Fear and loathing in the pet food trade
By Christie Keith
August 2, 2008
So I’m reading this little PR missive that appeared in my SFGate.com email box disguised as a “story idea.” It’s about a brand new “complete and balanced” natural pet food, and it comes fully equipped with science and everything.
First they — and no, I won’t use the brand name; isn’t that just what they want? — tell me that more than half of all San Franciscans feed their dogs and cats “natural pet foods,” a term they don’t define but I presume means “foods marketed with misleading advertising and packaging suggesting that a completely processed diet is somehow, you know, natural.”
Then they post a whole diatribe about how natural foods aren’t necessarily “complete and balanced” and may contain excess nutrients that can cause all kinds of health problems. Scary, yo.
And that’s not all. We pet owners, apparently, are stoopid, because 74 percent of us read labels, and over 66 percent of us believe we understand the labels, and yet, they say:
(O)nly eight percent (8%) of cat owners and five percent (5%) of dog owners knew the proper calcium levels their pets should consume on a daily basis.
In addition, fifty-eight percent (58%) of dog owners and sixty-six percent (66%) of cat owners who read the nutritional label did not know the proper level of sodium their pets should consume on a daily basis.
This is the reason why we need to buy their new product, because they took care of all that hard stuff for us, presumably somehow unlike all the other “natural” foods on the market.
So while I’m looking at this press thingie, the exact same email pops into my inbox again, forwarded this time by my editor.
“What do you think?” she asks me.
“Well,” I said, “this is what I think. Tell me, without looking it up or Googling it or checking anything, do you know how much calcium or sodium you are supposed to consume on a daily basis? Or how much calcium or sodium you do consume? Do you even know, without looking at the bottle, how much calcium is in your supplement? I’m going to guess you don’t. And has your skeleton dissolved recently? Or have you somehow managed to feed yourself for lo, these many decades without knowing those specific numbers right off the top of your head?”
“Okay,” she said agreeably, as most people find to be the most prudent response when they realize my head is about to explode and spew stuff all over them. “We’ll just skip it.”
In other news, as I told you, Gina’s out of town this weekend and she left me in charge, so I’ll be changing the Pet Connection to the Scottish Deerhound Connection. Here’s our new logo… what do you think?
Just don’t tell Gina!
Love the new logo! And no, no one will tell Gina; it’ll be our secret.
Comment by Lis — August 2, 2008 @ 5:51 am
Love the logo, but the drink needs a little umbrella in it!
As for our pet food friends, the next time you or one of the other bloggers here go to a convention where the PFI folks are pushing this nonsense (especially a vet convention) - ask them the very questions you are posing here. Here you’re preaching to the choir, its time to wake up some complacent vets et al to the idea that everything that comes out of these shills’ mouths isn’t the gospel truth.
Comment by 2CatMom — August 2, 2008 @ 6:00 am
This sounds just like the store I already told about the nice lady handing out free samples at the hardware store that sold me the food that killed my Brandy. “They might not be getting the right supliments…” she said. My thought immediately went to members of the Bush admin each making the same scripted refrain about “mushroom clouds”. It seems that modern marketing means to achieve credibility by repeating the mantra over and over again as if that repetition made it true.
When I stuff double cheese burgers down Scout’s (and now Trigger’s) throats I consider the phalanx of bio-chemists and nutritionists that McD’s employs. I wonder what would happen if the clown made the same pitch? How do you know that Jr. is getting the right suppliments? Maybe a Big Mac would help meet the RDA alphabet soup of “requirements”?
I wonder what the RDA for melamine is? Apparently, its 25% by weight. Is your dog getting enough NPN?
Heading to the farm today and a picinic lunch of burgers is at hand.
I’ll also be sure to leave at least a part of one in Brandy’s bowl on her head stone. Wish I had known about all those “suppliments” back then. I’d have stopped and gotten the burgers instead.
Comment by Bernard J. (Bernie) Starzewski — August 2, 2008 @ 6:18 am
This calcium thing seems to be the new bugaboo for feeding pets. I admit I’m “cheating” with Pepper — I get worried, she gets a nice raw bone (nuke 1 minute per side in microwave first to kill surface bacteria) to gnaw on, we’re all happy, she ignores bone after a week or so, a bit later I start to worry, she gets another bone, etc.
No skeleton dissolving here, although I admit to a fondness for the cocoa-flavored calcium supplement tablets for myself.
Comment by Dorene — August 2, 2008 @ 6:33 am
I love that the pet food companies - and the AVMA - are all just ‘looking out for us’, because we’re such idiots we’d all kill our dogs without them to babysit us. Oh, wait, we already did that when we trusted them, hence the Menu Foods debacle.
I was searching around trying to learn why vets won’t recommend raw diets, only to learn that the AVMA has TOLD them that doing so could get them sued, or kicked out of their professional associations. Dumb owners can’t feed and prepare their own dog food - that’s for professionals to do!
Somehow, I’ve muddled through for almost twelve years now, feeding my pack of Frenchies raw without killing any of them, or dissolving their bones. We’ve had mishaps, including one of the only reported dog deaths to neospora caninum, but that just taught me more about proper raw food preparation.
Today I’m off to buy left over organic vegetables, and tomorrow we’re grinding 40 lbs of turkey necks. Hope the dogs don’t need more salt on all of it!
Comment by Carol — August 2, 2008 @ 6:48 am
I love that my vet hasn’t bought into what they’re sellin’. If you tell her you’re feeding raw, she asks you a few questions and then just beams as she continues on with the exam. She has a handout on food that you get as a new client or when you bring in a new addition. It doesn’t tell you to raw feed, but it does get into what’s really in pet food and makes suggestions for a healthier diet, be it commercial or homemade. She even recommends a few local shops to get the better food, including raw. One of her first questions is “What are you feeding?”.
When I first started raw feeding, I was a tad over the top on worrying about proper balance etc. Always reading and worrying until it occurred to me I was still alive. I really laughed at myself when I had my “duh!” moment.
Christie, love your definition of “natural pet food”, lol!~ I must say, for me, raw feeding beats the heck outta reading labels on processed food and trying to figure out what’s really in there and how much. :)
Comment by straybaby — August 2, 2008 @ 7:20 am
OK, maybe I’m a simple minded dog owner.
Years ago I found a dog food that helped my Dalmatians with their skin allergy problems. That dog food has become the base food for my other dogs ( a border collie and, now my Shiba.) My Shiba currently gets this food supplemented with veggies (carrots, green beans, coleslaw, etc.) or shredded low fat or regular fat cheeze or some sort of meat. She also visits the dog park for exercise with her dog buddies at least four times a week. Nutrition + exercise = good skeletal structure.
As far as the sodium goes, the only time I really worry about it is during beastly Sacramento “heat waves”. Then she gets to share my V8 juice (which she really likes) to balance sodium, potassium, etc.
Comment by glock — August 2, 2008 @ 7:49 am
Oh, Lord, Christie, I laughed so hard when I read this! I fully understand the head-spinning and exploding sensation!
Best,
pj
Comment by Paula J. — August 2, 2008 @ 9:24 am
Thank you for writing about this, I fully agree with the ridiculousness of it all. As another proponent of raw feeding, I’m sick and tired of being made to look like the bad guy when time and again I’ve had my dogs sicker than sick from conventional kibble (not to mentioned the damage I know can come from gum disease due to it’s direct path to the blood stream after years of soft foods). I think the bottom line is that dog owners should do their research. There isn’t one diet that works for every dog, but at least if you look into the motivations behind the industry and the truth about canine anatomy and how they’re designed to process foods… look into your options and search your heart to see if convenience is really the right answer.
Comment by Cam — August 2, 2008 @ 9:49 am
“…eight percent (8%) of cat owners and five percent (5%) of dog owners knew the proper calcium levels their pets should consume on a daily basis.
In addition, fifty-eight percent (58%) of dog owners and sixty-six percent (66%) of cat owners who read the nutritional label did not know the proper level of sodium their pets should consume on a daily basis.”
Really? If accurate, I am impressed by how much info the people who got it right carry around in their heads! Obviously they didn’t ask me (how many peeps DID they ask?) cos the results would be more like ZERO, ZERO, ZERO - unless they let me look at my notes.
Comment by slt — August 2, 2008 @ 12:30 pm
Okay, let’s get serious about cat food for a bit. As part of my “15 books with the local Library’s Adult Reading Club”, I’ve read Hodgkin’s book on cats and am now reading the Pitcarin book on dogs and cats.
Now, admitedly, my sample size is one 11-year-old male cat with a compromised digestive system since the pet food recall, but I’m observing that grain-free seems to have helped his health better than anything else I’ve tried. Yet Pitcarin still seems to want me to give kitties grain as he seems concerned about toxins in meat and the mineral contents.
Now, these are books which take some time to get to print, etc. What is the state of the art with cat nutrition these days, Christie? Have you written articles on this I may have missed or are there articles in all those professional journals you read that discuss this?
My inclination is that grain-free is the way to go, especially for a male cat that had some urinary and digestive issues post-food recall — he still has occasional constipation issues we’re working on, but he hasn’t a urinary issue since we dumped the grains, but I’m open to hearing what the reseach out there says.
Comment by Dorene — August 2, 2008 @ 2:05 pm
Grain free is the way to go for cats absolutely and really, for dogs and people too, but less absolutely. Pitcairn’s book is a bit out of date, and I’ve spoken to him about this — his feelings stem in part from a belief the basis of which I question about the impact of raising food animals on the environment. Since that’s not a nutritional issue, I think it’s wrong to use it to help formulate a diet.
Comment by Christie Keith — August 2, 2008 @ 2:09 pm
My cats thrived (eight at the time) when I started reducing their grains back in the commercial feeding days. On grain free (and now raw), ahhhhhhhhhh! The dog is mostly grain free also. She gets some when I have them as she cleans my plates and I share certain meals with her and the cats (they don’t get the grain part). And now with the rising cost of grain, there’s even less in the household.
Interesting info on Pitcairn.
Comment by straybaby — August 2, 2008 @ 3:10 pm
Oh no, don’t change the logo! We don’t want too many people to know just how much fun deerhounds can be.
Comment by Cate — August 2, 2008 @ 4:03 pm
grain free for people? With so much out there about plant based foods providing the most healthful nutrition for people, I am interested to hear about the grain free idea.
Comment by slt — August 2, 2008 @ 4:09 pm
was that “research” done by a pet food company? All I could find was that the market research firm Mintel commissioned the survey through Greenfield Online (you know, that company that pays people to take online surveys).
Comment by Joy — August 2, 2008 @ 4:25 pm
slt… grains as we eat them today are highly artificial.
Grains were originally the seed heads of grasses. Well, LOL, they still are, but they’ve been selectively bred to have much larger seed heads, and contain much more starch. They would never, as humans evolved, been available year-round, and they typically are consumed after considerable processing… refining, milling, cooking, what have you.
To say “plant foods are healthful,” which they are, is not the same as saying “grains are good.” I agree and believe that many vegetables and fruits are incredibly healthful and should be consumed, but grains? No. I think they’re problematic for many people, and definitely not necessary.
For instance, many people — a very large number of human beings — have various kinds of grain intolerances, particularly to gluten-containing grains. Gluten causes some damage to the intestinal villi of everyone who consumes it, regardless of whether they have any of the known “gluten intolerance” diseases.
No one needs grains. We did not evolve eating them. We have no more need of them than our cats or dogs do.
Now, for many cultures, grains are a part of their traditional diet. Most grain-eating cultures found ways, such as sprouting, to prepare grains that maximized their nutritional benefits while minimizing some of their unwanted characteristics. And we as humans are tool-users, artificers, innovators, so it would make sense we’d apply that to our foods. I don’t live on a diet of raw meat and berries and I’m not saying anyone should, just because that’s what we may have evolved on.
But I haven’t eaten grains in nearly six years. While that’s not the only change I made to my diet at that time, I’ll tell you that the benefits to my health were enormous, and particularly to my digestive health, weight, and energy levels.
There are lots of books on this, many of them full of shaky and bogus science, but I’ve found the book “Nourishing Traditions” by Sally Fallon to be particularly informative without being dogmatic, and it’s not anti-grain per se, just putting grains into context as part of the traditional diets some cultures have used in the past.
Of course, if you LIKE grain based foods and they’re not causing any problems, I would think it was ridiculous to cut them out of your diet. But on the other hand, I think some of the problems we have that we attribute to other causes can be caused by grains, especially gluten-containing grains. It’s always interesting to cut them out and see what happens. Which may be nothing, but may be very revealing.
Comment by Christie Keith — August 2, 2008 @ 4:58 pm
At least some of the info they cited came from Greenfield, but they may have done some of their own research as well. They don’t say one way or the other. And yes, this press release came from a pet food company.
Comment by Christie Keith — August 2, 2008 @ 5:06 pm
I’ll look for the book - thanks.
If I cut out grains, that would leave me with fruits/veggies, nuts/seeds and dairy/eggs. Which sounds very lonely to me! I love my muesli, my rustic breads with grainy bits in them, my pasta - see how I say MY? I love my grains! : )
How long after you cut out grains did you start to notice a health benefit? If it was like, a day, I *think* I could try it, hehehe.
Comment by slt — August 2, 2008 @ 5:43 pm
What I hate about this is the fact that the pet food companies/interests are forever claiming “complete and balanced” when that statement has NO real meaning.
Literally NO ONE regulates, certifies or verifies the statement “complete and balanced” on a pet food label. It is put there by the pet food company and that pet food company is solely responsible it. Period.
Comment by Joy — August 2, 2008 @ 6:18 pm
If I cut out grains, that would leave me with fruits/veggies, nuts/seeds and dairy/eggs. Which sounds very lonely to me! I love my muesli, my rustic breads with grainy bits in them, my pasta - see how I say MY? I love my grains! : )
How long after you cut out grains did you start to notice a health benefit? If it was like, a day, I *think* I could try it, hehehe.
We’re getting far from the topic of this blog, LOL. I was a vegetarian on ethical grounds for 12 years. It was catastrophic for my health. Returning to eating meat — and like Gina, that means humanely and sustainably raised meats, grass fed because I don’t think food animals should eat grains, either — as well as vegetables, fruits, eggs, cheese, etc., turned me around immediately.
I noticed improvement within one day, yes… I went from being tired and a night owl to waking up with the sun, full of energy, the first day. I also had a lifetime of irritable bowel syndrome just stop in a single day. Over the next year, I lost nearly a hundred pounds, and it’s now more than five years later and I feel fantastic. It was the best change I could have made, for me.
Everyone is different, though, and I’m not saying that the right way to eat for me is the right way to eat for you, but I CAN tell you that the things you eat trigger gas, diarrhea, blood sugar surges and crashes, and binge eating in me. A diet of breads and pasta, even whole grain, is death on me. (I should mention that even before I went off grains and back to eating meat, I didn’t eat sugar — this benefit was not from giving up sugar which I’d already given up years before.)
I do believe that there are ethical and spiritual issues involved with eating meat, but I completely reject the idea that meat is unhealthy. There are unhealthy meats indeed — grain-fed stockyard beef, loaded up with antibiotics and/or steroids, isn’t good for us or our dogs or cats. But the flesh of healthy, grass-fed herbivores is good for you, if you choose to eat it.
Comment by Christie Keith — August 2, 2008 @ 6:45 pm
I like Carol’s comments the best. You go for those turkey necks girl cause my mom used to buy cheap chicken necks and organ meat and fry it up for the dogs and the loved it and lived long and healthy lives - all of them that didnt meet with accidents and such.
Christie, you have the right attitude about beef. Grass fed beef is the most ecologically sound method of farming there is. It produces the most protien per acre and polutes the least. I often argue with a nephew who is a vigan who is trying to get campus shops not to sell burgers because of the energy they consume. He has NO IDEA how much NH4 that cornbread consumes and how much pesticide is used to control bugs and weeds and how much soil erosion is caused by the annual tilling - all of which hayland and pasture does not require a drop of! In the case of pasture, not even a drop of fuel is consumed in harvesting the grass!
We are all the willing victims of this kind of need creation. Whether we are driving the mini van that the sexy woman gets all hot over at the beach or nursing water from a stinky antimony contaminated bottle that we paid more than gasoline for because we bought into the pitch that it is blessed by a Tibetan holy man or some other such bogus nonsense, we - all of us - buy the image and not the fact.
And that itself is the sad fact.
It has now been 1 year, 4 months and 18 days since my Brandy died.
There is nothing I can buy to fix that fact.
Comment by Bernard J. (Bernie) Starzewski — August 2, 2008 @ 7:54 pm
I have been feeding my kitties a supplement, that is supposed to supply the things that may be missing in their diet.
Well, it was making one of my kitties sick! After she dropped a lot of weight, I decided to hold it back and see what happened. You guessed it…she’s doing better now.
I think it affected her first, as she has always been lighter weight than the other two…and one just plain wouldn’t eat it at all.
Who knows what’s in it, and where it came from??? Of course, the label doesn’t tell where it’s from.
Not buying it any more.
Comment by Marcy — August 2, 2008 @ 10:26 pm
My cats eat an almost totally grain free diet. Its about 80% wet/20% dry. I use commercial foods but not from the big manufacturers. No glutens, no crap, just fish (including skin and soft bones), chicken and one formulation has little bits of cooked brown rice. The dry is high protein as well.
The best thing is that the cat who threw up at least weekly now only throws up about twice a year - and I’m pretty sure that’s when she overeats or eats too fast.
We were just at the vet yesterday and he always comments on how shiny their coats are, how good they look (except for being a little overweight). The only thing this diet hasn’t helped is the one cat who has chronic gum/teeth problems. My vet believes its genetic, so pretty soon I’ll be the proud owner of a toothless wondercat.
Comment by 2CatMom — August 3, 2008 @ 8:49 am
My kitties are also on a commercial grain free diet. And they also have stopped throwing up…except for the occasional hairball.
Last year, when they were eating the dry food from a big manufacturer, they were throwing up every few days.
And since I stopped the supplement, that I mentioned above…the one kitty that was having problems, is bouncing back!
As I said, not buying that again.
Comment by Marcy — August 3, 2008 @ 7:02 pm
Yes, only a modern marketing head shrinker could convince us that cave cats hunted wild pre-historic wheat!
And oh yes… they made little kittle camp fires and roasted their rats before eating them!
I can just see them all sitting around the embers with full bellies, purring away.
Yeah, right.
Comment by Bernard J. (Bernie) Starzewski — August 3, 2008 @ 7:49 pm
Forgot to mention… PT Barnum would be proud!
Comment by Bernard J. (Bernie) Starzewski — August 3, 2008 @ 7:51 pm
There’s some talk of Canidae being bought out by Diamond and changing their formulations. Anyone heard anything on this?
Comment by The OTHER Pat — August 5, 2008 @ 6:14 am
I heard about this earlier this Summer and guessed it had to do, at least in part, with the rising cost of rice.
http://www.canidae.com/new-formulas.html
Comment by slt — August 5, 2008 @ 6:34 am
Canidae hasn’t been bought out. My understanding is that are just using Diamond’s facility for some of their bagging. It’s common for companies to share manufacturing facilities. Compared to the number of pet food brands/companies, there are very few bagged food manufacturing facilities and even fewer canneries.
Comment by Joy — August 5, 2008 @ 6:38 am
Cost of rice has gone through the roof, with the loss for at least the next four or five years of the Myanmar rice fields AND the Chinese fields in the region affected by the earhquake and subsequent flooding. Even Japanese rice is looking attractive for export; this is going to ripple through an awful lot of things, not just Canidae’s rice formula foods.
Comment by Lis — August 5, 2008 @ 7:02 am
Comment by Joy — August 5, 2008 @ 6:38 am
“Canidae hasn’t been bought out. My understanding is that are just using Diamond’s facility for some of their bagging. It’s common for companies to share manufacturing facilities.”
As well we remember from the rolling recalls and how difficult it was to find out just WHERE any food was being made and potentially cross-contaminated. The day I switched to homemade for my little guy was the day I found out the kibble I had been feeding him was being made at the Diamond plant.
Hmmm . . . . hopefully Terese can get this updated on her Manufacturer’s site:
http://www.thepetfoodlist.com/manufacturers.htm
(scroll down to Diamond - Canidae is not listed)
Comment by The OTHER Pat — August 5, 2008 @ 7:19 am
When i go grocery shopping (for me) i always stroll down the pet food aisle. Has anyone looked at the way even canned cat foods are being reformulated because of increase in commodities? Where there used to be average of 75% moisture in canned cat food, i’m seeing anywhere from 78% to 83% water content. Also the substituting of potato and rice for corn and wheat or soy. The dry cat food bags REALLY upset me. All the colorful pics of veggies and fruit on the bags saying how “healthful” these ingredients are for our meat-eating meowy friends. It scares me to death because so many cat owners have no clue what crap the dry foods are made with, and it seems even the canned foods are being compromised.
Comment by cheriecat — August 5, 2008 @ 7:01 pm
Hmmmm, this wouldn’t be the new product being marketed by an annoyingly perky Food Network personality, would it?
Comment by Janeen — August 5, 2008 @ 10:02 pm
That I don’t know…
Comment by Christie Keith — August 5, 2008 @ 10:23 pm