Feeding dogs commercial dog food didn't really take off until after the end of World War 2. Before that, during the Depression, dogs were fed scraps from leftovers created for their human owners. But after World War 2 ended, the demand and the means to pay for commercially prepared dog food increased. So the pet food industry, a largely unregulated affair, begun in earnest.

There are undeniable advantages to feeding a dog a good quality commercial dog food. For a start, it provides a complete and balanced meal. If you go the route of preparing your own dog food, you really need to commit to the time to prepare it, and research it enough to make sure your dog is getting all the nutrients it needs.

And of course, for those with jobs and time demands that make this impossible, commercial dog foods are the only viable alternative. But there are a number of issues with commercial dog and pet foods that the pet lover should be aware of.

Additives In Commercial Dog and Pet Foods

* Chemical preservatives to prevent food going rancid

This includes the chemicals ethoxoquin, BHA (Butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (Butylated hydroxytoluene).

Ethoxoquin is made by the company Monsanto, previously responsible for Agent Orange, and involved with the genetic engineering of potatoes and tomatoes. Despite being approved by the FDA, ethoxoquin is a toxic chemical that was initially used to preserve and stabilize rubber. It has been linked to stillborn puppies, birth defects, liver failure, cancer and infertility. As a measure of its safety (or lack of it), ethoxoquin was initially permitted to be used in human food at a maximum rate of 0.5ppm, though it was approved for pets at a rate of 150ppm!!!

In pet food, ethoxoquin is not always on the label even when it is in the pet food product. If other ingredients in the pet food have ethoxoquin in them, such as animal fat or products from a meat renderer, but the pet food manufacturer did not actually add the ethoxoquin themselves, then it does not have to be included on the label.

BHA and BHT are also used as preservatives. They affect the nervous system in animals, as well as their neurological development. Sleep, aggression, and other behaviours can be thus affected. They can also cause liver and kidney problems.

(Source: http://www.homestead.com/VonHapsburg/petfood.html)

Propylene glycol is also in many partially moist dog foods. This causes red blood cells to destruct. (Source: http://www.belfield.com/article3.html)

* Artificial flavors and colors

The Rendering Industry and Pet Food

As if the chemicals above weren't enough, more are present as a result of the rendering industry which supplies meat by products and bone meal in commercial dog and pet food. But first, what exactly are the raw materials used to create these meat by products?

The answer is repugnant. John Eckhouse, in an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, writes: "Each year, millions of dead American dogs and cats are processed along with billions of pounds of other animal materials by companies known as renderers. The finished products -- tallow and meat meals -- serve as raw materials for thousands of items that include cosmetics and pet food." (quoted from http://www.belfield.com/article3.html)

Despite denials by the pet food companies, this was confirmed by the FDA and groups like the American Veterinary Medical Association. Deceased and euthanased animals from shelters, and from vets where owners don't pick up the body, are recycled in a cannibalistic food chain to become part of the commercial food we feed our pets.

Wendell Belfield is a vet with a unique perspective. He worked for years as a veterinary meat inspector and has first hand knowledge of the rendering industry. The rendering industry processes the animal remains from many sources. So, different slaughterhouses, as well as different types of animal remains. Because of this, the government requires that meat goes through a denaturing process before it leaves the slaughterhouse.

The denaturing process is a toxic chemical bath. Substances like carbolic acid (corrosive), and creosote (preserves wood, and also acts as a disinfectant), are used. Creosote is so toxic to the environment that it is not used any longer as a preservative on power poles. Other approved denaturing chemicals are citronella (an insect repellant), kerosene, and fuel oil.

Another problem of using euthanased cats dogs and cats as ingredients for meat by products and bone meal, is that the agent used to euthanase them, sodium pentobarbital, is not broken down in the denaturing process. Whilst it is considered that when these animals are mixed with other 'raw materials', it is not toxic to dogs and cats fed the end product, there is no data on the cumulative effect of a pet fed a steady diet of this for years.

Wendell Belfield has an excellent article discussing these issues more fully here: http://www.belfield.com/article3.html