At the time of writing this article, there has been a
HUGE commercial dog and cat food poisoning scare in the USA - from contaminated
dog food. Around 60 Million cans and pouches of prepared pet food were
recalled.
Some owners lost their dogs and cats, because a type
of plastic called melamine had found its way into pet food! This was traced to
a Chinese sourced wheat gluten contamination with melamine. Why pet food
manufacturers use wheat gluten in pet food is a mystery - it is a VERY POOR
source of protein!
We make our own homemade dog food for a number of
reasons - one of them being the unknown composition of commercial dog food!
Why DOES canned or packet food look and smell so
similar, no matter what brand you buy?
I was always suspicious, the commercials show lovely
piles of beef or even chicken breast fillet and vegetables etc. How COULD they
put that in there, those cuts are so expensive?
Well basic economics says they don't! But what makes
me angry is their attempts at deception!
We started making homemade dog food, some time after I
got an Insiders look at what is called a "protein recovery unit".
I nicknamed it the Beak Factory because this plant
used leftovers from a chicken processor - heads (beak and all), feet, feathers
and gizzards - and turned it into a foul smelling dirty brown powder destined
to go into pet-food!
It stank so bad and that smell got into my hair and on
my clothes and I am not exaggerating when I say the smell hung around me for
the entire day!
This protein powder is often among the first
ingredients listed on the pack or can - and goes by the name meat by-products
or sometimes meat meal. It's part of the reason that commercial dry biscuits
almost always smell the same! If you're game - try eating one of those biscuits
yourself - see what your dog has been putting up with!
But you see because this protein powder undergoes a
high temperature process during manufacture, it's deemed to be safe for pets.
But the huge dumpsters of heads, carcasses, feet,
feathers etc I SAW were left at ambient temperature for who knows how long - so
you can imagine the putrid condition they were in?
I REFUSE to feed this refuse, which is what it really
is - GARBAGE - to our dogs! Because while they MAY have killed the bacteria in
this rubbish, what they may not destroy are some of the toxins that the
bacteria produce as part of their action!
In addition to the bacterial toxins; there may also be
toxins produced by moulds and fungi; known as aflatoxins and mycotoxins and
some of these are known to be heat tolerant!
Now I don't want to bore you with a lot of technical
info on toxins - but I do want you to see that I am not exaggerating!
So here's just one article - on just one bacteria -
Staphylococcus aureus. About 1/2 way down the page you'll see a comment about
the toxin it produces and its resistance to heat in cooking:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/staphylococcus_food_g.htm
And that is just one bacteria - there are lots more!
Try Googling the words Aflatoxin, Mycotoxin or bacterial toxins for yourself!
Plus there's potentially accumulated insecticide
residues in the concentrated bird feathers.....AND I'm not even going to
mention the stories we've read about euthanised animal carcasses from vets or
abbatoir animals that were diseased - or road kill!
In short - it HAS ALWAYS BEEN potentially contaminated
dog food! But even if you totally ignore the contamination issue - it's STILL a
very cheap and nasty source of protein!
Because it's labelled as Pet Food Not For Human
Consumption - there is far less scrutiny, concern and accountability! FACT IS :
they HAVE to label it as UNFIT - ask yourself why would that be?
Why would you feed this stuff to any pet that you care
about? We love our dogs - so to avoid food based on rubbish, with added soy
protein, colourings and other additives - we make our own homemade dog food
exclusively!
And here's the thing - Homemade dog food is not only
BETTER FOR YOUR DOG it's also far cheaper than than commercial dog food - here
in Australia, we can feed an adult Staffordshire Bull Terrier for about 45c per
day!
Now's when the Pet food companies and some
veterinarians comment that the food that you make needs to be complete. It's
like it's some sort of mystery; as if we are too stupid to do it ourselves! I
take offense at their attempts to manipulate us into buying their products!
Dogs have shared human lives for thousands of years
(long before pet food companies) - and NEVER became extinct due to
malnutrition!
Let me state this - anyone who can read and can cook -
can make their own high quality homemade dog food! All it takes is a bit of
time and planning and since its easier to make in bulk - a bit of freezer
space.
Canine nutrition has also been very well researched
and published and now that we live in an information age; this information can
be freely distributed worldwide!
Sure there are some basics - when making homemade dog
food it's important to remember that dogs are meat eaters (carnivorous). Since
meat is almost entirely made up of proteins - protein is therefore an essential
component in dog diets!
But did you know that many canned or dried foods are
based on plant sources of protein (often Soy beans - and no wonder they fart so
much); because vegetable proteins are MUCH cheaper than animal proteins
But vegetable based proteins like those found in soy
beans, chickpeas, lentils etc are not complete in all the amino acids found in
animal proteins like meat, fish and dairy.
To overcome this lack of complete proteins pet food
manufacturers add the the horrible smelling powder I mentioned earlier!
In his book Home Prepared Dog and Cat Diets, The
Healthful Alternative, - when speaking about commercially prepared pet food,
Donald Stromberg had this to say:
"The cost of pet foods is lessened by using no
more animal protein, than is necessary. Using sources of animal proteins not
fit for human consumption also reduces the cost. For example, animal meat meals
are unfit for human consumption. Some meat meal protein is from animals that
died and were beginning to decompose." (pg. 35)
Stromberg gives a figure of 13% protein for growing
dogs and 19% for aging dogs. I always aim that homemade dog food falls into
this higher protein range.
Since dogs in the wild are predominantly meat eating,
most of their dietary protein will come from animal or insect sources - I use
animal proteins.
However dogs also can and do eat fruit - foxes are
known to eat blackberries and undoubtedly other fruit, for example grapes from
a vineyard or fruit from an orchard. Our Staffords love all kinds of fruit -
including banana!
I also vary the protein content of my homemade dog
food, according to the needs of my dogs.
One of our girls (an Australian Terrier) is now 11
years old and diabetic, so her diet is quite high in protein and very low in
fat. Pregnant bitches and growing puppies need considerably more protein and
also need more total food quantity.
However when using meat as your source of protein, you
CAN cause problems for the dog if the food is not balanced with the correct
minerals. Red meat alone; will supply good levels of protein and iron, but
almost no calcium and phosphorus for example.
Dogs in the wild forage on a variety of foods and
would eat an entire rabbit for example - fur, bones gizzards and all! When they
do this they are able to extract ALL of the minerals in the bones and
intestines of the animal -- so their diet is more balanced!
When making homemade dog food, it's important to aim
for this balance between protein, vitamins and minerals! When you use my
homemade dog food recipes you'll see that one of my principle protein sources
is skinless chicken necks.
I use these because of their high protein/low fat
ratio and low price - PLUS - the added advantage of the minerals like calcium,
phosphorus and potassium etc, available in the bone!
AND skinless chicken necks are often available at low
cost as human grade fresh meat in the deli departments of many supermarkets or
poultry meat stores, which means they MUST be fit for human consumption!
Right here and right now then; your homemade dog food
is streets ahead of commercial pet food, because you are using quality,
nutritious and balanced protein from clean, safe food sources!
Try making your own Home-made Dog food I guarantee
that your dog will love the REAL food that you are giving - instead of the
pseudo food that he has been forced to accept until now!
Source: Steve Gaskin
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