Do Special Pet Diets Do What They Claim?

Host: Amy Castro
Guest: Dr. Angie Boyer, Founder of Grain & Grace Consulting

Educational disclaimer: This episode is for general informational purposes and is not a substitute for veterinary advice. Talk with your veterinarian about your pet’s individual medical and nutritional needs before changing foods.

Transcript

Amy Castro, Host (00:00):
Sensitive stomach, urinary care, hairball control. Are specialty pet foods actually formulated differently, or are those words mostly there just to get our attention?

Pet nutrition expert Angie Boyer explains which claims mean something and what you should check before putting that bag in your cart.

Show Introduction

Amy Castro, Host:
You’ve reached The Pet Parent Hotline, your lifeline to practical solutions for your toughest pet parenting challenges.

I’m your host, Amy Castro, and I’m here to help you cut through the noise and turn expert advice into step-by-step strategies so you can stop chasing your tail and start enjoying life with pets again.

This is your August Pet Parent Power Up, a short episode designed to give you one practical answer you can use right away.

Today, we’re looking at some of the specialty claims you see on pet food, including sensitive skin and stomach, hairball control, and urinary care. Are these foods really formulated differently, or is it mostly just marketing?

My guest is Dr. Angie Boyer, founder of Grain & Grace Consulting and a trained multi-species nutritionist whose work spans livestock, companion animals, and horses.

After working in a variety of corporate roles, Angie created Grain & Grace Consulting to bring her knowledge and expertise directly to the animal nutrition industry and the animals it serves.

Angie, welcome to the show.

What Do Sensitive-Stomach Claims Mean?

Dr. Angie Boyer (01:26):
Thanks, Amy, for having me. I’m excited to be here.

Amy (01:28):
I know we’re doing two episodes together, and we’re going to go into more depth in the next episode about really reading a pet food label.

But I wanted to talk in this episode about specialty claims. When we’re looking at pet food labels and they say things like “sensitive stomach,” is it just a marketing gimmick, or does it truly affect the ingredients and make a difference for my pet?

Angie (01:51):
It’s a great question, and it creates a significant level of confusion.

When we talk about sensitive-stomach diets, those are not going to have the same type of regulation as something like hairball control. I’ll explain that in a second.

Sensitive skin and stomach diets are really more focused on what ingredients are being used. Did we add additional probiotics or postbiotics, for example?

Sensitive-stomach foods use easier-to-digest fibers from sources like pumpkin or broccoli rather than beet pulp, for example. You generally won’t find some of those more difficult-to-digest fibers in these diets.

The same applies to grains. We don’t tend to see corn, soy, and wheat in sensitive diets. We see more rice, for example.

With proteins, we see lamb and salmon, which can be easier to digest, instead of chicken or beef.

The key phrase I kept repeating, which you probably caught, was “easy to digest.” Those ingredients are really what make up sensitive skin and stomach diets.

When you get into something like hairball control, however, we’re getting into what the industry calls health or drug-type claims.

You really cannot put “hairball control” on the package without knowing that the diet went through significant testing to ensure that it does, in fact, reduce hairballs.

Most people don’t realize that sensitive skin and stomach is more about ingredient selection, whereas something like hairball control is more about making sure the science confirms that it reduces hairballs.

They require different formulation processes. One has a specific claim, while the other is more about using easy-to-digest ingredients.

Weight-Management Foods

Amy (03:46):
I’m glad you covered hairball control because that was another question.

Weight-management food seems like it should be relatively straightforward. Is it simply lower calorie, with some combination of lower protein, lower fat, or more fiber? Or is there no standard for weight-management foods?

Angie (04:04):
There’s not necessarily a standard for what you’re going to see in the guaranteed analysis, such as a specific protein, fat, or fiber number.

It is more about the total caloric intake.

If we’re reducing the calories, we’re probably adding more fiber sources and less fat. The reduced calories are reflected indirectly in the guaranteed analysis, but those guaranteed-analysis numbers aren’t necessarily what drive the calorie difference.

Urinary-Care Diets

Amy (04:28):
Another type of food I’m personally struggling with right now is urinary diets.

I have a cat with bladder issues and another with kidney issues. I’ve taken them off dry food and kept them exclusively on canned food.

The veterinarian prescribed a urinary diet for the cat with bladder issues, while I’ve been feeding the other cats a commercial urinary diet. I’ve been going back and forth between the two, which they say you’re not supposed to do.

What exactly is a urinary diet? What does it contain, what is it missing, and how does the consumer navigate those decisions?

Angie (05:06):
Urinary diets fall very similarly in line with hairball control because we’re elevating the food to an actual drug-type claim.

The product has gone through significant testing to ensure it meets certain criteria before it can be sold as a urinary diet.

Some of that criteria involves balancing minerals. Calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium can contribute to crystals and stones within the bladder and kidneys.

There is significant testing involving those minerals, how they are balanced, and the sources used in the diet.

The ingredients are also helping to adjust the acidity and pH of the urine. Adjusting that acidity level can help reduce kidney and bladder stones.

Cats are especially prone to these problems because they often do not get enough water. That is why we see more people feeding wet food, which has a higher moisture content.

It’s really a combination of three things:

Getting more moisture and hydration into the animal, maintaining the proper mineral balance, and acidifying the urine’s pH.

A urinary diet should provide all three.

What Does “May Support” Really Mean?

Amy (06:42):
With all of these specialty foods, what should I look for in the terminology to confirm that the food isn’t merely saying it might help, but is saying that it does have an impact?

Angie (06:55):
It comes down to the keywords being used.

If the name of the product includes something like “kibble for urinary care,” it has gone through the proper testing and meets the restrictions and guidelines required to provide urinary support.

If the name of the diet is “chicken and veggies,” and underneath it says “may support gut health,” pay attention to the phrase “may support.”

In comparison, a food that specifically says “sensitive skin and stomach” and contains ingredients such as lamb and rice has been formulated to provide that type of support.

Amy (07:31):
To support and address those specific issues.

Angie (07:34):
Absolutely.

The same distinction applies if a package says it “may support joint mobility.” That does not necessarily mean it went through testing.

That is a very different type of claim from a diet specifically formulated to support joint mobility.

Then look at the back of the bag. Does it contain glucosamine? Does it contain chondroitin? What ingredient is providing that support?

Final Takeaway

Amy (07:59):
Exactly.

As I mentioned, we’ll dive more deeply into reading and interpreting pet food labels in our next episode.

I wanted to address some of these specialty diets because, if I was struggling with them, I’m guessing some of you may also be struggling to determine what your pet needs.

Hopefully, this quick conversation gives you a starting point.

Angie, thank you so much for being here. I’m looking forward to having you back in our next episode.

Angie (08:29):
I’m excited, and I look forward to it. Hopefully this was helpful, and I appreciate you having me on.

Closing

Amy (08:34):
I think the big takeaway from today’s episode is to pay attention to the exact wording on your pet’s food.

A food that says it “may support” something is making a very different promise from a product that is specifically formulated and tested for that need or condition.

Then be sure to turn the package around and look at the actual ingredients that are supposed to support the claim.

Remember that a specialty food may be appropriate for one condition but not another.

Please talk with your veterinarian about your individual pet’s medical and nutritional needs before making any change or decision about your pet’s food.

Be sure to join us for the next full episode, where Angie and I will go from the front of the pet food package to the back and break down what those labels and ingredient lists are really telling you.

Thanks for listening to The Pet Parent Hotline.

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And remember, your pet’s best life starts with you living yours. Be sure to take good care of yourself this week and your pets.