Canine Nutrition

Pet food labels conceal MSG, imported ingredients, meat meal i.e. road-kill, diseased livestock, slaughter house or veterinary waste including euthanized pets.

QUALITY CONTROL & LABEL LIES

The Problem And Solution For Misleading Pet Food Labels

by Barbara J. Andrews Publisher, TheDogPlace

We've seen a decline in dog food recalls compared to the days of melamine but scent enhancers (ii Palatants), imported "ingredients" and dangerous deceit in both human and pet food labels raise risk of contamination.

If there's one thing dog owners love to talk about, it is Canine Nutrition. The fact is, most pets (and their owners) are nutritionally SICK.  By 2005, genetically engineered organisms (GMO) steroids and the rise in imported ingredients had permeated both human and pet food supplies. ^{{Ref #1}}

First, some elementary stuff. Pet food research facilities have established what constitutes good canine nutrition. Problem is, the lab technician's idea of "good nutrition" may not jibe with your dog's instincts and what nature intended. Your dog will eat whatever you give him because he is hungry. That does not mean it is what he wants or what’s best for him - "dog food" is his only alternative to starvation.

It is up to you to figure out what your dog needs. Most of you have. Dogs are carnivores. Meat eaters. Historically speaking, carnivores never consumed grain and neither did his prey. Deer, rabbits, mice, etc. all ate fruit, grass and other green vegetation.

While we might be able to make a better pet food than commercial rations, hardly anyone has the time so let's assume that we all use some amount of kibble.

There's a basic premise about all commercially prepared foods. You are as likely to get total nutrition from a bag as you are to get it from a box of cereal.  Would you raise your child on nothing but dry cereal? A healthy diet must include "live" foods such as fruits and veggies, and yes, meat.

Again, Dogs are carnivores. They need fresh meat, fish and poultry, none of which is contaminated with drugs, growth hormones, and chemical preservatives.  And gross as it is, no carnivore was meant to eat your neighbor's pet that the vet put to sleep and whose remains were sent to a rendering plant.  ^{{Ref #2}  Dog Eat Dog}

Companion animals generally DO NOT receive "total nutrition" or wholesome food, no matter what the label says. Why do you think priceless zoo animals are given fresh meat and/or veggies and fruit along with their commercial rations? Is your dog just as precious to you? If so... you can afford real meat, fresh fruit and vegetables. 

Any honest veterinarian will agree that dogs are experiencing ever-increasing problems associated with diet. Why? Because labels lie. Sure, you read labels but monitoring pet food labels is waaay down on the FDA's list of importance

In order for the manufacturer to provide a premium product, he must know the ingredients are as represented. Those ingredients must reach your pet in a stable form which is still of benefit to the animal. I have good friends in the pet food business. They sincerely believe their product is all it's cracked up to be. I hope they are reading this because they are living in a make-believe world.

The problem is quality control. I used to think the good folks in the lab coats knew what was in the product. Then one day I had reason to be curious about a couple of ingredients. That's when I discovered things aren’t always what they seem to be.

The U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) is considered the "standard" whereby nutrient products are tested. The problem is that only 64 of the more than 2,000 pages in the inspector guide book actually deal with assays, the procedure which validates the content of a particular substance. The USP book gives no assay methods for testing common nutrients such as amino acids, herbs, or plant extracts.

There's more. Multi-nutrient products such as pet food or vitamin powders are practically impossible to assay. If there’s a combination of physiologically active substances, the USP book cautions that assays results will be compromised.

HPLC (High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography) machines are most commonly used for assays. They must be re-calibrated by running standard reference materials. Then exactly the right solutions and solvent must be used and the raw data carefully calculated, analyzed, and interpreted. That takes time. A lot of time. And there's no margin for error or the results will be off.  All that it has to be repeated for each different ingredient.

In other words, it rarely happens in pet foods.  Instead, the pet food company buyer trusts the seller is selling what he says he's selling. The CEO trusts that the buyer got what he bought and that the company chemist knows what's really in the product.  The chemist at the research lab doesn’t think about the results being compromised by ingredients that aren't in the product or those that are but shouldn't be.

What does this mean? Oh not much, unless you are concerned about what's in that product.  If you are trying to check pet food ingredients ^{Ref #3 - check pet food ingredients}, you expect accuracy but that may be hard to ascertain because the pet food manufacturer may not know for sure or worse yet, may not care!

My solution? I'm back to chopping veggies and planting herbs and looking for healthy butcher beef.  I'm even thinking about raising some chickens or maybe rabbits. But I don't know anyone to kill and slaughter them....

Ref #1 Genetically Modified Frankenfoods   ~   Ref #2 Dog Eat Dog    ~   Ref #3 Dog Food Ingredients

Do you know what "denatured" ingredients in pet food are and why you NEED to know? Here's Instant Information on ii Denatured Ingredient in pet food..

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