Cataloguing pet nutrition over the course of the past 50 years lends its’ hand to subtle, yet profound differences in the ways that our pet’s get their vital nutrients. For the average pet owners their pet’s primary diet consists mostly if not entirely of dry food and treats. Over the past eight years, hundreds of companies ranging from celebrity owned Rachel Ray’s dry dog food to concerned individuals such as Alison Kim of Ram’s Dog Food and Reinaldo Webb’s Pet Plate inspired to take the leap from their day jobs into the pet kitchen, pet owners certainly have their market choices.
Fifty years ago, dogs ate table scraps in American homes and no one thought twice about it. Table scraps were healthy foods– less GMO, home made meals and whole foods. Today, we eat delivery, frozen foods and other processed GMO foods. We obviously see similar trends in the pet food ingredients as in human grade foods. A roast was a roast and those were the days that corn fed animals did not exist. As commercials and PR campaigns began to highlight the “no table scraps” rule into American culture, dry food slowly but surely began to become a staple of the average pet owning family. During those times, included in every bag of dry dog food was Lecithin which was used as a supplement for overall nutrition. Twenty years ago, Lecithin was taken out of dry dog food and replaced with Vitamin E which is used as a preservative, but does not contain the same nutritional benefits that the pet food previously provided.
While the new craze of anti-biotics in the human (and pet) circles is trending upwards as pets and humans like are seeing the benefits to a more complete system to digestion, Lecithin can offer much more than probiotics alone.
This article was written by Cynthia Okimoto of New York Dog Nanny with inspiration from Veronica Burke, Medical Intuitive/ Behaviorist. To be a guest blogger, please submit a writing sample to our company with the subject “Guest Blogger” to info@newyorkdognanny.com.