No Wonder People Don't Understand Pet Nutrition

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beandip

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Originally Posted by Jenny82

Ditto on what you prefer!

I have a guess for why they're doing that though. Maybe the cheap food is causing very smelly litter boxes, and they think they need a premium litter to fix the problem.
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I think you're exactly right.
I just can't fathom why they go about it backwards.
 
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Originally Posted by KTLynn

There are always exceptions to the rule - some people, despite a steady diet of fast food will live to a ripe old age. No one advocates such a diet though, because for the majority of us, that type of food would cause all sorts of health problems.
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I've been thinking since this thread was started the other day. Most people do not even understand human nutrition and what their bodies need. This is why so many are overweight or unhealthy. Is it any surprise that their pets are too?

Originally Posted by Panther pride

In gen I think finding good pet food for a type of pet, being - reptile cat, dog, fish, is as easy as falling off a log, just give then a diet that most clsely matches what their WILD anesctors ate.
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Not always that easy, variety needed alone makes it rather impossible. But some people do the best they can. The best thing to remember is the most convenient answer generally isn't the best.
Recently while looking up specific veggies for turtle food use I came across sites on making homemade fish foods! Quite interesting.
If I ever have fish again I'm certainly not going to feed them anything out of a box.


Yesterday while getting some litter at Kmart I overheard one older woman's son tell her while she was trying to pick out food "This is cheaper.(while pointing at some meow mix dry) They're just cats, they don't care what they eat".
 
2dogmom

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What got me about that article was this line:

Whatever kind of food you invest in, look for the AAFCO seal of approval. The Association of American Feed Control Officials is a watchdog group that develops standards for pet food.
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Yeah so they develop standards. However, there are no inspection procedures so how much is that really worth?
 
sharky

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AAFCO feeding trials werent done on the canned food s had they this recall likely would never of happened
 
icklemiss21

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Originally Posted by sharky

AAFCO feeding trials werent done on the canned food s had they this recall likely would never of happened
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Yes they would, feeding trials are not generally done on an on-going basis. The AAFCO set standards for foods as well as the plants procedures but they leave it up to the individual manufacturers to live up to them, even if AAFCO feeding trials were done, changing from one wheat supplier to another would probably not have made them do another trial before the next one is due

The AAFCO Feed Check Sample Program consists of twelve specially ground and mixed samples. The series – which begins in January of each year – includes a variety of feeds and supplements with drugs, antibiotics, minerals, and vitamins at levels normally encountered in commercial products.
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So depending on when the last trial was, the feeding trials would not have picked this up any faster than people reporting illnesses did and they may have chosen a random sample of foods not including recalled food
 
sharky

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icklemiss21;1679303 said:
Yes they would, feeding trials are not generally done on an on-going basis. The AAFCO set standards for foods as well as the plants procedures but they leave it up to the individual manufacturers to live up to them, even if AAFCO feeding trials were done, changing from one wheat supplier to another would probably not have made them do another trial before the next one is due


See ya learn something new everyday
... i didnt really know how often they did the tests
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ginamarina

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Originally Posted by strange_wings

Yesterday while getting some litter at Kmart I overheard one older woman's son tell her while she was trying to pick out food "This is cheaper.(while pointing at some meow mix dry) They're just cats, they don't care what they eat".
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That's my big problem. I guess I want to surround myself with people who love their animals a more than that.

That initial article says "Americans spent about $250 a year on food for their pets". OMG!! $20/month? for all the pets? Geez. My sister spends more than that on an unplanned trip to wal-mart...

Gina

loving Cilla forever
 
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In a way, I have to say that I agree with part of what that article had to say - I mean, just because its a more expensive food doesn't necessarily mean that its healthier. And if people are looking to save money, they probably should look elsewhere than the pet stores -for instance, I buy my boys' food from a feed store (Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul). Its not the highest end food, but it is a pretty good one, especially for the price.

At least they tried to give some guidelines on what constituted an okay food, though their description needed more fleshing out. I think a lot of your average pet owners don't bother looking at the labels, which is most of the problem.

Of course, your trade off for spending more money on food is a) having to buy less food to feed said cat because they get more nutrition out of the food, b) possibly having to buy less or cheaper litter because the products of good food are usually less and not as stinky and c) having hopefully a healthier animal which needs fewer trips to the vet. I say all that is well worth a few extra bucks a month.
 
catsarebetter

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There is quite a bit on the FDA website about pet food, and how they monitor it. Basically if something is determined by a panel of scientists (not even necessarily FDA or AAFCO employed..) to be GRAS (generally recognized as safe) it never has to be tested again unless something changes.. for instance:

Wheat gluten as an ingredient has been tested/inspected/approved once, therefore it is now GRAS. The only time they will reinspect it is if ..say.. a manufacturer decides to use it in a pet food and claims it's some sort of health related additive. Like, if Meow Mix suddenly starts using wheat gluten and advertises it on their bag as an ingredient that aids in digestion, or ..helps UTI's, or .. is a weight loss tool... *then* it's monitored and not automatically determined to be GRAS.

If a manufacturer promotes their food as using human grade ingredients.. then they have to use human grade ingredients, as far as I can tell. And there is a huge standard difference between human grade and non-human grade... everything from preparation techniques to what actually goes in the food.
 
mybabyphx

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After reading this thread I have a couple questions...
I only feed my cat dry food (purina i think??- the green bag) I get the same kind every single time. I never get canned wet food. Do you think I should be incoporating more wet food into his diet?
I feed him treats on a regular basis...He also eats some human food, but not regularly
He seems pretty healthy to me, I just free feed that way if he's hungry the food is always there for him. Please put in any opinions about this
Thanks


Also I head Meow mix is VERY BAD for cats, so I won't ever get PHX that. But is this really the truth or is it just a rumor?
 
sharky

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Originally Posted by CatsAreBetter

There is quite a bit on the FDA website about pet food, and how they monitor it. Basically if something is determined by a panel of scientists (not even necessarily FDA or AAFCO employed..) to be GRAS (generally recognized as safe) it never has to be tested again unless something changes.. for instance:

Wheat gluten as an ingredient has been tested/inspected/approved once, therefore it is now GRAS. The only time they will reinspect it is if ..say.. a manufacturer decides to use it in a pet food and claims it's some sort of health related additive. Like, if Meow Mix suddenly starts using wheat gluten and advertises it on their bag as an ingredient that aids in digestion, or ..helps UTI's, or .. is a weight loss tool... *then* it's monitored and not automatically determined to be GRAS.

If a manufacturer promotes their food as using human grade ingredients.. then they have to use human grade ingredients, as far as I can tell. And there is a huge standard difference between human grade and non-human grade... everything from preparation techniques to what actually goes in the food.
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I have a purse book with all that stuff it is scary what is deemed safe...

Originally Posted by mybabyphx

After reading this thread I have a couple questions...
I only feed my cat dry food (purina i think??- the green bag) I get the same kind every single time. I never get canned wet food. Do you think I should be incoporating more wet food into his diet?
I feed him treats on a regular basis...He also eats some human food, but not regularly
He seems pretty healthy to me, I just free feed that way if he's hungry the food is always there for him. Please put in any opinions about this
Thanks


Also I head Meow mix is VERY BAD for cats, so I won't ever get PHX that. But is this really the truth or is it just a rumor?
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Meow mix wet is decent to good ( many have no grain and animal by products ... RIGHT NOW I am not feeding any wet food actually my vets advice... But mine were accustom to homemade and raw prior to the WHOLE recall mess ...
Purina from the grocery store is not a great food... see the search button put in cat food and youll be reading for a while
 
cloud_shade

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First, I think that adding a little wet food, like maybe a tablespoon at night to start, might be a good idea. Cats are not big drinkers, as in the wild they get their water from their prey. Cats who only eat dry have a higher incidence of urinary problems as a result. Once a cat is diagnosed with urinary tract issues, one of the recommendations is to feed canned food. The problem is that many of those same cats don't like canned and only want their dry (one of the problems I have with Willow is that she only sees canned as a treat instead of a meal).

As for Meow Mix, the dry stuff is very low quality. It has a lot of fillers (like corn and wheat) as well as food coloring (so it stains the carpet when they throw it back up
). The pouches are much better than the dry food--no by-products. The only issue I have with the pouches is that all of the varieties have fish, and I have a cat who's stomach doesn't tolerate fish very well.
 
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