To jump right to the the dog food brand reviews click here “Karens K9s Dog Food Brand PDF Review Revised 4-28-12“. The definitions of the terminology used (such as Sodium Selenite) start on page 13.  Let me know if you have any questions or another brand you would like me to review. Scroll down to read the “Dog Food Dilemma”.

Note: Corrections have been made as we collect your feedback and information that we get directly from the companies. Please continue to review the document and it will become more comprehensive and benefit our pets.

As a “natural approach” layperson, I am trying to bring the most exhaustive information that I’ve learned for everyone to use in their decision to feed their animals. Please understand that the quantity of material will sometimes lead to human mistakes and narrative insertion. Please feel free to contact me if you find anything that you think might be an error, so that I can re-address and correct it. Thanks!

Shamrock Vom Steinig Tal CD, TD, AX, OAJ, NAC, NJC, NGC, OAC, CL3-R,CL3-F, CL3-H, U-ACHX, U-CD

DOG FOOD DILEMMA

My first question to you is………….what do you think they do with the three to four million euthanized pets that are retrieved from the shelters and veterinarian offices per year??????

Cremation?  Think again…….about how much it would cost to fire up the crematory.

Burial?  How much land would it take to bury three to four million pets per year?

Unbelief and shock is usually the reaction I get when I reveal to people the results of my search for a better way to feed our German Shepherds 17 years ago.

My first concern came when I asked my trainer which “BIG” named dry dog food we should feed our dogs.  She rolled her eyes and said, “Do your dog’s a favor.  Mix a little raw hamburger into the dry food.  They did come from wolves you know”.  RAW?????   Eeeeekk!  I then thought about how my Mom would buy raw kidney’s to feed to her cats and they would eat it raw.  Hmmmmmm.

About this time is when our first GSD, at one year old was diagnosed with severe Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency, or EPI.  EPI is a condition caused by the failure of the pancreas to produce digestive enzymes.  The body cannot assimilate the food eaten without enzymes.   Results are bloody diarrhea, a ravenous appetite, (no matter how much you feed them they are still hungry after-wards), severe weight lost and malnutrition. This is not uncommon with the breed but she was so severe, the vet at that time told us she wouldn’t see three years old.  The regiment my previous vets put her on was not working and she was getting worse, so we turned to a more natural approach, used homeopathy and supplements. This was the event that started my own investigation into the food we were feeding her.  With the use of this new information, our GSD Shamrock titled in agility, tracking and obedience and lived until just shy of her 12^th birthday!

The first book I read, by Anne Martin, “Food Our Pets Die For” was jaw dropping, and thus started my quest for a better way.

The term “rendering plants and processing” was unfamiliar to me.  Ms. Martin shed horrifying light on the subject.  “Renderer’s” receive dead stock, by removal companies, who bring dead, diseased farm animals, zoo animals, decaying road-kill, maggots and all, restaurant and grocery store garbage, including styrofoam trays, plastic wrap, rancid grease AND hundreds of thousands of EUTHANIZED dogs and cats, YES, our companion animals, some with flea collars still attached!  THIS IS NO JOKE.

The “6 D’s”, dead, dying, destroyed, diseased, disabled or drugged were unhealthy animals with cancerous tissues or tumors, livers infested with worms (flukes), cirrhosis, animals that have died with pneumonia in their lungs, animal bowels, feces, and even fetal tissue which is dangerously high in hormones are rendered into our pets’ food!  Also, any animal carcasses with high levels of drugs, steriods or pesticides in excess of limits described by the FDA and NOT FIT to be processed for human consumption are also part of the rendering!  Meat rejected by slaughter houses and sent to the rendering plant must first be saturated with chemicals or charcoal called “denatured” a procedure designed to make it unpalatable to humans, ensuring it cannot be re-sold as human grade meat.  I personally know a health inspector who told us when they discover meat that has reached a warm temperature because of a bad refrigeration unit, in a grocery store or restaurant, they are required to throw the meat out into the dumpster and pour household bleach on it!  This is also picked up by the renderer’s!

And the “wholesome grains” we read about on the package or hear about in their commercials are really just the hulls or remnants swept up off of the factory floor!  Corn, for instance: the starch is removed for corn starch powder and the oil is extracted for corn oil, then, there is nothing left but a non-nutritious substance!  IF… a “whole grain” is really used, it has probably been deemed “unfit for human consumption” (pet food companies get it cheaper that way which increases their profit) because of mold, contaminants, or poor quality.  It is no wonder most pet food recalls are due to toxins in grains like wheat and corn called aflatoxins, a naturally occurring mold by-product!  Grains are used to increase the percentage of protein in the analysis, and are also highly indigestible causing stress on kidneys and a major allergen to animals. Did you also know that chicken FEATHERS, when processed, are 100% protein and could be part of the ingredients that make up the “protein” in your pets’ food?

Three of the five major pet food companies are owned by huge corporations.

Colgate-Palmolive owns Hills, Science Diet, and Hills Prescription

Proctor & Gamble owns Eukanuba, Iams, California Natural, Innova, and Evo

Del Monte Foods owns Nature’s Recipe

Nestle owns Alpo, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Mighty Dog, and Purina One

Heinz owns , Nature’s Recipe, 9 Lives, Amore, Gravy Train, Kibble –n-Bits

Mars owns Royal Canin, Nutro Natives, Kal Kan, Mealtime, Sheba, and Waltman’s

My sister was so horrified years ago when I told her, she called her dog food company (one of the big ones that is listed above) and actually (I don’t know how) spoke to the President of the company!  His response………”We would never consider allowing companion animals in our food”.  But, ignorance is bliss (and money) isn’t it?  They purchase meat from the cheapest source and add all of the ingredients to be labeled a “balanced diet”.

The chemicals added to our pets’ food is despicable!  Reporter John Eckhouse uncovered that veterinarians began reporting to the FDA that the Sodium Pentobarbital, used to euthanize dogs and cats, was losing its effectiveness.  Why????  Because these animals had been eating food with trace amounts of sodium pentobarbital in it for years, FROM…….EUTHANIZED PETS and other euthanized animals in their food!

A research paper from University of Minnesota stated that the barbiturate, Sodium Pentobarbital, survives the rendering process WITHOUT undergoing degradation.  When ingested, sodium pentobarbital has shown to cause liver and kidney damage and renal failure.

Other unwanted ingredients like pesticides and insecticides get into the mix by way of poisoned livestock, and fish oil laced with DDT and other poisonous herbicides that are found in West Coast mackerel and tuna.

With the cumulative effects of years of ingesting all of these different chemicals, not even mentioning preservatives like Ethoxyquin, a carcinogen used as a rubber preservative!  AND Ethoxyquin (or “E”) is required by US Coast Guard regulations to be used “At Sea” as a preservative for fish or fish oil that is not destined for human consumption unless there has been a specific signed contract put in place between the pet company and the harvesting fishery, which is rarely the case!!!  Is it a wonder to you that our animals are suffering with skin and eye allergies, hip dysplasia, cancer, kidney and liver problems and other ailments??????

With all of the above in mind, BEWARE………. and read, read, read!  The expensive pet food you are purchasing may be slowly compromising your pets health!

My best to you and your furry family members,

Karen

Please click here “Karens K9s Dog Food Brand PDF Review Revised 4-28-12“to see what’s in your dog food!!