Page 210 - Small Animal Clinical Nutrition 5th Edition

212 Small Animal Clinical Nutrition

one flavor or formulation may be unacceptable and, the patient
Table 10-3. Balanced low-fat homemade formulas for
VetBooks.ir overweight adult dogs and cats.*/**/*** may not consume adequate quantities of the food to support
body weight and condition.
However, it should be noted that in general, homemade for-
Daily food formulation for an 18-kg (40-lb) dog (as fed)
Nutrient content mulas won’t be as effective as commercially prepared veterinary
Ingredients Grams (% dry matter) ††
Chicken, white meat 65 Dry matter 36.5 therapeutic foods. Also, not all veterinary therapeutic foods can
Egg, large, boiled 81 Protein 22.6 be formulated at home (Tables 10-2 through 10-6).
Rice, white, cooked † 325 Fat 8.0
Cereal, All Bran 26 Linoleic acid 1.1 Dietary Elimination Trials
Calcium carbonate 2 Fiber 5.8
Salt, iodized 1 Calcium 0.50 The prevalence of adverse reactions to food (including food
Salt substitute (KCI) 1 Phosphorus 0.37 intolerances and food allergies) has been roughly estimated at
Total 501 Potassium 0.63
Sodium 0.45 1% of all hospital cases, or 10 to 20% of cases with allergic der-
Magnesium 0.14 matoses presented to specialists (Brown et al, 1995; Carlotti et
Energy (kcal/100 g) 398 al, 1990). Although adverse reactions to food are a small seg-
ment of practice, there is strong evidence that they do occur in
Daily food formulation for a 4.5-kg (10-lb) cat (as fed)
Nutrient content pets. Homemade foods may be fed to companion animals as a
Ingredients Grams (% dry matter) †† diagnostic or therapeutic measure in cases in which adverse
Liver, chicken, cooked 125 Dry matter (%) 33.8
Rice, white, cooked † 46 Protein 52.7 food reactions are suspected. Veterinarians should investigate
Cereal, All Bran 8 Fat 11.4 possible food reactions in cases in which gastrointestinal or der-
Calcium carbonate 1.2 Linoleic acid 1.2 matologic signs do not fully resolve with standard therapy
Salt, iodized 0.3 Fiber 5.2
Salt, substitute (KCI) 0.3 Calcium 0.85 (Chapter 31).
Total 180 Phosphorus 0.77 A dietary history is required to identify ingredients that must
Potassium 0.67 be eliminated from the patient’s food; however, examining pet
Sodium 0.44
Magnesium 0.11 food labels rarely ensures that a particular protein is not in the
Energy (kcal/100 g) 420 product. For example, the words meat and liver do not specify
*Also feed one human adult vitamin-mineral tablet (1 g) daily the species of origin (i.e., cattle, swine, sheep or goats). In
to dogs and 0.5 g tablet to cats to ensure all vitamins and
trace minerals are included. Cats should be given one-half to Europe, most pet food labels do not list individual ingredients,
one taurine tablet (500 mg/tablet) daily. which makes the dietary history even less accurate.Thus, some
**ESHA Research. Diet Analysis Software. Food Processor sources of protein (and species) cannot be adequately identified
Plus, version 5.03, 1990 Salem, OR. Agricultural Software
Consultants, Inc. Mixit 2+, version 3.0, 1991, Kingsville, TX. from the ingredient list, and so cannot be effectively eliminat-
***Disclaimer for all homemade food recipes: These are ed from the food. Veterinarians should not hesitate to contact
computer-formulated homemade foods that meet current rec- pet food manufacturers for more detailed information.
ommended nutrient minimums without exceeding the known
maximums for dogs and cats. These foods have never been The recommended protocol for demonstrating a food aller-
analyzed for actual nutrient content, nor have they been test- gy requires feeding a food composed of protein ingredients
ed in animals (e.g., AAFCO feeding trial) as are some not previously fed to the pet or a pet food product containing
approved, commercially prepared, pet foods. Likewise, the
urinary pH produced by these recipes is unknown, but should hydrolyzed protein sources. All protein and carbohydrate
be adjusted using appropriate oral medications when indicat- sources in a novel food must be changed (i.e., the meat and
ed in certain medical conditions. grain sources). Game meats (venison, bison, elk), rabbit,
† May substitute rice baby cereal and flavor either selection
with meat broth during cooking. ostrich and duck are relatively novel meat sources, whereas
†† Nutrients of concern are italicized. potato, barley and pea are novel carbohydrate sources in
North America. All other possible dietary sources of protein
and carbohydrate should be discontinued including treats,
snacks, table foods, vitamin-mineral supplements and chew-
may not address a patient’s multiple medical problems. Some able medications. Patients not successfully managed with a
patients’ medical problems may require apparently contradicto- commercially prepared novel food or a food containing pro-
ry dietary management. For example, a patient with little or no tein hydrolysates are often fed a homemade food for four to
pancreatic tissue may require: 1) a highly digestible food 12 weeks. Homemade foods may have an advantage because
because of a deficiency in digestive enzymes but also 2) a food they can be better tailored to the patient’s specific needs, but
with moderate fiber levels to help manage diabetes mellitus. many have been shown to be deficient in essential nutrients
A veterinary therapeutic food may be commercially available (Roudebush and Cowell, 1992).
for a patient with a particular medical problem, but the product Homemade foods used in dietary elimination trials can easi-
may be unacceptable to the patient or owner. Although some ly be supplemented with calcium, vitamins and microminerals.
veterinary therapeutic foods are even more palatable than many Most veterinary and children’s vitamin-mineral supplements
specialty and grocery brands, most commercial veterinary ther- and chewable/flavored medications contain proteins not
apeutic foods are not available in a variety of flavors, and the derived from novel sources. Adult vitamin-mineral supple-
ingredient formulation is usually fixed. If a pet is finicky, the ments without additives are available from health food stores