I just found a very scary website. It is a website that attempts to educate pet owners on proper nutrition for pets. Great idea, but unfortunately, the site is promoted by Science Diet. I decided to try and give this new “nutrition center” the benefit of the doubt and check out their “My Bowl”, which essentially tells you what “in theory” should be in your pets dog food. My findings are as follows:
I found the “MyBowl” to be disgustingly inaccurate with the potential to greatly harm dogs if fed a food with the recommended ingredients. According to “MyBowl”, your dog should have 50% carbohydrates in their diet and roughly 25% protein and 25% fruits and vegetables. According to the “MyBowl”, some of the “good carbohydrate” sources you should look for are wheat and corn….um, no? The thing I find most fascinating is the fact that Science Diet is attempting to replicate the MyPlate idea by the USDA. However, the human MyPlate is actually fairly correct. Just by looking at the plate, the division of grains, proteins, fruits, and vegetables is fairly equal (it looks like grain slightly favor the protein food group, but it’s pretty close). This is a fairly accurate example of what should be in a HUMAN diet. We are omnivores and get a benefit from all of the food groups. What fascinates me, is that generally Science Diet refers to dogs as omnivores as well. Since that is the case, wouldn’t it appear logical that their “MyBowl” resemble the portion sizes of the USDA’s MyPlate? At least that would make some sort of sense. However, since Science Diet makes pet foods that have very little protein and sometimes over 50% carbohydrates, they have decided to try to “educate” the public on their food products and not on what a dog should actually be eating. This is disgusting!
The truth is, your dog is a carnivore. He is designed to eat meat, not carbohydrates. With so many foods out there that contain 50% carbohydrates, it’s no wonder so many dogs are overweight, have dental issues, and have diabetes. Even our own doctors (and the USDA) do not recommend we eat a diet that contains 50% carbohydrates, so why is Science Diet recommending it for our pets?
To see for yourself the gross misrepresentation of what should actually be in your pets’ diet, check out http://www.petmd.com/mybowl
To see the MyPlate version by the USDA go here: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/
Jane said,
February 7, 2012 @ 8:22 pm
I couldn’t agree more!
I have a diabetic dog and also own her son too. I was feeding them Hill’s W/D for mama, and Hill’s adult weight management for son. I always questioned my last Vet putting them on these diets as both foods are full of carbs! Also, lots of “fillers” like corn and meat by-products. My Vet would always insist that these were the best diets for my dogs to have even though I had to keep increasing my diabetic dog’s insulin amounts.
When I moved from the San Fernando Valley I found a great Vet down here who was horrified when I told her what my dog’s were on. Apparently, Hill’s Science Diet is a major contributor to Vet schools so some Vets think they need to endorse the food.
My Vet told me about Pet Country which is about 10 minutes away from my house. They had very knowledgeable people there who knew a lot about diabetes and showed me all of the dog foods and treats that would be best for both dogs.
Both dogs are doing much better (I even decreased my diabetic dog’s insulin), and they particularly love the frozen buffalo bones. I gave them the bones two days ago and they haven’t stopped chewing on them since! Before, both dogs needed a thorough and professional teeth cleaning which was going to cost me upwards of $1,000 per dog. I just looked at their teeth today, and they are sparkling white as can be and their gums are much better too!