Commercial Pet Food and Questionable Ingredients

By Ann N. Martin1

Until the early 1990s, I, like millions of other people, had always fed my pets a commercial pet food. It was not until the illness of my two dogs in 1990, that I began to question the ingredients used in these products and the fact that pet foods are virtually unregulated. My Saint Bernard and Newfoundland had become ill within hours of ingesting a food that I had fed them for many years. Testing indicated high levels of some minerals and low levels of mycotoxins that are found in moldy grains. I began to wonder about proteins, since they are one of the prime building blocks in the diet of dogs and cats. I questioned the sources of proteins used in commercial pet foods. My research began at that time and has spanned nearly thirteen years since.

“…pet foods are virtually unregulated.”

In 1992, a Southern Californian veterinarian named Dr. Wendell Belfield informed me of his awareness that some pet food companies derive their sources of protein from euthanized companion animals. Could this happen in Canada? After contacting veterinarians in the city where I live in Ontario, I was to learn that many of these euthanized animals were being shipped to a broker about 300 miles away. In turn, this broker sold them to rendering plants in Quebec to whichever one was paying the highest price at that time.

To explain briefly, a rendering plant is a facility where (basically) garbage is shipped. This includes garbage from restaurants, supermarkets, condemned material from slaughterhouses, road kill, deceased zoo animals, companion animals and cattle that have died in the field. The rendering plant cooks all this material, centrifuges it with the fat rising to the top, the meat sinking to the bottom. The dogs and cats are tossed into the vat – including the plastic bags in which they arrive at the plant and any existing tags and flea collars. The finished material is sold to the feed operations, which includes pet food manufacturers. When you read “meat meal,” “meat and bone meal,” and “animal fat” on labels it may very well contain companion animals. My first book, Food Pets Die For documents, in detail, other inferior ingredients that may be used in pet foods. The third edition of Food Pets Die For documents the massive recall we saw in 2007 when pets became ill and died due to toxins in the foods.

“Since the incident with my dogs, I have cooked food for my pets and all of them have done extremely well and have remained in good health.”

My research eventually led me to the US, which is where most of the pet food sold in Canada is produced. I was shocked to learn that the rendering of dogs and cats is happening all over the US, primarily in California. Although the pet food industry denies that dogs and cats are used in their products, written documentation from rendering plants, proves otherwise. You also have to remember that the drug used to euthanize these animals, sodium pentobarbital, withstands the rendering process without undergoing degradation. In March of 2004, the Food and Drug Administration, Center for Veterinary Medicine (FDA/CVM) released a study they had undertaken on dry dog foods. Out of tested 74 brands, half contained levels of this drug. No studies have been undertaken on the effect this drug would have on animals ingesting it on a daily basis. The FDA/CVM was prompted to undertake this study after reports from veterinarians showed that they had to use more of the barbiturate to euthanize dogs.

Since the incident with my dogs, I have cooked food for my pets and all of them have done extremely well and have remained in good health. At present, I reside with a four-year-old dog and 2 one-year-old cats. There are some quality pet foods on the market that use only human grade ingredients. Read labels and question companies if you are going to buy a particular food. The health and happiness of your pet is worth the extra money you might spend on a quality food and you will not help but notice your veterinary bills drop dramatically.

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Ann Martin is the author of four books:

• Food Pets Die For NewSage Press, 1997. 2003, 2008.
• Protect Your Pet NewSage Press, 2001.
• http://www.newsagepress.com

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