In 'Feed Your Pet Right,' Marion Nestle and Malden C. Nesheim Offer Pet Food Guide

Nutrition experts offer research-based guide on best foods for Fluffy or Fido.

ByABC News via logo
September 22, 2008, 2:13 PM

May 14, 2010— -- Marion Nestle, a human nutrition expert, is the author of three prize-winning books about human food issues, including "What to Eat." Nestle has a doctorate in molecular biology and a master's degree in public nutrition.

Malden C. Nesheim is an animal nutrition expert and co-author of "Nutrition of the Chicken." He is provost emeritus and professor of nutrition emeritus at Cornell University, and he has a doctorate in nutrition and a master's degree in animal nutrition.

"Feed Your Pet Right: The Authoritative Guide to Feeding Your Dog or Cat," is a research-based guide on the best way to feed pets. The book includes an in-depth analysis of the pet food industry.

Check out an excerpt of the book below, then head to the "GMA" Library for other great reads.

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Introduction

This book is about what dogs and cats eat -- and should eat -- to keep them at peak health for as long as they live. It is also about the food products available for feeding companion animals, the ingredients in those foods, the sources of those ingredients, the industry that makes the products, and what is and is not known about the best ways to feed these animals.*

In this book, we provide dog and cat owners with the information they need to know about what their pets eat and why.

We are professors in the human nutrition departments at New York University (Marion Nestle) and Cornell University (Malden Nesheim). Both of us have had long careers in human nutrition and Malden Nesheim received much of his early training and experience in animal nutrition. But how we came to write a book about pet food and feeding is a story best told by Marion Nestle because Feed Your Pet Right evolved from What to Eat, a book she wrote in 2006 about food for people. What to Eat is not really a how-to book; it is a book about how to think about what to eat.

* This book discusses food for dogs and cats. It does not cover food for birds, fish, reptiles, or amphibians.Even though nearly 400 million of such creatures are kept as pets, their food accounts for less than5 percent of the U.S. pet food market.