Nutrition is foundational to companion animal welfare. Evidence-based feeding practices prevent disease, extend healthy lifespan, and improve quality of life.
Nutrition-related welfare failures in companion animals are pervasive and largely preventable. Obesity causes joint pain, reduces exercise tolerance, increases surgical and anesthetic risk, and is associated with diabetes, urinary disease, and shortened lifespan. Feeding practices driven by marketing trends rather than nutritional science expose animals to both deficiency and toxicity risks. The proliferation of boutique and grain-free diets, exotic protein diets, and raw feeding movements has created a landscape where owners with the best intentions may inadvertently harm their animals. Evidence-based nutrition guidance from veterinary professionals — rather than pet food marketing — is the most reliable welfare-protective approach.