Learning to decipher labels is a good beginning for those of us who wish to discover just what exactly we are feeding our pets. Any dog food that lists "Meat Meal", "Bone Meal" or "Meat By Products" might in fact have been made from suspect sources. The generic term "Meat" allows the pet food companies to use any animal source as an ingredient, as opposed to more specific terms that clearly state the animal source - ie; "Chicken Meal" or "Beef By Products" . Even the foods that do state the meat source do not spell out for you that these meat sources could still fall under the 4D rule - that is, animals that were rejected as being unfit for human consumption. The reasons for rejection are many, but can include pest infestation, disease, cancerous tumours, mould, infection and a host of other highly unsavoury conditions. In the wild, most dogs will naturally shy away from eating contaminated meat, which perhaps explains the dizzying array of flavour and scent additives most commercial foods contain.

 

The very labels that are supposed to let us know just what is in the food we feed are open to an amazing amount of artistic licence, thanks to AAFCO's regulations. A consumer who buys a food named "Johnny's Dog Delite with Lamb and Rice" may very well assume that "Lamb and Rice" are the primary ingredients of this food - after all, it seems to clearly say just that on the label. In actuality, the addition of "With" to the label means the manufacturers are only required to include lamb and rice as 3% of the total food ingredients. If this food was labelled "Johnny's Lamb and Rice Dog Food", AAFCO would require the Lamb and Rice combined to comprise 95% of the total ingredients (excluding water used for processing) - a very big difference for such a small word.

The cuurent trend towards wide spread use of Lamb and Rice in so many foods has caused concern among some canine dermatologists. "It's not meant to be eaten by the average dog" states Dr. Maxwell, DVM. "It was meant to be introduced as an alternative protein, but if dogs are eating it every day it is now worthless to us for use as an alternative food. Owners of allergic pets will have to go to exotic protein/carbohydrate combinations like Ostrich and Millet, or Duck and Potato. It's expensive and unnecessary. Leave the lamb and rice alone unless your pet has been diagnosed with food allergies." Old time breeders comment on the number of food allergies they see in dogs today - conditions that were almost unheard of in the days when dogs ate mainly human food with a little puppy biscuit or cereal mixed in.

Seeking Alternatives

 

So what is the conscientious pet owner to do? Long regarded as setting the standard for natural pet care, the book "Dr Pitcairn's Guide to Natural Pet Care" sets out a variety of home cooked diet recipes for healthy pets. Emphasising fresh ingredients, raw meats, and balanced supplementation, Dr. Pitcairn's book addresses the nutritional needs of everything from pregnant dogs to vegetarian cats. Even more conveniently, both Essex Cottage Farms (which we feed at Bullmarket) and Sojourner's Farms offer holistic pet food mixes that include grains, vitamins and natural source minerals - everything needed to create a balanced home cooked diet. The mixes need only to be combined with fresh meat, one or two veggies, some oil, an egg and a little warm water to become a fully nutritous and all natural food. You have the option of cooking the mixed product, or feeding raw, as you prefer.

With recent E Coli outbreaks in the news, as well as articles outlining growing concern about chemical laden meats and produce and genetically modified foods, a growing segment of the population is turning to organic food sources both for themselves and their pets. Home cooking allows those who prefer to feed only organic ingredients to control what they include in their dog's diet. You can choose to include only organically raised, hormone free meats, as well as pesticide free vegetables. This choice has fascinating repercussions for dog breeders, in particular. Studies out of Germany were done to analyze the benefits of organic foods versus those of mass produced, factory farmed foods. Control animals fed on strictly organic diets were found to have signifigantly higher fertility rates, lower birth mortality rates and over all higher litter sizes than control animals fed on standard, non organically raised foods.

For those who do not have time to home cook, or simply prefer a commerically prepared food, an answer may lie in the growing number of "holistic" pet food companies that are emerging. Many of these manufacturers are adamant about their commitment to using only "Human Grade" ingredients - that is, food sources that have been certified as safe enough to be eaten by humans. The California based pet food company "Innova" was started by Dr. Belfield, DVM, after his years of experience as a USDA vet gave him good cause to worry about the connection between pets he treated in his practice and the food they were eating. Other "Holistic" companies making a similar commitment include Solid Gold, Wysong, Wellness and Innova. While premium foods carry a price tag higher than your average supermarket brand, they more than offset this by requiring pets to be fed a reduced volume of food compared to foods made from nutritionally worthless sources.

As pet owners, it is up to us to learn just what it is we are feeding our pets, and to decide what we can and cannot accept as ingredients. Make inquiries - most manufacturers print their customer service 1-800 number on the side of their bag. Ask them what they put in their food - and if you don't like the answer, tell them so. Insist on food made from quality ingredients, sold in packages that are clearly labelled, and tell them you will only buy from companies willing to offer this. Those of us who breed can carry particular clout, which we can exercise in part by recommending a food we trust to buyers who would otherwise be swayed by advertising. The fact that so many breeders are sought out to appear in dog food ads illustrates how much our opinions matter to the major companies - when you call them, tell them if you are a breeder. Together, the pet owning public can flex it's financial muscle to a degree that manufacturers will have a difficult time ignoring, and together we may be able to ensure no other well loved family pet finds its way into a food can.

 

Part One :: Part Two :: Links