Pet Food Debacle What Are the Alternatives?
Oh, boy, I've already said it a hundred times; thank goodness I feed a raw diet to my dogs.
Since March 16, more than 60,000 pet food items from over 100 brands have been recalled after the discovery that the chemical melamine found in imported raw materials (wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate) has been making thousands of companions sick. There are reports that over 4,000 companion dogs and cats have died, according to a report at www.petconnection.com and possibly 39,000 companions affected according to a chain of veterinary clinics across the U.S. I don't know if that is fact or not but in the United States, melamine is feared as a killer of cats and dogs and a potential threat to humans. Yet in China, the mildly toxic chemical melamine is commonly used in animal feed, according to the managers of a feed company and one of the chemical's producers. Melamine was found in some hogs in the U.S. What are the implications to the human food chain?
By the end of March, veterinary organizations reported more than 100 pet deaths amongst nearly 500 cases of kidney failure, with one online database self-reporting as many as 3,600 deaths as of April 11th. As of April 8th, Menu Foods has confirmed only about 16 deaths. The FDA refuses to estimate the amount of sick or dead because there is no centralized government records database of animal sickness or death in the United States as there are with humans (such as the CDC). As a result, many sources speculate that the actual number of affected pets may never be known and experts are concerned that the actual death toll could potentially reach into the thousands.
It's not the first time a recall of processed pet food has been made. There was the recall involving vomitoxin in Nature's Recipe dry pet foods in 1995; the aflatoxin episode in 1998 that involved dry pet foods made by Doane Products and in 2003, certain lots of GO! Natural dry pet foods recalled due to dogs that became sick or died. In 2005 there was another aflatoxin poisoning caused by some dry pet foods made by Diamond Pet Food. There isn't much discrimination since the big marketing names of (Hill's) Science Diet, Purina, Eukanuba, Nutro Natural Choice, Natural Balance, Iams, Royal Canin and the cheap and lesser know brands such as Stop & Shop, Alpo and WalMart's Ol' Roy all appear on the recall lists. Those of us who feed raw have known for a very long time about the pet food industries "indiscretions" when it comes to some of the ingredients they put into their products and where they get these ingredients. I am not including the higher quality ingredient brands, such as Merrick's, Neuman's Own or Wellness and many are now using some or all organic ingredients. I'm talking about pretty much everything in a supermarket, discount store or vet's office.
When one considers that dog and cat food sales in the United States reached over $143 billion in 2005, according to the Pet food Institute that represents manufacturers of commercial pet food, you can understand what is at stake—profit. If you think this industry has the health of your companion in mind you are very mistaken.
So, What Are the Alternatives?
There are a number of options when feeding our companions and three are 1) feeding raw, 2) feeding homecooked or prepared food or 3) feed only food from a company that uses higher quality ingredients, organic ingredients or is happy to tell you where all their ingredients come from. Any company that uses the "proprietary" excuse wouldn't get my money.
If you want to look into raw feeding, read Kymythy Schultze's, The Ultimate Diet, Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats or go to www.BRAVOrawdiet.com and order their $2.00 booklet, which is a good overview of switching to raw.
If you want to home cook/prepare food, it is just as simple. Read Dr. Richard Pitcairn's book, Health Care for Dogs and Cats as it gives a good start to home prepared food.
If you want to continue feeding kibble or canned then seek out the BEST companies that truly have the health of your companion in mind. They use all U.S. ingredients and can tell you where they get those ingredients. A good start would be to read the issues of The Whole Dog Journal www.whole-dog-journal.com that gives yearly reports on some of the top products, what to look for and what to avoid. Don't forget to always add a digestive enzyme supplement such as Prozyme® to all cooked or prepared food/every meal.
Despite what the pet food industry would have you believe, you do have alternatives and choices. You always have. Just be sure you learn what to feed from reliable and knowledgeable sources and continue to educate yourself so that you don't short-change your companion.
References:
www.petconnection.com
www.avma.org
{Christine Swingle has been a breeder/exhibitor of Westies, under the Bonnie Brier prefix, since 1964. Since 1996, she now raises her Westies the Natural Rearing way, which focuses on long-term wellness and well being through feeding a species-appropriate raw food diet (ARF), supporting natural immunity and using safer and natural alternatives to conventional drugs and chemicals.}
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