A Simple Request for Widget Makers

If you sell a product - be it lipstick, soap, or pet food - is it too much to ask for you to list clearly on your label's ingredient list "dogs" or "cats" if in fact you use dogs and/or cats to make your product? I have a thing about reading labels and specifically ingredient lists. Call me wacky but I really like to know what it is I'm buying before I buy it. And I don't want to have to slog all over the internet to figure out what it is you're talking about when you slap a "cruelty free" label on the package either. Just print up your ingredient list in plain language. Instead of "hydrolyzed collagen", just say "dogs" if that's what it is. kthx.




Click for graphic video of D & D Disposal/West Coast Rendering grinding and boiling pets into "protein meal"

Food Porn, Part Five

Thank you to reader Jess who turned me on to this addicting page on the historical feeding of Hounds. Lots of great excerpts to read from various sources and I will include a few.

From Stonehenge on the Dog (published 1887):

If Indian meal [corn meal] is employed, it must be mixed with water or broth while cold, and then boiled for at least an hour, stirring it occasionally to prevent burning. If it is intended to mix oatmeal with the Indian meal, the former may be first mixed with cold water to a paste, and then stirred in after boiling the latter for three quarters of an hour; then boil another quarter, reckoning from the time that the contents of the copper came to the boiling- point a second time.
Wheat-flour should be boiled from fifteen to twenty minutes, and may be mixed with the oatmeal in the same way as the Indian meal.
[...]
The flesh with the bones should be boiled for hours, until the meat is thoroughly done; then take it out and let it hang till cold, cut or strip it from the bones and mix with the puddings or stirabout according to the quantity required. The broth should always be used, as there are important elements of nutrition dissolved in it which are absent in the boiled flesh. It is, therefore, necessary to make the puddings or stirabout with it or to soak in it the biscuit, when this is the food selected. The bones should be given for the dogs to gnaw, together with any others from the house which can be obtained, but taking care to remove all fragments small enough for them to swallow whole.
[...]
Proportions given are two third puddings or biscuit to one third cooked meat, but the amount of meat should be reduced for growing dogs which have not much exercise. "Most people prefer a much smaller proportion of meat, especially for hounds, pointers, setters, and spaniels, which depend on their nose, this organ being supposed to be rendered less delicate by high feeding." It is also suggested that dogs which are fed two thirds pudding to one third meat require a great deal of green vegetables, which should be given once or twice a week during the summer to prevent their becoming overheated and getting skin eruptions. "Green cabbage, turnip-tops, turnips, nettle-tops, or carrots, as well as potatoes, may all be given with advantage boiled and mixed with the meal and broth, in which way they are much relished."

From the Kennel Gazette, November 1927, an exchange of letters regarding new-on-the-market "dog biscuits" (what we would call kibble now) vs. meat.

From the meat purveyor, seeing a business opportunity to sell meat to dog owners:

Dog biscuits doubtless have their merits, but meat is, without a doubt, a vital foodstuff in the diet of any animal whose digestive organs are of carnivorous design.
[...]
[I]f dog owners are being educated to the fact that dog biscuits constitute the best food for dogs, it stands to reason that the feelings of dog owners towards meat will shortly become more distant than ever.

From the dog breeder, in response to the meat purveyor's letter:

[T]he carnivorous appetite can be appeased by means other than the giving of fresh meat.
"For many years now, dog biscuits in one form or another have come to be considered the staple diet of a dog. There is good reason for the acceptance of this theory - or shall I say 'this truth'. Firstly, whether meat is a necessity or not, the most ardent advocate of meat will not deny that meat alone, no matter how much a dog likes it, would sooner or later become nauseating to the dog himself. A cereal food must accompany meat so as to provide the dog with a balanced ration, i.e. a ration complete with its complement of carbohydrates and protein, without which life itself cannot function on normal lines.
[...]
[A] dog biscuit is to a dog what bread and meat are to man - only more so! The cereal part of a biscuit includes most, if not all, of the wheat berry and other nourishing cereals. Added to these is an adequate quantity of sterilized meat. To feed a dog on biscuit, therefore, is to give a concentrated 'cereal-meat' diet, in easily digestible form. It does more. The hardness of a biscuit compels mastication and so ensures the dog using his teeth and jaws, and incidentally,the act of mastication releases saliva and other vital digestive juices, so facilitating thereby the process of digestion and assimilation. Meat is just meat - beef, mutton, or 'what not' are all more or less the same to a dog. Variety is lacking, and once again, this is where a biscuit holds the advantage.
"There are numerous varieties of biscuit foods. Some are for puppies and young dogs only; others are specially made for the adult dog. Some contain meat, others are plain. There are the square or round biscuits, and there are the broken kinds, commonly known as hound or terrier meal. From among the assortment available, there is no difficulty whatsoever in catering for any and every breed of dog and puppy.
"If meat must be fed, then see to it that a goodly percentage of the daily feed includes biscuit. I hold no brief for this or that biscuit, and the only reason I have for writing at length on a dog's food is to warn dog owners against the use of too much meat. There is meat in dog biscuits, and it is sufficient.

Previously in this series:
Food Porn (Part One)
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

Food Porn, Part Four

Shots of both sides of an old bag of kibble sent to me by a generous commenter on the Pet Connection blog. The bag arrived with what appears to be kibble crumbs still inside! I accidentally washed the bag (and the envelope - ahem) and interestingly, the kibble crumbs were still clinging inside after the coming out the washer. Sorry I don't have a date on the bag but here is a tidbit on the company:

In the early 20th century, Chappel Brothers of Rockford, Ill., supplied canned horse meat to the hungry citizens of France, Holland and Italy -- and exported the scraps back to the United States as dog food. Chappel Brothers marketed Ken-L Ration and at its apex slaughtered more than 50,000 horses a year.

For the PetFoodiCurious, more tidbits on Chappel Bros (and general history of dog food) can be found here, here and here.

And while we're looking at old dog food packaging and advertising:

http://store.vintagepaperads.c.....Dog/Detail

http://flickr.com/photos/theda.....888826853/

http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/p.....ts113.html

http://graphic-design.tjs-labs.....;size=FULL

http://www.tias.com/3943/Inven.....387/1.html

Previously in this series:
Food Porn (Part One)
Food Porn, Part Two
Food Porn, Part Three

Nuh-uh ABC News!

An ABC News article on home cooked meals for pets vs. kibble contains a couple of misleading statements by my interpretation. Regarding the major pet food recall of 2007, ABC says:

Dozens of dogs and cats died as owners learned about the tainted dog food, most of which was imported from Chinese manufacturers.

Firstly, "dozens" is misleading because it makes it seem like the total number of dead pets as a result of the melamine tainted food was less than the thousands who likely died. Secondly, although the melamine tainted ingredients were imported from China, the toxic pet food itself was largely manufactured in the U.S., using the poisoned ingredients. No one should feel automatically "safe" buying a pet food just because it wasn't made in China.

As far as so-called regulation goes, ABC notes:

Gallagher and Thompson [from the Pet Food Institute] didn't dispute some of [Dr. Richard] Pitcairn's claims of byproducts that were sometimes found in food, but pointed out that the commercial industry is regulated -- a stamp of approval not guaranteed with home cooking.

Again, misleading to my mind because the "regulation" of the pet food industry is done by AAFCO and it's by no means an independent, third-party "stamp of approval" for pet food products. Further, of course there is no guarantee that home prepared diets are 100% complete and balanced - whether you are feeding humans, pets, or weevils. That doesn't mean they're unsafe.

Help Me Brainstorm!

We are out a fridge for the time being. My usual food routine for the dogs involves preparing batches in advance and storing them in the fridge/freezer. Since that won't be an option for now, I need some alternative suggestions. Please recommend any commercial food (specific brands) or homemade ideas you might have. All I've got so far is one that I already use about once a week which is canned new potatoes with canned fish. Anything that doesn't require refrigeration and is affordable by non-Bill Gates standards is most appreciated!

Pet Food, Seaweed Production and the World Economy

I thought this article on the price of seaweed in the Philippines was interesting (thing-I've-never-said-before alert!):

The price increased from from $3 per kilo to $12 per kilo for pet food carrageenan, $5 per kilo to $15 per kilo for food grade carrageenan and $8 per kilo to $24 per kilo for refined carrageenan.

[...]

Dakay projected a decline in the demand for processed seaweed or carrageenan due to the slowdown in the economy of major markets such as the US, Europe and Russia. 

He said the biggest drop was in the pet food market, which use an average of 50,000 tons of raw seaweed each year. 

The local processors have not received any orders for pet food carrageenan since October, Dakay disclosed. He noted that the pet owners have stopped buying wet pet food, which uses carrageenan, and have shifted to dry pet food. 

Dakay said this trend would spell bad news for the industry since, in the past, the pet food market alone required 50,000 metric tons of raw materials.

Apparently pet owners around the world have put the brakes on canned food and gone for kibble instead.  This is bad news for cats, since they really should not be fed dry food.

Good quality canned dog food is generally superior to kibble (it contains less grain for one thing) and I know many dogs will choose canned over dry if given a choice.  On the other hand, if feeding a pet kibble during tough economic times makes the difference between keeping the pet or having to surrender him to a shelter, I'm all for it.  And if you want to save even more money while offering better nutrition to your dog, you can add in some healthy table scraps too.  Seaweed optional.

Pet Food Ingredient Breakdown - #3

A premium line of dog foods recently reformulated their products and, call me Suspicious Sally, but I know the country is facing an economic crunch and I wondered how the new ingredients would stand up to scrutiny. Here are the first ingredients listed in one of the new formulas:

Beef, brewers rice, whole grain wheat, corn gluten meal, poultry by-product meal, animal fat, whole grain corn, soy flour, soybean meal, dried beet pulp, fish meal, animal digest, glycerin

Beef - OK. Ideally this would be USDA inspected beef muscle meat, obtained from local, humane, sustainable farming methods - not feedlot misery. But yeah, I know I'm dreaming.

Brewer's Rice - Alcohol industry waste product which, if not bought by pet food companies, would otherwise end up in the trash bin. AAFCO allows this ingredient to contain "spent hops in an amount not to exceed 3 percent." Spent hops, when ingested by dogs, can be fatal.

Whole Grain Wheat - OK for some dogs but it is a common allergen

Corn Gluten Meal: Waste product from facilities manufacturing corn syrup, used in the extrusion process to bind kibble. Corn gluten is one of many known contaminated pet food ingredients to have poisoned pets in the past.

Poultry By-Product Meal: The bits that people won't eat (such as heads, intestines, and feet) but from what kind of poultry - anyone know? Does the manufacturer know? Apparently not.

Animal Fat - AAFCO describes this as fat from mammals and/or poultry. Dang, how would YOU like to have a dinner made from "mammals". Kinda horror flick like.

Whole Grain Corn - indigestible by dogs, another common allergen

Soy Flour and Soybean Meal - Soy is a common allergen in dogs. The flour is presumably used as a binding agent, while soybean meal is simply waste product of the soybean oil extraction process.

Dried Beet Pulp - Dried residue from sugar beets which is yet another ingredient used in pet foods which would otherwise be sent to the landfill. Pet food companies use it because it binds the stool and apparently as owners, we are so excited to see firm stool that we don't care if it's the result of some junk ingredient added to the food as opposed to an accurate reflection of good nutrition and healthy digestion. Gosh, we're dumb.

Fish Meal - What kind of fish is "Fish"? In order to comply with US Coast Guard regulations, all fish meal must be preserved with ethoxyquin. The pet food manufacturer need not list the ethoxyquin as an ingredient since they didn't add it themselves.

Animal Digest - Ick.

Glycerin - a waste product of the bio-fuel industry


Overall product ingredients review: *sounds buzzer* It looks like this company has cut corners even further in order to try and maintain profitability during the economic crisis. Too bad for the dogs who rely on this food as their main source of nourishment. To my mind, a diet of healthy table scraps would be far superior.

This is That Time of the Year

"The Holidays" are an annual excuse for all sorts of pet advice in the media. There are common sense suggestions, such as being watchful that pets don't slip out the front door amidst all the comings and goings of holiday guests, as well as good advice on preventing dogs from eating anything toxic, such as chocolate. But then you get your old "No table scraps" warnings which can range from the overly cautious (as in: your dog might get sick if he is fed leftovers from the plates of 27 Thanksgiving dinner guests - true, but does this really require a warning beyond "Duh"?) to the outright chortle worthy (as in: if you feed your dog anything more than a morsel of turkey, you'll soon find him writhing in pain from abdominal cramping while vomiting and having diarrhea - whoa, really?).

Let's get a few things straight. Healthy table scraps are good for your dog. As in all things, one must employ the higher brain functions:

• Do not feed excessive amounts of any foods (general guide - if the amount of table scraps in the dog bowl is more than the amount of food normally in the dog bowl, das too much)

• If you know your dog has a sensitive stomach, don't introduce a bowl full of new foods all at once. On the other hand, if your dogs are like mine and could eat their way through a landfill with tails-a-waggin', don't be afraid to offer a variety of healthy leftovers.

• Use caution with bones - if your dog is not accustomed to eating bones, don't feed bones on a whim "because it's a holiday" - do your research, form an educated opinion and make an informed decision.

But EVERYBODY says table scraps are bad. OK then, what is "good" - dog food? Well guess what - dog food is made up of the scraps leftover from the human food industry. These are not your healthy table scraps, more like bits and bobs humans won't eat because they are undigestible, untested, unsafe, unknown, and/or un-whatever. If you picture a turkey processing plant, you can imagine what gets tossed aside because it can't be sold to people. That stuff gets bought by pet food companies and put into your dog's kibble. I'm still not sure how feeding your dog these turkey throw away bits as an ingredient in kibble is A-OK but feeding him wholesome leftover turkey from your plate will send him into convulsions. Help me higher brain functions!

Anyway, if you decide to feed your dog healthy table scraps at the holidays, and he likes it, and you like it, maybe you don't have to wait for another holiday to try it again. At our house, healthy table scraps are part of the daily dog diet and have been for many years. Every day is a holiday!

***

Graham offers her ideal table scraps dinner (actually her "ideal" involves a bottomless bowl built into her dog bed but this is a reasonable compromise):

1/3 protein - meat (including organ meat), fish, eggs, plain yogurt
1/3 veggies - broccoli, green beans, and sweet potatoes are some of her faves
1/3 starch - rice, oatmeal, potatoes

Kibble Suggestions?

As you might guess, I'm in the market for suggestions on a kibble I can use as a supplement to my home prepared food for the dogs. I would like a food produced by a company who provides specifics on where their food is made, what country they buy their ingredients from and doesn't try to hide behind the old "proprietary information" excuse. As far as I'm concerned, if they won't tell, I won't buy. I would like a food tested in feed trials, not tested by chemical analysis. The proof is in the dog, not in the test tube. Ideally, I'd like the first ingredient to be a specific type of meat (chicken, beef, etc.) and any subsequent meat ingredients to be actual meat (not meal). But I know I may not find this food.

Here's what I don't want: garbage ingredients such as unspecified "meat" or "meat meal", brewer's rice, corn gluten meal, by-products, animal digest, beet pulp, etc. I also don't want a food manufactured by Menu Foods. Menu lied while pets died during the 2007 recalls. My memory is long. Also it would be nice to find a food without mystery bits in it.

Again, I know I may not find this food (except possibly in Imagination Land.) But suggestions are welcome and appreciated - and I should say straight off that I'm feeding six dogs and not wealthy, which narrows the possibilities even further, I know.

And now for something completely different: My new neighbors have six Pitbulls (a couple are leftover pups from a recent litter apparently) and now a Chihuahua puppy. The highlight of my dog walk this afternoon was when one of the Pitbull pups came up to the fence for some lovin' and my dogs did not notice for like 2 minutes. I got in 120 undisturbed seconds of sweet Pitbull love. He was soooooooooooo cute. I want him! You see how I get into trouble? (Photo is just a sample cute Pitbull pup, not actual cute Pitbull pup.) Tomorrow we go to the no-kill shelter to drop off a bin of food so we might get even more Pitbull hugs and kisses - weeeeeeee! O yeah and the Chihuahua hopped right through the hog fencing to our yard and walked around sniffing my bitches like he owned the place with all my big dogs barking up a storm right in his face. Typical!

Investment Management Company Increases its Share of the Pet Food Market

Berwind Corporation, owner of Elmer's glue and other companies, acquired Eagle Pack Pet Foods in 2007 and is now the buyer of Wellness/Old Mother Hubbard pet foods in a $400 million deal.

I wonder what changes, if any, the investment conglomerate will make to its pet food companies. And if changes are made, will customers be informed?