Has the industry completely failed our pets?

” 51% of the 1.9 million adult dogs seen at Banfield’s more than 1,000 hospitals nationwide in 2018 were overweight. Regardless of their age, less than 10% of those pets successfully lose weight following diagnosis, and of those that do, roughly 40% resume their overweight status within 12 months.“

I was “googling” looking for some statistics on pet obesity, and I stumbled upon this quote from a vet, Dr.Ward in North Carolina , who happens to be the president of the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention . um, hello! If anyone should be able to tell pet owners why we are dealing with an obesity epidemic in pets, the PRESIDENT of pet obesity prevention certainly must know the answer. right?

According to Dr. Ward,“If I could only point to one factor causing the modern-day pet obesity epidemic, it would have to be treats,” Dr. Ward says.

That’s a jaw dropping statement if you ask me.

treats? that’s the number one factor!?
Never mind the garbage kibble being crammed down the throats of dogs, some of which contain upwards of 50% carbohydrates. read:carbs/starch/sugar/weight gain.
Dogs, just like humans, can be extremely intolerant of all those carbs.
my own dog was 17 pounds heavier eating the same amount of daily calories as she does now on a Raw Ketogenic diet. And she’s managed to maintain that weight loss for the entire 5 years and counting that shes been on a Raw Ketogenic Diet. I’ve never once had an issue with her weight fluctuating over these years on Raw Keto. (her picture before/after below)

She wasn’t 17 lbs heavier because she was eating twice as many calories as she does now. She was overweight from a carbohydrate overload that a canine is simply not designed to handle. There’s an old quote I fondly play back in my mind often, from Dr. Richard Patton, renowned animal nutritionist-
” you wouldn’t feed a hummingbird a steak”
So we have to wonder why has it become acceptable for an entire industry to find it acceptable to feed an entirely wrong diet to a species of beloved human companions ?. It just doesn’t make any sense other than the fact that the entire pet food industry stands to maximize their profits by making food that is cheap. And it’s at the expense of our animals health. Dogs have ZERO nutritional requirements for Carbohydrates. That’s right. ZERO. They have nutritional requirements for Essential Amino Acids (protein) and Essential Fatty Acids (fat). But they have no nutritional requirements for Carbohydrates.

And if you think the easy solution is to simply feed less kibble to a dog that may be holding on to more weight, consider this. All dog food is formulated to meet a minimum amount of vitamins and minerals for every 1,000 calories served. So if we need to drastically reduce the amount of kibble fed, just in an effort to keep weight off, that dog is now receiving LESS nutrition per day. Lower amounts of vitamins and minerals. So now we stand to open up pandoras box so to speak of OTHER potential health risks if the dog at hand here is now consuming a diet that is significantly lower in vitamins and minerals.

As I pointed out above, my dog wasn’t overweight because I was feeding her too much kibble, she’s consuming the same amount of calories now on a Raw Ketogenic diet, but yet she is 17lbs lighter today and she’s kept the weight off for almost 5 years to date now!

Dr. Patton’s explanation down below will shed some light on why excess carbs can result in weight gain!

2020 VET Report revealing 51% of the 1.9 million adult dogs seen at Banfield’s more than 1,000 hospitals nationwide in 2018 were overweight. Regardless of their age, less than 10% of those pets successfully lose weight following diagnosis, and of those that do, roughly 40% resume their overweight status within 12 months.

I can only shake my head in disbelief if the PRESIDENT of a pet obesity prevention association thinks that treats are the villain to blame for pet obesity here. The FOOD is the elephant in the room here. The cereal based garbage that pours out of a bag, that is so highly processed it never goes bad. I have a piece of kibble I’ve been saving for 5 years and counting so far. It looks the same as it did on day 1.

An Excerpt from Dr. Richard Patton’s book Ruined By Excess Perfected by Lack-the paradox of pet nutrition-dogs naturally publishing-2017, pg. 62 goes onto to talk about excess carbohydrates and starches found in kibble, and how insulin is constantly spiked in a dog fed this type of diet. “following every meal of dry kibble there is a blood glucose spike, leading to an insulin surge, and insulin performing its tireless duty. The thing is, insulin was not intended to be called upon SEVERAL times per day. Insulins function is not just to move blood sugar (glucose) into the cells. It’s second and equally powerful role is to promote the conversion of blood sugar into fat and save it in body fat reserves, while simultaneously stopping break-down and mobilization of storage fat. (this is crucial to understand. please read the last sentence again.)
For this reason , it is not belaboring the obvious to say a fat individual is fat because they can’t lose weight. if the diet is constantly spiking insulin , weight loss will be a struggle even with restricted intake”

If these dogs are being fed a completely inappropriate diet to begin with, how can we possibly expect them to live healthy lives ?.

Dr. Richard Patton also said it best
” If you give a bowl of once a day kibble to your lab, what you get is a once a day endocrine abuse. And a lifetime of that is going to have a bad consequence”

For information on Custom Formulated Raw Ketogenic Diets for your dog, click here