Proteins are the building blocks of life and must be of good quality in order to sustain it.
To survive, your cherished animal companion must be provided with proteins. The pet
food industry would have us believe that their foods provide a “complete and balanced
diet” for our pets. In reality what we are feeding are the dregs of the human food chain,
garbage unfit for human or animal consumption.

What do these proteins consist of and how good are they? If you really want to know the
truth read on . . . if you’re not ready for it, you had better stop now.

Animal proteins consist of diseased meat, road kills, contaminated material from
slaughterhouses, fecal matter, euthanized cats and dogs, poultry feathers, all prepared
together as rendered material. Yes, these are the sources of animal protein presently used
in many commercial pet foods. Vegetable proteins, often the mainstay of dry foods
include ground yellow corn, wheat shorts and middlings, soybean meal, rice hulls and
peanut meal. All provide very little nutritional value and are nothing more than
sweepings and offal from milling room floors left over after processing. The removal of
the oil, germ, bran, starch and gluten from those grains eliminate the essential fatty acids
and a number of fat soluble vitamins and antioxidants.

The animal proteins used in these foods come from a number of different sources. Dead
stock removal operations provide the ‘4-D’ animals: dead, diseased, dying or disabled.
Most have died or are dying from causes unknown and have been treated with a wide
array of drugs before their demise or have been given a lethal injection of a potent drug
to euthanize them. The animals are then delivered to a “receiving plant” where the hide
(sold to a tannery), skin, fats and meat and removed. The meat from these animals can
be sold for pet food after it is completely covered in charcoal (to prevent ingestion by
humans), and marked “unfit for human consumption”.

If the animal arrives at the “receiving plant” in a state of decomposition it is transported
to a rendering plant along with road kill which is too large to be buried along the road
side. Next we have the condemned material from slaughterhouses. Animals that have
died on their way to slaughter, diseased animals or parts, diseased blood, extraneous
matter, hair, feet, head, mammary glands, carpal and tarsal joints or any part of the
animal condemned for human consumption can be rendered for pet food. Before this
material leaves the slaughterhouse, it is “denatured” (doused with chemicals) to prevent
it from getting back into the human food chain when being transported to the rendering
facilities.

In Canada, the chemical used to “denature” is Birkolene b. According to the Department
of Agriculture, Animal Plant and Health, the composition of this chemical cannot be
disclosed. In the U.S., a number of agents can be used including carbolic acid, fuel oil,
kerosene and citronella.

We now have animal protein classified as “4-D’s”, road kill and condemned material
from the slaughterhouses. Another source of animal protein, which the industry
vehemently deny they use, are rendered companion animals.

Dogs and cats euthanized at clinics, pounds and shelters are sold to rendering plants,
rendered with other material and sold to the pet food industry. One small rendering plant
in Quebec was rendering 10 tonnes (11 tons) of dogs and cats per week from Ontario.
The Ministry of Agriculture in Quebec, where a number of these plants are located,
advised me that “The fur is not removed from dogs and cats” and that “Dead animals are
cooked together with viscera, bones and fats in 115C (236 F) for twenty minutes.” One
large pet food company in the U.S., with extensive research facilities, used rendered dogs
and cats in their food for years and when the information came to light “claimed no
knowledge of it.” The Food and Drug Administration, Center for Veterinary Medicine,
in the U.S., is aware of the use of rendered companion animals in pet food and has stated,
“CVM has not acted to specifically prohibit the rendering of pets. However, that is not to
say that the practice of using this material in pet food is condoned by CVM.” In a
research paper from the University of Minnesota, entitled, “Fats of Sodium Pentobarbital
in Rendered Product”, it stated that the barbiturate, sodium pentobarbital, which is used
to euthanize small animals, “survived rendering without undergoing degradation.”

In the U.S., as in Canada, the pet food industry is virtually self-regulated. In the U.S., the
AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) sets guidelines and definitions
for animal feed ingredients including pet foods. It is up to each State to adopt and
enforce these guidelines. The AAFCO states that there are no restrictions on the type of
animals which can be used in meals, tankage, digests, etc . . . Any kind of animal can be
used including cats and dogs.

The AAFCO ‘Official Publication’, “Feed Ingredient Definitions” is extensive and lists
what can be used in animal feeds. This list includes “Spray Dried Animal Blood”,
“Hydrolyzed Hair”, “Dehydrated Garbage”, “Unborn Calf Carcasses”, “Dried Poultry
Litter (means processed animal waste product composed of a processed combination of
feces from commercial poultry together with litter that was present in the floor
production of poultry)”, “Dried Swine Waste”, “Undried Processed Animal Waste
Products (means a processed animal waste product composed of excreta, with or without
litter, from poultry, ruminants, or any other animal except humans)”, and the list goes on.
I asked if these definitions applied only to livestock feed and was advised that these
guidelines and definitions also apply to pet foods.

In Canada, there are virtually no regulations in this industry. Other than the ‘Labeling
Act’ which states that the label must contain the name and address of the company,
weight of the product and if it is made for a dog or cat, there are no set standards. The
CVMA (Canadian Veterinary Medical Association) and PFAC (Pet Food Association of
Canada) are voluntary organizations and for the most part rely on the integrity of the
company which they certify, stating that the ingredients are not below the minimum
standards set. Of all the per food sold in Canada, 85 - 90% is manufactured by the
multi-nationals in the U.S., and neither the CVMA or PFAC have any control over the
ingredients used in these foods.

The sad scenario is that it is our pets who are suffering the ills of these inferior
ingredients, the lack of a nutritious diet. We have been brain washed by the industry and
some veterinarians, that in order to keep our pets healthy we must feed them a diet
formulated for dogs and cats. NO TABLE SCRAPS! We have pets suffering from
cancer, skin problems, allergies, hypertension, kidney and liver failure, hearth disease,
numerous dental problems, to name but a few. These same individuals can find a myriad
of reasons why our pets are inflicted with these problems, the environment, lack of
exercise and stress, but never is it attributed to the inferior commercial foods we are
feeding. Before the pet food industry began to prosper, our pets ate what we did and
lived long, happy lives. Most died of old age.

So, if you love and care about your pet, take a few extra minutes when preparing your
meal, add a little more meat, toss in a few more vegetables, cook a little more brown rice
or oatmeal, even a piece of toast. At least you’ll know what your pet is eating and I am
sure you will see an end to the escalating veterinary bills and have a happier, healthier
pet.

The Pet Food Industry, a billion dollar unregulated industry, has evolved from the
garbage which would otherwise be disposed of at a land fill site, buried or processed into
fertilizer. Our pets are ingesting this stuff on a daily basis. Garbage, laced with
additives, preservatives (of a questionable nature), chemicals, excess amounts of sugar
and sodium (nearly three teaspoons of salt per kg. of food), and according to the AAFCO
ingredient definitions, “Urea Formaldehyde”.

I suggest that one addition be made to the labeling of pet foods, a skull and cross-bone
insignia on the package.