Before I worked here I never even began to think of what was in or how they made my dog's food. To me, as long as she ate it... it was great!
However, as time went on and I learned more about the food I was feeding my dog I became disgusted. The things I learned about the dog food companies, such as Beneful and Alpo, I was mortified that I could even consider feeding these things to my poor puppy!
Let me just quickly educate the pet owners on some things. First off, by-products. Pet owners see this on almost all the generic grocery store kibble. What is it? Well, what the dog food companies want them to believe is that it is the left overs of a chicken they didn't use like the heart, liver, kidneys, etc. Sometimes it is this... However! Most of the time it is what ever the producers scrap off the ground when they are down killing the animals. It can be anything from the beaks of the chickens to the hooves and tails of cows... anything left over on the floor... scoop it up and put it in it in the food to be considered a "by-products."
Also if it you happen to look at the ingredients and it says meat-by products... throw it back on the shelf and run! The FDA doesn't have clear guidelines on what the by products need to be. So if you see meat by-products, this could possibly include road kill!
Next, added coloring and chemicals. Anytime you see added coloring such as Red40, there have been studies that have shown these dyes cause serious health issues. Beneful contains all of these different types of food coloring and added chemicals. Bottom line, if the owners can't understand what is in the ingredients either don't get it or look it up to make sure its safe. Never trust the labels!
One last fact I have to put out there is watch the ingredients closely. The ingredients are listed from what is used the most to the least. None of the pet's food should have any type of corn, wheat, potatoes, starch, etc, in the first couple of ingredients. We in the natural pet food business call these fillers. We call them this because well... imagine it like this. If we were to eat only bread for lunch we would be starving in oh lets say... and hour. That is the effect it has on the dogs. Ever wonder why they seem tired all the time?
When pet owners switch over to natural pet food they will notice the biggest change in their dogs. Trust me! I saw it for myself when I finally convinced my parents to start giving my dog more natural pet food. Your pets will start to be more active. They won't be hungry all the time. They'll have more energy and their skin and coats will start to look shinny and fuller.
Hopefully after reading this pet owners will consider what I've said here today. If the pet owners are anything like me our pets are our babies! Don't feed our babies crap!
Here are couple of Natural Pet Foods:
This is nice and informative Christina.I have never owned a pet but am looking forward to getting one in the future. I figured the basic food was good enough to feed them. I mostly likely would have been spending a lot of money on Vet visits. I wonder though; at the end you call your pets your babies. It makes me think what kind of food humans are putting into their body and how they can become healthy. I know they have all natural and organic but what can be good for us?
ReplyDeleteYour right some of the preservatives and by products they feed animals are disgusting. I used to have a dog, but thankful I never read the food label which looking back now was very unfortunate for my dog. I can understand the frustration of people not wanting to pay twenty or more dollars a month on pet food though, especially when you look at what some people feed their kids.
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