written by Robert Hart, Vitality Science
Largest Recall Of Pet Foods In History: The ongoing pet food recall offers a glimpse of what is wrong with entrusting your pet´s nutrition (or your own) to corporations and government regulatory agencies.
Scary Ingredients Approved By The Government: Why is “gluten”, or “rice protein concentrate” even in pet food? Answer, there is a constant search by manufacturers to produce lower cost food that still meets government protein and nutrient requirements. Gluten and rice protein are not the only cheap and threatening additive approved by the government and added by manufacturers.
Dry Pet Foods are much like breakfast cereals. They are cooked in a mash, then extruded through nozzles at high heat and pressure. This process not only destroys nutrients, it makes much of the rest indigestible. If the ingredients originally had any nutritional value, the extrusion process is sufficient to destroy them. About the best things you can say about dry pet food is that they are “cheap and convenient”!
Feral cats and dogs would have to be starving before they would eat the ingredients found in dry pet foods. If for no other reason, these ingredients do not provide the nutrients they need to sustain life, let alone health.
Wet Pet Foods are made from the most distressed meat, animals with pus bags and tumors. Even though these animals are approved by the USDA for human consumption, some, but not all, manufacturers are reluctant to use them for humans. Even the meats that are not visibly distressed contain growth and fattening hormones, antibiotics, and highly questionable feed. Additionally, among many scary ingredients, pet foods may legally contain euthanized cats and dogs!
If you own a cat or dog, Google “Dog Food Secrets”. I was aware of much of what this book exposes, but it still left my mouth agape.
Pay Me Now, or Pay Me Later: GI and immune diseases are at an all time high. Humans and animals are on multiple medications. What are the common denominators? Fast, nutrition-less foods, chlorinated drinking water, not incorporating bioavailable vitamins, supplements and digestive aids into the daily diet, and lack of exercise.
GI disorders among cats and dogs is epidemic. Conventional medication treatment is archaic, potentially causing further damage to animals already weakened from lack of proper nutrition.
According to The Royal Society of Medicine Great Britain, “Fully 90% of all chronic disease is caused by an unhealthy intestinal system.”
It´s OK to Domesticate Cats and Dogs, but Not Their Diets
The original purpose of domesticating dogs and cats was cheap labor. Cats are used by farmers as mousers, dogs as herders, hunters, and protection.
These working relationships no doubt led to some close relationships. Over time, working animals (or more likely their offspring) were sold or given away to city folk. Today, over 90 million suburban households own an average of 1.67 cats or dogs, or over 150 million domestic cats and dogs.
Wild or feral animals hunt and eat fresh kill. They also instinctively eat grass and dirt for the micronutrients and soil-based organisms needed to properly digest the meat.
When they kill an herbivore they first consume its´ entrails which usually contain plenty of greens and digestive enzymes needed to break down, digest and eliminate the flesh. The closer pet owners come to replicating the diet of their feral relatives, the healthier and happier their domestic pets will be.
Genetic Predisposition at The Blink of an Eye
Without healthy foods, even healthy animals will decline genetically within several litters.
The best way to assure that your pet lives a long healthy life is to know how well the breeder cared for the mother, and the mother´s mother. Pets are capable of having multiple litters within their lifetime. This is common in feral animals and commercial breeders (mills). Each subsequent generation inherits the weaknesses of the previous generations. Today, many millions of kittens and puppies are predisposed to an unhealthy life.
Resorting or Maintaining Pet Health: The good news: Animals that are predisposed to diseases are less likely to develop them when fed a healthy diet. Genetic predispositions can be bred out over several generations of proper feeding.
It is up to the pet owner to take responsibility for the health and wellbeing of their pets. Like food choices, choose your “professionals” carefully. Veterinarians that recommend a raw food diet combined with supplements and digestive aids- before medications- have your pet´s best interest at heart!
Local bookstores, libraries, and the internet offer a wealth of knowledge regarding proper care and feeding. The American Holistic Veterinarian Association website has a national directory.
TEASER COPY: The recent pet food recall offers a glimpse of what is wrong with entrusting your pet´s nutrition to corporations. When it comes to Pet Food, it seems there is no Consumer Advocacy Group looking out for pet owners. You Can Domesticate Cats and Dogs but Not Their Diets.