Somebody, please, tell me this isn't true...

[conuly]

http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/petfood1.html

Tell me it's sponsored by PETA or something, because I'm not about to check.

Comments

[catsluvdmb.livejournal.com]

hmmm... the way they made it sound in the beginning (i only skimmed the rest), it was like they were taking euthanized animals from vet clinics.

To be honest, I don't really see the problem with taking animals already killed in shelters. I'd rather have them recycled than taken to the town dump. It sucks that animals have to be put down, but until people are more responsible about their pets, it's a necessary evil.

[conuly]

*blinks*

It's cannibalism. And there's some evidence that this leads to the infamous mad cow and its variants. Not only is that how we think it started as mad cow, but there's a case where people who were in a medical study involving... um... bits from other people to cure some disease or other are now getting the human form of mad cow.

[catsluvdmb.livejournal.com]

There are plenty of animals that perform cannibalism naturally. Generally carniverous/omnivorous animals are not going to have the same problems with eating meat as herbivores. Pigs if you don't remove their tails will begin to eat each other starting with that body part first. Chickens will cannibalize their fallen comrades. Lions oftentimes are known to eat their young and wolves will eat the weaker of their pack in strapped times.

As for human mad cow, I'd have to see the writeup on that one since the only case of mad cow transferrence I ever heard of turned out to be a misdiagnosis later.

[conuly]

I'll look it up later, because I have to go now. It's not called mad cow in humans, though, it's called something else. Starts with a C, ends with a -jacobs.

[eofs.livejournal.com]

Human variant CJD? I forget the full name ;0)

From memory, BSE is (was?) thought to have arisen thanks to feeding cows dead sheep that had died from a specific disease. I want to say Foot and Mouth, but I'm not 100% on that.

[parashiggy.livejournal.com]

Creusefeld-Jacobs...or something similarish

[conuly]

And cats don't tend to be cannibals. Even if they did, it makes no difference. Companies should be honest on the packaging about what the foods contain. There's a reason humans don't buy their cats "canned mouse", even though it's a lot closer to what cats eat in nature than beef or lamb. I doubt people would be willing to buy "canned cat that was killed with chemicals that may still linger in the meat" for their animals.

[catsluvdmb.livejournal.com]

But they're not being dishonest either. The packaging says animal biproducts or animal protein most of the time. As far as the animals being killed by chemicals, the gases used to euthanize animals dissipate in a short period of time and are oftentimes "non-toxic" such as the CO2 we use at my work.

I think if people are truly concerned about whether their dog food contains chicken breast or chicken embryos, they should just make their own dog food or buy the several non-vegetarian organic brands that have come out on the market recently. It's going to cost you the same as human food, if not more, but you're also going to be feeding your animal human grade food.

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

The problem is twofold:

1) Euthanasia chemicals (as well as other chemicals such as those on flea collars which are left on the deceased animal) can't be broken down by the rendering process, *and* they aren't excreted. While it's a tiny amount per meal, this means that the chemicals build up in the animal's body over its lifetime and could be doing serious harm in the long run.

2) Cannibalism runs the risk of the outbreak of prion diseases -- the "Mad Cow" (BSE) outbreaks were caused directly by humans forcing animals to eat their own kind. Rendering animals doesn't destroy the prions, so regardless of the industry claiming that it's a safe practice (just as they did before the BSE epidemics) there is a chance of it becoming a major problem.

I've noticed a *huge* difference in all signs of health in my cats after switching away from the "grocery store" brands over to the good ones (no vomiting, almost no hairballs, good weight, shiny coats, much more energetic, happier, etc)... I see you mentioned elsewhere that you feed the same class of foods that I do, so you've likely seen similar results. :)

As for people being more responsible, there are other ways to handle the situation that are highly effective. An increasing number of cities rely primarily or entirely on "no-kill" shelters now: they spend funds on education, low-cost (or free) spay-and-neuter clinics, spay/neuter before adopting any animals out, mandated sterilization, and so forth. In some cities it's working so well that there are shortages of puppies/kittens -- the difficulty is mostly a matter of getting the city to make the initial investment, as the cost goes down sharply as the population comes under control. :-)

[catsluvdmb.livejournal.com]

We have no kill shelters here in Raleigh (I volunteer for this one (http://www.safehavenforcats.org)), but the waiting list is so long that many animals end up at the Wake County shelter in the long run.

One program that I think is excellent, aside from education of pet owners, is to neuter feral animals, give them a 3 year rabies shot and re-release them. That way they're not being put down for being too wild and they're not breeding to worsen the problem.

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

Only shelter here in my city is also no-kill. :-) Our population is under control, though, so there's no overflow -- actually, they've had enough funds through donations and such that they were able to build a new deluxe shelter that's quite amazing. You can see bits of it in the kitty pics at the shelter site here:
http://www.petalumaanimalshelter.org/cats.html

I'm not sure if our shelter does TNR (trap/neuter/release) but I know that there are a *lot* of feral feline organizations in my county. Some do TNR, others focus on adoption.

I think that part of why things are working where I'm at is because there's a large amount of community involvement, plus a state law mandating all animals be spayed/neutered *before* being adopted out. Most of the independent pet supply stores donate floor space for the shelter to use as an adoptible kitty showcase, there's a community of "foster home" volunteers, plus all of the various rescue groups in the area, a volunteer-run website with updated pics and videos of pets up for adoption, and so forth.