My Pet World: New book helps owners pick the best food for their dogs
Pet food is a religion to an increasing number of pet owners. These pet "parents" have strong and often uncompromising opinions about how to feed their best friends.
"The loyalty might be to a brand, but more often, it's to a specific food type, like raw, or all organic or moist food only," says nutritionist Linda Case, author of "Dog Food Logic: Making Smart Decisions for Your Dog in an Age of Too Many Choices" (Dogwise Publishing, Wenatchee, WA, 2014; $19.95).
Are these unwavering feelings misguided?
"Emotions have a lot to do with how we make decisions and how we remember things," says Case. "That passion informs decision making. Sometimes we're right and sometimes we're wrong."
If you know where to look, and seek unbiased sources through websites, blogs and online discussion groups, it is possible to find factual information about pet food. However, Case notes that people tend to search for others who already agree with their pre-conceived notions.
"A very big part of the book is teaching people critical learning skills," says Case. "One goal is to teach pet owners how to become citizen scientists. The truth is, so much of what's out there (online) should be considered with a very skeptical eye; the information highway is cluttered with a great deal of misinformation."
Case adds that picking food is incredibly important to many pet owners for various reasons. For starters, you have total control over what your pet is eating. What you can't control is nearly anything else.
"As human beings, we want that control," says Case says. "Also, many pet owners believe that pet food is the most significant factor contributing to a dog's longevity."
Is that belief based on fact?
"Certainly, pet food can matter, but how much will it alter the destiny of your animal?" Case wonders. The answer is, "it depends," and the complete answer is open to debate.
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