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Little has focused the public's attention on where its food is coming from quite like the pet food recall of March 2007. Pet chow tainted with melamine, a chemical used in fertilizer and plastics manufacturing, led to the deaths of 1,950 cats and 2,200 dogs.

Chow Down

The recall revealed that wheat gluten and rice proteins were the source of the melamine, and since then, many pet owners have switched to gluten-free and certified-organic pet foods. These days there are a plethora of them, seemingly enough to suit every taste. If only it were that simple. When not munching bugs, cats are notoriously finicky eaters, many choosing simply to starve rather than suffer a change in diet (similar problems can occur when substituting wheat cat litters).

So is it worth enticing your stubborn beast into eating what's best for them? "If you have a pet that's on a diet for a specific health issue, it may be a much greater risk to change your pet's diet," says Stephen Hansen, D.V.M., director of the Animal Poison Control Center at the ASPCA and a board-certified veterinary toxicologist. And he points out that relying on organic foods may give a false sense of security, noting that like their conventional counterparts, with "organically raised grains there could be contaminants, such as high mycotoxin levels [toxins produced by naturally occurring molds]." If, however, your pet is healthy, Hansen believes switching to a wheat-gluten free food is a reasonable choice.

For the finicky pet, Hansen recommends drizzling dry food with chicken broth or the water from canned tuna. If you're considering homemade foods, the ASPCA recommends you discuss recipes with your veterinarian or an animal nutritionist certified by the American Academy of Veterinary Nutrition (see listings in resources). Due to risks such as salmonella poisoning, the ASPCA does not recommend a raw food diet for pets.

Resources

Professionally-formulated homemade recipes: www.balaneceit.com and www.petdiets.com

The American Academy of Veterinary Nutrition: www.aavn.org