Choice cuts of chicken and beef, savory grains, herbs and vegtables is the facade the pet food industry has pulled over our eyes for so long. In the US, $16.1 billion dollars are spent per year to paint a happy sunny picture of healthy dogs running across our TV sets and cuddly kittens snuggling up to our feet due to the brand. But what you don’t know is the truth that lingers in your pet’s food and leads to all sorts of health issues in which we pay for in the end. Don’t think it is coincidence that the veterinary care industry may be linked to the pet food industry.

Just as God wants good for us so does the devil want revenge. God has come so that we may have life in abundance but the evil one has come to kill, steal and destroy and that includes breaking our hearts when we can’t understand why our pet’s health is failing as we give it the best love, the best toys and the ‘best food’.

There is an existential funk stinking up the pet world! There has been case after case, study after study done on the components of pet food. The results of the scientific concoctions are horrendous and we are indirectly the guinea pig of it all with our pets being the victims.

Some Tasty Pet Food ingrediants may include:

• grains unfit for human consumption
• intestines
• udders
• heads
• hooves
• diseased and cancerous animal parts
• heads
• feet
• bones
• blood
• intestines
• lungs
• spleens
• livers
• ligaments
• fat trimmings
• unborn babies
• additives
• coloring
• preservatives

The Big Wigs (criminals)

Bigger companies are buying up big companies. This monopoly gains at least $15 billion a year expanding to foreign markets. Greed is never satisfied even at the expense of living creatures.

• Nestlé’s bought Purina to form Nestlé Purina Petcare Company (Fancy Feast, Alpo, Friskies, Mighty Dog, Dog Chow, Cat Chow, Puppy Chow, Kitten Chow, Beneful, One, ProPlan, DeliCat, HiPro, Kit’n’Kaboodle, Tender Vittles, Purina Veterinary Diets).
• Del Monte bought up Heinz (MeowMix, Gravy Train, Kibbles ’n Bits, Wagwells, 9Lives, Cycle, Skippy, Nature’s Recipe, and pet treats Milk Bone, Pup-Peroni, Snausages, Pounce).
• MasterFoods bought Mars, Inc., which consumed Royal Canin (Pedigree, Waltham’s, Cesar, Sheba, Temptations, Goodlife Recipe, Sensible Choice, Excel).

Some major household and personal care producers that use animal by-products:

• Procter and Gamble (P&G) purchased The Iams Company (Iams, Eukanuba) in 1999. P&G shortly thereafter introduced Iams into grocery stores, where it did very well.
• Colgate-Palmolive bought Hill’s Science Diet (founded in 1939) in 1976 (Hill’s Science Diet, Prescription Diets, Nature’s Best).

Private labelers that make ‘house’ brands for stores like Kroger and Wal-mart and co-packers that create pet food are also chief big wigs. Three of these major companies are Doane Pet Care, Diamond, and Menu Foods. So what’s the big deal? All 3 of these companies have been involved in pet food recalls that sickened or killed many pets.

Processed Insanity

The food that makes it to the store in their deceiving packages contain so much death, it is a wonder why pet owners have not put two and two together! The American desire for meat has increased so rapidly in the past years that more people want it in their pet foods. It is all about supply and demand. If you demand it, they will provide it! The thing is meat is highly tainted and a diet with 95-100% of meat product is not nutritionally balanced and causes severe deficiencies if fed exclusively

Testing Costs too much Time and Money!

That’s right! They see money and time more valuable than your pet’s health or your feelings when your pet dies from a disease. Little to no testing is done before they sip these to the shelves of your friendly neighborhood grocery store. Your pet is in fact the guinea pig and your home is the testing lab. Besides yourself, the real “enforcers” are the feed control officials in each state. They are the ones that test the food before it can be sold. So if you choose to continue buying your dog food instead of making it yourself, these would be the people to question and take a tour in their facility.

Steamed, pushed, dyed, pressurized, shaped, cut, sprayed, cooled and packaged!

In addition to killing all the bacteria that wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place they also kill any potentially good nutrition that may have been provided!

When they say Meat they actually mean…

Animal by-products. For example when they say turkey or lamb, they mean the spines and rib cages minus the expensive breast meat.

Meat meals, poultry meals, by-product meals, and meat-and-bone meal are accepted concoctions in dry pet foods. The term “meal” means that this matter is not used fresh. They are rendered. While there are chicken, turkey, and poultry by-product meals there is no similar term for mammal “meat by-product meal” — it is known as “meat-and-bone-meal.” It may also be mentioned by species, such as “beef-and-bone-meal” or “pork-and-bone-meal.”

Rendering as defined by Webster’s Dictionary, to render is “to process as for industrial use: to render livestock carcasses and to extract oil from fat, blubber, etc., by melting.” Thus, raw materials are dumped into large tank and boiled for several hours. This separates fat, removes water, and kills bacteria, viruses, parasites, and other organisms. These temperatures reach about 270°F/130°C and as you know, any nutrition that may have once been active is no longer available.

Animal Instincts

If it is so Bad, wouldn’t the animal know not to eat it? Yes, for the most part. But what your pet may have turned their nose up at, they now eat! Thanks to the further deception of the processing for pet food. Here are a few of the ‘ingredients’ they inject, spray or mix in with pet food to keep it form going rancid and to give it flavor.

• Anticaking agents
• Antigelling agents
• Antimicrobial agents
• Antioxidants
• Color additives
• Condiments
• Curing agents
• Drying agents
• Emulsifiers
• Essential oils
• Flavor enhancers
• Flavoring agents
• Grinding agents
• Humectants
• Leavening agents
• Lubricants
• Palatants
• Pelleting agents and binders
• Petroleum derivatives
• pH control agents
• Preservatives
• Seasonings
• Spices
• Stabilizers
• Sweeteners
• Texturizers
• Thickeners

Shelf Life

Manufacturers want to protect their pockets and so shelf life is an obvious concern. Here are some of the substances they will put in them:

• butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA)
• butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT)
• propyl gallate
• propylene glycol (also used as a less-toxic version of automotive antifreeze)
• ethoxyquin

These substances are potentially cancer promoting especially if they are eaten regularly. Even though some pet food critics and veterinarians agree that ethoxyquin is a leading cause of disease, skin problems, and infertility in dogs, others claim it is the safest, strongest, most stable preservative available for pet food. Ethoxyquin is even accepted for use in human food for preserving spices, such as cayenne and chili powder, at a level of 100 ppm. However, even the hard-core spice lovers couldn’t consume as much cayenne daily as a dog would consume dry food. Even though ii has never been tested on cats, it remains in their store bought diet.

Other Tasty Tid-Bits

Potential hazards

Components in pet foods are highly contaminated with a wide assortment of toxic substances. Some of these are destroyed by processing, but others are not.

• Bacteria. Animals that have been slaugtered, as well as those that have died because of disease, injury, or natural causes, are sources of meat, by-products, and rendered meals. Carcasses that die on the farm may not reach a rendering plant until days after its death which is superb breeding ground for bacteria such as Salmonellaand E. coli. this bacteria contaminates more than 50% of meat meals. Although the cooking process may kill bacteria, it does not eliminate the endotoxins some bacteria produce during their growth, they can survive processing, and can cause sickness and disease. Because sick or dead animals can be altered as pet foods, the drugs that were applied to treat or euthanize them may still be exsisting in the end product. Penicillin and pentobarbital are just two examples of drugs that can pass through processing unaltered.
• Mycotoxins. Toxins from mold or fungi are called mycotoxins. Modern farming practices, adverse weather conditions, and improper drying and storage of crops can provide mold growth. Grains like wheat and corn are most likely to be contaminated.
• Chemical Residue. We all know to wash our store bought vegetables, grains and fruits but that is not the case for pet food and rarely regulated. Pesticides and fertilizers that kill bugs and plants make their way to our pets stomach.
• GMOs. Genetically modified plant products are also of concern. Our cells need food to replicate themselves. Mutated cells can lead to mutated organs and therefore cancers, tumors and disease leading to a slow painful death.
• Acrylamide. Though it is considered desirable for its taste, this carcinogenic compound is formed at cooking temperatures of about 250°F. It reduces the bioavailability of some amino acids, including taurine and lysine. The potential effects of acrylamide formation in pet foods are unknown.

Recalls

Report after report have poured in about the unusual and deadly substances found in pet foods. A couple are listed below but more can be found on search engines. You can spend a whole day finding disturbing facts about this industry.

• 2005, a recall by Diamond Foods was announced; this time the moldy corn contained a particularly nasty fungal product called aflatoxin; 100 dogs died.
• 2006, Merrick Pet Care recalled almost 200,000 cans of “Wingalings” dog food when metal tags were found in some samples.

Nutrition-Related Diseases

• Urinary tract disease
• Kidney disease.
• Dental disease-Contradictory to the myth fed by pet food companies, dry food is detrimental for teeth! Though most pets eat dry food, more pets are forming dental diseases! Humans do not floss with chips or cookies, likewise, dry food does not clean pet teeth.
• Obesity
• Chronic digestive problems-Chronic vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, and inflammatory bowel disease are among the most frequent illnesses treated.
• Bloat
• Heart disease
• Hyperthyroidism

Advertising Geniuses

You can’t judge a book by it’s cover and even the official stamps of well known food ‘protectors’ companies. Words like natural and organic are abused almost as much as the word love is. They have covered selling their product with magical wording through niche marketing, claiming organic or natural, ingredient quality lies, use of meat as the first ingredient and claims of vegetables or herbs used in big letters even though the amount is very small.

What can You Do?

You can start by either demanding better foods from the Pet Food Institute. Better yet…Get in charge of what you are feeding your little ones! Grow your own garden or buy only organic vegetables, fruits, nuts or seeds. Find out which ones your pet loves and chop it up and serve! This way there is little handling, storing, and processing going on. You will know exactly what they are eating! For more information on what to feed your pet go to my post: Feeding Furry Friends

Don’t buy into the whole “we need more calcium and protein which comes from animals” bit. It is a downright lie and leafy vegetables provide more power for the punch than any animal products ever could.

The products advertised in the videos below is not advertised by MLove Life. It does break down some of what has been written about above.

The video is very disturbing please be aware before deciding to watch.

Like I said, you can not control anything any company produces but you can control your dogs food by starting your own garden or buying from an organic farmer at a farmers market. Take control and know what you and your pet is eating!