Pet Fooled – The Documentary – Part 2

Going through this documentary, has been an eye-opener for me-either by learning new things in the pet industry or being re-educated  on things I have known.

Here are some points of interested taken from the show:

One of the biggest problems with the pet food industry is there has been very poor research done to what actually is appropriate and isn’t appropriate in your pet food.  There are companies (like Purina) that will tell you a raw food diet is bad and it will make your dog sick, but there are no studies provided to back up their claim.  There is no reason for them to do research on their food as to how good or bad it is for your pet as they are already making big profits from their food and don’t need to.

Since major pet food industries are involved with and have influence over vet students, lack of education surrounding raw diet exist among traditional vets.   If a person were to go to their vet and they themselves were not educated on a raw diet, vets will highly discourage it and will even go as far to tell you it has negative side effects.   This documentary will inform you as to why your pet can eat a balanced raw food diet and how it is actually healthy and beneficial for them.  (I have been feeding a raw diet for approximately 20+ years.  When I go to a vet, because I am educated on a raw diet, they do not discourage me when I tell them I feed it to my pets.)

When looking at some of the foods that are out there (mainly the ones you get from the grocery store and some from Petco or PetSmart) it can be very confusing and overwhelming in when trying to choose a pet food for your pet.  The amount of money that goes into packaging and even trying to read the ingredients can be very confusing.  There are some key words that are used that sound pretty good so if you don’t have any training, it would be difficult to know what would be a good choice or a bad choice.

Also, these companies that provide the lower quality foods (but know how to market to their consumers), put ingredients in your pet food that can harm your pet. This documentary will tell you how the pet food industry will trick you with their packaging, marketing and how they list their ingredients.

The controversy exists because dry food is void of moisture.  When your pet eats dry food, they are put in a permanent state of dehydration.  The quality and sourcing of where the ingredients came from is kept secret.  And even if the ingredients were perfect, the manufacturing process to make a meat product shelf-stable for extended periods is performed at extremely high temperatures.  This creates two potent carcinogens: acrylamide and heterocyclic amines.

The National Renders Association (NRA) argues that if rendered meat wasn’t used, where would it go?  Pet food companies take these rendered, low quality meats and mix them with synthetic vitamins to make a “complete and balanced” diet for your pet-and then it is successfully marketed to and tricking pet lovers.

The pet food industry today is similar to the Tobacco industry in the 40’s and 50’s when you had medical doctors recommend the use of tobacco. Not because it was a conspiracy or they believed they were in any way harming, they just didn’t know.  You have well-meaning veterinarians recommending food, not because they have sound nutritional background but because that’s all they know.

There is still more to come, but I want to keep the articles short and easy to read.  Next week, I’ll touch on a few more points from the documentary.  In the meantime if you have any questions and would just like to discuss this topic, feel free to contact me.