What ARE We Feeding Our Pets?

By Julie Cantonwine

If you watch any television at all you’re bound to see the ads: sleek and handsome purebred dogs running across the screen in slow motion, so eager to reach the bowl of Gravy Train (or Alpo, or Mighty Dog, you name the brand). Many times the dogs are accompanied by their “owners” (trainers and veterinarians) telling us how wholesome and nutritious this food is for their beloved pets.

Commercial pet food is a great convenience for busy pet owners, but do we really know what we are feeding our furry friends and companions? The $11 billion per year U.S. pet food industry would like us to believe that we are feeding our animals a wholesome and nutritious diet as it tries so hard to portray in ads.

What most consumers don’t know is that the pet food industry is just an extension of the human food and agriculture industries: a way for these large companies to get rid of their waste. What is really in pet food? The answer to this question is shocking and disturbing but important for the well-informed consumer to know. The majority of commercial pet foods are made by a handful of large multinational companies.

Alpo, Fancy Feast, Friskies, and Mighty Dog are produced by Nestlé. 9-Lives, Amore, Gravy Train, Kibbles & Bits, Recipe, Vets are from Heinz. Colgate makes Hills Science Diet, Proctor & Gamble produces Eukanuba and Iams.

According to Dr. Richard Pitcairn from Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats no mandatory federal inspection exists of ingredients used in pet food manufacturing. In all but two or three states, the law allows pet food makers to use “4-D sources,” that is tissues from animals that are dead, dying, disabled, or diseased when they arrive at the slaughterhouse. Another shocking fact is that before meat even arrives at the rendering plant it has already been saturated with chemicals.

To comply with government regulations all meat rejected by slaughterhouse must be “denatured,” a procedure designed to make it unpalatable to humans, thus ensuring it cannot be resold as human-grade meat. There are a variety of methods used. Dr. Wendell Belfied, DVM (former USDA vet) wrote in Let’s Live magazine, “In my time as a veterinary meat inspector, we denatured with carbolic acid (phenol, a potentially corrosive disinfectant).“ According to federal meat inspection regulations fuel oil, kerosene, carbolic acid, and citronella are the approved denaturing materials used. Other foods rejected by the USDA that end up in pet foods include moldy grains and rancid animal fats.

According to an article in Environmental News (March ’99) a large percentage of
commercial pet food is made up of meat by-products: a toxic brew containing diseased and contaminated meat from slaughterhouses, animal heads, toenails, chicken feathers, beaks, and feet. It also includes dead animals picked up from the nation’s roads, restaurant grease, and thousands of animals euthanized in animal hospitals and shelters (flea collars and all). Along with the meat come any drugs that have been introduced into the animals such as hormones, antibiotics, and barbiturates used to put pets to sleep. Unsold supermarket meats arrive in their original Styrofoam and plastic packaging are tossed into the pot.

If you haven’t already made some changes in your pet’s diet, this information will certainly make you want to seek some alternatives. One good resource for dietary information is Dr. Pitcairn’s book, which contains recipes to make your pet’s food as well as natural alternatives to commercial foods. Foods Pets Die For by Ann Martin, is another good source of information and easy recipes.

According to the Whole Dog Journal, (vol.3, no.8, August 2000), quality foods should contain the following:

Superior sources of protein (whole meats or single-source meat meal).

A meat source as one of the first two ingredients (chicken or chicken meal for instance).

Whole, unprocessed grains, vegetables and other foods (rich in nutrients and enzymes).

Quality foods should NOT contain:
Meat by-products (which are produced through the rendering process)
Artificial preservatives (BHA, BHT, or ethoxyquin)
Artificial colors, sweeteners, and propylene glycol

It’s important for all pet owners to be aware of the potentially dangerous ingredients that are in most commercial pet foods. Of course, just as in humans, a natural diet is the best for our companion pet’s good health. A healthy pet is a happy pet.