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THE DREADFUL DOG FOOD DEBACLE |
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It is no secret that I am
not a fan of dry, nor “moist” commercial foods. Over the years there have been various
recalls of commercial dog foods (and cat foods) but the current situation is
by far the most dreadful of all of them.
It will NOT be the last time this happens. According to the newsletter
from Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine there is “a flawed inspection
system”. Only the FDA has oversight
and that is limited. The U.S. Department
of Agriculture inspects only slaughterhouses processing food for humans and
takes the stand that meat, poultry, grains and their by-products are “safe”
and require no premarket approval. Other
substances such as vitamin and mineral sources, colorings,
flavorings and preservatives as in a category knows as GRAS –
generally recognized as safe. That is,
to me, totally absurd and irresponsible.
Furthermore, the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine only issues
recalls on foods after receiving consumer complaints and has zero obligation to notify vets!
What a system! The Cummings School newsletter
further suggests that the suspected contaminate (melamine) has low toxicity
so we may not even be clear on what has caused the illness and death of so
many animals! Not very comforting, to
say the least. In the article PET FOOD
RECALL in the June/July issue of Animal Wellness, conscientious
vets who have tested animals exposed to the KNOWN tainted foods found kidney
damage even though there was no symptoms were present. Dr. Jean Hofve, a nutriional expert and former advisor to AAFCO (American
Animal Feed Control Officials*), states that “Neither melamine nor aminopterin are likely to be the real cause of the
illness.” In other words it is really
unknown at this time precisely what has caused the animals to suffer and
die! One frightening theory declares
GMO (genetically modified or engineered) Chinese wheat is the culprit. Not much comfort, to say the least. The addition of wheat
gluten is to get a food to appeal to the people buying it. It gives the impression of being a meaty gravy – and it most assuredly is not! This ploy is to appeal to the buyers. When real meat is the major part of the
diet no such additives are necessary to get dogs to eat the food. Any time a pet food company aims to use the
least expensive ingredients they can get away with dogs and cats will suffer! In the Animal Wellness
article Dr. Jean Hofve gives her guide to choosing
a high quality food. She says, for
starters, that the really cheap foods (generic private labels) found in
grocery and discount stores are to be avoided at all costs. Her statement is: These are definitely no-no’s! Next worse choices include
Friskies, Pedigree type foods. One
step up would be Iams, Hill’s Science Diet, Purina
Pro Plan category of foods..Yes, that is right, she
labels Iams and Hill’s just a step up from Pedigree
type foods. Remember that when your
vet pushes some of those foods! Next to last in her list of
recommendations are those that have meat (chicken, lamb, etc and just poultry
or other general description terms) instead of by products** and most
assuredly have no corn, wheat or soy! What Dr. Hofve considers the best possible choice is frozen raw
diets! She is clear that they are not
all created equal so becoming an educated shopper is essential. She highly rates “well designed and well
executed raw and homemade diets.” Her final statement in the
magazine is: What to avoid in pet food “By products, meat and bone
meal (including beef and bone meal and
whatever else they come up with next week), by-product meal, corn (all),
wheat (all) and synthetic preservatives (BHA,
BHT, ethoxyquin, propyl
gallate, propylene glycol). I am also adding menadione
(synthetic vitamin K) to the list, although as far as I know only one company
is using it. *AAFCO is an industry
organization – this strikes me as a take-off on the fox supervising the hen
house. **By products are not
inherently bad and if a dog were to eat a whole animal it would assuredly eat
“by products” but these items are NOT meat and there few (any?) controls on
the care of them before they find themselves in the food bag. For a complete list of
recalled products visit www.menufoods.com/recall Watch for my article on
home prepared diets. H |