Pet Food - What I Didn't Know & Really Wish I Had
Processed commercial pet food from sources like the grocery store or major pet stores like Petco or Petsmart are generally horrible for your animal, and feeding my cat the brand the Vet recommended almost killed her.
"What most consumers don't know is that the pet food industry is an extension of the human food and agriculture industries. Pet food provides a market for slaughterhouse offal, grains considered "unfit for human consumption," and similar waste products to be turned into profit. This waste includes intestines, udders, esophagi, and possibly diseased and cancerous animal parts." Provided by Animal Protection Institute, Copyright © 1997-2004
Squeaker (my elderly cat) has had some ups and downs in the last 6 months. She has been doing reasonably well since we started her on a course of Progesterone per the Vet. Last week she refused to eat and her weight started dropping. I thought she might be getting ready to die. The odd thing that struck me was that she was clearly hungry and crying for food but was refusing the brand she has been eating for years (Vet suggest Pro Plan ). I had recently moved her to Pro Plan Senior and tried moving her back to Pro Plan adult, but she would'nt touch it. I tried some other store brand foods thinking maybe something had changed in Pro Plan. She wouldn't eat those either. Finally I gave her some tuna which she scarfed down.
That got me to thinking and I did some research and talked to a friend who is a Vet tech. Squeaker had been throwing up quite a bit in the last six months which is when I first took her to the vet. They never suggested it was her food and I did ask about it. They simply suggested moving her to the Senior version of the same brand and said that the throwing up was a result of her illness.
What I Learned
Cat's arent meant to eat half of the stuff they put in commercial pet food and won't eat it in the wild. Cat's need a diet of about 98 percent protein. Squeaker probably devleoped an allergy to something in the food or her body just couldn't process what she had never been meant to eat in the first place, anymore.
Most commercial food contains Corn, Wheat or Soy.
Use of corn, wheat, or soy in pet food can cause skin irritation, hair loss, fever, ear infections, kidney failure, liver failure, dental disease, obesity, chronic digestive problems, bloat, heart disease and hyperthyroidism.
After reading quite a bit I believe that I would try a raw diet for any new pet to our household. Squeaker is too old to switch over to that but there are indpendent cat food brands that provide canned and dry that try to get as close to a raw diet as possible.
I found a specialty pet store in the area carrying Nature's Instinct (Grain and Glutten Free) and picked up a few cans of it to try. This brand also sells raw as an option. http://www.naturesvariety.com/ Squeaker loves it and within 24 hours of changing her over to this brand was feeling much better and has since been gaining some of her weight back. She has ceased throwing up all together.
Other brands I considered include; Wellness, Life's Abundance and Instinctive Choice.
I wish I had figured this out earlier and feel bad for the Squeaker bug that I didn't.
A smattering of some of the articles I read about commercial pet food.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-some-alternatives-to-commercial-pet-food-for-cats-and-dogs.htm
http://www.bornfreeusa.org/facts.php?more=1&p=359
http://www.naturespet.com/flintwhatsin.html
http://www.barfworld.com/html/learn_more/processed.shtml (Barf: Biologically Approapriate Raw Food)
http://cats.about.com/cs/catfood/a/whyfussfood.htm
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/veterinarians-all-saying-avoid-commercial-pet-food.html
http://hubpages.com/hub/Top-Rated-Cat-Food
http://hubpages.com/hub/Menu_Foods_Cat_Food_Recall_List