 Barked: Sun Feb 1, '09 4:28pm PST | |
 | |  | |  According to Nan Weitzman and Ross Becker in The Dog Food Book, the main difference between Economy, Premium, and Super Premium dog foods is the clean up. The Economy brands had fewer nutrients per package and the recommended feeding portion was 6 cups a day. The Premium brand had more nutrients than the Economy packages, but less than the Super Premium. The feeding instructions recommended 3-1/4 cups per day. The Super Premium offered the best nutritional value and suggested an average of only 1-3/4 cups of food per day. All measurements were for a 40-lb. dog. "Thus, the big difference," state Weitzman and Becker "is in the poop!"
"Dogs and cats euthanised at clinics, pounds and shelters are sold to rendering plants, rendered with other material and sold to the pet food industry. One small rendering plant in Quebec was rendering 10 tonnes (11 tons) of dogs and cats per week from Ontario. The Ministry of Agriculture in Quebec, where a number of these plants are located, advised me that "The fur is not removed from dogs and cats." and that "Dead animals are cooked together with viscera, bones and fats in 115 C (236 F) for twenty minutes." One large pet food company in the U.S., with extensive research facilities, used rendered dogs and cats in their food for years and when the information came to light"claimed no knowledge of it."
- Ann Martin, Natural Pet Magazine
Difficult as it may be to believe, millions of these dead American dogs and cats are processed each year at plants across North America. Eileen Layne of the California Veterinary Medical Association states "When you read pet-food labels and it says meat meal or bone meal, that's what it is - cooked and converted animals, including dogs and cats
Road kill, slaughter house rejects, animals that die on their way to meat packing plants - all are acceptable ingredients for pet food under the "4D" rule - diseased, disabled, dead and dying. Steroids, growth hormones and chemicals used to treat cattle for infestations - including insecticide patches - again end up mixed into the final product. Meat from grocery stores past its final due date is also added to the mix, as are the Styrofoam trays and plastic wrap they were packed in.
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