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

[priyatelka.livejournal.com]

Well, not sponsored by PETA.

The magazine has this to say about itself:

NEXUS is an international bi-monthly alternative news magazine, covering the fields of: Health Alternatives; Suppressed Science; Earth's Ancient Past; UFOs & the Unexplained; and Government Cover-Ups.

This kind of statement would usually make me wary of any information they may offer. Not disbelieving, just wary.

However, in the Pet Food Industry articles listed, one was written by a vet with what looks like very good credentials:

Dr Belfield is a graduate of Tuskegee Institute of Veterinary Medicine and is now in private practice in San Jose, California. Dr Belfield established the first orthomolecular veterinary hospital in the US. He is co-author of The Very Healthy Cat Book and How to Have a Healthier Dog. This article first appeared in Let's Live Magazine, May 1992.

So I don't know what to think. I have noticed the things he's talked about in my cats over the years, cats who weren't sick (according to the vet) and I couldn't figure out why they were throwing up, etc.

That is very distressing...

[nightsea.livejournal.com]

I'm not particularly inclined to believe that article. Not because it's distressing, which it is, but because of the lack of proof as well as information I'm aware of which is contradictory.

I've had a number of close friends who worked in the veterinary field, and they have all told me that euthanized pets are disposed of through cremation. There may or may not be some sort of law that dictates how deceased pets are handled, but personally I think that there might be.

Now, it's fairly common knowledge that diseased and/or disabled animals such as cattle and horses are used in pet food, but I have no reason to believe that someone's dear Fluffy or Spot ends up in Fido's food.

[catsluvdmb.livejournal.com]

HAHAHAHA, road kill that's a good one.

I work for one of the companies that provides the animal protein that goes into pet food. I can tell you that from what I know, they are not putting road kill and dead pets into the food. I work hands on with what eventually ends up in pet food, and Value Protein would wonder what the fuck is wrong with us if we put a dead opossum in the bin.

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

Euthanized pets at a *vet* are disposed of via cremation, yet. It's established, however, that pets put down at shelters are sold to renderers -- several major reputable news sources have confirmed it.

Google results on the topic (http://www.google.com/search?q=rendered+shelter+pets+cat+food&sourceid=firefox&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8).

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

As I said to somebody else, pets put down at shelters are sold to renderers and used openly in pet food -- several major reputable news sources have confirmed it, and there's a huge number of Google results on the topic (http://www.google.com/search?q=rendered+shelter+pets+cat+food&sourceid=firefox&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8).

So perhaps "from what you know" they're not, but it's pretty well-known that it is going on...

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

No, it's true... I've already put Google results in reply to other comments in your LJ, but there's also these as a quick intro:

http://cats.about.com/cs/catfood/a/whyfussfood.htm

http://www.messybeast.com/cat-food-industry.htm

just for starters.

It has also been confirmed by large reputable news sources (San Francisco Chronicle for example), state/national vetrinary associations, the FDA, and so forth. This isn't some secret made up by whackjobs.

[conuly]

Huh. So, by now, what pet foods are left to trust?

[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.

[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.

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

Quite a few, actually -- it's just the ones in the grocery stores for the most part that can't be trusted. (Any food that has vague labels like "animal" or "meat" is to be avoided, put simply.)

Some of the safe brands in this sense:
Nutro
Felidae
California Natural
Wysong
Iams (this might have changed)
Chicken Soup For the [Pet] Lover's Soul
Innova
Royal Canin
(list goes on and on, believe me)

(All of those only use meats that they can openly list on the label and don't use by-products like cancerous tumors. Some still use cheap filler like ground yellow corn, but that's another whole issue and not nearly as important/scary as the protein sources.)

[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]

(Posting this to my LJ too :)

Natura (one of the *good* companies) has this cool ingredient comparison wizard, which not only lets you compare ingredients between different brands, but also will give you information on what each of the ingredients are, including whether they're good/bad and why:

http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=comp-wiz

[catsluvdmb.livejournal.com]

DO NOT buy Iams. They have a terrible record for abusing their laboratory animals. They have been fined multiple times by the AAALAC, which is pretty hard to accomplish. I used to buy Iams until I saw the report from AAALAC, now I buy Nutro.

[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]

Damn, I had forgotten about that.

I don't feed Iams because the nutrition in their kibble food just isn't good enough. Too many crappy filler ingredients. I'm feeding Felidae right now... I used to use Nutro, but I dumped them after they were bought out, as prices went through the roof and they started using cheap filler at that point. :-/

Depends on the vet, I think, or maybe the state.

[marveen.livejournal.com]

When my husband's pet of many years was hit by a car (dog should have been named Houdini, Blackie was not only in a fenced yard but tied up since the family were at the store), they took him to the vet and the vet said that he was sorry, there was nothing he could do but ease the end.

Afterward, the vet asked if they wanted to take Blackie's body or if they would like him to dispose of it. So they asked how.

The vet said "Oh, we send them to the landfill."

My future husband (then 17; this was in 1986) and his father were angered and insulted that their beloved pet would be callously classed as trash. They took Blackie home and buried him in the backyard. (The marker is still there today.)

[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.

[robotliliput.livejournal.com]

Scary, but it's true.

The only dry pet food to feed your animals is either Precise or Avo. Everything else has tumor meats, meat "by-products", and "non-food-grade" meats and grains (including environmental toxins). If it's not safe for human consumption, why is it okay to feed to animals, I ask? Because animals don't live that long anyway? I hate this callousness. It sickens me.

[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

[xmorningxrosex.livejournal.com]

Well you've got enough comments saying that it is true already, but I just wanted to add that I'd believe it. I remember being at a farm for a field trip, and one of the workers was explaining what cows are fed. In the list of stuff was dried cow blood (in powder mixed in with grains) for iron/protein/etc. Whole idea grossed me out, and I've seen some pretty horrible pics of horses that were on their way to being dog food, so feeding pets roadkill doesn't seem all that far off.