THOUGHTS TO CONSIDER:
*Dog/Cat food that has refined carbohydrates like corn and wheat are seen by the dog’s system as sugar. A recent study revealed that “within two hours of ingesting a diet high in refined carbohydrates the blood glucose was 50% higher than the basis level. Within four hours it was 50% below the basis level. These wild swings in blood glucose can overtax the pancreas and may possibly lead to hypoglycemia, diabetes or pancreatitis”. This is the reason that I recommend non-grain food.
*If your dog got lost in the country, would it run into a wheat or corn field and eat the grain? OR would it eat road kill it found or eat a baby rabbit out of a nest it came upon? Hmmmmm……..pointed canine teeth, jaw only moves up and down….NOT side to side…..carnivore!
*When a dry kibble is served, whether it is a dry non-grain or grain kibble, the dog‘s digestive system has to extract water from its’ tissues in order for the food to move through the intestinal track. Years and years of moisture being extracted from the intestine system can lead to compromised conditions in some dogs AND 65% of disease begins in the gut! This is the reason it is best to always pour water over your dogs’ dry kibble.
*What if YOU ate a Big Mac & Fries three times per day for your whole life? Great at first, right? But what about after a few weeks, or a few months or a few years? That’s what happening to your dog if you are not rotating his/her food! What type of real nutrition could anyone or any animal get from ONE type of food only their whole life? Don’t listen to your vet! 95% of them are taught nutrition by guess who???? The dog food companies! AND in all of the years they study, they are only required a few hours of nutrition classes!
*85% of dog food companies give their recipes to dog food production companies to process and bag the food for them. Most people think that all dog food companies have their own facilities. This is not the case. Even some of the biggest companies do not have their own manufacturing plants. Out of the 38 companies I looked at, only 9 owned and operated their own facilities for dry kibble. Although some of the dog food companies may have their own plants to manufacture the “dry” kibble, they usually do not have the capability to process “canned” food products, so if they do offer canned products from their company the canning processes are assigned to another production company which the dog food company does not own.
*The production company (who makes the dry kibble for the dog food company) chooses where they purchase their ingredients from, unless a very strict contract by the dog food company has been legally set forth, which usually is not the case. Those production companies end up purchasing most of their products from a third or even fourth party. Federal law requires food companies to be able to trace products one step forward and one step back so if they only check backwards one step, they may think they are purchasing from a US company but that US company may have purchased products from overseas! This is how the 2007 “melamine” tragedy occurred.
*Some people are under the assumption that high protein diets are bad for dogs with renal problems. The following site by The University of Pennsylvania Vet. College, dispels this myth titled Mythology of Protein Restriction For Dogs with Reduced Renal Function. http://www.orijen.ca/orijen/Myths_of_High_Protein.pdf
*NOTE: 2/18/12: Fox News @ 9am: Dr. Mark Segal had a segment on Arsenic in Organic Rice Baby Food. In this interview Dr. Segal said that “Arsenic love rice” meaning that while the rice is growing, the Arsenic that is in soil is absorbed into the plant. “Rice is grown in soil which can be contaminated more easily by arsenic.” Just an observation, but, what is happening to our dog’s if they are eating food with rice in it every day of their lives? Per:http://www.mde.state.md.us/programs/Marylander/PublicHealthHome/Documents/www.mde.state.md.us/assets/document/Factsheets/Arsenic_Health_Info.pdf “Whether Arsenic enters the body by eating, drinking, inhalation through the lungs, or absorption through the skin, it is carried in the bloodstream to all parts of our bodies. The liver converts absorbed Arsenic to less hazardous forms and the kidney’s then remove it in the urine. Most of the Arsenic is gone several days after exposure. If greater amounts of Arsenic are absorbed than the body can detoxify and eliminate, the body can develop an increasing burden of Arsenic. Chronic (long term) exposure to Arsenic has been shown to increase the risk of cancer of the skin, lungs, urinary bladder, and possibly kidney, liver and prostrate.”