The Case For Organic Pet Food

When I got my first puppy I would have never have thought that there was any puppy food better than Purina Puppy Chow. Once and while I would hear stories about people's pets dying from something in their pet food but I never knew whether or not to believe them. Since I have noticed the trend toward natural products for pets, I have been doing some research. Frankly, what I have read is frightening.

I read in the book, "Natural Dog Care" by Celeste Yarnell, Ph.D., a story of a person with a sick pet who sent their pet's food off for analysis. In this case, the animal was a cat. The cat's food which was advertised as complete and natural was found to contain several thousand times more aluminum than was allowable for humans. Aluminum is frequently the cause of chronic degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.

We have all heard the terrible stores about the kinds of things that go into pet food. It seems that there is some truth in these ugly stories. Another book on natural pet care by Ann Martin titled "Does Your Dog Food Bark? A Study of the Pet Food Fallacy," said she was able to document through government investigators that euthanized animals were sent from veterinary clinics to rendering plants in Quebec and sold as meat meal and digests for livestock and pet food.

Martin's research also indicated that vegetable proteins (yellow corn, wheat shorts and middlings, soybean meal, rice hulls and peanut meal) contained in dry food are nothing more than the offal from milling-room floors. Since the oil, germ, bran, starch and gluten from these grains are no longer present, your pet will not receive the benefit of the essential fatty acids and many fat-soluble vitamins and antioxidants contained when the vegetable protein is in its complete form.

Additionally, Martin explains that the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO0) guidelines state that there are no restrictions on the type of animal that can be used in meat meal, tankage, digest, and so on.

After reading this information, I think we all need to scrutinize more closely what we are feeding our pets.

Please visit us at Naturesway4pet.com and see our post on Pet Food Additives