Pet owners beware!

Stinky · Post by **Stinky** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:49 am

I found this interesting article about pet food manufacturing. You'll be shocked at what goes in there.
I think I'll switch to organic.

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

happy_flyer · Post by **happy_flyer** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 3:20 pm

There are great alternatives to the Supermarket sold pet foods - usually found in independant specialty pet supply stores. Look at the ingredients in these better quality foods and you will see no sign of generic meats and "meat meal". Many of these foods use human grade ingredients - this is especially true in Canada.

Sono-loadmaster · Post by **Sono-loadmaster** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:32 pm

For all you pet owners out there, here are a couple words of advice from someone who ownes a specialty pet store. Stay away from grocery store brands and those "big" name brands. Don't trust any brand that outsources the manufacturing of their product. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

Dash-Ate · Post by **Dash-Ate** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:30 pm

ybp · Post by **ybp** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 10:08 pm

That's not chicken in my chicken chow mien.

http://www.superlaugh.com/1/chowmein.htm

happy_flyer · Post by **happy_flyer** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 9:33 am

Hey sono_loadmaster - I own a store too ( Or I guess technically my wife does ). Where's your store ?

Wasps rule · Post by **Wasps rule** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 8:51 pm

Sono-loadmaster wrote:For all you pet owners out there, here are a couple words of advice from someone who ownes a specialty pet store. Stay away from grocery store brands and those "big" name brands. Don't trust any brand that outsources the manufacturing of their product. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

What brand(s) of adult dog food would you recommend for an energetic GSP?

Thanks in advance.

happy_flyer · Post by **happy_flyer** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 9:40 am

If you check out this company -

http://www.naturapet.com

On the home page, in the left coulmn there is a list of the brands they supply, and there is some good information about the ingredients and quality. For an active dog, I would recommend the Evo - very high in protein. The Innova Adult is great too. My Malamute/shepherd is a crazy-hyper running machine, but has a sensitive stomach so the Evo was a little rich for him. The California Natural works well ( also on that page ), but we have settled on WolfKing by SolidGold.

http://www.solidgoldhealth.com

MUSKEG · Post by **MUSKEG** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 11:20 am

What a screwed up world we live in. Everyone is on the band wagon to get the government to fix poverty and homelessness and war and killing and the environment, but heaven forbid our pets get anything but gourmet food. Why don't you try to figure out what your pets really like instead of what you and the makers of expensive pet food think they should like. If cheese and macaroney is good enough for your child then ordinary pet food made from whats left of a cow is good enough for Fiffy.

paralyzer · Post by **paralyzer** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 8:54 pm

Exactly! Guess importing pet food is a bad idea.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ ... ional/home

Wasps rule · Post by **Wasps rule** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 10:06 pm

Thanks for the reply happy_flyer.

MUSKEG wrote:What a screwed up world we live in. Everyone is on the band wagon to get the government to fix poverty and homelessness and war and killing and the environment, but heaven forbid our pets get anything but gourmet food. Why don't you try to figure out what your pets really like instead of what you and the makers of expensive pet food think they should like. If cheese and macaroney is good enough for your child then ordinary pet food made from whats left of a cow is good enough for Fiffy.

Nothing like flaming pet owners that ask about dog food a little less likely to have rat poison in it. I'm not looking to feed steak tartar to the dog, just want to avoid rodenticide. Sounds reasonable, eh?

happy_flyer · Post by **happy_flyer** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 9:57 am

If you want to feed your child KD, McD's and KFC, then sure, your child will grow, survive etc, but I doubt he/she will have a high quality of life nor live as long as he/she might. Same goes for your dog / cat.

Driving Rain · Post by **Driving Rain** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 10:02 am

Soon they'll be breeding us like cattle! You've got to warn everyone and tell them! Soylent green is made of people! You've got to tell them! Soylent green is people!

snowshoe · Post by **snowshoe** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 12:08 pm

Folks are all bent out of shape over this pet food thing , but, really what else should we expect from an industry that is totally free of any over sight. Far as I'm concerned any consumable that is imported is always suspect and not only pet food. We keep hearing so much from our governments about the great job they do about protecting the integrity of our food system, you would think we'll never see so much as a rotten apple again. Any level of quality or safety that our food attains is reached regardless of our government inspections and not because of them. The food inspection laws of this country that cover saftey, quality,traceability, etc. for the most part do not apply to or are not enforced on imported food. That amounts to a large percentage of our diet. Just look at the produce section from Oct to June and you'll see what I mean. The saftey and inspection laws of this country are set up to protect the large exporting producers and processors of Canada. The regs are mainly used as an attempt to gain leverage in the international food markets, I guess if they should provide a bit of unintended benefit to the Canadian consumer that's ok, but, don't think for a minute the system is set up for domestic consumption. Instead of passinfg ridicule and laughing at some poor s.o.b. that has lost a pet, maybe just do a bit of research on how much volume of our imported human food is actually inspected and tested by Canadian officials. Most will find it unsettling. This pet food wreck should be used as a warning about how all imported food, including that for humans, is produced and sold to us

desksgo · Post by **desksgo** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 1:13 pm

snowshoe wrote:Folks are all bent out of shape over this pet food thing , but, really what else should we expect from an industry that is totally free of any over sight.

THAT IS WHY THE DESKSGO AVIATION CONSULTING GROUP IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE, SMS FOR PETFOOD PRODUCERS

Azure · Post by **Azure** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 2:16 pm

For all you pet owners out there, here are a couple words of advice from someone who ownes a specialty pet store. Stay away from grocery store brands and those "big" name brands. Don't trust any brand that outsources the manufacturing of their product. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

I'll ask! I have two indoor cats, they both are fond....or at least eat...Purina's One Formula for indoor cats. I accidentally purchased Iam's once "same colored bag" and both looked at me with this, "Are you kidding?" look. Yes, I went back to the store! They get a few tablespoons full a week of Fancy Feast sliced tuna, and one is very fond of turkey or chicken Whiskas Temptations....the other gordged...and promptly degordged ...when she found her new home and since then only bats the treat across the floor.

Should I worry about any of these products? They are not cheap, and I have seen warnings about some vet clinic products as well.

For those who think pet owners are taking it too far? These girls...even though first one hates the second arrival..have a personality and add to our life. In fact, second arrival has gotten so used to my husbands four day pairings she won't shut up if he has a five dayer, driving us nuts! A few weeks ago she slept through his leaving, I was awake and watched as she made her way to our bedroom door...I heard a yeowole? Today she was awake and made damn sure she marked "with hair" her man before he left. Sorry to all allergie sufferers, I buy my lint rollers at costco! One at every door!

happy_flyer · Post by **happy_flyer** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 3:17 pm

The safest place to check ( for the poison issue ) is the MenuFoods website - they have a complete list of all products.

http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_cat.html

They update it as more news becomes available, but I don't think Purina is on there.

The Vet supplied food that was causing a problem was the Science Diet that is for diabetic cats. [ EDIT - looks like MediCal Dissolution formula is on there too - this is for bladder problems, very common in cats ]. As a note on the vet foods - they are usually appalling in terms of the quality of the ingrediants. For the medicinal foods, you're getting the chemicals the animal needs to help them out with specific problems, and paying for it in a big way ! The other brands they typically stock ( Medical ) are just as bad.

happily.retired · Post by **happily.retired** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 11:46 pm

Azure,
Be greatful that you only get disdain from your pets when they don't like their food. Last winter the food my two big farm dogs have always eaten was discontinued. There must have been half a dozen brands that they deemed less eddible than old roadkill (literally) and the foodsource they found (and I couldn't due to heavy snowfall) was an unlucky porcupine next to the road. Imagine coming home after work everyday for a week and having to remove quills from a doberman's tongue!