PLEASE READ:More Info On Healthy & Unhealthy Dog Food

[Potter]

There was a show on tv, a documentary and interview with various nutritionist and vets including Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins who travels all over Canada and US crusading for regulatory changes for the pet food industry after the pet food poisoning in 2007. The show is entitled Doc Zone:Pet Food: Dog's Breakfast. In this show, it is also mentioned that the few big pet food manufacturers (four of them I think) have turned down the invitation for an interview. That includes Menu Pet Food. I wonder why if there is nothing to hide?

I have a lot to say after watching it but I will try to summarize to the important facts and I am not sure if this show has already been discussed but I would like to just say it again. Some of the topics such as kibbles/canned food/homecooking/raw has already been discussed many times but I will state it again according to the show which is really interesting. This is going to be long, please bear with me.

From the show, I have learned a few very important facts that I think as dog owners we should all be aware of. I learned that kibbles are NOT good for our dogs. They are convenient but they are equivalent to junk food. It is being compared to feeding our human kids pizza every day and yet pizza is way better and I mean way better than kibbles because depending on the topping that you chose, it still contains far more fresh ingredients and far less processing on the food and thus far less nutrition is being destroyed. A lot of ingredients used in kibbles and canned food are really chicken feet, neck, beak, non-nutritional fish head, pig skin, even diseased parts. And then when you look at the ingredient list usually the meat is the first because it is by weigh which many consumers would like to see it listed as the first and hence that is what the pet food manufacturers are doing to market and sell their products but if you look at the grain list, there are usually 3 different kinds and when it is all added up, it still weigh more than the meat! Surprise surprise.

On top of that, these ingredients are overcooked to the point that not much nutritions are left and what do the pet food manufacturers do? Add powdered vitamin supplements! The next thing is, it is not very palatable because it is overcooked. What do the pet food manufacturers do? Spray a coat of fat/salt or whatever you call it on the kibbles to make it more palatable! The next interesting thing is, the nutritional list (you know the percentage of fat, protein, etc); it is not a guarantee that your pet will get the same nutrition as you would like to think so! There are ways to cheat this analysis! If you brew old boots (yes boots that human wear), wood shavings and car oil, you will get a concoction of pet food which passes the nutritional analysis with the same percentage of fat, protein! Another big surprise here! I wonder if that is why some dogs loves to chew shoes/boots???? I wouldn't be surprised if it is.

I really hope after you read this, you will think of what really your pet is eating. I do homecooking and while a lot of people are worried about nutritional imbalances, I think it far outweigh the bads of feeding kibbles and canned food especially kibbles although I don't really trust canned food anymore either. So long we feed a variety of homecooking/raw each time we prepare a new batch of food and put a little research into it, I think it is far better than the manufactured pet food. I also think it is a selling point for pet food manufacturers in marketing the fact of nutrition imbalance to implant fear in pet owners and buy their products. I think the nutritional imbalance factor is over-magnified by these pet food manufacturers because it is a huge factor for them to sell sell sell their products.

In saying that, there was also a vet in the show who actually supports Science Diet prescription foods based on knowledge of their operations and communication from the company. That part was a short interview and for you to decide but I am pretty much done with kibbles and canned food and am going to continue preparing my own dog's food. The last time I was feeding him canned food was Evangers thinking it was good and it came out with another scare of botulism and he was farting much much more when he was on it. Evangers is not cheap and for the scare that I had, its just not worth it anymore. I do not like to worry about what my best friend eats. I would rather invest some time to make his food and not worry. The amount of money is probably the same with buying canned food and a little work but you know they are getting the best and fresh ingredients! I really believe any homecooking or raw is way better than kibbles and canned! Just stay out of ingredients that are poisonous to them, keep away oil, salt, sugar, and rotate the food that they can eat and they will be fine!

Also, another surprise, although I do not really want to state this as it is about kibbles but I don't like to see people paying extra for something they don't actually get. In contrary to our beliefs, when it comes to nutrition, there is no difference between premium kibbles and grocery store brand kibbles! The only difference is the price and marketing because 'premium' sounds better. They were actually showing Purina brand when they were talking about this topic but maybe it is really the same with other premium brands although some came with colourings which is much worse to my opinion. Another surprise...sad..

One last issue from the show. Invasive testing on dogs....I think there is just no excuse for that. I wonder why these pet food manufacturers just do not use simple common sense that human beings are being borned with when it comes to what a dog or a cat need? If anything, these tests do not make their food better at all-they came up with kibbles out of the cruel testings? hmmm.....

Lastly, this wasn't in the show. This is from my own findings as I love to analyse topics that fascinates me and this is one of them. I know a lot of people still think that feeding kibbles are better for their teeth. Not exactly true. Do some research. I tried to rationalize this theory and came up with this: if I eat cookie/biscuit equivalent to kibbles everyday compared to nutritional delicious pasta/chocolate/curry/fried rice, of course my teeth will be cleaner with just eating the cookie because it is one piece of hard dry food that will not get stuck as much in between teeth compared to wet but would you still want to feed your pet kibbles just because it is 'better' for their teeth and bad for the rest of their internal organs/overall health while you can just simply brush their teeth? All I can say is rationalize and try to outweigh the priority and advantage of our pet's well-being. Teeth can be brushed. In fact, if you feed raw as I have often heard their teeth is in way better condition.

In short, know what you are feeding your pets. Pet food manufacturers make a huge profit from pet owners with advertisements stating that pets are our family but when something happens and they get sued, pets are deemed as our property instead. Maybe the regulations could be changed and the manufacturers will be more honest in their labels and ingredients but until then, we really have to be careful and take care of our little ones.

[sammybear]

Thanks for the info! Wish I would have seen this show. I have the same opinion about kibble and teeth brushing but I didn't know that all canned is just as bad as kibble. I thought the 5-star rated canned would come out ahead of kibble

[Potter]

Originally Posted by sammybear

Thanks for the info! Wish I would have seen this show. I have the same opinion about kibble and teeth brushing but I didn't know that all canned is just as bad as kibble. I thought the 5-star rated canned would come out ahead of kibble

The show was shown in Canada. It was on CBC channel. Not sure if it was already shown in US or going to be shown there.

If comparing kibbles and canned food, definitely canned food is better just because it is not as over-processed. If comparing homecooking and raw to canned food, definitely I'd say homecooking/raw is better than canned food. Evangers is 5 stars but maybe something is just not agreeing to my pup's tummy. He farted non-stop and then I read they were required to get some kind of licensing and there were fear of undercooking their canned food. Luckily my little guy was okay once I stopped feeding the food. I guess I am just too chicken to trust the pet food manufacturers anymore no matter how many stars they are. The food poisoning last year involved many brands that were supposed to be good too so you never really know until they are willing to reveal the truth which will not happen unless the law forces them to reveal the truth. Just be careful.