Owners Still Making Pet Food After Poison Scare
5 Comments Published by Joel April 4th, 2007 in Dogs, Food. Share ThisIt seems the pet food recall may have longer-lasting effects than one might have first thought as pet owners find making food for their animals to be a safer and possibly more healthful alternative to prepackaged foods. According to this AP piece, books on cooking for pets have been moving steadily up the Amazon charts.
But those cooking for pets should be mindful of a few dangerous ingredients, including “salt, garlic, onions, grapes and chocolate.” (Presumably these are harmful to both dogs and cats, but they don’t specify.)
More interestingly, another vet’s book is advocating table scraps, commonly suggested to be harmful to dogs. The avoidance of table scraps has never made much sense to me, presuming the food the owners are eating is relatively healthful. Greasy or acidic foods don’t sit on our dog’s stomach too well, but he loves his vegetables.
This whole poisoning scare has also made me question the merit of “premium” brand dog food, as most of the popular brands like Eukenuba and Nutro were affected right alongside cheap brands like Wal-Mart’s Ol’ Roy. Sure, it’ possible that the same factories make different brands of food with ingredients of varying quality, but clearly there are some ingredients being used across all product lines. I was hoping a journalist would look into it, but I haven’t seen a piece yet.
Pet food scare inspires homemade chow [Yahoo/AP]
Don’t forget–not too much liver and eggs for kitties–only once a week each.
one of my cats can’t get enough yogurt–he likes low fat. He loves milk and cheese too, but my floors don’t love being covered in liquid cat feces, so he doesn’t get any cheddar.
I’ve cooked for my dog for as long as I’ve had him, almost six years now. It turns out to be pretty cheap. I just feed him table scraps, and left overs from restaurants. No one could say he’s any worse for it, the dogs a 56 lbs. ball of muscle.
Porter, our English Bulldog (Joel and I), is a beefy 60 pound boy. He’s still growing, too. At $40 a month on bagged premium dog food already, making his food at home is sounding better and better to me. He gets such a kick out of getting human food as it is, dancing/hopping around and drooling on the floor, that he’d be a very happy boy were he getting something made for him every morning. And surely I could make his food for less than we are paying for kibble, and have it be better for him.
Joel, maybe we should get one of these books?
A friend of mine has had her Great Dane on a raw diet for a while now… she was so impressed with how much healthier and happier he is, she’s now on a raw diet herself.
While I think a strict raw diet for humans is a bit extreme (not to mention a huge pain in the ass), it seems perfectly reasonable for dogs & cats.
BARF (bones and raw food) diet info: http://www.barfworld.com/
To read about the rather uneasy relationship between pet food, PETA and wheat gluten, see >> http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2007/04/peta-pet-food-and-wheat-gluten.html
P.