Arroooo fellow pets and humans! Grrrrrrooowwwl! This makes me get my hackles all in a bunch and that’s a scary thing when you’re a Neo bepaws of all our wrinkles there! You gotta read ALL this. Commentary comes from our friend Jeannie and the Whole Dog News (see blogroll). I’m glad my mom and dad feed me MEAT, my favorite! Yippee!!

The Truth About Pet Food

This site presents an analysis and criticism of the commercial pet food industry, focusing on the “dark secrets hidden behind the colorful bags and sentimental slogans.” The site includes information about where pet food comes from, corporate ownership of pet food companies, who
regulates the pet food industry, and links to related information. From a journalism student and pet lover.

Warning: This Web site contains some graphic images:

The Truth About Pet Food

More talk on pet food and what’s inside…

From Jeannie:
Dogs were designed to eat meat. While they are classified as omnivores meaning they do eat and can survive on plants and berries, there is a difference between survive and thrive! lol They thrive on meat based diets.

In the past, high protein levels were mistakenly suspected of causing bone and joint problems, especially in puppies. More recent research indicates that even very high protein levels are not a problem in normal healthy dogs.

Also, early research pointed a finger at protein as being a cause of kidney failure in dogs. This research wasn’t even done on dogs! It was done on rats fed unnatural diets for a rodent… diets high in protein. (Were we tinkering with Nature during these “tests”?) Rats have difficulty excreting excess protein in their diets because they are essentially plant eaters, not meat eaters.

Dogs are quite able to tolerate diets with protein levels higher than 30% on a dry weight basis. Dogs are meat eaters; that’s how Nature made them! Rats are not. So some of the early research on rats was assumed to be true for dogs… and the myth of “too much protein in a dog’s diet causes kidney damage” was started.

And just like any seemingly valid rumor or assertion, it derived a life of its own and is only recently being accepted as untrue. Here is just one of many references that recently have appeared asserting the lack of data indicating that reducing the protein level in a food helps to protect the kidneys…

Kirk’s Veterinary Therapy XIII, Small Animal Practice, page 861, written by Finco, Brown, Barsanti and Bartges “…restriction of protein intake does not alter the development of renal lesions nor does it preserve renal function. Considering these (research) findings, the authors do not recommend reduction of dietary protein in dogs with renal disease or reduced renal function in order to achieve renoprotective effects.”

They do recommend, though, that once a Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN) level reaches 75, which is very elevated, that some restriction of protein intake be considered for beneficial effects unrelated to kidney function dynamics. These authors point out that Phosphorus blood levels can play a major role in the health status of dogs with compromised kidney function.

“Feed your dog a high quality, meat-based diet and, just as Nature set things up, your dog will thrive. Fear not the feeding of Protein” The Pet Center

Jeannie
Natural Pet Care Consultant
The Whole Dog

I always recommend raw or a home made diet for dogs. It is pretty impossible to find a “perfect” kibble out there. If it does not contain grain it contains dairy or brewers yeast, if only has rice and meat then usually the meat is not organic! lol Believe me, I spent years searching and doing my own food trials.

I came across this article a year or so ago on beet pulp and found it very interesting. Beet Pulp Myth

Jeannie

More from others on feeding kibble….

It’s not just “pretty impossible” to find a perfect kibble – it’s totally

impossible! Kibble can’t be made without some type of grain – that’s what makes it kibble.

Yeah, I read the article by the Great Dane lady quite a while ago when I was researching raw feeding vs kibble. Also found many articles based on similar research that pretty much stated beet pulp is pretty useless and provides no function whatsoever in kibble other than as a filler and replacing better quality ingredients that should be included/increased but cost more.

Beet pulp isn’t horrible in kibble when it’s added in small quantities – it can be a source of fiber and act as a prebiotic. But, when it’s listed as the fifth or sixth ingredient, to me it’s too much – puts the food right up there with Iams and Science Diet. Ingredients are listed in quantity order.

So, you really have to take everything you read on a topic with a grain of salt!

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