Warnings
- Don't assume that your dog should eat what humans eat. "People
food" such as chocolate, grapes, raisins and onions can be difficult
for your dog to digest and toxic to his system.
Why Raw Food?
As mentioned previously, dogs and cats have digestive systems that
are designed to most easily digest and derive the greatest amount of
nutrients from raw meat. Ideally, our companions would eat an all
raw diet that includes some viscera and bones. Generally, the
more raw food you can include in your companions diet, the better €“ but
some is better than none. Some guardians choose to feed their
companions a ½ raw and ½ dry (dehydrated or kibble) diet; either mixing
the two or feeding raw for one meal each day and dry or cooked for the
other. It does not have to be complicated €“ you can feed raw
chicken and turkey necks and chicken backs as part or all of a meal
several times a week. Raw poultry bones do not splinter, they
crunch. This is a great way to clean teeth, exercise chewing
muscles, and provide a natural source of balanced calcium and
phosphorus, as well. As always, naturally raised, hormone and
antibiotic free or organic meat is best.
Raw food diets have been repeatedly shown to help the body deal with
many common ailments such as flea infestations, hot spots, continual
shedding, poor dental & gum health, allergies, gastro-intestinal
problems, immune disorders and degenerative diseases.
Raw diets have been common practice in European countries for
decades, especially Germany, where it is commonly recommended by
veterinarians. The fear of feeding raw meat in this country seems
to stem from a fear of salmonella, e. coli and parasites. In over
10 years of feeding raw food and seeing countless animals on raw food
diets, we have yet to see a single case of salmonella or e. coli in a
dog or cat. (Remember, their digestive systems are designed to
accommodate raw meat.) Parasites could be contracted through
eating wild, whole prey or game meats, but is much less likely from
properly handled human grade meats. Infection is more likely to
occur through ingestion of feces or soil, or poorly handled meat.
Obvious precautions should be taken when feeding raw meat €“ wash
hands thoroughly after handling the raw meat. Thaw meat in the
refrigerator, not sitting on the counter at room temperature.
Warm water can be used to thaw or warm the food after it has been
mostly thawed in the refrigerator. Do not microwave raw food as
the live enzymes are damaged and bones will harden even in just 30
seconds of microwaving. We do recommend avoiding pork as it has
been shown to be a source of Trichinella.
Some exceptions to €œraw is better€ are the older, weaker animal who
may not tolerate raw food, or animals with certain gastro-intestinal
problems where the gut has to be restored to a healthier state using
herbs and/or supplements. In these cases, a home prepared, cooked
diet is best.
Transitioning to Raw
It is best to introduce raw food slowly into your companion€™s diet
over the course of two weeks. Consider transitioning fully to raw
in the beginning even if you ultimately intend to feed a mix of raw and
cooked or dry. This will give your companion€™s digestive system
the optimal environment for generating healthy enzymes and flora. Start
with 1 teaspoon for small dogs and cats and 1 tablespoon for larger
dogs for three days or so. Then increase to 2 teaspoons or
tablespoons for several days, decreasing the amount of regular food by
¼ to ½ in general proportion to the raw. Work up to replacing at
least ½ the normal diet for several days. Finally replace one
full meal with raw for a day or two, then fully transition to raw.
We recommend supplementing with enzymes and probiotics for the first two
weeks to help your companion€™s natural digestive processes kick back in after
eating cooked foods for so long. If your animal is resistant to the raw at
first, you may want to use a bit of canned food to entice them. Cats, in
particular, can be resistant to a change in diet. They tend to fixate on
whatever food they are weaned onto and will resist switching to a healthier
diet. We have found that grinding or shredding their favorite treat on top
of the food can help. Halo's Liv-a-Little's or Whole Life pet treats work
well for this. Cats will most likely take some persistence on
Know your Kibble
If you choose to feed kibble as part of your companion€™s diet, we
hope you will consider the source carefully. Become a label
reader: the ingredients are not always what you might think. Many
consumers are not aware that the pet food industry is an extension of
the human food and agriculture industries. Pet food provides a
market for slaughterhouse offal, grains considered "unfit for human
consumption," and similar waste products to be turned into profit. This
waste can include intestines, udders, esophagi, and possibly diseased
and cancerous animal parts.
For instance, meat and poultry meals, by-product meals, and
meat-and-bone meal are common ingredients in pet foods. The term "meal"
means that these materials are not used fresh, but have been heated at
extremely high temperatures. The fat rises to the top and is
skimmed off. This fat is frequently sprayed back on kibble
products to improve palatability. The remaining solids are then
pressed to remove the residual liquid and we now have €œmeat and
by-product meal€, €œpoultry meal€, etc. While the processing of
meats and by-products for pet foods can destroy a great deal of the
nutrients in the food, it does 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. This
is why foods that use human grade meat sources are the best choice.
Grain sources must be considered, as well. Along with €œmeat
and bone meals,€ grains such as corn and wheat are usually among the
first ingredients listed on both dry dog and cat food labels.
Most dry foods use grain products for a large portion of the protein
content, but not all protein sources are as readily digested and
utilized. Cats, especially, are carnivores and should derive
their protein from meat, not grains. And, as with the €œmeat€
sources used in these foods, the grains are frequently not whole grain
but the by-products of milling and processing grains for other uses.
Look for dry foods and kibble that use human-grade, wholesome
ingredients. While we recommend feeding raw food a minimum of 3-5
times a week, high quality dry foods can be included in your
companion€™s balanced diet. When feeding dry foods, be sure to
supplement with digestive enzymes and fatty acids. Top dress with
table scraps of leftover meats and vegetables, (Don€™t forget to reduce
the serving of kibble in proportion to the table scraps.
Overfeeding is a common problem for many companion animals and
compounds their risk for poor health and disease).
If you feed your favorite pooch ordinary, store bought dry and/or canned dog food, you may unknowingly be poisoning them.
Always
mindful of health factors within my control I try to plan our family
diet based on an array of wholesome, balanced ingredients that will
help us avoid unnecessary ailments and diseases that afflict many
Americans today. So it seemed a natural extension to become interested
in my dog€™s diet.
And a good thing I did. My research
uncovered very disturbing information about the ingredients that go
into prepared, store bought dog food€”whether it€™s costly, premium, or
sold by your favorite veterinarian.
You€™ll find the most
common ingredient on dog food labels is €œanimal byproducts.€ My
research revealed this mysterious euphemism to be any part of an animal
that is dead, diseased, dying, or disabled; In other words everything
unfit for human consumption!
What€™s more, animals condemned
for hormones, antibiotics, pesticides and residues of other drugs are
sourced for dog, and other pet foods. Byproducts can even include
euthanized (killed by drug overdose) dogs, cats, and horses. And,
you€™ll see that these ingredients are listed in the first few on the
labels of most pet foods because they provide the protein source so
important to canines and felines. It doesn€™t seem to matter to the
manufacturer how toxic the product is for your favorite pooch, as long
as it sells.
BHA, BHT and ethoxyquin are toxic preservatives commonly found in pet foods. How else could foods have such long shelf lives?
And
the manufacturers mask these untasty foods with fats to increase their
palatability to the animal. Discarded, used restaurant grease is a
known source for this fat.
And if the toxicity theme is not
enough to convince you, consider that there€™s virtually no nutritional
value in these foods. We€™re malnourishing man€™s best friend.
Within
a week of switching my 10-year old pet canine to a completely
human-grade food diet I witnessed a marked difference in her health and
energy level.
Her energy level increased exponentially; She
had been sluggish for more than a year, unable to accompany me on long
walks. With the new diet she began chewing her rawhide bones again
which she€™d completely lost interest in, could take (and was interested
in) long walks again and was generally much more alert and playful.
Is Commercial Dog Food making your dog sick? Read to find out what's Really in Pet Food
Plump whole chickens, choice cuts of beef, fresh grains, and all the wholesome nutrition your dog or cat will ever need.
These are the images pet food manufacturers promulgate through
the media and advertising. This is what the $11 billion per year US.
pet food industry wants consumers to believe they are buying when they
purchase their products.
This report
explores the differences between what consumers think they are buying
and what they are actually getting. It focuses in very general terms on
the most visible name brands -- the pet food labels that are
mass-distributed to supermarkets and discount stores -- but there are
many highly respected brands that may be guilty of the same offenses.
What most consumers don't know is that the pet food industry is
an extension of the human food and agriculture industries. Pet food
provides a market for slaughterhouse offal, grains considered "unfit
for human consumption," and similar waste products to be turned into
profit. This waste includes intestines, udders, esophagi, and possibly
diseased and cancerous animal parts.
Three
of the five major pet food companies in the United States are
subsidiaries of major multinational companies: Nestl (Alpo, Fancy
Feast, Friskies, Mighty Dog, and Ralston Purina products such as Dog
Chow, ProPlan, and Purina One), Heinz (9 Lives, Amore, Gravy Train,
Kibbles-n-Bits, Nature's Recipe), Colgate-Palmolive (Hill's Science
Diet Pet Food). Other leading companies include Procter & Gamble
(Eukanuba and Iams), Mars (Kal Kan, Mealtime, Pedigree, Sheba,
Waltham's), and Nutro. From a business standpoint, multinational
companies owning pet food manufacturing companies is an ideal
relationship. The multinationals have increased bulk-purchasing power;
those that make human food products have a captive market in which to
capitalize on their waste products, and pet food divisions have a more
reliable capital base and, in many cases, a convenient source of
ingredients.
There are hundreds of different
pet foods available in this country. And while many of the foods on the
market are similar, not all of the pet food manufacturing companies use
poor quality or potentially dangerous ingredients.
Ingredients
Although the purchase price of pet food does not always
determine whether a pet food is good or bad, the price is often a good
indicator of quality. It would be impossible for a company that sells a
generic brand of dog food at $9.95 for a 40-lb. bag to use quality
protein and grain in its food. The cost of purchasing quality
ingredients would be much higher than the selling price.
The protein used in pet food comes from a variety of sources.
When cattle, swine, chickens, lambs, or other animals are slaughtered,
the choice cuts such as lean muscle tissue are trimmed away from the
carcass for human consumption. However, about 50% of every
food-producing animal does not get used in human foods. Whatever
remains of the carcass -- bones, blood, intestines, lungs, ligaments,
and almost all the other parts not generally consumed by humans -- is
used in pet food, animal feed, and other products. These "other parts"
are known as "by-products," "meat-and-bone-meal," or similar names on
pet food labels.
The Pet Food Institute --
the trade association of pet food manufacturers -- acknowledges the use
of by-products in pet foods as additional income for processors and
farmers: "The growth of the pet food industry not only provided pet
owners with better foods for their pets, but also created profitable
additional markets for American farm products and for the byproducts of
the meat packing, poultry, and other food industries which prepare food
for human consumption.
Many of these
remnants provide a questionable source of nourishment for our animals.
The nutritional quality of meat and poultry by-products, meals, and
digests can vary from batch to batch. James Morris and Quinton Rogers,
two professors with the Department of Molecular Biosciences, University
of California at Davis Veterinary School of Medicine, assert that,
"There is virtually no information on the bioavailability of nutrients
for companion animals in many of the common dietary ingredients used in
pet foods. These ingredients are generally by-products of the meat,
poultry and fishing industries, with the potential for a wide variation
in nutrient composition. Claims of nutritional adequacy of pet foods
based on the current Association of American Feed Control Officials
(AAFCO) nutrient allowances ('profiles') do not give assurances of
nutritional adequacy and will not until ingredients are analyzed and
bioavailability values are incorporated.
Meat and poultry meals, by-product meals, and meat-and-bone meal are
common ingredients in pet foods. The term "meal" means that these
materials are not used fresh, but have been rendered. What is
rendering? Rendering, as defined by Webster's Dictionary, is "to
process as for industrial use: to render livestock carcasses and to
extract oil from fat, blubber, etc., by melting." Home-made chicken
soup, with its thick layer of fat that forms over the top when the soup
is cooled, is a sort of mini-rendering process. Rendering separates
fat-soluble from water-soluble and solid materials, removes most of the
water, and kills bacterial contaminants, but may alter or destroy some
of the natural enzymes and proteins found in the raw ingredients. Meat
and poultry by-products, while not rendered, vary widely in composition
and quality.
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.
Animal and Poultry Fat
You may have noticed a unique, pungent odor when you open a new
bag of pet food -- what is the source of that delightful smell? It is
most often rendered animal fat, restaurant grease, or other oils too
rancid or deemed inedible for humans.
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.
These fats
are sprayed directly onto extruded kibbles and pellets to make an
otherwise bland or distasteful product palatable. The fat also acts as
a binding agent to which manufacturers add other flavor enhancers such
as digests. Pet food scientists have discovered that animals love the
taste of these sprayed fats. Manufacturers are masters at getting a dog
or a cat to eat something she would normally turn up her nose at.
Wheat, Soy, Corn, Peanut Hulls, and Other Vegetable Protein
The amount of grain products used in pet food has risen over the
last decade. Once considered filler by the pet food industry, cereal
and grain products now replace a considerable proportion of the meat
that was used in the first commercial pet foods. The availability of
nutrients in these products is dependent upon the digestibility of the
grain. The amount and type of carbohydrate in pet food determines the
amount of nutrient value the animal actually gets. Dogs and cats can
almost completely absorb carbohydrates from some grains, such as white
rice. Up to 20% of the nutritional value of other grains can escape
digestion. The availability of nutrients for wheat, beans, and oats is
poor. The nutrients in potatoes and corn are far less available than
those in rice. Some ingredients, such as peanut hulls, are used for
filler or fiber, and have no significant nutritional value.
Two of the top three ingredients in pet foods, particularly dry
foods, are almost always some form of grain products. Pedigree
Performance Food for Dogs lists Ground Corn, Chicken By-Product Meal,
and Corn Gluten Meal as its top three ingredients. 9 Lives Crunchy
Meals for cats lists Ground Yellow Corn, Corn Gluten Meal, and Poultry
By-Product Meal as its first three ingredients. Since cats are true
carnivores -- they must eat meat to fulfill certain physiological needs
-- one may wonder why we are feeding a corn-based product to them. The
answer is that corn is a much cheaper "energy source" than meat.
In 1995, Nature's Recipe pulled thousands of tons of dog food
off the shelf after consumers complained that their dogs were vomiting
and losing their appetite. Nature's Recipe's loss amounted to $20
million. The problem was a fungus that produced vomitoxin (an aflatoxin
or "mycotoxin," a toxic substance produced by mold) contaminating the
wheat. In 1999, another fungal toxin triggered the recall of dry dog
food made by Doane Pet Care at one of its plants, including Ol' Roy
(Wal-Mart's brand) and 53 other brands. This time, the toxin killed 25
dogs.
Although it caused many dogs to vomit,
stop eating, and have diarrhea, vomitoxin is a milder toxin than most.
The more dangerous mycotoxins can cause weight loss, liver damage,
lameness, and even death as in the Doane case. The Nature's Recipe
incident prompted the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to intervene.
Dina Butcher, Agriculture Policy Advisor for North Dakota Governor Ed
Schafer, concluded that the discovery of vomitoxin in Nature's Recipe
wasn't much of a threat to the human population because "the grain that
would go into pet food is not a high quality grain.”
Soy is another common ingredient that is sometimes used as a
protein and energy source in pet food. Manufacturers also use it to add
bulk so that when an animal eats a product containing soy he will feel
more sated. While soy has been linked to gas in some dogs, other dogs
do quite well with it. Vegetarian dog foods use soy as a protein source.
Additives and Preservatives
Many chemicals are added to commercial pet foods to improve the
taste, stability, characteristics, or appearance of the food. Additives
provide no nutritional value. Additives include emulsifiers to prevent
water and fat from separating, antioxidants to prevent fat from turning
rancid, and artificial colors and flavors to make the product more
attractive to consumers and more palatable to their companion animals.
Adding chemicals to food originated thousands of years ago with
spices, natural preservatives, and ripening agents. In the last 40
years, however, the number of food additives has greatly increased.
All commercial pet foods must be preserved so they stay fresh
and appealing to our animal companions. Canning is a preserving process
itself, so canned foods contain less preservatives than dry foods. Some
preservatives are added to ingredients or raw materials by the
suppliers, and others may be added by the manufacturer. Because
manufacturers need to ensure that dry foods have a long shelf life to
remain edible after shipping and prolonged storage, fats used in pet
foods are preserved with either synthetic or "natural" preservatives.
Synthetic preservatives include butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and
butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), propyl gallate, propylene glycol (also
used as a less-toxic version of automotive antifreeze), and ethoxyquin.
For these antioxidants, there is little information documenting their
toxicity, safety, interactions, or chronic use in pet foods that may be
eaten every day for the life of the animal.
Potentially cancer-causing agents such as BHA, BHT, and ethoxyquin are
permitted at relatively low levels. The use of these chemicals in pet
foods has not been thoroughly studied, and long term build-up of these
agents may ultimately be harmful. Due to questionable data in the
original study on its safety, ethoxyquin's manufacturer, Monsanto, was
required to perform a new, more rigorous study. This was completed in
1996. Even though Monsanto found no significant toxicity associated
with its own product, in July 1997, the FDA's Center for Veterinary
Medicine requested that manufacturers voluntarily reduce the maximum
level for ethoxyquin by half, to 75 parts per million. While some pet
food critics and veterinarians believe that ethoxyquin is a major cause
of disease, skin problems, and infertility in dogs, others claim it is
the safest, strongest, most stable preservative available for pet food.
Ethoxyquin is approved for use in human food for preserving spices,
such as cayenne and chili powder, at a level of 100 ppm -- but it would
be very difficult to consume as much chili powder every day as a dog
would eat dry food. Ethoxyquin has never been tested for safety in cats.
Some manufacturers have responded to consumer concern, and are
now using "natural" preservatives such as Vitamin C (ascorbate),
Vitamin E (mixed tocopherols), and oils of rosemary, clove, or other
spices, to preserve the fats in their products. Other ingredients,
however, may be individually preserved. Most fish meal, and some
prepared vitamin-mineral mixtures, contain chemical preservatives. This
means that your companion animal may be eating food containing several
types of preservatives. Federal law requires preservatives to be
disclosed on the label; however, pet food companies only recently
started to comply with this law.
Additives in Processed Pet Foods
Anticaking agents
Antimicrobial agents
Antioxidants
Coloring agents
Curing agents
Drying agents
Emulsifiers
Firming agents
Flavor enhancers
Flavoring agents
Flour treating agents
Formulation aids
Humectants
Leavening agents
Lubricants
Nonnutritive sweeteners
Nutritive sweeteners
Oxidizing and reducing agents
pH control agents
Processing aids
Sequestrants
Solvents, vehicles
Stabilizers, thickeners
Surface active agents
Surface finishing agents
Synergists
Texturizers
While the law requires studies of direct toxicity of these
additives and preservatives, they have not been tested for their
potential synergistic effects on each other once ingested. Some authors
have suggested that dangerous interactions occur among some of the
common synthetic preservatives.4 Natural preservatives do not provide
as long a shelf life as chemical preservatives, but they are safe.
The Manufacturing Process
How Pet Food Is Made
Although feeding trials are no longer required for a food to
meet the requirements for labeling a food "complete and balanced," most
manufacturers perform palatability studies when developing a new pet
food. One set of animals is fed a new food while a "control" group is
fed a current formula. The total volume eaten is used as a gauge for
the palatability of the food. The larger and more reputable companies
do use feeding trials, which are considered to be a much more accurate
assessment of the actual nutritional value of the food. They keep large
colonies of dogs and cats for this purpose, or use testing laboratories
that have their own animals.
Most dry food
is made with a machine called an expander or extruder. First, raw
materials are blended, sometimes by hand, other times by computer, in
accordance with a recipe developed by animal nutritionists. This
mixture is fed into an expander and steam or hot water is added. The
mixture is subjected to steam, pressure, and high heat as it is
extruded through dies that determine the shape of the final product and
puffed like popcorn. The food is allowed to dry, and then is usually
sprayed with fat, digests, or other compounds to make it more
palatable. Although the cooking process may kill bacteria in pet food,
the final product can lose its sterility during the subsequent drying,
fat coating, and packaging process. A few foods are baked at high
temperatures rather than extruded. This produces a dense, crunchy
kibble that is palatable without the addition of sprayed on
palatability enhancers. Animals can be fed about 25% less of a baked
food, by volume (but not by weight), than an extruded food.
Ingredients are similar for wet, dry, and semi-moist foods,
although the ratios of protein, fat, and fiber may change. A typical
can of ordinary cat food reportedly contains about 45-50% meat or
poultry by-products. The main difference between the types of food is
the water content. It is impossible to directly compare labels from
different kinds of food without a mathematical conversion to "dry
matter basis."5 Wet or canned food begins with ground ingredients mixed
with additives. If chunks are required, a special extruder forms them.
Then the mixture is cooked and canned. The sealed cans are then put
into containers resembling pressure cookers and commercial
sterilization takes place. Some manufacturers cook the food right in
the can.
There are special labeling
requirements for pet food, all of which are contained in the annually
revised Official Publication of AAFCO.6 The use of the terms "all" or
"100%" cannot be used "if the product contains more than one
ingredient, not including water sufficient for processing,
decharacterizing agents, or trace amounts of preservatives and
condiments." Products containing multiple ingredients are covered by
AAFCO Regulation PF3(b) and (c). The "95% rule" applies when the
ingredient(s) derived from animals, poultry, or fish constitutes at
least 95% or more of the total weight of the product (or 70% excluding
water for processing).
Because all-meat
diets are usually not nutritionally balanced, they fell out of favor
for many years. However, due to rising consumer interest in high
quality meat products, several companies are now promoting 95% and 100%
canned meats as a supplemental feeding option.
The "dinner" product is defined by the 25% Rule, which applies
when "an ingredient or a combination of ingredients constitutes at
least 25% of the weight of the product" (excluding water sufficient for
processing) as long as the ingredient(s) shall constitute at least 10%
of the total product weight; and a descriptor that implies other
ingredients are included in the product formula is used on the label.
Such descriptors include "recipe," "platter," "entree," and "formula."
A combination of ingredients included in the product name is
permissible when each ingredient comprises at least 3% of the product
weight, excluding water for processing, and the ingredient names appear
in descending order by weight.
The "with"
rule allows an ingredient name to appear on the label, such as "with
real chicken," as long as each such ingredient constitutes at least 3%
of the food by weight, excluding water for processing.
The "flavor" rule allows a food to be designated as a certain
flavor as long as the ingredient(s) are sufficient to "impart a
distinctive characteristic"to the food. Thus, a "beef flavor" food may
contain a small quantity of digest or other extract of tissues from
cattle, without containing any actual beef meat at all.
What Happened to the Nutrients?
Dr. Randy L. Wysong is a veterinarian and produces his own line
of pet foods. A long-time critic of pet food industry practices, he
said, "Processing is the wild card in nutritional value that is, by and
large, simply ignored. Heating, cooking, rendering, freezing,
dehydrating, canning, extruding, pelleting, baking, and so forth, are
so commonplace that they are simply thought of as synonymous with food
itself."7 Processing meat and by-products used in pet food can greatly
diminish their nutritional value, but cooking increases the
digestibility of cereal grains.
To make pet
food nutritious, pet food manufacturers must "fortify" it with vitamins
and minerals. Why? Because the ingredients they are using are not
wholesome, their quality may be extremely variable, and the harsh
manufacturing practices destroy many of the nutrients the food had to
begin with.
Contaminants
Commercially manufactured or rendered meat meals and by-product
meals are frequently highly contaminated with bacteria because their
source is not always slaughtered animals. Animals that have died
because of disease, injury, or natural causes are a source of meat for
meat meal. The dead animal might not be rendered until days after its
death. Therefore the carcass is often contaminated with bacteria such
as Salmonella and Escherichia coli. Dangerous E. Coli bacteria are
estimated to contaminate more than 50% of meat meals. While the cooking
process may kill bacteria, it does not eliminate the endotoxins some
bacteria produce during their growth and are released when they die.
These toxins can cause sickness and disease. Pet food manufacturers do
not test their products for endotoxins.
Mycotoxins -- These toxins comes from mold or fungi, such as vomitoxin
in the Nature's Recipe case, and aflatoxin in Doane's food. Poor
farming practices and improper drying and storage of crops can cause
mold growth. Ingredients that are most likely to be contaminated with
mycotoxins are grains such as wheat and corn, cottonseed meal, peanut
meal, and fish meal.
Labeling
The National Research Council (NRC) of the Academy of Sciences
set the nutritional standards for pet food that were used by the pet
food industry until the late 1980s. The NRC standards, which still
exist and are being revised as of 2001, were based on purified diets,
and required feeding trials for pet foods claimed to be "complete" and
"balanced." The pet food industry found the feeding trials too
restrictive and expensive, so AAFCO designed an alternate procedure for
claiming the nutritional adequacy of pet food, by testing the food for
compliance with "Nutrient Profiles." AAFCO also created "expert
committees" for canine and feline nutrition, which developed separate
canine and feline standards. While feeding trials can still be done, a
standard chemical analysis may be also be used to determine if a food
meets the profiles.
Chemical analysis,
however, does not address the palatability, digestibility, or
biological availability of nutrients in pet food. Thus it is unreliable
for determining whether a food will provide an animal with sufficient
nutrients.
To compensate for the limitations
of chemical analysis, AAFCO added a "safety factor," which was to
exceed the minimum amount of nutrients required to meet the complete
and balanced requirements.
The digestibility and availability of nutrients is not listed on pet food labels.
The 100% Myth -- Problems Caused by Inadequate Nutrition
The idea of one pet food providing all the nutrition a companion
animal will ever need for its entire life is a myth.
Cereal grains are the primary ingredients in most commercial pet
foods. Many people select one pet food and feed it to their dogs and
cats for a prolonged period of time. Therefore, companion dogs and cats
eat a primarily carbohydrate diet with little variety. Today, the diets
of cats and dogs are a far cry from the primarily protein diets with a
lot of variety that their ancestors ate. The problems associated with a
commercial diet are seen every day at veterinary establishments.
Chronic digestive problems, such as chronic vomiting, diarrhea, and
inflammatory bowel disease are among the most frequent illnesses
treated. These are often the result of an allergy or intolerance to pet
food ingredients. The market for "limited antigen" or "novel protein"
diets is now a multi-million dollar business. These diets were
formulated to address the increasing intolerance to commercial foods
that animals have developed. The newest twist is the truly
"hypoallergenic" food that has had all its proteins artificially
chopped into pieces smaller than can be recognized and reacted to by
the immune system.
Dry commercial pet food
is often contaminated with bacteria, which may or may not cause
problems. Improper food storage and some feeding practices may result
in the multiplication of this bacteria. For example, adding water or
milk to moisten pet food and then leaving it at room temperature causes
bacteria to multiply.8 Yet this practice is suggested on the back of
packages of some kitten and puppy foods.
Pet
food formulas and the practice of feeding that manufacturers recommend
have increased other digestive problems. Feeding only one meal per day
can cause the irritation of the esophagus by stomach acid. Feeding two
smaller meals is better.
Feeding
recommendations or instructions on the packaging are sometimes inflated
so that the consumer will end up purchasing more food. However, Procter
& Gamble allegedly took the opposite tack with its Iams and
Eukanuba lines, reducing the feeding amounts in order to claim that its
foods were less expensive to feed. Independent studies commissioned by
a competing manufacturer suggested that these reduced levels were
inadequate to maintain health. Procter & Gamble has since sued and
been countersued by that competing manufacturer, and a consumer
complaint has also been filed seeking class-action status for harm
caused to dogs by the revised feeding instructions.
Urinary tract disease is directly related to diet in both cats
and dogs. Plugs, crystals, and stones in cat bladders are often
triggered or aggravated by commercial pet food formulas. One type of
stone found in cats is less common now, but another more dangerous type
has become more common. Manipulation of manufactured cat food formulas
to alter the acidity of urine and the amount of some minerals has
directly affected these diseases. Dogs also form stones as a result of
their diet.
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.
Rapid growth in large breed puppies has been shown to contribute
to bone and joint disease. Excess calories and calcium in some
manufactured puppy foods promoted rapid growth. There are now special
puppy foods for large breed dogs. But this recent change will not help
the countless dogs who lived and died with hip and elbow disease.
There is also evidence that hyperthyroidism in cats may be
related to excess iodine in commercial pet food diets.9 This is a new
disease that first surfaced in the 1970s, when canned food products
appeared on the market. The exact cause and effect are not yet known.
This is a serious and sometimes terminal disease, and treatment is
expensive.
Many nutritional problems
appeared with the popularity of cereal-based commercial pet foods. Some
have occurred because the diet was incomplete. Although several
ingredients are now supplemented, we do not know what ingredients
future researchers may discover that should have been supplemented in
pet foods all along. Other problems may result from reactions to
additives. Others are a result of contamination with bacteria, mold,
drugs, or other toxins. In some diseases the role of commercial pet
food is understood; in others, it is not. The bottom line is that diets
composed primarily of low quality cereals and rendered meat meals are
not as nutritious or safe as you should expect for your cat or dog.
(Revised 01/29/02)
1997-2002 by The Animal Protection Institute.
Reprinted with permission from The Animal Protection Institute
