| |
 | Rocco's Newsletter |
| Enter e-mail to subscribe! |
|
 |
|
 |
| Pet Food - Cat Food, Dog Food and more! |
|
|
|
| |
| Choosing Pet Food |
|
| Healthy pet foods, nutritional pet foods, grain free, raw diet and freeze dried diet? There are so many choices of pet foods available today. Gone are the days when you had one or two foods to choose from. Read More |
| Choosing Pet Toys |
|
| With so many fun, quality pet toys available today - which pet toy makes the most sense for your pet? Which pet toy will make your cat or` dog happy? Entertain him for hours on end? And be indestructible? Is there such a high performance toy? Read More |
| Pet Toenail Trimming |
|
| Listen to your dog. No, don't listen to his bark, listen to his walk. Does he click when he walks? Are his toenails touching the floor? Read More |
|
Healthy pet foods, nutritional pet foods, grain free, raw diet and freeze dried diet? There are so many choices of pet foods available today. Gone are the days when you had one or two foods to choose from. Today there are pet foods conveniently located in the grocery store, in pet food warehouses with floor to ceiling displays and then there are small independent stores with their pricey pet foods. Why would anyone in their right mind spend $40 or more on a large bag of dog food when you could purchase three times the quantity for the same price? If your pet will eat anything does it really make a difference which food you feed them?
Look at your pet's food label. Just as with human foods, pet food labels read by weight. The first ingredient is the heaviest by weight, and so on. This means whatever the first ingredient is, it weighs more than the other ingredients in the food mixture. Ideally, the first should be an identified whole meat such as lamb, chicken, lamb meal, or chicken meal. Opposed to ingredients such as by-products or corn. What you don't want to see on your food labels are words such as poultry or animal which could translate into being any combination of fowl or mammal.
Some pet foods available do not actually offer a whole meat protein, or offer an inferior quality protein source. A majority of their protein is made up of either plant proteins or byproducts. Although plant proteins are certainly usable, cats and dogs are carnivores and fare better with animal proteins. Not enough animal protein can result in a dry flat coat and skin issues. From a manufacturing standpoint, it is obviously less expensive to use a plant protein than an animal protein, and the label will still read well, resulting in the protein percentage boosted up.
Another way to economically boost protein percentage is by using byproducts, which are discarded animal parts, unusable for human consumption. By products can be made up of heads, feet, and viscera - yummy huh? While boosting the protein percentage these "ingredients" offer little to your pet for usable protein. Is it really a great mystery why dogs and cats are getting cancer, arthritis and other diseases? Companies can get away with labeling certain percentage protein by using inferior sources which can actually be detrimental to your pet's health. These unusable proteins take an extra burden on pet's organs, causing the kidneys, liver intestines & other organs to work harder. As the cycle continues, an inevitable toll is taken on the overworked organs and your pet develops allergic reactions, loose stools, and gas to name a few.The list of acceptable and unacceptable ingredients goes on forever.
Food colorings are also added to your pet's food (who's vision - ironically - does not perceive color as we do - who is this color being added for?) to represent vegetables. Does anyone really believe this to be so? Food dyes are toxic.
A final insult to pets everywhere is how some manufacturer's keep these foods from going rancid, keeping them on the shelves longer. They add stabilizers such as ethoxyquin, BHT or BHA. BHA and BHT are suspected carcinogens and Ethoxyquin has problems linked to it such as immune disorders, thyroid, pancreas and liver dysfunction, skin and coat problems, neonatal illness and death and behavior problems. Although some people food does contain BHA and BHT it is at much lower doses and we also do not eat the same food day after day, reducing our exposure.
Reading a label is not always as easy as one would think. It is possible to have two products, with each label reading either the same, or close to the same, and the quality of the food not being even comparable. Equally as important as choosing a good food is finding a company who's philosophy or mission statement is in line with yours. Many of the premium pet food manufacturers believe in whole health, and go above and beyond the call of duty to create a food that will not only keep your pet alive, but keep him healthy and support his immune system. These are the companies who want what is best for your pets, because they have seen the light, so to speak, and believe. Yes, there is no denying their pet foods cost more, but they are using healthy and superior ingredients to make their dog and cat foods.
The old saying, you get what you pay for is true. If you are paying $15 for a 40 pound bag of dog food, it ends up being 38 cents per pound. Can you create a healthy meal for your family for 38 cents a pound? Other companies simply create a pet food with a good reading label using inferior ingredients, because there's money to be made. The health of the pet eating their food doesn't appear to be a factor.
The bottom line is you are what you eat, and so is your pet. Your pet cannot choose which food they are going to eat. They are at your mercy and will eat whatever it is you offer them. By providing them with a food that supports their whole health you are giving them a better chance for a healthier and longer life, and let's face it when your pet's happy you're happy.
|
About Rocco's
Archive