Human nutrition expert and author of the critically acclaimed What to Eat, Marion Nestle, Ph.D., M.P.H., has joined forces with Malden C. Nesheim, Ph.D., a Cornell animal nutrition expert, to write Feed Your Pet Right, the first complete, research-based guide to selecting the best, most healthful foods for your cat or dog. A comprehensive and objective look at the science behind pet food, it tells a fascinating story while evaluating the range of products available and examining the booming pet food industry and its marketing practices. Drs. Nestle and Nesheim also present the results of their unique research into this sometimes secretive industry. Through conversations with pet food manufacturers and firsthand observations, they reveal how some companies have refused to answer questions or permit visits. The authors also analyze food products, basic ingredients, sources of ingredients, and the optimal ways to feed companion animals. In this engaging narrative, they explain how ethical considerations affect pet food research and product development, how pet foods are regulated, and how companies influence veterinary training and advice. They conclude with specific recommendations for pet owners, the pet food industry, and regulators. A road map to the most nutritious diets for cats and dogs, Feed Your Pet Right is sure to be a reference classic to which all pet owners will turn for years to come.
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“FEED YOUR PET RIGHT is mind-blowingly excellent!! It is brilliant in every way--comprehensive in scope and clearly impartial and accessible to any reader.”
--David Fraser, Professor of Animal Science and former Dean of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sydney
About the Author
Marion Nestle, Ph.D., M.P.H., is Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, and author of three prize-winning books: Food Politics, Safe Food, and What to Eat, as well as Pet Food Politics. Visit her online at www.foodpolitics.com.
Malden Nesheim, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of nutritional sciences at Cornell University.
Malden Nesheim, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of nutritional sciences at Cornell University.
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209 of 252 people found the following review helpful
By Sandra Scarr
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Marion Nestle is a human nutritionist, who endorses fresh, whole foods for people and criticizes processed junk foods. Her advice to people is to eat less and to eat a wide variety of minimally processed foods.
Her advice to pet owners is much less healthy and helpful. For this book, Nestle teamed up with Malden Nesheim, a veterinary nutritionist by training. He seems to have lead Nestle woefully astray. They endorse starchy kibbles and canned mush as pet food - the commercial pet foods that cause rampant periodontal disease, stress pets' immune systems, and leave them victims of myriad chronic diseases. It is puzzling that an advocate of fresh whole foods for people would not make similar, species-appropriate recommendations for their pets.
The vast misinformation in this book is based on a false assumption: That dogs, like humans, are omnivores. No references are provided to support this erroneous belief, because there aren't any. All the scholarship of the last 10 years shows that dogs are carnivores.
To back up their false assumption, they assert that dogs' intestinal track is long, like human omnivores. This is factually incorrect. Both dogs' and cats' small intestines are 2.5 times as long as their bodies. Human small intestines are 10 times as long as their height. Long intestines digest vegetables and cereals slowly and well. Carnivores' short and highly acidic intestinal tracks digest meats and bones fast and pass remaining matter out as poop - great piles of malodorous poop from grain-fed dogs and cats.
The authors assert that dogs "descended" recently (in evolutionary time) from wolves. They fail to acknowledge that dogs are currently classified as a sub-species of wolf. Dogs are wolves, not a separate species. They fail to cite the last decade of genetic research that demonstrates the wolf-identity of domestic dogs. Despite the many human-designed changes in dogs' sizes and shapes, their digestive and immune systems are species wolf.
As we all know, wolves are carnivores, whose natural diet consists of whole prey. Dogs'/wolves' natural diet is whole prey, as demonstrated repeatedly in studies of feral dogs. Domestic canines, that are abandoned and live in wild packs all over the world, prey on small animals. Feral dogs never graze in fields of corn or eat vegetables or garbage, unless no animal prey is available. Dogs and wolves evolved to eat raw meats and bones, not grains and vegetables. Wolves/dogs do not cook their meat and meaty bones. Cooking alters the nutritional value of foods and causes bones to splinter. Raw bones do not splinter. Dogs and wolves evolved to eat whole prey -- or its convenient form, raw-meaty-bones.
In times of famine, wolves and dogs can subsist briefly on carbohydrates, a convenient fact the authors use to endorse cooked grains and vegetable diets for domestic carnivores. Most pet owners do not aim to feed their beloved pets a starvation diet. If pet owners were told the truth about carnivorous pets, many would choose to feed their pets raw meats and meaty bones. The authors' false assumption about the very nature of dogs renders their dietary advice misleading at best.
Cats do not fare much better than dogs in this book. Although the authors realize that cats are carnivores that in the wild feed entirely on whole prey, they accept the pet-food industry line that cats can be fed on grains and artificial nutrients. That carnivorous cats can subsist on a totally inappropriate diet of cooked grains and vegetables is a view endorsed by veterinarians, whose livelihood depends materially on pet-food sales. Cats fed high-carbohydrate diets often develop urinary tract stones, irritable bowel syndrome, diabetes, and other chronic disorders from stressed digestive and immune systems.
One interesting chapter is an attack on corruption in veterinary training, nutritional research, and practice. Global pet-food companies, notably Mars, Nestle-Purina, Proctor & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, and Del Monte, fund and control small animal nutrition in the veterinary profession. By supporting student training, providing employees to teach nutrition courses, funding "nutrition research", and contributing substantial income to practicing vets, these giant food companies buy veterinary endorsement of their junk foods that do irreparable harm to pets' health.
Nestle and Nesheim call for reform of the veterinary profession and establishment of independent teaching, research, and practice. Unlike medicine, there seems to be little concern among veterinary schools or professional associations about undue commercial influence on their profession. Whereas revelations of drug-company influence on medical education, research, and practice provoked some reforms in medicine, little unrest is evidenced among vets, who know how dependent they are on pet-food company largesse.
Although the authors conclude that home-cooked and raw diets can be safe and nutritionally appropriate, they do not favor species-appropriate diets over commercial junk foods. Neither dogs nor cats can safely eat cooked starches daily year in and year out. The authors express faith in AAFCO's brief feeding trials on a few animals to endorse feeding a monotonous, commercial diet for pets' lifetimes. Six months of feeding a concocted diet to 8 animals, 2 of which may die during the feeding trial, support an AAFCO recommendation of "complete and balanced" food for pets' lifetimes. How illogical and unscientific is that?
In a few chapters, Nestle's familiar theme of diet variety is voiced. Variety of foods assures people's nutritional needs are met. Variety of meats and meaty bones, and occasional leftovers, also assures that pets' nutritional needs are met. I agree that variety of foods is both healthy and pleasant for both people and pets, with one major caveat: Dogs and cats are not omnivores. They do not need a variety of grains and vegetables in their diet, as humans do.
Two other Nestle themes are safety and the interconnectedness of human and animal food supplies. On these topics, Nestle is an expert with valuable and disturbing information. Her earlier book on pet food safety reviewed the massive 2007 pet food recall for deliberate melamine adulteration. The same contaminated wheat gluten was fed to farmed fish and poultry intended for US human consumption and put into baby formula in China, with disastrous results. She points to frequent recalls of both human and pet foods for dangerous contamination and the FDA's inability to prevent or respond effectively to safety issues in the food supply.
Most of the later book deals with pet diets, however. This is a deeply disappointing book. I admire Marion Nestle's approach to human food. She was badly misled about the diet carnivorous pets need to thrive. One wonders if the authors are otherwise motivated to keep the peace with food-industry giants, the same global companies that make pet foods from human food wastes? Both authors are professors of nutrition at universities. Their careers are based on food. Global food production, processing, and distribution are controlled by the same companies that make pet foods. Getting on the wrong side of Mars and Nestle (the company) by rejecting their junk pet foods is probably not a wise career move. Truth is another matter.
Her advice to pet owners is much less healthy and helpful. For this book, Nestle teamed up with Malden Nesheim, a veterinary nutritionist by training. He seems to have lead Nestle woefully astray. They endorse starchy kibbles and canned mush as pet food - the commercial pet foods that cause rampant periodontal disease, stress pets' immune systems, and leave them victims of myriad chronic diseases. It is puzzling that an advocate of fresh whole foods for people would not make similar, species-appropriate recommendations for their pets.
The vast misinformation in this book is based on a false assumption: That dogs, like humans, are omnivores. No references are provided to support this erroneous belief, because there aren't any. All the scholarship of the last 10 years shows that dogs are carnivores.
To back up their false assumption, they assert that dogs' intestinal track is long, like human omnivores. This is factually incorrect. Both dogs' and cats' small intestines are 2.5 times as long as their bodies. Human small intestines are 10 times as long as their height. Long intestines digest vegetables and cereals slowly and well. Carnivores' short and highly acidic intestinal tracks digest meats and bones fast and pass remaining matter out as poop - great piles of malodorous poop from grain-fed dogs and cats.
The authors assert that dogs "descended" recently (in evolutionary time) from wolves. They fail to acknowledge that dogs are currently classified as a sub-species of wolf. Dogs are wolves, not a separate species. They fail to cite the last decade of genetic research that demonstrates the wolf-identity of domestic dogs. Despite the many human-designed changes in dogs' sizes and shapes, their digestive and immune systems are species wolf.
As we all know, wolves are carnivores, whose natural diet consists of whole prey. Dogs'/wolves' natural diet is whole prey, as demonstrated repeatedly in studies of feral dogs. Domestic canines, that are abandoned and live in wild packs all over the world, prey on small animals. Feral dogs never graze in fields of corn or eat vegetables or garbage, unless no animal prey is available. Dogs and wolves evolved to eat raw meats and bones, not grains and vegetables. Wolves/dogs do not cook their meat and meaty bones. Cooking alters the nutritional value of foods and causes bones to splinter. Raw bones do not splinter. Dogs and wolves evolved to eat whole prey -- or its convenient form, raw-meaty-bones.
In times of famine, wolves and dogs can subsist briefly on carbohydrates, a convenient fact the authors use to endorse cooked grains and vegetable diets for domestic carnivores. Most pet owners do not aim to feed their beloved pets a starvation diet. If pet owners were told the truth about carnivorous pets, many would choose to feed their pets raw meats and meaty bones. The authors' false assumption about the very nature of dogs renders their dietary advice misleading at best.
Cats do not fare much better than dogs in this book. Although the authors realize that cats are carnivores that in the wild feed entirely on whole prey, they accept the pet-food industry line that cats can be fed on grains and artificial nutrients. That carnivorous cats can subsist on a totally inappropriate diet of cooked grains and vegetables is a view endorsed by veterinarians, whose livelihood depends materially on pet-food sales. Cats fed high-carbohydrate diets often develop urinary tract stones, irritable bowel syndrome, diabetes, and other chronic disorders from stressed digestive and immune systems.
One interesting chapter is an attack on corruption in veterinary training, nutritional research, and practice. Global pet-food companies, notably Mars, Nestle-Purina, Proctor & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, and Del Monte, fund and control small animal nutrition in the veterinary profession. By supporting student training, providing employees to teach nutrition courses, funding "nutrition research", and contributing substantial income to practicing vets, these giant food companies buy veterinary endorsement of their junk foods that do irreparable harm to pets' health.
Nestle and Nesheim call for reform of the veterinary profession and establishment of independent teaching, research, and practice. Unlike medicine, there seems to be little concern among veterinary schools or professional associations about undue commercial influence on their profession. Whereas revelations of drug-company influence on medical education, research, and practice provoked some reforms in medicine, little unrest is evidenced among vets, who know how dependent they are on pet-food company largesse.
Although the authors conclude that home-cooked and raw diets can be safe and nutritionally appropriate, they do not favor species-appropriate diets over commercial junk foods. Neither dogs nor cats can safely eat cooked starches daily year in and year out. The authors express faith in AAFCO's brief feeding trials on a few animals to endorse feeding a monotonous, commercial diet for pets' lifetimes. Six months of feeding a concocted diet to 8 animals, 2 of which may die during the feeding trial, support an AAFCO recommendation of "complete and balanced" food for pets' lifetimes. How illogical and unscientific is that?
In a few chapters, Nestle's familiar theme of diet variety is voiced. Variety of foods assures people's nutritional needs are met. Variety of meats and meaty bones, and occasional leftovers, also assures that pets' nutritional needs are met. I agree that variety of foods is both healthy and pleasant for both people and pets, with one major caveat: Dogs and cats are not omnivores. They do not need a variety of grains and vegetables in their diet, as humans do.
Two other Nestle themes are safety and the interconnectedness of human and animal food supplies. On these topics, Nestle is an expert with valuable and disturbing information. Her earlier book on pet food safety reviewed the massive 2007 pet food recall for deliberate melamine adulteration. The same contaminated wheat gluten was fed to farmed fish and poultry intended for US human consumption and put into baby formula in China, with disastrous results. She points to frequent recalls of both human and pet foods for dangerous contamination and the FDA's inability to prevent or respond effectively to safety issues in the food supply.
Most of the later book deals with pet diets, however. This is a deeply disappointing book. I admire Marion Nestle's approach to human food. She was badly misled about the diet carnivorous pets need to thrive. One wonders if the authors are otherwise motivated to keep the peace with food-industry giants, the same global companies that make pet foods from human food wastes? Both authors are professors of nutrition at universities. Their careers are based on food. Global food production, processing, and distribution are controlled by the same companies that make pet foods. Getting on the wrong side of Mars and Nestle (the company) by rejecting their junk pet foods is probably not a wise career move. Truth is another matter.
23 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have read "What to Eat" and loved it. I was excited to read this book as well. Unfortunately, it did not deliver. I have a degree in Animal Science and agree that by-products are not what a lot of people think. Unfortunately, they are not always handled properly before being turned into dog food. The other thing is they did say that studies have not been done on the bioavailability of some ingredients. So if the company is using feathers to up the crude protein level, it is false because the dogs and cats cannot make use of that protein. I have had dogs for over 20 years. I have fed Ol' Roy when I couldn't afford anything else and those dogs did not do as well as the dogs that have been fed recommended foods from the Whole Dog Journal. While they made some correct assumptions, they also fell very short of the mark on others. And, your dog and especially your cat do need more protein than you do. Poultry and hogs are more in line with our protein needs. Having said that, I do not agree with only feeding dogs meat. Dogs in the wild are scavangers and eat more than just meat.
21 of 26 people found the following review helpful
By Dan Hagen
Format:Paperback
Not in favor of any book that gives commercial pet food a pass. There authors should know better. Save you money and spend it on "Dr. Pitcairn's New Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats" instead. And while you're at it, Martin's "Food Pets Die For." Perhaps these authors should read these books as well...
Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
I wasted my money (and time)...Bad Info on What's Right
Dogs and cats are not grain eaters...they didn't evolve eating mass produced, low nutritional, carbohydrate rich, agricultural products. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Pa-Leo
3.0 out of 5 stars
some good info but take conclusions with a grain of salt
If you want to know more about how the pet food industry operates, how well (or not!) it's regulated, what we know about nutrition for dogs and cats, the impact of the pet food... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Sue Brown
5.0 out of 5 stars
Startled at some of the low ratings...
I am a 'just the facts' guy and was startled that anyone could give this book less than 4 stars. It is an amazingly comprehensive look at dog and cat food available on shelves... Read more
Published 16 months ago by d_javaman
5.0 out of 5 stars
Feed Your Pet Right
As a veterinary professional, I found this book really helpful in getting a handle on pet food. The exposition is clear and concise but does not leave out pertinent information. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Nifty Fifty
4.0 out of 5 stars
science based analysis provides guide to make your own decision
In this well researched book, the authors share what we do know about pet nutrition and the pet food industry. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Brenna Strickland
5.0 out of 5 stars
Presents the info -- you decide....
Even though I knew how to read labels, I didn't know a lot of the other information in this book - the business side of dog food companies and marketing, the history of how pet... Read more
Published on January 27, 2011 by C. Bales
5.0 out of 5 stars
Finally the Facts on Pet Foods & Not opinion based ravings.
I am not a strong believer in raw diets or especially the BARF diet. I have read several books on the subject and the amazing thing to me is that most of these books are written... Read more
Published on January 13, 2011 by Spay4Life
1.0 out of 5 stars
Can't Even Finish Reading it
My first red flag was when the author says she hasn't even owned a dog or cat. Oooo.k. So apparently she studied human nutrition but doesn't have years of first hand experience... Read more
Published on January 4, 2011 by Gembug
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing coming from Dr. Nestle
Dr. Nestle is one of my favorite nutritionists. She has a no non-sense agenda when it comes to human nutrition - not all of which I agree with, but for the most part, she makes... Read more
Published on December 23, 2010 by J. Reid
1.0 out of 5 stars
Strongly suggest looking at a copy before spending money on the book
The subtitle 'The Authoritative Guide to Feeding Your Dog and Cat' makes me think how 'authoritative' can be interpreted in different ways. Read more
Published on September 26, 2010 by Nohm
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