Grains make up a large portion of the ingredients that are found in human junk food, AKA food that is bad or unhealthy. Why? Because grain is cheap. The ingredient list for dog food is not something that someone will typically look at when they decide on a brand for their pooch. When it is finally looked at, Whole Grain Corn is the first thing on the list. Now, nutrition labels list the ingredients in order of the quantity in the food, so the main thing you are feeding your dog is whole grain corn. Probably not what was expected.
In the wild, dogs eat a variety of things but at the top of that list is raw meat. Grain is something that a dog in the wild would never eat. Its not natural. Along with their diet of meat, they will eat things like bones and sometimes fruits and vegetables. Things like soybean or canola oil, corn syrup, and artificial colors are other ingredients that you would never find a dog eating. The same crap that is put into our junk food, is also put in dog food. One way to look at it is that dog food is our fast food. Both are heavily processed with a lot of added garbage.
Some scary statistics that we may not realize are that 40% of dogs are obese. 46% of both dogs and 36% cats now die from cancer. Along with several other diseases now becoming more prominent than ever before. We should take a closer look at what we are putting into their bodies. Chicken by-product meal.
What exactly is an animal by-product?
In short, it is the remainder of a production animal after the edible parts have been removed. You know, the parts that are "not intended for human consumption". This includes but is not limited to...
-Feet
-Backs
-Livers
-Lungs
-Heads
-Brains
-Spleen
-Frames
-Kidneys
-Stomachs
-Intestines
-Undeveloped eggs
Don't worry, the rest of the by-products like livers, hearts, gizzards, and necks can be sold as edible meats and are made into foods like hot dogs and bologna.Most people wouldn't eat these parts of animals. Why should your dog. The pet food industry is making profit from tons of waste products.
What makes some of the by-products edible is the process that takes place after slaughter. Inedible by-products that are not used for canned food goes through a process that they call rendering. Where all the unused by-products are boiled down so that the water is removed. intentional over cooking. The residue of this is then baked and what is left is a powder that they call by-product meal. If you ever encounter a generic by-product such as meat meal or animal by-product meal, you should realize that these products can contain road kill, dead zoo animals, dead upon arrival poultry, euthanized pets from animal shelters, and diseased or dying livestock.
Gross, right?
Rasmusen, Jan. "Dogs Naturally Magazine." Dogs Naturally Magazine. Dogs Naturally, 13 Dec. 2010. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.
Mary. "Read Any Ingredient Labels Lately?" Web log post. Petworks Blog. Castor & Pullux Natural Petworks, 7 Sept. 2011. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.
Fear, Craig. "Why You Should Stop Feeding Your Dog Commercial Dog Food." Fearless Eating. Fearless Eating, 25 Feb. 2013. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.
"The Truth About Animal By-Products." Dog Food Advisor. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.
I agree we need to be feeding our companion pets healthier food, more familiar to what they would eat in the wild to keep them healthy.
ReplyDelete-Abbie
We should feed them just like we feed our children!
DeleteThis is very concerning. Thank you for these statistics and explaining what by-product is! I'm calling my dad as we speak telling him he needs to buy our dog better food.
ReplyDelete-Brendan K.
You are very welcome! It makes me happy to hear that my post is making a difference.
DeleteThis was a very informative post! I think it is important to investigate what we are feeding our pets, and it is concerning to hear about things like this. I would love to hear more about the healthier foods to feed our pets!
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of articles online about this topic!
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ReplyDelete- Eric
ReplyDeleteWOW, great post. This post is well organized structurally and contextually. The cute but sad dog picture with the clever quote caught my attention and made me pick this post to read. (Animals are a good way to get people’s attention) Also I have a dog and yes she is very over wait. I never really knew what was in my dog’s food, but now that you pointed it out I guess I’m going to look at the back of the package now. I thought the post gave good facts, with the use of percentages about today’s pets, but also the in-depth explanation of animal by-product. Overall, the post hit me on emotional level, ethos, and made me think about what is really going into the food that we are feeding our best friends. Because if we really love our pets, then we might want to feed them well so they can live a long and healthy life.
Thank you! I was really targeting people that have pets for this post, I'm glad that it worked and is making people think twice!
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