QUARTERLY BEAT / OCTOBER 2022 ///
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VICKIE CARMELLA , DVM, FFRCP Director of Veterinary Scientific Affairs, Blue Buffalo Company NOLAN FRANTZ , PHD, MS Director of Research & Development, Blue Buffalo Company What Matters Most in Pet Food Selection?
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In this VETgirl feature article sponsored* by Blue Buffalo, Dr. Vickie Carmella and Dr. Nolan Frantz discuss what matters most in pet food selection.
Veterinarians are often faced with the challenge of making specific nutritional recommendations to healthy pets, or for pets requiring therapeutic dietary formulations. But how often do clients follow the recommendations of their veterinarian? Even though veterinarians are the most trusted source of pet food recommendations, clients only follow them about one-third of the time. In our field of expertise (animal nutrition), we spend a lot of time and resources evaluating and understanding why pet parents select the diets that they do for their pets. When asking pet parents what attributes are extremely important in diet selection, ingredients that are recognizable always rises to the top. This can be frustrating for veterinarians, who are often recommending very efficacious therapeutic diets that often contain ingredients that may be less attractive to pet parents. We know that veterinarians spend a significant amount of time educating clients about nutrition and the importance of specific nutrients, especially with disease state nutrition. But veterinarians aren’t the only source of “expertise” pet parents are hearing from - there’s a lot of swirl out there, and so pet parents are receiving messages about what’s best for their pet every time they turn on the television, through digital experience, or when walking into a pet store. With so many different priorities in pet food decision-making, how can we as animal health experts, help provide resources to help simplify discussions with your clients regarding pet food decision making? And how can veterinarians, as the experts in making pet food recommendations, feel confident that your clients are feeding an adequate diet from an adequate pet food manufacturer?
If your pet parents have strong food preferences, ask them to do their research. Most manufacturers share a tremendous amount of information about their company on their website. When discussing pet food with your clients, sharing key features that they should look for in a manufacturer may help you to navigate challenging nutrition discussions. By asking your client to answer a few key questions about their preferred pet food brand, you can work together to find adequate nutrition solutions that meet your clients’ preferences and your standards for nutritional excellence. • Validate who is formulating the diets for the food brands that your clients prefer. Ensure they have credentialed animal nutritionists (either PhD animal nutritionists or DVM board-certified nutrition specialists) with expertise in pet nutrition. In addition to product formulation, a team of expert nutritionists will often be responsible for ongoing testing to ensure formula compliance with guaranteed analysis and product claims. • Knowing that a diet includes desired ingredients is not always enough. If your clients have a food brand preference, encourage them to do their research to ensure the manufacturer has a robust quality assurance program to validate product safety and efficacy. This may include: • Rigorous ingredient testing prior to approval for use in their formulations, testing certifications and certificate of origins and certification of ingredient specifications for every shipment they receive. Additionally, routine ingredient nutrient and specification testing should be performed to help ensure consistency in formulation. Manufacturers should be doing routine ingredient supplier audits to ensure consistency, efficacy, and ingredient safety.
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