Care to Your Dog!

Every day, people by the millions pour food from a package into their pet’s bowl. Day in and day out, meal after meal, pets get the same fare. This strange phenomenon is widely practiced by loving pet owners who believe they are doing the right thing.

Why? Certainly because it is convenient, but also because the labels state that such foods are “complete and balanced,” “100% complete,” or that they have passed various analytical and feeding test standards. Furthermore, manufacturers, and even veterinarians, counsel pet owners about not feeding other foods, such as table scraps, because of the danger of unbalancing these modern processed nutritional marvels. The power of the message is so great that pet owners en masse do every day to their pets what they would never do to themselves or their children – force-feed the same processed food at every meal.

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Think about it. Our world is complex beyond comprehension. It is not only largely unknown, it is unknowable in the “complete” sense. In order for nutritionists and manufacturers to produce a “100% complete and balanced” pet food, they must first know 100% about nutrition. However, nutrition is not a completed science. It is, in fact, an aggregate science, which is based upon other sciences, such as chemistry, physics, and biology. But since no scientist would argue that everything is known in chemistry, or physics, or biology, how can nutritionists claim to know everything there is to know about nutrition, which is based upon these sciences? This is the logical absurdity of the “100% complete and balanced” diet claim. It is the reason a similar venture to feed babies a “100% complete” formula turned out to be a health disaster.

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In that instance, after sufficient disease and death resulted from attempting to retire the human breast to a mere appendage of adornment, government stepped in and controlled the commercial hype. Now doctors, nurses and purveyors of baby formulas cannot say these products are complete or that they are equal to or superior to breast-feeding. Good for the regulators. (Although they should have been proactive and prevented the disaster before it ever took root, not have merely stepped in after enough deaths accrued.)

Even with that lesson as a dire warning, pet food regulators turn a blind eye. Instead of preventing pet food producers from claiming a processed food concoction is 100% complete, they in effect promote the death and disease-dealing specious claim by setting bogus standards that supposedly justify and authenticate the claim. They legitimize sloppy science in order to win consumer confidence. All a manufacturer has to do is guarantee that their percentage of protein, fat and the like meets National Research Council standards. In the alternative, manufacturers can do feeding trials on caged laboratory animals for a few weeks, measure cursory blood parameters, and monitor growth and weight – as if survival after a few weeks on a food has anything to do with achieving optimal health and long life!

Down the primrose path millions of trusting pet owners go while at the same time unknowingly condemning their pets to terrible degenerative diseases. Pet food regulators then spend the majority of their time harassing pet food companies with picayune requirements about terminology on packaging and where certain words must be placed on labels. In this regard manufacturers must contend with the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), FDA (Food and Drug Administration), AAFCO (American Association of Feed Control Officials), and 50 State feed regulatory agencies. All for naught. It’s like the entire police force busying themselves ticketing people for jaywalking while turning a blind eye to the murder and rape going on in the alleys.

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Claiming that anything is 100% is like claiming perfection, total knowledge, and absolute truth. Has pet nutrition really advanced that far? Does a chemist make such a claim? A physicist? Doctor? Professor? Did Einstein, Bohr, Pasteur, Aristotle, Plato, or any of the greatest minds in human history make such claims? No. Has the science of pet nutrition advanced to the point where everything is known about the physiology, digestion and biochemistry of animals, or that everything is known about their food? Certainly not.

The fact of the matter is that the “100% complete” claim is actually “100% complete” guesswork. At best, one could say that such a claim is the firm possibility of a definite maybe.

Each time regulatory agencies convene to decide how much of which nutrients comprise “100% completeness,” debate always ensues and standards usually change. This not only proves that what they claimed before was not “100% complete,” but this should also make us highly suspicious about what they now claim to be “100% complete.”

Moreover, consider that in order to determine the minimum requirement for a certain nutrient – say protein – all other nutrients used in the feeding trials must be adequate and standardized. Otherwise, if vitamin E, for example, is in excess or is deficient in the basal diet, how would one know if the results of the study were because of the effects of protein or due to something amiss with the level of vitamin E?

If the minimum requirements for all 26+ essential nutrients were all set and absolutely etched in stone, that would be one thing. But they aren’t. They are constantly changing. This means each time any nutrient requirement is changed, all test results for all other nutrients using the wrong minimum for this nutrient would then be invalid. Most nutritionists simply ignore this conundrum, feeling like cowboys trying to lasso an octopus – there are just too many loose ends. But they continue to perpetuate the “100% complete” myth, and excuse themselves by saying they make adjustments when necessary. An apology of “I’m sorry,” when the false premise of “100% completeness” is still retained, deserves no forgiveness.

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Also consider that virtually all so-called complete pet foods are vigorously heat processed to gelatinize the unnatural starch components (making them “digestible” – meaning more easily converted to glucose) and to extend shelf-life by sterilization. Dry foods are extruded at hundreds of degrees and hundreds of pounds of pressure. Canned foods are retorted. Commercial pet foods also contain a mix of ingredients including meats, fats, starches (a variety of label dressing “natural” ingredient buzzwords) and vitamin/mineral “fortifiers.” Although the ingredient label is evocative and beguiling, what is in the final product is another matter. Essential fatty acids are oxidized and isomerized. Cytotoxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic cholesterol oxidation products (COP) are formed, including C-7 derivatives, 5,6-epoxides, triols, 25-OHs and 3,5-dienes – the real culprits in human atherogenesis, incidently. The cooked meats form heterocyclic amines, proteins are degraded and amino acids destroyed or racemized. Carbohydrates are glycated, acrylamides are formed, vitamins destroyed, oxidized and racemized and minerals are complexed into unavailable matrices. The end result is a potpourri of imbalance, unavailability and toxicity – not “100% completeness.”

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Yes, pets can survive for a time on such fare, but that is simply a testament to their physiological capacity to adapt. They seek equilibrium at higher and higher levels of toxicity until adaptive reserve is exhausted. Chronic degenerative diseases and immune failure is the end result.

The point is, don’t believe the claim on any commercially prepared pet (or human) food that it is “100% complete and balanced.” It is a spurious unsupported boast, intended to build consumer trust and dependence on commercial products – not create optimal health.

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Unfortunately, most people think animal feeding is a mystery. It is not. Animal nutrition is not a special nutritional science to which common sense human nutrition principles cannot be applied. Use the same reasoning in feeding your pets that you use for feeding your family. Nutrition is also not about some special ingredient, the absence of some boogeyman ingredient, or claims such as “natural,” “organic,” or the like.

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If you feed processed foods, use discernment since just about anyone can create a commercial pet food. The pet food industry has hundreds of brands. Business profiteers and the occasional movie star are the most common forces behind the labels. All one needs is a little money and they can go to any number of toll manufacturers and have them slightly modify a shelf formula. Then all that is needed is to dress it all up with a fancy package, a clever brochure, and some advertising. Voila! Another brand is added to the 20-billion-dollar pet food industry heyday.

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Nutrition is a serious health business, not a mere opportunity to turn dollars. Check the credentials of the decision maker at the head of the company you are entrusting your pet’s health to and examine closely its operating philosophy. Health competence and principle should come before pretty packaging and beguiling hoopla. The public is not well served by exclusively feeding products from companies without any real commitment to health… or knowledge of how to even achieve it.

For the past 25 years, I have been a lonely voice in the wilderness trying to get people to understand the deadly health consequences of feeding processed pet foods exclusively. People want convenience in a bag and the industry wants the flow of billions of dollars to continue uninterrupted. In the meantime, the scientific literature offers compelling proof that millions of animals have been maimed and killed as a result of feeding thoroughly tested “100% complete” foods… with the full imprimatur of government regulation. (Exactly the same thing that abounds in the FDA-pharmaceutical industry.)

Examples of pet food disasters include dilated cardiomyopathy from taurine deficiency, potassium imbalances, fatty acid and carnitine deficiencies and numerous other problems that would be expected on a steady diet of dead, devitalized, carbohydrate-based processed foods. Moreover, the whole panoply of human chronic degenerative diseases such as cancer, obesity, arthritis, autoimmunities, dental deterioration and organ failure are at epidemic levels in the pet population… as should be expected on such a diet.

“Thousands of pet cats die each year with dilated cardiomyopathy… observed in… cats fed commercial cat food…” (Science, Volume 237, pages 764-8)

Not only is feeding the same processed food day in and day out a formula for disease, it is a cruelty to pets. It is one thing to take them from their interesting and active wild setting and confine them, but to not even offer them interesting natural meal variety is really quite inexcusable. The answer, like everything else good in life, is a little attention and common sense. Knowledge is the best beginning point.

Further reading and resources of scientific references:

Wysong, R. L. (2002). The Truth About Pet Foods. Midland, MI: Inquiry Press.

Science, Volume 237, pages 764-8

Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Volume 199, pages 731-4

Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Volume 201, pages 267-74

Feline Practice, Volume 20, Number 1, page 30

Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Volume 202, pages 744-51

Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Volume 191, pages 1563-8

Journal of Nutrition, Volume 129, pages 1909-14

Journal of Nutrition, Volume 126, pages 984-8

Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Volume 203, pages 1395-1400

Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Volume 198, pages 647-50

Veterinary Clinics of North America Small Animal Practice, Volume 19, pages 527-37

Veterinary Forum, Volume 9, pages 34-5

Veterinary Forum, Volume 9, pages 26-8

American Journal of Veterinary Research, Volume 62, pages 1616-23

Petfood Industry, May/June 1998, pages 4-14

Journal of Animal Science, Volume 75, pages 2980-5

Veterinary Business, Volume 2, page 1

Waltham International Focus, Volume 3, Number 1, page 9

For further reading, or for more information about, Dr Wysong and the Wysong Corporation please visit www.wysong.net or write to wysong@wysong.net. For resources on healthier foods for people including snacks, and breakfast cereals please visit www.cerealwysong.com.

Where to start on pet food is what I’m going to say, there are so many different types of pet food out there for any kind of pet you have. You will want to know exactly what pet food your pets are going to like, as well as this you will want to know exactly what is in the pet food you are going to be feeding your pets.

People say aren’t all pet food healthy? Well no the answer is that they just simply aren’t. There are so many different ingredients that are put into a lot of pet food which can be very dangerous. They are packed full of preservatives and chemicals that can and probably will damage your pet.

Pet food can be cheap but is that the way that you really want it to be, if these cheap pet foods are slowly killing your pet, why buy them? There are many different factors that need to be considered when buying pet food, for example all meat diets are bad for both cats and dogs and same again for all fish diets.

Next we need to know what is essentially needed for most kinds of pets, all animals need energy and nutrients. Energy can be supplied through proteins and fats that put into pet food. There are also some nutrients that are needed for your pet, these include water, minerals and vitamins. Water is the most important nutrient which all animals need.

You will want to find a pet food that contains the above essentials, but you will not want to give them too much of certain nutrients and too much energy. High energy pet food is usually good for animals but a constant high energy intake is not good for your pet as the food will be giving your pet too much and energy and can result in your pet having obesity issues which can later lead on to diabetes for your pet.

Also if you are using a pet food that contains a lot of the same nutrients it can make the food become toxic which can be very dangerous for your pet. When pet food is processed the nutrient availability is reduced which can cause nutritional deficiency. Also certain nutrients need to be in the correct proportions otherwise they can cause a nutritional imbalance even if they meet requirements for each individual amount.

When buying a pet food look for the ones that have “COMPLETE” written on, these are the pet foods that contain all the nutrients that are essentially needed for your pet. If it has “COMPLEMENTARY” written on the product then that pet food does not contain all the essentials. If you find out which essentials these do not contain then you should add them in with the food

The best place to find out what you should be feeding your pet is your veterinarian who will be able to advise you properly on which pet food your pet will be best off with as he can make a visual and thorough test which will all in all help your pet a lot.

The pet food manufacturers and the pet food industry have begun to be more careful of what they are doing, due to the numerous pet food recalls that have brought so much light to the industry in recent months. Many pet owners have begun to conduct searches about what their pets are consuming, and this search usually begins on the internet. The key is to know which sites can help an owner learn more about the pet food industry and the food that is produced.

In order to learn all that one can about pet food manufacturers and their products that may or may not have been recalled, one should first locate the website www.fda.gov. Not only does the FDA regulate the production of human food, but they also regulate what is put into animal food. One can get the most comprehensive information about all of the manufacturers that were, and continue to be involved in the recall. This information is not second hand, and is the best site for all tainted pet food information on the internet.

Another great website for information regarding pet food manufacturers and what they put into the food is www.toptenlinks.com. Here a person can find the top ten manufacturers and be directly connected to their websites. Even though the majority of the top manufacturers have processed foods for sale, a person can still feel safe in giving their animals certain foods that are offered.

Pet food manufacturers have long been a source for the things that pet owners need. Good pet food is essential to keeping our pets safe and happy. If one is looking for the best food available, then the first place to start looking is on the internet. In doing so, a person can find the best information about which food is right for their animal. Even though the industry has dealt with recalls in the past, hopefully the crisis is over and pet lovers everywhere can rejoice and feel good about feeding their animals once again.

Unique Pet Food Supplies on the Internet

Pet food supplies come in all shapes and kinds. If one is looking to make a statement about the uniqueness of their pet, then purchasing the right supply of food and various accessories can be a great way to show that difference. No matter what type of pet one has, a person can find an endless amount of food supplies either at their local pet food store or on the internet. When looking on the internet, a person can feel overwhelmed by the amount of websites devoted just to supplies for pets in the home. However, if one knows what they are looking for, then their search can be all that much easier and quicker.

Petco is one of the largest retailers for pet food supplies. What one may not realize is that their website is a great place to find perfect accessories and unique items for that unique animal that dictates one’s life. Everything from cute food bowls to pet fountains can be found at Petco. The good thing about utilizing their internet site is that one can have the items shipped directly to their house and therefore one never needs to get out of one’s pajamas. Shopping at one of the nation’s largest retailers has never been easier thanks to the ease of the internet.

Another great place to find pet food products and supplies online is www.petfooddirect.com. Here one can find a variety of healthy natural foods. One can also find wonderful toys and treats for dogs and cats, but also for fish, reptiles and birds. This website not only provides perfect items for one’s pet but it also ships directly to one’s home for a nominal charge. This keeps an individual from hunting all over town for the location that they read about on the net. A person should not miss out on this wonderful website that is devoted to finding the perfect supplies for one’s beloved pet.

The internet can be a great source for pet food supplies. No matter if a person is in search of healthy foods for their beloved animal or they are just browsing a long list of sites for that perfect food dish, one can never go wrong by checking out numerous useful websites that are dedicated to helping pet owners to have the healthiest and happiest pet on the block.

Today a number of families own atleast one pet, it can be a cat or a dog or a rabbit, etc. Having pets with you means you have to take genuine care of all their needs, especially their pet food. All the pet owners have a vast choice of products from which they have to select the Pet food. The pet owners should be aware of their pet nutrition. They should have an understanding about pet food labels

Pet foods generally include canned, dry or semi moist foods to meet their nutritional requirements. The nutritional needs of the pets differ from those of human beings. Therefore, it is advisable not to feed the pets with home made meals that are difficult to digest for them. Every pet, on the other hand have specific dietary needs, as well. The human foods like onions or chocolates are very hazardous for the pets and there are chances for them to get contaminated from micro organisms such as E.coli and salmonella.

The pet foods available in the commercial pet food stores are considered better for the pets. These foods are developed after years of study and research by the manufacturers for providing the pets with the healthy meals. Also, these pet foods are enriched with vitamins are they are nutritionally balanced for the pets to consume it safely.

There are different problems associated with the homemade pet meals like the feeding raw food results in bacterial contamination as well as there are also chances that the disease gets transferred to the human beings. Excess calcium in the food will cause growth problems for the puppies and the kittens; whereas very little calcium may result in weak bones that are easily susceptible to breakage.

While purchasing the pet foods, be sure to see that they are branded and the name of the company, ingredients used in it, pet food labels, etc are all displayed on it. The ingredients used in the pet foods are listed in a descending order from large to small.  There is a reason behind using every ingredient in the pet food to meet the nutritional needs of your particular pet.

The pet must be fed according to the feeding directions given on the labels. It should be considered according to the age, breed and activity level of the pet. If you feed them more or less then the estimated amount, it will not give the proper nutrition to the pet. Some pets may eat too much if they are given an opportunity to do so. Over consumption in the pets may also cause health problems and obesity in the pets.

A number of agricultural ingredients are used in the manufacture of the pet foods. This includes seafood, meat, feed grains, poultry and other agricultural products. The pet foods are also supplemented with minerals, vitamins and preservatives for assuring the total nutrition and wholesome distribution. The ingredients used in the pet food shave to be approved by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).