The Truth About Pet Food
77The pet food industry are killing our pets
The Truth About Pet Food
"Still, it is not illegal to use rendered material from dogs and cats in pet food. And while no one keeps official figures, there's some evidence it happens." 2002 Los Angelas Times
For all of you pet lovers out there and for those of you that know a pet lover there are a few things you should know about the pet food industry.
I have to admit I knew nothing about what was going on until about two weeks ago when we finally decided to adopt a dog from an animal rescue. When we visited our new "pet companion" we were informed by the Animal Rescue Foundation that we went through about "good" dog food and "bad" dog food. We were strongly encouraged to feed the good stuff to our little Holly. I then started my journey of discovering horrible things about what was in some pet foods and how those foods were researched and tested.
All of what comes next I got from my research.
You may be disturbed, as I was, to find that you may be feeding your pet road kill, euthanized dogs, and chicken feet, even if you are spending $40 a bag on "premium" food.
The pet food industry has many dark secrets hidden behind the colorful bags and sentimental slogans. Most pet food companies are actually garbage bins for other companies owned by huge corporations. In those kibbles there's a truth that's not so appetizing.
To me, the biggest injustice is that there are pet owners out there who think they're doing the best for their dogs. You owe it to yourself and your animals to find out what you're really feeding them.
1) Where does pet food come from?
When chickens, lambs, cattle, swine, and other animals are slaughtered for food, usually only the lean muscle is cut off for human consumption. This leaves about 50 percent of a carcass left over. These leftovers are what become what we so commonly find on pet food labels, such as "meat-and-bone-meal" or "by-products." So basically, what pets eat are lungs, ligaments, bones, blood and intestines.
Some other things that may go into rendering are:
- Spoiled meat from the supermarket, Styrofoam wrapping and all
- Road kill that can't be buried on the roadside
- The "4 D's" of cattle: dead, dying, disease and disabled
- Rancid restaurant grease
- Euthanized companion animals
Huge conglomerates use pet food companies as a cheap, and even profitable, way of disposing of the waste from their human food companies. Three of the five major pet food companies are owned by these huge corporations.
Who owns what?
Corporation Pet Foods
Nestle Alpo, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Mighty Dog, Purina One Heinz 9 Lives, Amore, Gravy Train, Kibbles-n-Bits, Nature's Recipe Colgate-Palmolive Hill's Science Diet Proctor & Gamble Eukanuba and Iams Mars Kal Kan, Mealtime, Pedigree, Sheba, Waltham's
2) What's really in pet food?
When you read the lable of a bag of pet food do you really know what your reading? Follow this link to read what it all means.
3) Are there really companion animals in pet food?
Reporter John Eckhouse was one of the first people to discover the practice of sending euthanized pets to the rendering plants.
He quoted an employee of Sacramento Rendering as saying, "Thousands and thousands of pounds of dogs and cats are picked up and brought here every day."
When a vet tells a grieving owner that they'll "take care" of their dead loved one, they usually mean sending it off with the disposal company for rendering. This is all perfectly legal. Many veterinarians and especially shelters don't have the money to bury or cremate animals.
Although many in the pet food industry deny that they use euthanized animals, proof that the practice goes on continues to surface.
Over a few years in the 1990's, veterinarians began reporting to the FDA/CVM that the drug they used for anesthetizing, and euthanizing, dogs—sodium pentobarbital—seemed to be losing its effectiveness.
This prompted the CVM to explore the most likely cause: animals were becoming immune to the drug because they had been eating food with trace amounts of sodium pentobarbital for years. The likely source of the drug in their food? Euthanized animals.
In 1998, the CVM went about testing dry dogs foods containing the ingredients meat and bone meal, animal digest, animal fat and beef and bone meal. They found the drug in 31 of 37 foods tested.
Two years later, they conducted a study to find the levels of the drug in parts per billion for each food. Some examples were:
- 32 ppb: Old Roy—Puppy Formula, chicken and beef
- 25.1 ppb: Heinz—Kibbles 'n Bits Beefy Bits
- 16.4 ppb: Super G—Chunk Style Dog Food
- 15 ppb: Weis—Total High Energy Chicken and Rice
- 11.6 ppb: Pet Gold—Master Diet Puppy Formulation
- 10 ppb: Old Roy—Puppy Formula, beef flavor
Note that these products may be free of this drug now, as these are the findings in 2000.
To find out more about this discusting practice follow the links.
1990 issue of Earth Island Journal
(A warning to readers: this report is not for the squeamish)
4) Don't pet food companies care?
Exhibit A: Iams
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) filed a claim with the FTC that Iams commercials were misleading, simply by saying their food was "Good for Life." The claim came out of a nine month under cover investigation of the research labs.
"When it comes to caring about dogs and cats, Iams is telling consumers one thing and doing another," said PETA Senior Vice President Mary Beth Sweetland. "Iams' customers love animals and would be outraged to find out how dogs and cats have suffered for Iams' bottom line."
Guy Webster, owner of Earth Pets Market in Gainesville, FL, explains that the tests Iams was doing were to determine how low-quality the food can be, and still have the dog retain muscle mass.
To do this, Iams cut chunks of muscle out of the dogs' thighs. PETA caught these images on video. Other things shown on the video are:
- Dogs and cats, with names like H0B101 and HILMLM circling in their barren cages
- Paws that are splaying from walking on the slats of the cages
- A lab tech telling the undercover PETA worker to slap the dogs on the chest if they stop breathing
- Dogs laid on a cement floor after their operations, barely able to move
- Dogs with open wounds and hair loss
- Dogs and cats circling in their cages, suffering from loneliness and lack of socialization
The PETA representative also saw and heard things that were not caught on tape. She claims:
- The vets at Iams stuck tubes down dogs' throats to force them to drink vegetable oil.
- She heard coworkers talking about a kitten that had been washed down the drain.
- Coworkers who had to go home because ammonia fumes so bad that their eyes burned. The animals stayed in their cages.
- Cats had only a wood board to lie on, and they had nails sticking out of them. The boards weren't removed when one fell on a cat and crushed it, only when the lab director heard they were going to be inspected.
- The lab director ordered all the dogs to be debarked because the barking disturbed him. The PETA representative tried to intervene, but then saw a lab tech covered in blood after performing surgery after surgery.
6) Where can I find out more?
A main source for this project was Food Pets Die For by Ann Martin. This book was one of the first to bring to light the deterioration of pet food standards.
If you'd like to find out more about pet food, buy this book.
Other Sources:
- FDA:
- Interpreting Pet Food Labels
- AAFCO's Definitions
- Pet Food Institute
- Animal Protection Institute
- Information on Ann Martin
- Earth Pets Natural Market
- PETA's Web site on Iams
- Go! Natural Pet Food Recall
- Go! Natural Lawsuit
- Purely Pets
- Kibble Ingredients
- Born Free USA
7) What can I do?
I can barely keep my mouth shut when I see people buying pet food in the store, but you can't change the world. I just try to protect my own pet and tell as many people as I can (without assaulting them in the pet food aisle) about regular pet food. I even contemplated putting up flyers at WalMart.
Do your own research
I know its a lot to handle, and with so many conspiracy theories circling these days, it's hard to know who to trust. Search the internet or your library for more information.
Start with the pets you love
You don't have to settle for what you see in your grocery store. Pet foods that are actually wholesome may be a little more expensive, but I've found I have to feed my dog about half as much as I used to.
You can find a list of trusted dog food companies here and here.
Spread the Word
Forward this Blog to all the pet owners you know, or refer them to some other informational site.
Thank you Paul for all your valuable information that I got from your website.
CommentsLoading...
Most of what you researched is accurate iam pleased to see that you did not list Nutrience dog food as a bad for nor did you list it at all. Some dog food companies such has Nutrience only use human grade food and ingredience meaning the slaughtered animals you talk about many companies actually purchase and use "the good stuff" in their dog food. Not all companies you see are all bad i have been to many many dog and cat food seminars and i can surely tell you with 110% confidence that you can't go wrong with Nutrience dog and cat food!
Hi there, there is 100% evidence of them throwin Euthanized dogs and cats into the food.
See their cover blown wide open in this rather, disturbing video
It's a shame you can not totally trust people. But then again it is our responsibility to make sure the pets we love are properly cared for.
Andrew Lewis dog food secrets review considered sharing that aside from chemicals, preservatives, and additives, dog food could also include inedible material and even some hazardous ones.
peacemaker765 4 years ago
Great info! I learned a lot from reading this.