Posts Tagged ‘Longevity’
Due to the recent pet food recall, millions of pet owners are left feeling daunted and bewildered as to why this incident happened. So many dogs and cats were left sick and worse yet, many more died. And since most pet owners depend on commercial pet food to feed their dogs, they are now skeptical about which brand of food to buy and what type of food is safe for their dogs.
Who Can The Consumers Count On? Commercial pet foods have been contaminated with harmful chemicals, including mycotoxins (toxins produced by fungi). The FDA and food manufacturers have authorized several recalls after a defective food is found. The FDA and the food company join together to find out the main cause of the problem and prevent it from happening again.
Knowledge Is Power: When it comes to getting the best dog food possible, you need to know what to look for and what to avoid. Below are some ways to monitor the food you are giving your dog to ensure its safety:
1. Check the expiration date on all foods and treats before feeding them to your dog. Doing so will help you avoid any items that are scheduled to go bad. While this is a wise consumer action on your part, ironically enough the food could still be poisonous to your animals because of preservatives and other chemicals that are added for taste, longevity, and texture. Try shopping organic if possible.
2. If the food or treat is not yet expired but appears to be stale or has a foul odor, do not feed it to your dog and contact the company/manufacturer. There probably isn’t much you can do in terms of getting your money back, but by contacting the producer of the food themselves, you may be a small part of a larger action to have a recall initiated. Remember, if nobody complains that nothing gets done.
3. Consult with your vet if your dog shows any symptoms of abnormal or unusual behavior. Early treatment will result in a better chance of full recovery. It’s safe to say that some of the dogs and cats that were killed by tainted pet food may have survived had the owners’ brought them to the veterinarian at the first signs of illness. Take the situation seriously if you sense that you are dog is having a reaction. Remember, the threat is real and many pets have died.
4. To ensure the safety of the food that your pet is eating, keep informed of the latest news on pet food recalls. The best way to do this is to go online and type in “pet food recall”. Read through as many articles as possible.
Try to avoid information that is put out by pet food manufacturers themselves. It’s not that the information is not reliable, but consider the fact that these companies are going to sugarcoat the dangers of pet food is best possible. It is their livelihood after all. They are in the business of selling pet food!
Article Source: http://www.hobbyarticledirectory.com
Jane Saeman loves dogs and strives to keep other dog lovers informed. A whole world awaits other dog lovers. Find out how cute the dog in your life is at my website which is at www.PicturesOfMyDogs.com
What you feed your dog is really SO important for your dog’s ultimate health, susceptibility to illness, and longevity.
You know, if you really want your dog to be as healthy as s/he can be, you should stop feeding ANY of the widely available commercial dog foods.
I’m talking here about the types of dog food commonly found in supermarkets, and even about most of the supposedly superior brands sold in some supermarkets, pet food shops, and even by many vets.
The cheaper the brand, then generally the more full of garbage it is, but even many of the more expensive brands leave much to be desired.
What do you think is an ideal diet for your dog?
– plump chickens?
– choice cuts of juicy beef and lamb?
– maybe a few healthy fresh grains for variety?
– the odd fresh herbs, vegetables and fruit?
You’d be right.
But how many of the above ingredients do you think go into commercial pet food?
A lot? Only a little? If you said yes to either of these, you’d be dead wrong.
The average commercial dog food bears NO relation to the above list of choice ingredients, despite what pet food manufacturers display in some of their marketing, and despite what the list of ingredients on the pack or can might tend to indicate.
There is very, very little (if any) of the above ingredients in the average commercial dog food, and by the time it’s been overcooked at sustained high temperatures, and sprayed with preservative agents, the resultant “food” can be very harmful to your dog’s health and wellbeing indeed.
Suffice to say that if you’re feeding your dog ANY commercially available dog food, you’re exposing your dog to a source of chemically enhanced, overprocessed, garbage, the meat source for which includes diseased carcasses which have been left for up to 5 days before being processed.
Enough to turn you off for life? It was for me. As you know, I’ve always fed my dogs a diet of mainly raw meat and bones. But I like to give them a little treat in the mornings rather than just feed them once a day (which, by the way, IS all a dog NEEDS). I used to give them a handful of dry dog food each morning, sometimes the cheaper supermarket brands, and sometimes the “brand” names which cost 4 or 5 times as much. Now that I know better, I never give my dogs any of that garbage.
I should say that SOME of the expensive pet foods which are readily available ARE better than the cheaper brands. BUT, most are still far from an ideal diet for your dog, so query whether the extra money is money well spent.
If the product says it’s “with real chicken”, did you know that it only needs to contain 3% of chicken? Neither did I.
If the first item listed is meat or chicken, did you know that this doesn’t mean that’s the main ingredient? Neither did I.
Take a close look at the label. It’s likely to list a meat first, and then 2, 3, 4 or 5 types of grains. This is a very misleading tactic used by the commercial pet food manufacturers. Each of the grains individually may be slightly less in quantity than the meat. But added together? They’re probably nearly 2, 3, 4 or 5 times the quantity of the meat ingredient.
After having looked into this issue in a great deal of detail, I’m convinced that the most healthy diet for your dog is mainly fresh meat, with some fresh veges and a little grain thrown in. And this alone is NOT enough. You need to give your dog a vitamin supplement always, for optimal health.
And for the very best health, there ARE some reputable HEALTHY, wholesome, holistic dog food manufacturers, which really DO provide wonderfully healthy food for our dogs.
(c) 2004, Brigitte Smith, Healthy Happy Dogs
Article Source: http://www.hobbyarticledirectory.com
Brigitte Smith is a dog lover with a special interest in holistic health for dogs. For your free dog health report, click here. For info on HEALTHY dog foods, click here.