Why are these potentially hazardous ingredients STILL in pet foods??
In one word: Money. They are cheap and "not for human consumption."
What can you do about it? A lot.
As more independent research is done on pet foods, there are more and more reasons to find out what's in your dog's and cat's food.
According to an excellent recent article by Dr. Becker, in 2021 hundreds of cats in Great Britain died from feline pancytopenia (1.) due to mycotoxins found in three brands of dry cat food. Mycotoxins (derived from the Greek words for “fungus” and “poison”) are toxic chemical substances produced by certain types of fungi that infect crops. The most common crops affected are:
Corn (including whole, meal and gluten)
Peanuts (including peanut butter)
Wheat (including gluten)
Cottonseed and cottonseed oil
Barley
Rye
Sugar cane and sugar beets (which also feed fungi)
Sorghum (found in a variety of grain-based products)
Just Stop
If these ingredients are in your cat or dog food, it's time to take the food back to where you got it as there's no way to know without having it tested yourself if there are mycotoxins. Pet food companies are asked to test for it, but there is little to no oversight guaranteeing that they do.
Do THIS Instead
My friends, Dr Jean Hofve and Celeste Yarnall, in their book, Paleo Dog, have a 5 Paws rating system (read 5 stars...) Here's a summary:
5 PAWS:
1) Homemade raw meat diet with the appropriate vitamins and minerals added for balance.
2) Low-carb frozen, freeze-dried and dehydrated foods.
4 PAWS:
Organic canned foods with digestive enzymes added. A little lightly cooked or raw meat will make this even better.
3 PAWS:
Other canned foods (but you have to be careful here as there are huge variances in quality). Drs. Hofve & Yarnall say to supplement these with enzymes, probiotics and omega-e fatty acids. (which ones? I can help.)
2 PAWS:
Organic dry food (dogs only) And again, be sure to avoid the offending ingredients just in case.
1 PAW:
Other dry food, veterinary brands, grocery, discount and "private label" brands found in specific store chains. (Again, dogs only. NO dry food for cats.)
0 Paws:
An all-meat or raw-meaty-bones-only diet with NO supplements. "This is extremely unbalanced and will cause serious nutritional deficiencies over time."
What's Best for Your Companion AND Budget?
Ask me! I'm here to help you navigate through conflicting information and help you purchase or create the best meals for your beloveds right now. Click here to find out how. If you're a returning client and need to be sure your companion's diet doesn't need any changes, click here.
Together we can insure your beloved dogs and cats get the most wholesome, balanced, and personalized diet for this stage of their lives.
You'll be rewarded with bright eyes, gorgeous coats, white teeth, bouncy joints, happy playtimes, purrs, wags and long lives!
With Love, Your Voice of Animals,
Kate
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1. Pancytopenia’ is when the body develops dangerously low levels of certain blood cells (red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets).