If the people who make the nutritional supplements for us humans regularly cheat on what’s in them, as they been caught doing time and time again, what do you think they put in the stuff we give our pets?
Chances are you're feeding your cat or dog “pet food” you bought at the grocery, vet’s office or pet store. It comes in a can, a bag or a box and on the label somewhere it will claim to be “full and balanced nutrition”. You put it in a bowl thinking its what your animal is supposed to eat. Generations of cats and dogs have been raised on “pet food”. No problem, right? But then, why does your five year-old dog have arthritis? Why is your cat so lethargic, losing weight or been to the vet three times this month? Maybe it’s time to question whether your idea of “complete and balanced nutrition” is the same as whoever puts those words on the label.....
The fact is whoever makes the stuff you feed your pet decides for themselves what constitutes “a complete and balanced diet”. There is no regulatory body anywhere that sets minimum standards.
You Don’t Want to Know....
Commercial pet food sold in supermarkets, pet stores and elsewhere is a mixture of rendered (cooked) animals including road kill, unwanted animal parts such as diseased organs from slaughter houses, chicken feet, beaks, feathers and excrement. It is blended with a vitamin mix, doused with flavouring and colouring to mask the grey colour, put into a bag, box or can, labeled and sold. Except for brands that specifically use “human grade” meat, all commercial pet food is literally garbage nobody wants.
In the US, on the few occasions the FDA has checked, pet food has been found to contain unacceptably high levels of highly toxic chemicals dioxin and aflatoxin, as well as metal fragments. Even more worrying are the complaints the FDA has been receiving from vets and pet owners that pet food contains the anaesthetic pentobarbital that is commonly used to put cats and dogs “to sleep”. Vets have been reporting that cats and dogs they have been attempting to put down have developed a tolerance to the drug. It takes a lot more of the drug than it should to euthanize them.
How could animals that never had the drug suddenly have such tolerance to it? The explanation, according to the FDA, is that they’re ingesting it from pet food. What that means is that euthanized cats and dogs are routinely being sent to rendering plants and made into cat and dog food.
If you doubt people would do such a thing to turn a buck, just spare a thought to the diseased sheep they fed to cows, which they then sold to us thus introducing the world to the horrors of mad cow disease.
Read the Label
The first ingredient in quality pet food is meat. Many pet foods don’t have any. High-quality protein is vital to the health of dogs and cats. Cats are strict carnivores and must have meat protein in their diet. Dogs are omnivores, able to utilise both animal and plant proteins. Chicken, beef, turkey or other meat listed as the first or only ingredient indicates that the food is the highest quality commercial pet food you can buy.
“ Meat by-products” is the next grade down. By-products are things the slaughter house doesn’t want - like chicken heads, brains, blood, lungs, bone or diseased livers.
The word “meal” or “hydrolyzed” indicates that the food is the
bottom-of-the-barrel. This “meat” is from rendering plants, which take in road-kill, euthanised animals and other refuse.
Colourings & Flavourings like propylene glycol, ethoxyquin and BHT are potentially toxic when ingested repeatedly. “Corn gluten meal” appears in many pet foods. It conjures up visions of fresh corn. In reality, it’s what’s left of a corn kernel after all the good part is taken out. These and other “grains” such as “brewer’s rice” are virtually devoid of nutrition.
Keeping them Healthy....
Commercial pet food is the fast food of the animal world. It’s quick, it’s easy, but is it really cheap?
Certainly not, if you consider what so many of them contain. And not, if you count the number of vet visits caused by chronic nutritional deficiencies that accumulate over the years.
I guess it depends on how much you value your pet and want them around. If you feed them a diet of commercial pet food alone you are almost certainly shortening their lifespan quite a lot. Even if you are an expert in reading pet food labels and buy the best, you still need to vary their diet and give them nutritional supplements if you want them to live a reasonably long and healthy life.
In case you wonder, I do know of what I speak. We had two cats, a Burmese and a Siamese, who came to us as kittens within a month or so of each other. They both died a few months shy of their 20th birthday, again within a month or so of each other. I have heard of cats living as long as 30, but a lifespan of 20 years is pretty respectable for a cat. We fed them on a diet of freshly cooked chicken, fish, rice and some vegetables. They had a top-grade daily dietary supplement mixed in with their food and as a special treat we gave them a small amount of some commercial pet food crackers. God knows what was really in those. Bit like sweets for kids, I suppose.
The fact is our pets benefit from the same high-quality nutrients that protect us. Vitamin antioxidants C and E protect against early aging, and many diseases like arthritis, heart disease, liver and kidney disease. High levels of taurine and other amino acids protect both cats and dogs from heart disease, hypertension, renal failure, retinal degradation and other degenerative diseases. Probiotics can potentially protect dogs and cats from killer bacteria like salmonella and provide a good source of Vitamin B. And although cats can’t convert beta-carotene to vitamin A, they can use it to enhance their immune system.
Here’s what leading US vet and dietitian, Richard E Palmquist, DVM suggests as an optimum dietary supplement for your cat or dog:
For your Cat.....
Amino Acids: L-Taurine 150mg, L-Arginine 75mg: Antioxidants: Vit C 25mg, Vit E (succinate) 5 IU, Green Tea Extract 1mg; Essential Vitamins: Vit B1 (thiamin) 2mg, B2 (riboflavin 1mg, B3 (niacin) 2.5mg, B5 (pantothenic acid) 2mg, B6 (pyridoxine) 2mg, B12 (methylcobalmin) 2 mcg, Folic Acid 500mcg. Essential Fatty Acids: Arachidonic Acid from freeze dried egg yolk 25mg. Protein synthesis & water balance: Betaine (TMG) 25mg. Probiotics: Biomate LS-20 concentrate 50mg. Mixed Carotenoids: Betadene (supplying 95.5 IU Vit A). Glucose metabolism & longevity: Lipoic Acid 500mcg. Cancer prevention: Labiatae extract (from rosemary, thyme & sage) 10mg.
For your Dog.....
Amino Acids: L-Carnitine 50mg. Antioxidants: Vit C 50mg, Vit E (succinate) 25 IU. Essential Vitamins: B1 2mg, B2 5mg, B3 4mg, B5 2mg, B6 2mg, B12 10mcg, Folic Acid 500mcg. Essential Fatty Acids: Flax seed (ground) 250mg. Protein Synthesis & water balance: Betaine (TMG) 250mg. Probiotics: Biomate probiotic concentrate 75mg. Mixed carotenoids: Betadene 5mg (supplying 477 IU), Lycopene 2mg, Glucose metabolism & longevity: Lipoic Acid 5mg. Cancer prevention: Labiatae extract: 30mg.
This is about as good as it can get for your pet, so when buying a multi for your animal, try and match it up against the above as much as possible.
Pick an “Alternative” Vet
I dread to think how many animals have been put down unnecessarily because a loving owner was told that it was the only kind thing to do. As often as not, the truth is that the vet didn’t know what nutritional supplementation can do to prevent and reverse the chronic and degenerative conditions that so often affect our pets. With cats it is often kidney disease, in dogs it is arthritis, dementia or diabetes. These are often the result of some dietary deficiency and in each case there are nutritional treatments that can effect seemingly miraculous cures, often within days. If you want to find out about these find a good pet site go on line or buy a book like Dr Pitcairn’s “Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats”.
I’ve always liked animals, not just pets, and the older I become the more I like them. Mammals possess the full emotionalrange that humans do, only lacking a particular level of self-consciousness that we humans acquired comparatively recently. The ideathat man has been given dominion over animals by God to dispose of them in any way we see fit seems to me an abomination that is increasingly coming back to haunt us.
In any event, you can tell a lot about a person from the way they look after their animals. Nothing so becomes us as to do it well and we are showered with blessings when we do.
