Your pets are DYING to eat a treat, literally! Some of the ingredients in pet treats and food is FDA listed POISON. Take for example Ethoxyquin, classified by FDA as a pesticide. Most of the treat and pet food manufacturers and most popular pet stores in the United States openly and knowingly sell pet food and treats made from the worst unimaginable ingredients. Since there is very little pet food industry regulation the manufacturers are given virtual carte blanche.

During the 1990’s veterinarians reported to the FDA/CVM that the drug most commonly used for euthanizing pets, sodium pentobarbital, appeared to be loosing its effectiveness. These reports prompted the CVM to investigate the cause, their findings were appalling. In 1988 the CVM initiated the testing of dog food containing the ingredients meat and bone meal, “animal digest” and animal fat. They discovered the presence of the drug sodium pentobarbital in 31 of the 37 pet foods tested. The CVM concluded that animals were building up a resistance to the drug because they were eating food containing sodium pentobarbital. The most likely source of the chemical presence was the use of euthanized animals in the food being tested.

Since dogs and cats are by nature carnivores it is important that they be fed meat-based diets. Proteins used in pet foods come from a variety of sources. When animals are slaughtered, the lean muscle and other desirable parts are kept for human consumption while the other half of the unusable carcass is rendered for pet consumption. This includes: heads, feet, bones, intestines, blood, ligaments, fat trimmings, spleens, livers, UNBORN BABYS and just about everything else you can imagine! These ingredients are called by-products.

Reporter John Eckhouse was one of the first to uncover the practice of sending euthanized pets, along with other sources of “protein” to rendering plants. A rendering plant worker has been quoted as divulging that “thousands and thousands of pounds of dogs and cats are picked up and brought here everyday.” Many in the pet food industry deny the practice, however proof continues to surface. Upon in depth investigation it was found that rendering plants sell everything from ROAD KILL, DEAD ZOO ANIMALS AND EUTHENIZED PETS from shelters and veterinary clinics. One plant was found to have rendered 10 tons of dogs and cats per month!!! This Food is in name brand foods and on the shelves readily available at your favorite pet store.

Healthy pet food should NEVER contain meat by-products or “meat and bone” meal. By-product meal is comprised of the dry, ground, rendered parts of the carcass that are deemed unfit for human consumption. By-product chicken meal consists of slaughtered chicken parts such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs as well as entrails. Meat and bone meal are “the rendered cooked down product from mammal tissues, including bone, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents, except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices.” Keep away from preservatives such as BHA, BHT, Ethoxyquin and propylene glycol. Avoid BHA and BHT they are known carcinogens. Ethoxyquin has been deemed a pesticide by the FDA and is banned in human food, but can be found in many pet foods.

What can you do? Examine the ingredients of your pet food with great diligence to ensure that your companion animal is truly receiving the best possible food on the market. The first five ingredients are the most important and should include two protein meals. Avoid grain fragments or hulls and stay AWAY from food with animal fat in it rather than chicken fat. Animal fat could come from ANYWHERE.

Some beneficial ingredients to look for include: Chicken meal, which is chicken that has had the water removed, provides eleven times the protein content of “chicken.” Chicken meal, rich with omega-6 fatty acids, is regarded as the single richest source of protein in commercial pet food. ALL of Petlane.com's chicken comes from USDA approved plants and is free range, hormone and antibiotic free! High quality food should contain vitamin and mineral rich grains, herbs and legumes that aid in digestion, promote the healthy functioning of vital organs and improve circulation. Holistic dog foods are a little more expensive but will add years to your best friend’s life. Your pet is depending on you to make the choices he or she cannot make for themselves!