Just read about what is in "dog food" -- Terrible stuff

This is pretty outrageous. I have been doing research for a sales pitch to do marketing for a major pet food entity. Some of the first websites to pop up were pretty alarmist about what is in commercial dog foods, including this client specifically. I found a site that seems somewhat objective and it relates:

What can the feeding of such products do to your companion animal? Some veterinarians claim that feeding slaughterhouse wastes to animals increases their risk of getting cancer and other degenerative diseases. The cooking methods used by pet food manufacturers -- such as rendering, extruding (a heat-and-pressure system used to "puff" dry foods into nuggets or kibbles), and baking -- do not necessarily destroy the hormones used to fatten livestock or increase milk production, or drugs such as antibiotics or the barbiturates used to euthanize animals.
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Restaurant grease has become a major component of feed grade animal fat over the last fifteen years. This grease, often held in fifty-gallon drums, may be kept outside for weeks, exposed to extreme temperatures with no regard for its future use. "Fat blenders" or rendering companies then pick up this used grease and mix the different types of fat together, stabilize them with powerful antioxidants to retard further spoilage, and then sell the blended products to pet food companies and other end users.
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History has shown that commercial pet food products can cause disease. An often-fatal heart disease in cats and some dogs is now known to be caused by a deficiency of the amino acid taurine. Blindness is another symptom of taurine deficiency. This deficiency was due to inadequate amounts of taurine in cat food formulas, which itself occurred because of decreased amounts of animal proteins and increased reliance on carbohydrates. Cat foods are now supplemented with taurine. New research suggests that supplementing taurine may also be helpful for dogs, but as yet few manufacturers are adding extra taurine to dog food. Inadequate potassium in certain feline diets also caused kidney failure in young cats; potassium is now added in greater amounts to all cat foods.

http://www.api4animals.org/79.htm

What are better options for feeding dogs? Table scraps? High end dog foods (the article mentioned a recall by one manufacturer)? It seems like companion animals could live much longer and healthier with a better diet.

Expensive high-end pet food is really worth it. In the long run my cats have the healthiest look to them, they have clean breath and a litter box that won't make you pass out from the odor.

There are many great foods out there - just do your research!

Many people feed their animals a raw diet with excellent results. You can run a search on google and there are tons of site. Type in raw diet for dogs. I feed my dog Hill's C/D dry now. Six months no stones....we're content. :hi:

I never realized that pet food was unregulated. I was searching for nutritional remedies for my Casey dog that had bladder cancer. Too bad that I found out about 11 years too late, or I would have fed her good food from the beginning of her life. I always thought that Iams was the best! What a joke.

I have more links to dog food info. on Maggie's blog:

http://sugarmags.blogspot.com

And Casey's blog:

http://caseydog.blogspot.com

If you do go visit the blogs, let me thank you in advance. :)

of food you feed your kids? I am using Nutro Natural Choice. I have only heard good things about it. Is it supposed to be bad?

http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=comp-wiz

You can view several brands side by side. Nutro looks pretty good.

that I have a dog food store that only offers human grade products. I live in CNY and I found it hard to find "good" food for my animals.

I am currently feeding Maggie (my dog) Fromm's food and she was on Solid Gold. I try and switch the food every 30# bag. Merrick makes very good food too.

My kitty is on the Solid Gold kitty dry food and she loves the Merrick wet food.

Websites are:

http://www.frommfamily.com/

http://www.merrickpetcare.com/

http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/

I feel much better feeding my dog and cat these brands of food - especially after dealing with Casey's bladder cancer. I don't know how she got cancer, as she was with us for almost 11 years. I have to think that it was the water or the pesticides on the parks that we took her to. One can only imagine how she got cancer. After having to put her to sleep, I vowed to never again give any dog I owned anything that could harm them. It's the least that I could do - and in Casey's memory.

Any questions about holistic dog food etc. - just ask!

My local petstore has it. It caught my attention during the Thanksgiving season because they had a Thanksgiving meal which I bought for my dog. I will look more into it. Thanks so much for this information. I always want to do the best for my babies!

She's 7 and very healthy. She's been eating it since she was 1. My cat eats Friskies-she was eating the "special diet" kind, but they are no longer making it, so she's getting the seafood kind. Both eat dry food, as I can't stand the smell of canned dog or cat food.