content.” High quality dry food is versatile and convenient and can easily be complemented with extras such as fresh veggies, cottage cheese or other goodies. “Although people don’t really have to add anything to our diets, they are certainly able to do so if they wish,” says Marsha. “We also make a canned vegetarian diet for dogs made from pea broth, soybean meal, canola oil, ground corn, brown rice as well as vegetables such as potatoes, peas and carrots.” But can a dog thrive as a vegetarian? Again, opinions are mixed. “In all honesty, I
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