Have you at any time thought about ...

Have you at any time thought about the ingredients in the cheer you put in your pet's depression each day? Is it possible that your pet's diet might be doing more harm than good? Do you really know what your petted ate for dinner last night?

Exploding the `pet food' myth

one time we have moved beyond the universal that food for pets should be a different standard than subsistence for humans, then we'll have dispensed with a myth has that has birthed an industry without a conscience and without a chief part -- the mainstream pet-food industry.

Now while this realization may not mean that populace should be catching small wild game or that favorites need to be nibbling upon Grey Gables' "Jalapeno, Sausage and. Grits Casserole," what this does mean is that one time pet food becomes "food-which-pets-so-happen-to-eat," then we'll be starting forward the right track.

to what end are our pets getting sick?

wherefore are so many pets plagued with arid skin and skin lesions, arid fur and hair loss, neurological symptoms, vision question s diabetes, kidney failure, leukemia, parasitic infection, and cancerous tumors?

Aren't fondling foods and supermarket-bought "premium" sustenances supplying Fido's (or Fluffy's) total nutritional needs? Not quite.

Balanced nutrition is the key

Just as with humans, our furry friends ne a balanced proportion of nutrients (both macronutrients -- as it was as essential fatty acids and protein) to micronutrients (such as zinc and taurine). As with race pets also need all the ease (including): carbs, minerals, and antioxidants.

As with you and me a basic requirement is that all of these ingredients should take rise from wholesome sources.

Be a label reader

Remember that the first ingredients listed are the main constituents of that food, with other ingredients listed in descending order. If you're feeding your fondling a mainstream pet food, at "best," you could be providing your favorite a diet overbalanced in corn, wheat, rice and "byproducts" synthetic colors, flavors, and preservatives. At worst well, we'll get to that later.

Meeting your pet's nutritional needs

Whether you pick out to prepare a diet at household or feed a premium diet simply understanding the nutritional indigences of your pet (and what to avoid) will help impede disease. If you choose to make homemade nutriment for your pet, consult with a holistic veterinarian and pick up a fit pet nutrition book which supplies recipes.

more [i]or[/i] less good ingredients to look for in especially liked food -- real food (!) -- include: whole meat or domestic fowls fresh vegetables, whole grains, garlic, vitamins and minerals, etc about good ingredients to look for in supplements/superfoods: flax, blackstrap molasses, new barley grass, alfalfa, etc.

about "ingredients" to avoid like the plague include: artificial colorants (eg FD&C R and golden #5 and #7) and artificial preservatives (eg BHA, BHT propyl gallate, propylene glycol sodium nitrate, and sodium nitrite).

(See the sidebar: "The Disgusting principle About Most Pet Foods Today," p 32)

RELATED ARTICLE: The disgusting fact about most pet foods today

According to Ann Martin, author of the explosive work Food Pets Die For: The Shocking Facts About fit of peevishness Food (NewSage Press, 1-503-695-2211), "what we are feeding [our pets] are the dreg of the human viands chain, garbage unfit for human or animal consumption."

in what way bad is bad? Well, if you don't have a cast-iron stomach, please don't read on!

The "animal protein" in many fit of peevishness foods is made up of: diseased meat, road kill, contaminated "material" from slaughterhouses, fecal matter, fit of peevishnesss which have been euthanized with sodium pentobarbital, chicken and turkey feathers, and the waste from milling compass floors.

Sources of these "animal proteins" are diseased, drugg and euthanized animals (including other cats and dogs). These carcasses make progress to receiving plants, where the hide (sold to a tannery), skin, fats, and meat are remov The "meat" from these animals can be sold for miff food (sometimes along with tags and flea collars in place), after being marked as "unfit for human consumption."

If this "meat" arrives at the receiving plant already decomposing, it's sent to a rendering plant, along with road kill. Also "fine" for fit of peevishness food is condemned material from slaughterhouses -- animals that died forward their way to slaughter, diseased animals or parts, diseased line hair, hooves and paws, horns, stomach make contenteds heads, mammary glands, unborn calf carcasses, measureed animal waste from the floor of the slaughterhouses along with litter material from the floor, and, again, euthanized companion pets

While calls to the U pet-food industry's regulatory organization headed through Dr. Rod Noel (pronounced "Noel"), the Association of American Fe bridle Officials (AAFCO) (phone: 765-494-5900) were not get backed one official did call back: Linda Morrison, associate director of the Fe Section at Canada's Ministry of Agriculture.

Asked if she believes we should be feeding diseased and toxic materials to our fit of peevishnesss she said: "You have all this raw material The industry has to do something with it." Asked to what extent her agency can allow diseased offal and disapprove utterlyed material, Morrison said: "The rendering temperatures are remarkably high. Our regulations say that you can't use something that's not safe. It's the responsibility of rendering plants to try safety." Do they have to provide proof? "No, however there are spot inspections occasionally."