As I searched for pet health information over the past 5 years,
I came upon published books and articles explaining in gruesome detail what
kind of disgusting ingredients and unwholesome materials go into the manufacture
of pet food ingredients. I found myself truly horrified. First I was shocked;
then, quite sickened. Somewhere along the way I became angry, but my final
reaction was determination to feed my pets truly healthy, wholesome food.
You know, the kind WE buy to eat that has live wholesome enzymes, life giving,
quality nutrition.
Now for you to truly understand what kind of garbage you may
be feeding your companion animals out of that bag of pet food, I will need
to list some of the ingredients which so disgusted me. I will warn you now
that I did reach a point where I wished I never learned it all. Mainly because
I would sit and look back at past pets which we loved so dearly and never
knew what we were feeding them, never knew what we were doing to them. It
truly IS that gruesome. There's no turning back after you read it, either.
You may feel guilty the rest of your life for pouring kibble into the feeding
bowl of that friendly, loving, furry companion who trusts you and relies solely
on you for nutrition and his well-being.
I will keep this list as short as possible, while still getting
the message across. You can search internet articles and purchase books which
will explain and list in even more gruesome detail the horror of pet food
ingredients. You should also be aware that you're not going to see these listed
by name on an ingredient label. They have wonderful (not!) Rules and regulations
in place, on just what they do or do not have to put on their pet food labeling.
There are category name 'disguises' for various ingredient, and so forth.
Just reading excerpts from an actual AAFCO regulations manual on what's "allowable"
in the rendered ingredient mixes is unbelievably disheartening, and disgusting.
Nobody else is looking out for the health of our pets - so truly, we have
to educate ourselves in order to protect them.
4D ingredients = Dead, Diseased, Disabled, Dying animals - including road
kill, zoo animals and such.
Feathers (disguised as poultry protein products), beaks, bowels,
cancerous tissues, spoiled meats, blood soaked sawdust, cattle ear tags and
other plastics which 'accidentally' make it into the rendering vat, and more.
Toxic denaturing chemicals such as creosote, carbolic acid,
citronella, kerosene, Phenol (from distillation of coal tar) - these have
to be applied to meats not fit for human consumption so they cannot “accidentally”
make it to a discount market for human consumption.
Preservatives such as BHA, BHT (both known to cause liver
and kidney dysfunction), Ethoxyquin - a tire rubber preservative suspected
of being a cancer causing agent. Ethoxyquin isn’t used in human food
anymore, but is still allowed in animal foods.
Euthanized pets from Vet clinics - including:
... Sodium pentobarbital, the most commonly used drug for euthanization, shown
to survive the rendering (cooking) process without degradation, and, when
ingested has been shown to cause liver, kidney and renal failure. Tests were
done on some pet foods to determine if this was detectable and indeed it was
found in many foods. An official chart showing results of the foods that were
tested was circulating the internet for awhile and posted on a website. I
don’t know at this point if it is still available as I heard they found
it unfair to report this publicly since “not all commercial pet foods
were tested” and it made the appearance of singling out certain companies.
I’ll post the link on this page if I can find that testing information
still available.
I wouldn't want to ruin a good book on this subject, or productive
internet search by giving you all the gruesome details here. It’s better
to seek out more information yourselves than to take the word of one or two
individuals and I encourage everyone to take the necessary time for this kind
of education. Your furkids diet and health is your responsibility, no one
else’s. I’m just here nudging you in the right direction. Hyperlinks
below will help you learn more along the way.
I feel I shouldn't be sitting here telling of all this nasty
trash you may be feeding your furry friends, without offering you alternative
information to make you feel better. There is a better way to feed and care
for your companion animals. The BEST way, in my opinion as well as many others
including some breeders, Veterinarians, and nutritionists, is commonly known
and referred to as B.A.R.F.
BARF stands for Biologically appropriate raw foods - - or
"Bones and raw foods" There are others. It's basically the same
thing - it just depends on who you ask. There are some excellent books on
raw feeding and the authors as well as e-groups on the internet have variations
to diet formulations but most of them offer sound diet advice. The key to
understanding the appropriateness of a raw diet is in knowing that, although
we like to think of our furkids as "our kids," their digestive tracts
and dietary needs are very different from our own human digestive tracts.
They don’t really need grains which make up the bulk of what is in commercial
canned and kibble foods. And, they can digest RAW bones as long as their GI
systems are functioning well and the size of the bones fed is reasonable.
Never, ever feed *cooked* bones to an animal.
I suppose the next best choice after a raw diet would be to
home 'cook' for your pets. Not the bones, of course. But the meats and veggies
that you would be feeding. It is more time consuming and has less nutritional
benefits. Some will argue that cooking the food is necessary to help destroy
chemicals in the meats etc. we buy from our grocers - many disagree with this
idea. Fear-mongers will have you cooking your pets food (or worse, feeding
kibble) while many nutritionally educated sources will explain in detail why
it isn't necessary, and is less beneficial since it kills all the living enzymes
in the raw foods. I do want to say that there are going to be individual cases
where an animal is ill, weak, sensitive, has allergies or some other situation
that will call for the transfer from kibble or canned food to go to home cooked
diet. Some animals do not do well with a transfer to a raw diet “cold
turkey” so to speak. And some people just don’t have the guts,
no pun intended, to feed raw meat and bone products to their pets.
My favorite visualization when first contemplating the raw
diet was when I read the question, in more than one book or article, “Have
you ever seen a wolf or fox standing out in the woods over a hot stove, a
big pot of stew simmering?” They don’t cook their food. Some people
will go out of the way to buy organic: antibiotic, hormone and pesticide-free
meat and produce so they will feel more comfortable feeding raw foods to their
pets. This can become cost prohibitive for most people. The cost of a regular
(grocery store) raw diet is affordable for most people and it will help to
do some research on sources of foods in your area. Whether you choose raw
or cooked, a home prepared diet will give you peace of mind in knowing what
your furkids are consuming. In very many cases - boasted throughout the internet
on groups and bulletin boards - the best benefits: it could save a life, improve
health, and reduce your veterinary bills by providing *optimal* nutrition
and health for your companion animals. Good wholesome food can be as ‘preventive’
medicine.
There are now available commercially RAW diets for pets! They
are frozen and may need to be shipped to you, so these can be expensive if
you don’t have a distributor located in your area. Certainly they are
worth looking into since it will save you a great deal of preparation time,
takes some of the guesswork out of the nutritional products to add, while
also allowing you to feed raw food to your pets where you may feel otherwise
you could not. Pets4Homeopathy
remedy products,
plus Nutrition supplements and Herbal products may be of help periodically
for
Detoxification benefits, system cleansing,
immune boosting, and so forth.
Finally, since there are some people who feel they just cannot
make time for this change in their life no matter how much they love their
pets, or cannot afford the raw meat prices at their local stores or co-ops,
there are some more reasonable commercial pet foods available. Usually these
are found on the internet, obtained by mail order or found in specialty stores
like grooming stores, special pet stores, feed stores. They contain at least
some ingredients which were originally "fit for human consumption"
in their products and they try to not use excessive preservatives. Those companies
do all they can to provide better animal nutrition for the furry friends of
owners who become aware of the unwanted garbage in commercial foods, yet they
likely still cut corners somewhere so they can make their profit. If you must
use a commercially prepared product, try to choose canned first. Our animals
systems were not meant to consume dry, extruded kibble that swells up in the
stomach, leaching precious body fluid continually from the system. Should
you need to feed dry food for any reason, always keep fresh water available
24 hours a day, 7 days per week. Offer a healthy homemade chicken broth, cooled
and watered down, once or twice a day as a snack or treat if you feed kibble
diets.
No matter what diet your pet is currently consuming, when
you change to a new diet try to transition them slowly over a period of a
few weeks. Many people switch to raw overnight, literally. In some cases this
is not advisable - for instance with very sick animals, older animals and
others. Do not feed raw and cooked or kibbled food together. These digest
at different rates and can cause digestive problems. If you introduce raw
or cooked diets, while still feeding kibble, keep the types of meals separate
by at least 8 hours. Consider using a digestive enzyme product no matter what
type of foods you feed. Discuss with your vet what changes you would like
to make to your pets diet. If they become angry or irate, telling you that
it’s not safe and you should not try to prepare meals at home for your
pets, it’s probably time for a new vet. Consider locating a holistic
veterinary service near you which will not only encourage you to feed a homemade
diet to your pets, but assist in advising you with tips and reading materials.
There’s more Nutritional information to come in future
here at
Pets for Homeopathy. Please visit periodically to check for
new material, articles, special sales, updates. In the meantime,
please
research more information to help you in your search for Natural and Holistic
health and dietary information on the internet.
What
comes to mind first when I think of kibble is "trash." “Those
are trash bags lining the shelves of the grocery store, disguised as pet food,”
I tell myself. Of course, I didn't used to think of that food as trash! I
fell for the pretty pictures and sentimental advertising which convince us
that there are wholesome, high quality ingredients in a bag or can of food.
