Dog Health Blog

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68 Dog Food Ingredients To Die For! A Complete, Catergorized & Descriptive List Of The 68 Most Harmful Ingredients Found In Commercial Dog Food. Click Here!

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Author: Mogens Eliasen

[continued from part 1]

When I grew up in Europe after the war, we knew nothing about
“pet food”. We fed our dogs as we always had done: the cheapest
parts of the food we did not want for ourselves: the bones and
guts of the animals we slaughtered. Sometimes also some
leftovers from our own meals. And we did not need any vets to
look after our dogs - they were healthy.

Marketing of pet food

But then this American phenomenon “pet food” came to Europe in
the seventies. It was cheap. It was convenient. And it was well
marketed. Distributors made good money - and it was easy for the
lazy dog owner.

And now Europe is caught in the same trap. Nobody remembers how
to feed a dog anymore. Everything is based on commercial
advertising and big corporations making big money - and filling
the public with carefully chosen information that lead the
consumers believe in a profitable lie.

Of course, they do not tell lies. And yet they do. They tell
only those parts of the truth that support their sales - nothing
more!

The result is that people are deliberately led to believe in
something that is not true. But it all happened indirectly,
through smart propaganda.

Examples of “pseudo-truths” that make people believe in
lies

“Pet food needs to be nutritionally balanced”. Yes, when you let
2/3 of it (or more) be made up by some completely valueless
grain products that never should have been fed to dogs in the
first place, and you use cheap waste products for a large part
of the balance, then it does indeed become extremely critical
that you carefully balance that little, which now is all the dog
depends on. If you feed a natural diet for start, this is an
irrelevant worry. But the statement is great for inferring that
normally intelligent people cannot handle this, on their own…

“A raw meat diet is not healthy for dogs”. Correct, but raw meat
alone was never meant to be a balanced diet for neither wolves
nor dogs anyway. Canis Lupus and Canis Lupus Familiaris need the
bones and the organs as well. But when you omit that, the
statement becomes true, yet it is creating a false impression in
people that there is something wrong with raw meat as dog food.
The truth is that ONLY raw meat is not good for them…

“Raw food contains bacteria that are dangerous”. For humans, may
be. But no carnivores in nature are killed by eating raw food.
Those that did are long extinct. Dogs still have that same
ability as other carnivores; their gastrointestinal system and
immune defenses are excellently equipped to deal with those
bacteria, which plain simply are not an issue for them, no
matter how troublesome they might be for people. But ignoring
this is a powerful scare tactics that play on people’s emotions
and fear of disease - yet it is utterly and completely
irrelevant for our dogs!

“Wolves in nature do not live as long as domestic dogs do”.
That’s true - but that is not because of their diet. The number
one reason for a wolf to die is being hit by a bullet from a
gun. Number two reason is being killed by its own prey. Number
three is starvation (mostly for pups). Number four is poison,
laid out by humans. It is not malnourishment that causes wolves
to die. But lack of veterinary care to deal with wounds from
accidents surely plays a serious role…

The list of these “pseudo-truths” is very long - but I believe I
made the point.

Oh - just one more thing that also is important to notice here:
the veterinarians! Sure, what about them? Did you know that they
learn nothing about carnivore nutrition in vet school, except
for a volunteer afternoon session with a representative of a pet
food manufacturer? But that’s the case. Don’t get fooled by
their “expertise”. Their opinions about this are no more
qualified than yours. At least, you are making an effort to get
to understand this, and you (most likely) do not make money on
people believing in something that actually makes their pets
less healthy…

What is the alternative?

Let me first ask this: if the price of beef would go so far down
that it would be cheaper than hay, would you then consider
feeding ground beef to your horse?

No? Why not? Would there be other things than money that would
matter?

Of course! You know that ground beef is not a natural food for a
horse, so chances of it being healthy for it are slim to none.
You also would never think about feeding cereal to a snake that
lives exclusively on live rodents, would you?

So, why on Earth then do you even consider feeding your
carnivore companion with a diet that contains 65% carbohydrates
from grains, when those carbohydrates do not belong at all on
its natural menu? And what about that whole chunk of other
unspecified unnatural components that likewise never were meant
as food for a carnivore?

And what about all that variation a wolf experiences and thrives
on? Where is that for your dog? Would you eat the same food, day
in and day out, if it said “Premium people food” on the bag?

Yes, the core of this issue IS this simple! There is no excuse
for intelligent people to continue supporting those lies that
dogs should be fed carbohydrates as the main ingredient in their
diet, no matter which “scientist” gets paid for claiming that it
is “good for the dog”.

But even a mass murder might speak a word of truth. And, as
already mentioned, the pet food manufacturers do have a valid
point in indicating that feeding a natural home-made diet is
less simple than pouring kibble from a bag. If you think you can
substitute monotonous kibble with equally monotonous chicken
wings, you will soon be paying your veterinarian handsomely for
bringing that dog back to health.

But the truth is that the required education, although not given
in general to vets, nevertheless is available. There are plenty
of books, online forums, and people with serious experience you
can learn the basics from. A good place to start could be
http://k9joy.com/education/feedyourdog.php.

Feeding raw natural food is not “the crazy modern thing we
should resist”. Kibble feeding is!

The relevant conclusion to draw from this scandal

It is also a fact that there are numerous small businesses now
that offer frozen raw food for carnivore pets. They can
certainly supply a variety and they make it possible for any pet
owner to get some “real food” for their companions, if you do
not like the prices of raw meat in your local supermarket.

But you will notice that very few of them (if any?) claim that
any of their products are “fully balanced” or “all your dog
needs”. Have you ever found a human food that could say that on
the label? Why do you then expect it for dog food? Do you really
think that dog nutrition is better understood and better
researched than human nutrition?

Dogs rely on variation, just as we do. There does not exist a
single source of natural food that covers all nutritional needs.
This goes for dogs as well as for humans. We have to seek
balance through variation, over a period of time.

The downside, of course, is that it takes a little education and
a little extra effort in the planning and shopping phases.

But wouldn’t your dog be worth that?

Honestly, if you seriously answered “no”, you should not have
that dog!

So, let yourself hear your own voice now, reading this mantra
loud:

“I will never again buy pre-manufactured, unnatural or processed
food for my dog. I will resolve to learn what my canine
companion truly needs, in terms of healthy nutrition and
feeding, and I will feed my domesticated wolf in accordance with
its nature, to the best of my ability, and not in accordance
with commercial advertising and exploitation.”

Thank you! You drew the right conclusion of this pet food recall
scandal, by addressing the true problem and not just the tip of
the ice berg.

Just one more thing: Please help other pet owners by passing on
this article, by printing out the PDF version and copying it to
them, or by referring them to the web page where they can access
any version they like:
http://k9joy.com/dogarticles/ConclusionsFromDogFoodRecalls.php.

Their animals deserve it, whether they are cats, ferrets, foxes,
reptiles, falcons, or any other carnivore species.

About the author:
Mogens Eliasen is the author of several unique books about dogs
and responsible care of dogs, available from http://k9joy.com

He publishes a newsletter
http://k9joy.com/peeingpost containing lots of tips and advice on dog problems of all kinds, particularly about training, behavioral problems, feeding, and health care.

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Healthy Food For Dogs: Homemade Recipes. Know How To Feed Your Dog To Quickly Get Astonishing Results.Click Here!

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Author: Mogens Eliasen

Almost every day, yet another recall on dog food is announced
in the media, and the product assumably pulled from the shelves.
It has been going on for over a month now…. And the
contaminated dog food has been sold for at least six months, if
not longer.

Unfortunately, most people draw the wrong conclusions from this,
looking for ways to patch the symptoms, instead of curing the
fundamental reasons behind this scandal.

For people who relied on big commercial pet food manufacturers
as honest suppliers of healthy food for their pets, this is
scary. Very scary.

Of course, mistakes can happen for anyone, even the best. But
that is not the point. We all expect that someone, who makes a
mistake, will at least learn from it and do something to prevent
it from being repeated in the future. It does not make us feel
good when the party, who made the mistake, just tries to have it
“disappear” from public attention and then pretends to revert to
“business as usual”, without any explanation, without any
apology, and without any demonstrated desire to change
procedures or attitudes that effectively could prevent a
repetition.

That is the really scary part. And that is what we witness.

What are the facts?

The core of the whole scandal is that some supplier of raw
material, in this case apparently a Chinese supplier (but it
could be anyone), is being paid for “quality”, and this is
measured by chemical analysis as “protein content”. In order to
meet the quality specs of the customer (= the pet food
manufacturer), this supplier naturally does what he can to have
the chemical analysis show the required “protein”, without him
paying more than absolutely necessary for the ingredients.

This is the fundamental nature of business. Too bad that this
supplier, in accordance with all standard Chinese traditions and
common practices, chooses to add some cheap vegetable melanin,
which certainly will show up in the chemical analyses as
“protein” - even though it is completely indigestible and
valueless as nutrient for a carnivore.

But the same could also be said about feather meal (there is a
whole industry in the USA based on making powder of poultry
feathers - and selling it as “raw protein” exclusively to pet
food manufacturers…). And it could also be said about leather,
antlers, hairs, claws, and many other organic products that have
zero nutritional value and yet systematically and consistently
find their way into “high quality pet foods” under the category
“raw protein”, which no pet food manufacturer bothers explaining
the contents of to any consumer. So, there is no point is
pointing fingers at China - the very same principles rule in US
business as well.

If you want references to official facts about this scandal,
then you can find them in the first article in my news letter
“The Peeing Post” from April 12, 2007. You will find a slightly
updated version of the article itself at
http://k9joy.com/dogarticles/DogFoodRecalls.php - please check
it.

And what is the point in the recommendations from many media
that people should stick with US-only suppliers? Is feather meal
any better than melanin? Both show up as “raw protein” in a
chemical analysis, and neither are, in any way whatsoever, of
any nutritional value. And what about all the other contributors
to “raw protein”, which the pet food manufacturers are more than
happy to include, if the price is right? Not to mention the fact
that the predominant components of all pet foods are grain
products - which typically amount to 60-79% of the food and have
no place whatsoever in a carnivore diet.

The sad story is that all pet food manufacturers have been
buying the very same ingredients, from the very same suppliers.
None of them have cared about specifying that the ingredients
have to be “natural carnivore food components”; all of them
routinely use all kinds of vegetable proteins and indigestible
proteins, simply to lower the price and fool the customer, who
does not know what “raw protein” actually is. The entire
decision process is exclusively driven by profit, not health
concerns for the dogs.

Why unnatural ingredients are dangerous

The problem with unnatural ingredients is always that they are
subject to natural processes, which can cause production of
harmful chemicals. Yes, Nature produces many poisons!

In food that is natural, you generally find no such harmful
chemicals, at least not for a species that have developed
through millennia, thriving on such food. The reason is that the
species has been adjusted to handle whatever chemicals might be
present in the natural food - this has been taken care of by
evolution; those who could not handle it are not the forefathers
of our current pets! They went extinct.

However, when the food is not naturally selected by the animal
that is forced to ingest it, then the animal will have no
protection mechanisms to fight back, when such natural
productions of poisons occur. These poisons come as a big
surprise to the animal’s immune system, which has no defense
against them. The natural level of protection through
evolutionary selection in the past does not exist when we feed
something that is not natural.

When we use unnatural ingredients, it is thus only a matter of
time before some bomb will explode. For melanin, it happened a
few months ago. For the next unnatural component, it can happen
next year, maybe in four years - we simply have no way of
knowing! We even have no way of knowing what kind of problem it
will be!

Feeding unnatural foods is one big constantly ongoing chemical
experiment with our animals’ health…

Whom are you buying pet food from?

Maybe it is time for the average intelligent pet owner to wake
up and begin to realize what “pet food manufacturing” is all
about? In sharp contrast to what we might want to believe, it is
not about taking good care of the health of our pets. It is
blatantly naïve to think that big multinational corporations
like Purina, Iams, Science Diet, Alpo, and what their names
might be, truly have a mission statement in their corporate
articles saying that the main purpose for their existence is to
ensure that pet owners have access to healthy food for their
pets, at reasonable prices. That’s what you might expect from a
charitable foundation. But certainly not from a commercial
corporation that is owned by other multinational corporations
(mainly the big human food manufacturers), whose sole purpose of
existence is TO MAKE MONEY FOR THEIR SHAREHOLDERS!

Sorry for yelling - but this needs to be screamed out to the
world, so loud that it will wake up all those sleeping pet
owners; they need to face reality and stop this insane catering
to big business exploiting their desire for convenience.

Let’s look at how these businesses make money.

What counts in all business is the difference between costs and
revenue. That’s called profit. If you can make that difference
great, you make good profit, and your shareholders earn good
dividends. This causes the price of their stock to go up, so
they could sell their holdings at an even greater profit. To
make this happen is the sole reason for those shareholders to
elect directors to hire management to run the business.

Now, there is an upper limit for what the market can bear, in
terms of sales prices. Competition is a factor that must be
considered. If the pet food is more expensive than human food,
for instance, chances are too great that people will revert to
doing what they have done before: feed their dogs human food!

Another important factor is the consumer’s convenience. If a
product is easy to apply and use, people don’t need to worry
about their time being spent on this - it caters to their
laziness. But if it is complicated to use, fewer people will do
it.

The bad news (for the consumer) is that there really is no limit
downwards for how cheap the ingredients can be… And waste
costs nothing…

The lesson from history

Since the first wolves were domesticated some 15,000 years ago,
feeding of these animals has most likely been very simple for
the people who used them as hunting companions. When a prey was
killed, it would rarely be close to the camp where the women and
children remained while the men and the dogs went hunting. Even
if the men were indeed tempted to eat some of the meat raw on
the spot, they were still faced with the fact that they could
not chew it without first cooking it. Since man has known the
use of fire for 750,000 years, this was no problem - it just
presented the task of getting the prey back to the camp.

Question: Would you think these hunters would carry the entire
prey home? Hint: consider that there are some very heavy parts
of any prey, which man would not eat: the head, the guts, etc.

So, what would you think the cave men out there would do, on the
kill site, with their hungry dogs around, before they carried
the prey home for cooking?

OK - this then answers our next question, “What would they feed
their dogs?”….

This was the beginning of what most likely has stuck with man
and his way of dealing with his dogs: they were fed with his own
waste! Cheap. Convenient. And luckily for the dogs, this was
actually the most valuable part of their natural food! The guts
are what a wolf will eat first - and from which he derives the
most supreme nutritional value! So this partnership between the
cave man and his domesticated wolf seriously benefited both
parties.

During the Renaissance, some dog (especially the small breeds)
were adopted by women and brought into the noblemen’s household
as “pets”. We know from history that these small dogs, to a very
large extent, were treated like small humans and fed like small
humans. But they were small, so it did not matter a lot
financially for those noblemen to let their wives have this
entertainment, while they continued to enjoy their hunting, with
their “real” dogs - which still were fed as the cave man would
have done! Besides, this is only some 400 years - a very minor
peculiarity on the scale of evolution.

When Kibble was invented during the big Depression in the USA in
the thirties, the same feeding philosophy applied. But, at this
time, the nature of the human waste had changed…. The
noblemen, who enjoyed their hunting, were gone. Instead, there
were millions of poor dog owners who had trouble feeding their
animals, because they did not have money. And there were big
stores full of grain that could not be sold at prices that did
the farmers any good.

It took some smart business people to find out that this was an
opportunity of a life time, when they considered that dogs
actually would eat processed grain products, a discovery that
was made some 70 years earlier, but never commercially
exploited…

Natural? Healthy? Who gave a damn?! It was cheap - there was
lots of available, there was a huge market ready to buy - so the
production was started and the products promoted!

This was the beginning of the pet food industry. Not very
flattering, is it? But it was profitable - and that is all that
counts for a business.

Unfortunately, for the dogs and their owners, there were no
immediate ill effects. Most dogs still got at least some
variation in their food, as many people continued to give their
dogs the bones and other kitchen waste they had no other use
for, just as they always had done. I say “unfortunately”,
because this fact seriously masked the problems from feeding
these dogs such an unnatural food! Had people just feed this
early kibble exclusively, it would most likely have caused such
a devastating “epidemic” of malnourishment so fast that the
truth would have been out: grain products in large quantities
are not healthy for dogs. But then the war came into the
picture, and people got other things on their minds, so the
market was consolidated…

[To be continued]

About the author:
Mogens Eliasen is the author of several unique books about dogs
and responsible care of dogs, available from http://k9joy.com

He publishes a newsletter
http://k9joy.com/peeingpost containing lots of tips and advice on dog problems of all kinds, particularly about training, behavioral problems, feeding, and health care.