Dr. Spector Answers Readers’ Letters: Dr. Spector Reveals Inside Scoop on Pet Food

Q: I think the author has confused meat meal with meat by-product meal.

A: Sorry for any confusion.

By-products are the clean non-rendered parts other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes, but it not limited to lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, blood, bone, fatty tissue and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents.

I had stated that meat meal is “by-products that are cooked, pressed, dried and added to food.” I can see why the terminology I used may seem a little confusing. I was just trying to give the average consumer some easy definitions of by-products and meals. Meat meal is the rendered “parts,” other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals, whereas if meat meal is cooked and the meat fat is removed, the remaining material is extruded to form meat by-product meal.

Dr. Spector Answers Readers’ Letters: Fat Cats No More

Q: The Manual of Veterinary Dietetics states that a safe weight-loss for a cat is less than 2% of starting body weight per week. I’d hate for pet owners to think that “speed dieting” is healthy for cats, given the risk of hepatic lipidosis. It would be nice if you’d at least address this issue, and remind cat owners that a weight-loss race isn’t safe for a cat unless it’s closely supervised by a veterinarian, and it’s not something they should try at home without consulting a vet. I like Halo’s food, but I think this contest is irresponsible without a few warnings about the risks.

A: Thank you for your question. Please take a look at our February 19 blog post titled “Have a Fat Cat? How to get rid of extra pounds.” In this post, we did recommend only 1-2% of body weight loss each week. We can assure you that this weight loss challenge with Bideawee is being monitored carefully to avoid any chances of hepatic lipidosis.