So, what is really in your pet's food

If you won't eat it, don't feed it to your pet.

http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/petfood1.html

FOOD NOT FIT FOR A PET

by Dr Wendell O. Belfield, D.V.M.

The most frequently asked question in my practice is, "Which commercial pet food do you recommend?" My standard answer is "None." I am certain that pet-owners notice changes in their animals after using different batches of the same brand of pet food. Their pets may have diarrhoea, increased flatulence, a dull hair coat, intermittent vomiting or prolonged scratching. These are common symptoms associated with commercial pet foods.

In 1981, as Martin Zucker and I wrote How to Have a Healthier Dog, we discovered the full extent of negative effects that commercial pet food has on animals. In February 1990, San Francisco Chronicle staff writer John Eckhouse went even further with an exposé entitled "How Dogs and Cats Get Recycled into Pet Food".

Eckhouse wrote: "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 product...tallow and meat meal...serve as raw materials for thousands of items that include cosmetics and pet food."

Pet food company executives made the usual denials. But 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 (CVMA), 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.animalprotein.org/

The Animal Protein Producers Industry (APPI) is now a standing committee of the National Renderers Association. It was established in 1984 to promote and heighten the production and manufacture of safe animal by-products by improving the microbiological and chemical quality of feed fat and animal proteins, to develop and disseminate educational materials and conduct seminars on rendering plant sanitation.

This entire catastrophe has only reinforced what I've always thought -- if I had a pet, I'd make food for it or feed it leftover food (provided my vet had confirmed there were no problems, like with chocolate, etc.). Yes, you don't want to get your pet begging for scraps, but at the end of the day, it's much safer (IMHO) to feed your pet food you feel is safe enough for yourself than to trust their health to strangers (especially in the form of large agri-business concerns that have only profits on their minds).

I've taken to making my own after the scare.

I'm not a scientist but it seems intuitive to me that you shouldn't canibalize animal feed. Isn't that how mad cow started? It's just disgusting and I can't help but think there must be a biological basis for the almost universal revulsion of eating your own species. I think for the health of animals AND humans there needs to be regulation on what is put in livestock feed and pet feed.

it's much cheaper to make a political donation to keep the inspectors off your back.

There are regulations in place to prevent the use of animal protein in cattle feed, but if no one is watching, people will cheat.

The leadership of this country sets a very poor example for others.

I feed Timberwolf Organics and Fromm Salmon A La Veg. The problem is that it is very expensive. I also feed about half homemade food. Buying human grade ingredients and cooking them yourself is actually cheaper than feeding a high quality kibble.

For example -- Fromm's is @50.00 for a 30 LB bag and the Timberwolf is a buck or two less.

In contrast, I just bought 30 LB of Chicken leg quarters for .49 a pound. Add in some brown rice and carrots and it comes out to much cheaper per pound than the kibble. I also buy them meaty bones (lamb neck bones @ .69 an LB) and marrow bones.

I have six dogs and it gets expensive to feed the good kibble even though they only eat about 1/2 cup per day each.