PET FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Julian Price

The pet food aisle at my local grocery store is eighty-five feet long with both sides full. Needless to say, pet food is big business, very big business, eleven billion dollars a year and growing! The debate rages on about raw food versus dry food versus canned food. And whether name brands are superior to generic brands. Of course beyond the majority of pet owners who want to feed their pets the appropriate food we have pet owners who want their pets to have the same likes and dislikes and they do such as vegan owners who have their pets on vegan diets.

It's reasonable to seek the advice of professionals when faced with a myriad of choices so we surveyed the opinions of vets and other industry experts to help us decide what to feed our pets.

Pet food manufacturers say that modern manufactured pet food contains all the nutrients necessary to sustain our cats and dogs. And they say our pets like the taste as well! Extensive research and a lot of money is spent to further this end. According to industry consultant Dave Geier of Highlands Ranch Co. the R&D budget of the pet food industry exceeds one hundred million dollars per annum! So with all this money and effort going into providing the best food for pets, why is it so difficult to be certain that our pets are getting everything they need and want in their diets.

According to Dr T J. Dunn Jr. DVM (The Pet Center) protein source is a key factor. He says meat based pet food, specifically those brands that list meat products as the first ingredient on the package, are the best ones for pets. Those brands that list cereal grains as the first ingredients are cheaper but don't provide the best source of protein. This basic guideline is studied in great detail on the website

Raw food is a popular pet food diet in recent years but based on this example of a dry dog food package label it would have to be a dedicated owner indeed to include all these ingredients in the dog dish!

Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal, Brown Rice, White Rice, Lamb Meal, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, Rosemary Extract), Herring Meal, Flax Seed, Sun Cured Alfalfa Meal, Sunflower Oil, Chicken, Lecithin, Monocalcium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Linoleic Acid, Rosemary Extract, Sage Extract, Yeast Culture, Dried Enterococcus Faecium, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Aspergillus Oryzae Fermentation Extract, Dried Bacillus Subtilis Fermentation Extract, Inulin (from Chicory root), Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Fermentation Solubles, Yucca Schidigera Extract Mixed Tocopherols (source of Vitamin E), Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Cobalt Amino Acid Chelate, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Ascorbic Acid (source of Vitamin C), Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (source of B2), Beta Carotene, Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Calcium Iodate, Folic Acid, D-Biotin, Sodium Selenite, Dried Papaya, Vitamin B12 Supplement

In addition to offering a completely balanced meal for dogs and cats, dry food is convenient, has good shelf life, is widely available and reasonably priced, but dry pet food is heavily processed, having usually been cooked, canned, rendered, frozen, dehydrated, extruded, preserved and pelleted! Although the manufacturers show pictures of fresh colourful ingredients in their advertising the bagged result doesn't make for appetizing pictures. And people don't like the idea that food for pets or people is highly processed in factories in far away places. So what is the solution. Some experts say that at the very least, bulk dry pet food is more nutritious, more affordable and has longer shelf life than it did twenty-five years ago....but we'd like to ask Spot and Fluffy the question we all ask each other all the time...”does it taste good?”

JulianOnePlanet Publications 2008 first published in The Metro Pet Gazette in Vancouver