Food Not Fit For A Pet

by Dr Wendell O Belfield DVM. © Copyright June, 1997

This is one of the article links posted on Howl911 - While eying it for a while, I finally had a chance to read it. The article is 10 years old - whether the pet food industry and government inspections and regulations since have changed is an open question. Perhaps - since Senator Durbin, Congressman Kucinich and others are calling for a hearing in the latest petfood scare, it is high time to address these questions - rumpel

Which commercial pet food do I recommend? That's the one question I am asked most frequently in my practice. My standard answer is "none." But let me clarify. There is no government agency setting quality standards and guidelines, so there are no assurances of quality in pet food.

I am certain at some time you have noticed a change in your dog after feeding him or her different batches of the same brand of pet food. Your pet may have diarrhea, increased flatulence, a dull hair coat, intermittent vomiting, or may scratch more often. These are the most common symptoms I have observed over the years, and they are all associated with commercial pet foods.

In 1981 while Martin Zucker and I wrote the first of my two books, How to Have a Healthier Dog, we discovered the full extent of the negative effects of commercial pet foods of that time. Much more recently, San Francisco Chronicle staff writer John Eckhouse went even further with a two-part exposé entitled "Pet-Food Labels Baffle Consumers," and (a good candidate for a horror movie title) "How Dogs and Cats Get Recycled Into Pet Food."

In the second article, published on February 19, 1990, Mr. Eckhouse, an investigative reporter, writes: "Each year, millions of dead American dogs and cats are processed along with billions of pounds of other animal materials by companies known as renderers. The finished products -- tallow and meat meals -- serve as raw materials for thousands of items that include cosmetics and pet food." There were the usual denials by pet food executives. Yet federal and state agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration and medical groups such as the American Veterinary Medical Association and the California Veterinary Medical Association, confirm that pets, on a routine basis, are rendered after they die in animal shelters or are disposed of by health authorities, and the end product frequently finds its way into pet food.

http://www.belfield.com/article3.html