Today’s post as part of the What are You Feeding Your Wolf series, I’m going to talk about commercial pet food, its origins, the major players and why commercial pet foods fall well short of providing your pet with healthy nutrition and potentially robbing him or her of a long and healthy life.
The Pet Food Industry: A Brief History
- Electrician James Spratt creates the first dog biscuit in 1860 and the pet food industry is born. His bone shaped biscuit was made of wheat, vegetables, beet root and beef blood.
- In the 1930’s horse meat was plentiful as automobiles began replacing them. As the depression hit, people looked for less expensive ways to feed their pets, they fed less meat, more grains and cereal products.
- By 1941, canned dog food represented 91% of the US dog food market, but WWII saw a decline in canned dog food due to shortages of tin and the soaring costs of canning. As a result, in 1946 a resurgence in dry dog food took hold.
- In 1957 Purina begin marketing extruded dog food (dog chow) in supermarket chains.
- General Mills bought Spratt’s business, Spratt’s Patent Limited in 1950.
Since its beginnings the pet food industry hasn’t looked back, and is today a multi-billion dollar industry with US pet food sales in 2009 bringing in a tidy sum of almost US $17 billion. Source: Petfoodindustry.com
Top 5 Players in 2008
- Mars Inc.
- Nestle
- Colgate-Palmolive
- Proctor & Gamble
- Del Monte Foods
Source: PetfoodIndustry.com
What’s Wrong With Kibble and Canned Dog Food?
Ok, let’s jump right in shall we? Over the last 20 years or so we’ve seen (less fat, no trans fat, no carb, low carb, high fat/low carb products and diets, and a trend towards organic and natural foods for humans. The overall message we’ve been getting is that reducing processed foods and eating more organic and natural foods will promote better health. I think we can all get on board with that, even if we don’t necessarily practice it. So, why should it be any different for our pets? Wouldn’t a less processed diet and a return to more natural foods be better for our pets too? Of course it would, you know it and I know it.
Even though we all know that a processed diet can not possibly be better than a natural diet, the majority of us still feed our pets a much more processed, less healthy and potentially harmful commercial pet food product. Why is that? One reason is that anybody who’s been born within the last 50 years probably has no knowledge of what a dog ate prior to that. Add misinformation and propaganda put forth by the pet food manufacturers and most veterinarians (their bed fellows), pet owners have been brainwashed into believing that a bag of kibble sprayed with preservatives (Vitamin C & Vitamin E), to keep fatty acids from going rancid during its recommended 2 year shelf life, and a can of dog food heated to 250oF for 80 minutes is healthy. <Deep breath!> Does this really sound healthy?
Other reasons many people feed their pets dry or canned food relates to convenience and price, unfortunately too often though this is at the expense of their pet’s health. Others don’t give what they feed to their pet a second thought, or they just don’t know what the alternatives to commercial pet “food” are.
All kibbles are made using an extrusion process which involves high heat (cooking). Cooking does two things, 1). Destroys many of a food’s nutrients (heat does that to food), 2). Cooking makes carbohydrate (grains, corn, peas etc.), easier to digest. If you remember from yesterday’s post, dogs are carnivores and need very little carbohydrate. Speaking of carbohydrate, take a look at the list of ingredients on your dog’s food, I bet it lists proteins and fats but not carbohydrates. Curious eh?
This video suggests that pet food companies think we’re not smart enough to feed our dogs a “balanced” diet. Whatchoo talkin’ bout Willis!! I’ll get into that in tomorrow’s post.
Some of the Ways Commercial Pet Food Harms Your Pet’s Health
One of the biggest problems in feeding a commercial pet food diet has to do with periodontal health. Kibble and canned food stick to teeth, and years of consuming these “foods” inevitably lead to tooth decay and gum disease. How many times have you taken your dog to the vet to have his teeth cleaned, and at what expense? How do wolves survive for up to 13 years in the wild without a dentist? They don’t eat kibble or canned pet food, they eat meat and bone and tendon, all of which act like natural dental floss. I’ll talk more about that in one of the later posts.
The consequences of periodontal disease are serious. Bacteria overwhelm your pet’s mouth causing infection, releasing toxins into the blood stream. These toxins do a number on the kidneys and liver. Your pet’s health declines prompting a visit to the vet. The vet runs some test$ and tells you that your pet has liver or kidney problems and recommends that you put her on a special low protein medicated kibble, that only they sell. Of course you have to have her teeth cleaned to the tune of a thousand bucks or something and they sell you a doggy toothbrush and some doggy toothpaste and tell you to brush Fido’s teeth. You know from your own dental hygiene that brushing AND flossing are required to keep your teeth AND gums healthy. How are you supposed to get below your dog’s gum line with a doggy toothbrush, assuming your dog will even let you attempt brushing his teeth in the first place? Oh I know, how about buy some of those chlorophyll and wheat containing denta chews, that’ll do the trick!
Fast forward 6 months. You’ve been feeding your dog the medicated crap that the vet recommended but his teeth look just like they did 6 months ago and his health is worse. Back to the vet you go! It’s a never ending cycle designed to feed the machine and the machine has a BIG appetite (US$17 billion). All the while our pets’ health takes a back seat. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that all veterinarians operate this way, many don’t, but a lot do.
Another problem with kibble that I began to think about recently is dehydration. Dehydration is as serious for a dog as it is for a human. Dry dog foods contain about 10% moisture. A wolf evolved to absorb most of the water of its prey. I’m not sure what the moisture content would be for the prey items of a wolf’s diet, but the human body is about 70% water so I think it’s safe to say that a prey item’s moisture content would be significantly higher than in kibble. This article from Barf World does a good job of explaining how an animal could become dehydrated on a kibble diet and the consequences of that.
I could probably write a whole series or two just on the pet food industry and maybe i will in the future. For now to read more about the shadiness of the commercial pet food industry go here.
There’s also this, a video of the only copy I could find online of the CBC’s documentary PET FOOD: A DOG’S BREAKFAST. The documentary “features critics of the industry, foremost among them Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins, a California vet, and insider who used to work in the pet food industry. She says the recall of food made by Menu Foods of Toronto is a sign of larger problems. “Unfortunately the pet food industry is cutting corners, is not doing the testing it says it’s doing, is not using the quality of ingredients it wants pet owners to believe are in that bag and can, and is not forthcoming with pet owners about those facts. It is not a truthful industry.”
Leave a comment below and share your raw feeding experiences with others. Or, post a link to a good website that talks about raw feeding? Let’s help others learn how to feed their pets a healthy raw meaty bones diet.
In tomorrow’s post I’ll get into the benefits of feeding a raw diet and some of the options that are available when choosing to feed raw.
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