The Boomerang Effect: The Missing Link in Menu Foods Supply Chain

Dr. Jeff Feinman, a holistic Veterinarian from Connecticut, specializes in helping animals to live long and healthy lives. I would bet money that he doesn’t sell any of the pet foods that were recently named in the latest pet food recalls at his animal clinic. And I’d wager the same bet that Dr. Larry Bernstein , another holistic vet, doesn’t either. They may sell pet foods, but they aren’t going to be the brand names that you’ll see in your local grocery store or retail store. Recent news about the 16 pets who lost their lives from eating pet food from the 91 pet food manufacturers involved in the latest pet food scandal are only part of the reason. Some of the other reasons they have are tied to allergy problems, cancer, kidney and liver problems, and a host of other ailments that may be tied to what’s in popular brands of dog and cat foods.

If pet food labels told the whole truth about what’s really contained in them, sales would plummet for the most popular brand names in the pet food industry.

• Many years ago, there was an episode of 20/20 (if I remember correctly. It’s WAS a long time ago), that featured a segment on pet foods. An animal nutritionist on the show said “the perfect food for a cat would be - “ground up whole mouse in a can.” He added, ” A mouse is a perfect meal for a cat. It has all the nutrients that a cat needs to stay healthy.” “But” he said, “If you put mouse in a can on the cat food label, no one would buy it.” The same is true of the popular brand wet and dry pet foods today. If loving pet owners knew what was used to make their pet’s food, they would change their buying habits.
  

So, why have we all been roped into believing the bill of goods we’ve been sold by the pet food industry? Because they’ve convinced us that it’s good for our pets!

• Words like “complete nutrition” help to drive the message home to us. But, what really draws us in are how their packaging describes what’s inside. Words like “savory sirloin dinner, beef stew with real beef gravy, chunky beef bites, sliced chicken in chicken gravy, sound tasty don’t they?.They’re supposed to. It’s another way that advertisers try to convince YOU to buy their product. After all, your dog or cat can’t go shopping. They depend on you to make good choices for them. But, if you’ve been buying pet food based on how appealing the brand name is to you or you’ve been buying foods based on price, you should really take a second look at the choices you’ve been making for your pet.
  

From the company’s standpoint, the animals that died from rat poison recently and the subsequent pet food recalls will be written off as a business loss.

• Although they may feel badly that animals died because of their product, the main objective of business involves profitability. At this point, they are undoubtedly scrambling to come up with the right decisions, decisions that will minimize their financial losses and regain the trust of consumers and company shareholders. Yet, those who lost their pets.. the children, the elderly people who have lost their companion, the families who felt more valuable because their pet thought the world of them, could care less about the financial loss that the pet food supplier now has to deal with. They feel they were manipulated, lied to, and betrayed by big business.
  

So how did the downward spiral begin for Menu Foods?

• The root of the problem, according to investigators, points to a purchase of wheat gluten from a new supplier in China. Undoubtedly, the decision to use a China based supplier was implemented as a way to increase Menu Food’s profit margin.
  

Whenever money is higher on our priority list than the well being of a living thing, I think it’s time to stop and rethink our priorities.

• As a consumer, you have the power to let companies know what’s important to you. What you buy lets companies know what’s worth producing and what isn’t. Case in point - Have you seen any pet rocks lately? Consumer demand will always drive the products and services of successful companies.
  

I learned about pet foods several years ago when a friend of mine had a golden lab who had severe allergies.

• The dog was about 10 years old and had chronic ear infections, often bit it’s front paws, and scratched itself so much that it had patches of hair missing. When I went to the vet’s office with them, I asked the vet if the dog kept getting ear infections because it had allergies. He said “yes”. So, I said “is there an allergy pill, like Claritin, that he could take that would keep his allergies from causing his recurring ear infections?” He said “no”. So I said “so, he just has to keep coming back here every time he has an ear infection so he can get some of that ear cream?” He said “the only other thing we can do is give him a steroid shot but that’s not good to give them all the time”. He said, “does he have the allergies all year round”? I said “yes”. He said “it’s probably environmental then. He may be allergic to grass or some weeds or something in the house”.
  

• At this point, I’m beginning to question where this vet is coming from. Every time the dog got an ear infection or a skin infection, he made money from an office visit and a new prescription and of course, a follow-up appointment. I’m thinking that in the meantime, the dog was just supposed to spend everyday scratching his itchy skin, ears, and feet, until he ended up with an infection from all of the scratching. And I’m thinking, with all of the prescription allergy medications we have for people, how is it possible that there’s no allergy medication for dogs? Don’t they test the drugs they prescribe to us on animals first?
  

So, being the skeptic and internet research nut that I am, I started researching info about allergies in dogs on the net.

• That’s when I found a terrific book by Dr. Pitcairn. By following his advice, my friend’s dog stopped biting his feet, grew back the patches of missing hair he had, and didn’t scratch his ears anymore. Dr. Pitcairn suggested that allergies can be caused by the food the dog eats, among other things. Like people, dogs can be allergic to pollen, grass, fleas, etc. That made sense to me…. what does a dog do everyday….eat! I thought we’ll start with changing his food and see if we can eliminate that as a cause. Luckily, it was the food! Unfortunately, his dog was allergic to every dog food we tried. What worked? We switched him to people food (we just made an extra plate for him at meal time) and we supplemented his diet with a dog vitamin and 3 tablespoons of fish oil. Fish oil helps boost the immune system. 3 Tablespoons might be too much for your dog, depending on its weight. This dog weighed about 90 lbs. In any case, the only reason I can think of that the vet didn’t tell me it might be the food was that he was making a ton of money off of office visits and medication. My concern was that the dog was suffering and a doctor who is supposed to be dedicating his life to helping animals was more concerned about the money. Sounds like the pet food industry.
  

Keep your eyes and ears open when determining what’s best for your pet! They can’t do it for themselves, they need your help.

MY PERSONAL TIPS: Your dog may not think the nutritious dog food you give them is steak on a plate. Nutritious dog foods are typically not sprayed with chicken and beef fat like cheap dog foods are. Cheap foods are sprayed so that dogs will eat them and owners will think “they love it”. But, what we love to eat isn’t necessarily what’s good for us. There’s an easy and cheap fix to get them to eat what’s good for them though.

1. Buy a can of chicken or beef broth and pour a little of it on your pet’s food. You shouldn’t need more than 1/3 of a can. Put the rest in the refrigerator for their next meal. FYI - Animals determine what’s going to be good to eat by smelling it. Once they smell the chicken or beef, they’ll lick the plate clean.
2. Dogs and cats also love canned tuna. But, it should not be given to them on a regular basis because of mercury poisoning. Veterinarians like doctors warn us that tuna should only be consumed as an occasional treat.
3. And of course, chicken gravy or beef gravy on your pet’s food will be a bit hit with your dog or cat!
   

If you’re interested in learning more about what’s good and what’s not good for your pets, check out these books on Amazon. I haven’t read “Food Pets Die For” yet but I have Googled to find out what constitutes good dog food and it has nothing to do with “savory gravy”.

Dr. Pitcairn’s Books - Highly recommended. Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats (5 star rating by 26 reviewers)

Pet Food Books- Books about the Pet Food Industry. This book list includes the eye-opening book called Food Pets Die For by Ann N. Martin (4 1/2 star rating by 48 reviewers)

Comments

[Gina O'Leary]

I happen to be one of the lucky ones....one of my precious children/chihuahuas (3.5 lbs at most) was "on" one of the recalled foods, Eukanuba. Before the recall was announced, my husband and I noticed that when we would feed him, he would become very lethargic and clingy and only want to be held and cuddled (ok, the cuddle part wasn't really a new behavior but it was excessive!). After the fourth day of eatting this "recalled" food, we decided to feed him something different. He just wasn't himself and we decided to change his diet to see if that made a difference. And it did!! Within two days of being on a different brand of dog food, he was back to his hyper,playful, ump off the bed, self. My heart goes out to those parents who dog were not as lucky. If you haven't already checked it out, please visit this website to make sure you are not feeding your dog one of the tainted foods:

http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_dog.html

P.S. On a similar note...we received three emails from Petsmart this weekend warning us that "maybe" our food was contaminated and to check the food immediately. They were able to track our previous purchases of Eukanuba at their store thru their computers. Kool!