Is food medicine? Can your diets fix my pets health issues?Updated 7 months ago
We certainly understand that pet parents desire to use food as medicine. As pet parents, we want answers when our pet is not feeling well or is not acting themselves. While we have a lot of established research on dogs & cats, unfortunately, we have barely begun to understand these fascinating creatures & the entirety of their needs. Research continues daily in which we continue to learn more and more about dogs & cats, especially related to health & nutrition.
Even vets are sometimes unable to give us a reason or cause of our pets illness because we still have so much to understand about dogs & cats. Vets also recognize pet parents want answers when they take their pet to the vet, even if they cannot provide a good answer. The result is, food has become the catch-all blame for many ailments in dogs & cats when we might not necessarily understand the cause. And food is the one variable we can control or change so vets often recommend switching food when there's no recognizable cause/reason for the issues a pet might be suffering. Put another way, vets most commonly blame food when they cannot find another underlying source of illness in the pet.
We think it's important, for this reason, to remind pet parents that food associated illness is actually quite rare in pets. Often pet food is the cause of illness in dogs & cats only about 10% of the time, at most. Factors like genetics, medications (and the side-effects), environmental factors, infectious diseases and underlying health conditions play a significant role & are commonly overlooked as a cause of illness in pets. In fact, the side effects of many medicines for dogs & cats today have digestive upset or diarrhea listed as common side effects. Environmental allergies and sensitivities are also on the rise and make up a significant portion of issues we see in dogs & cats. Viral infections and bacterial infections have also been on the rise lately and are a common cause of GI or digestive issues. Dogs and cats also get sick from time to time and can experience GI or diarrhea a few times a year for a few days.
Additionally, per FDA and governmental regulations pet foods are not allowed to make implied drug claims to treat an illness since pet foods by law are not allowed to be medicated. Additionally, to make an implied drug claim, the food would have to undergo years of clinical trials for FDA approval.
At identity, we are obviously advocates for our pets & feeding them better nutrition. We have seen first-hand the powers of improved nutrition & are proud that we have played a part in many dogs & cats lives by helping improve a health condition. But we recognize too that there are significant ailments affecting dogs & cats which food might be able to help alleviate, but often food cannot solve these issues.
We think it's important to remind pet parents of this since food is being blamed as the cause of many ailments affecting dogs & cats today, but in reality it's often likely another underlying factor. Food is rarely the cause of significant health concerns. And food does magnificent things to improve a variety of health concerns, but it is rarely a "cure."
Our Founder & CEO Jeremy was personally reminded of this the past two years. His dog Zoey was diagnosed with a heart condition in 2022 - the veterinarian told him she would die within 6 months. As someone with vast experience in pet nutrition, his immediate reaction was that he could solve the issue by dietary change. He blamed himself for the 2 years of her life when Zoey ate kibble. While Zoey is still alive today, probably because of eating good food, and her symptoms are reduced, she still experiences symptoms from her condition that we cannot find an underlying cause. To limit those symptoms & improve quality of life, intervention with a medicine called Cytopoint became a necessity. And that medicine causes her side-effects from time to time. Jeremy's recognized over time we will likely never be able to find a root cause of Zoey's condition. He will never cure it with dietary changes alone and it wasn't her food's fault nor was it caused by those 2 years she ate kibble (in full disclosure she eats identity & previously another brand I helped formulate). Her condition is actually caused by genetics that food can help alleviate but will never cure. We share this to show, as a company who believes in the power of food, that food is rarely the cause and it's rarely a cure. Food plays an important role in overall health and wellness, but sometimes medicine or medical intervention is necessary to treat an issue that is caused by something other than dietary causes.
Disclaimer: We have pet owners who tell us they are using all our diets with success for health issues such as kidney disease, urinary concerns, diabetes, obesity, thyroid issues, sensitivities, etc. However, we are not allowed to make implied or explicit drug claims as per FDA regulations, so we always suggest consulting with your vet when determining the suitability of our diets.