By Dr. Carla Hubbard-Erickson
Our pets can be very important to our daily lives. Some of us consider
our pets our children - others rely on our pets for daily safety and
mental health - and still others require our pets for our ability
to get around and function on a daily basis. For those of us who have
a strong bond with our pets, we are very concerned about the daily
nutrition that they receive. While we can control the nutrition (or
lack thereof) entering our bodies, our pets rely on us to provide
them with an adequate diet. This is not always an easy task, as most
of the labels for pet foods can be very misleading. The most misleading
(and disgusting) issue is the quality of ingredients in our pet foods.
Marketing and advertising of some of the bigger brands of any manufactured
food can be misleading. The only thing that these advertisements should
tell you is which companies have the most money for marketing. The
most advertised products (for us or our pets) are not necessarily
the best, but this is what the $11 billion per year U.S. pet food
industry would like for us to believe.
The pet food market is just an extension of the human food industry.
Pet food allows a market for slaughterhouse rejects, foods considered
"unfit for human consumption," and other waste products
to be used for profit. About 50% of every food-producing animal does
not get used in human foods. Whatever remains of the carcass is used
for pet food. This waste includes intestines, udders, lungs, ligaments,
bones, blood, esophagi, diseased and cancerous animal parts, rancid
fats and parts of animals that have been dead many days without proper
preservation.
Three of the five major pet food companies in the U.S. are subsidiaries
of major multinational companies. For a business person, this is a
perfect relationship. These companies have a way to profit from their
waste products, and the pet divisions have a better financial base
and a great source of ingredients.
This is not to say that all name-brand pet foods are made from poor
quality ingredients, but we need to be aware of what goes into our
pets' foods. We might ask, 'Why is it so important to check ingredients
of the food being fed to an animal that licks it's own posterior on
a daily basis' Unfortunately, we can only control some of what our
pets put in their mouths. This article is meant to help us control
the aspects that are within our grasp (not necessarily those within
our pets' 'grasp'). But, the ingredients of our pets' foods are not
the only potentially harmful part of their diet. Additives can also
be a problem. Just as with our own food, preservatives can be added
that could be harmful to our pets.
Preservatives can be either natural or synthetic. Synthetic preservatives
include butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene
(BHT) and ethoxyquin. For these antioxidants, there is little information
showing their toxicity, safety, interactions, or chronic affects of
use in pet foods that may be eaten every day for the life of the animal.
While some pet food critics and veterinarians believe these additives
can be a contributing cause of disease, skin problems, cancer and
infertility, others claim that it is the best available for pet food.
Natural preservatives include vitamin C, Vitamin E and oils of rosemary,
clove, or other spices to preserve the fats in pet foods. Natural
preservatives do not provide as long a shelf-life as chemical preservatives,
but they are safe. Federal law requires preservatives to be disclosed
on the label. However, pet food companies only recently started to
comply with this law.
While this is an overview of some 'nasty' products that can be included
in our pet foods, it does not really teach you how to decide what
is good and what is bad. Many people choose one pet food and feed
it to their pets for a prolonged period of time. Therefore, these
animals eat with little variety. We are compounding the problem of
poor ingredients with continual feeding of these products. The problems
associated with some commercial diets are seen every day at veterinary
hospitals.
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