[aimee]

Hi M & C,

I never chuckle. I learn so much through other’s questions and perspectives.

There are a lot of pet food regulations but IMO little verification that manufacturers are following them. I brought an issue of concern to a regulator and was asked “How many confirmed deaths” which gave me insight to where their focus lies. When I asked about truth in labeling, honesty and integrity the response was a sigh and “yes, there is always that” with an underlying context of “we don’t have the luxury of worrying about things like ingredient substitutions”.

It seems then, that holding companies accountable for labeling is falling to the courts and lengthy class action lawsuits. I agree with you that smaller companies probably are given a bit of a pass in that context.

Triglycerides are not normally part of a standard blood panel. Cholesterol in the blood is clear but triglycerides in high numbers give a cloudy appearance to the serum. The lab usually enters the appearance of the sample on the blood report.so look for that and see if the word lipemic appears. Lipemia is normal after eating but lipemia in a fasted sample would be a potential concern.

It could be that the roots of the high fat advice for seizers was based on the ketogenic diet use in people as a treatment for seizures. .A family friend’s story successful experience with a ketogenic diet was made into a movie “First Do No Harm” with Meryl Streep. However, dogs are less likely to enter a state of ketosis through diet compared to people. I believe using MCT oil was found to be a partial workaround, but my understanding is that a significant proportion of the total fat in the diet has to be MCT and this would not be easily achieved simply by adding MCT to an otherwise C and B diet.