Commercial Dog Food and Pet Food Recalls

Commercial pet food is a multi-billion-dollar industry that seems to grow in sales each year. What is happening here, are more animals being adopted, or are more pet owners being sold on the idea that dogs absolutely must eat dog food in order to be healthy?

Surprisingly, the answer is the latter of the two possibilities. Dog owners seem to think that their dogs will be healthier and have more energy by consuming processed commercial dog food.

There was an article written in the New York Times by a woman named Laura Cunningham. The year was 1981 and back then Laura reported that $4 billion dollars was spent yearly on pet food. Recently, when the pet food recall took place, the media reported in March of 2007 that people are now spending over $16 billion annually on pet food.

To further add an interesting statistic to the conversation, back in 1988 the American Pet Products Association ran their very first pet ownership research study and came back with their poll report which claimed that approximately 56% of every household in America had a pet, either a cat or a dog. The most current poll conducted states that approximately 63% of today’s US households maintains a pet in the family.

Not all statistics are accurate, but this only shows a 7% increase in household pets. Surely this 7% increase cannot be consuming the extra $12 billion per year in pet food that was eaten in 1981. In other words, less people bought pet food for their dogs and cats than they do today. With so many people buying commercial dog food and other pet foods, why then were they so surprised about the alarming pet food recall?

There are many dog and cat owners who can see through the advertising and myths of feeding a cat “cat food” and a dog “dog food”. However, most people seem to just fly through their lives, being busier than ever and due to convenience, believe everything that corporations are telling them – or should we say “selling” them. However, the recent pet food recall has started to wake up many dog owners and other pet owners, to the fact that these products may not be as healthy as the commercials claim.

Although many dog and pet owners neglect thorough research on nutrition and continue to believe that processed pet food is the best thing to feed their animals, it doesn’t mean that they do not care. We all want our pets to be healthy and have the best possible food that is good for them. Unfortunately, many of these pet owners truly believed they were doing the right thing by their pets. With tainted food causing many pets to get ill, more and more people are starting to ask questions and find out the truth behind proper nutrition for their pets.

Standard Commercial Dog Food Sold In Stores

There are 3 types of commercially prepared dog foods that are available in the market today: Canned foods, Semi-moist foods and Dry foods.

Canned Foods

This type of food comes in several varieties, which ranges in quality as well as price. They consist of about 75% water and are mixed with assorted meat, fish and cereal products. They are easy to prepare and dogs love them! However, canned foods produce low-energy nutrients, which means that you would need to give your dog a big serving in order to provide it with the required energy it needs.

If you have a large dog, you would have to double the amount of servings, which makes canned food unpractical and on the pricey side. To solve this problem, consider mixing canned food with dried food. The mixture will provide more energy for your dog and will also add volume to the food, thereby saving you money.

There is another kind of canned food that only contains meat, hence called “all meat canned foods”. Similar to regular canned food, all meat canned food does not provide your dog with the proper amount of energy that its body needs. In order to get enough energy, you would need to give it large quantities of the food, although this will only produce an unbalanced diet. Therefore, all meat canned foods should be mixed with dried foods or even semi-moist food.

Semi-Moist Foods

This type of food has high concentration and only contains 15 to 30% water content, which provides more energy for your dog in less amount of volume than canned foods. Their ingredients consist of meat, cereals, vegetables, sugar and fats. They are easy for your dog to digest and it will surely love the taste. They come in a wide variety, do not need to be refrigerate, and many owners find them to be the most convenient way to feed their dogs.

Semi-moist foods are expensive and are loaded with sugar and corn syrup and should not be given to dogs with diabetes. In addition, these foods are also loaded with colorings and artificial flavors. It is best to give your dog this type of food only on an occasional basis, rather than its main source of diet.

Dry Foods

Dry foods contain about 10% water, providing high energy value to your dog. They are the least expensive of all the dog foods, they can be stored in bulk quantities and they do not need to be refrigerated. This is why most pet owners prefer this food for their dog and consider it to be the most economical way to feed their pets.

On the other hand, the majority of commercially prepared dried foods contain mostly cereal and is very limited in the amount of protein that the dog requires. Consider mixing dry food with canned food to give your dog a well-balanced diet. Another alternative is to choose a brand that contain meat as its main ingredient.

Do You Know The Truth About Commercial Dog Food?

In earlier years dogs used to be fed any type of table scraps and sometimes had their meals prepared ahead of time. We ate all types of food and so did our animals, except for one major difference of today’s house pets, they didn’t eat a bite of commercial dog food.

Interestingly enough, dogs lived long lives. Considering the leap in information and nutritional research that we have today, commercial dog food has improved, but it is a little ironic that standard human food did so well just a few years back.

Pet Food Advertising Has Brainwashed Us

A lot has changed over the past 20 to 30 years. Most dog owners feel that feeding their pets commercial dog food makes the most sense. They believe that high quality dog food sold in stores is not only the most convenient way to feed their animals, but is thought to give their dogs and puppies the best nutritional value offered, even better than human food.

You hear this sort of thing over and over again whenever a discussion takes place about dog food.

Processed Food is still Processed Food

Try convincing people that dogs and humans need the same nutritional food, it’s not that easy. However, the point to acknowledge about processed food, is no matter how you look at it, or what you believe a dog should eat as opposed to humans, processed food is still processed food! This stuff is manufactured, which means it goes through various steps of processing, preservatives and other additives before it hits the can and is packaged. Every step that is taken to get this food to the store shelves reduces its quality and nullifies most of its nutritional value.

Commercial Dog Food You Might Want To Consider

Just a few years ago, feeding your dog was simple compared to today’s nutritional advice. My parent’s dog ate what we ate, including dessert! In addition to table scraps, he also ate commercial dog food. That dog had a happy life and lived well into his mid-teens without contracting any serious illness or disease.

Picking a commercial dog food was easy. There were only a handful of brands to choose from and these pet foods all had practically the same ingredients, only varying in color and flavor.

Nowadays, there are so many varieties to choose from. Below is a list of some of the popular commercial foods available for your dog:

Organic Dog Food

Most dog food products found in the market today contain pesticides and other chemicals. If you want to give your dog food that is free of these chemicals, consider organic dog food. However, the term “organic” can be misleading, so read the ingredients carefully before making your purchase.

No Preservative or Natural Preservative Dog Food

Most dog foods contain preservatives in the form of artificial chemicals such as ethoxyquin, BHT and BHA. These are added for two reasons: To prevent the food from spoiling and keep the taste lasting longer. Some dog foods, however, have natural preservatives like vitamin C (often listed as ascorbic acid) and vitamin E (often listed as tocopherols).

Before you buy a dog food with natural preservatives, be sure to read the ingredients first to make sure that the preservatives are actually derived from nature instead of it being artificially synthesized.

You may also buy dog foods that are free of any kind of preservatives. These products must be properly sealed in a cool, dry, bug-free place and used promptly to assure freshness.

Vegetarian Dog Food

Vegetarian dog foods allow vegetarian dog owners to exercise their dietary beliefs with their dogs. These foods contain all of the necessary vitamins and nutrients that your pet needs, so long as they are properly made. A vegetarian diet is also beneficial for dogs that are allergic to meat.

Raw Dog Food

Many dog owners believe that a diet of raw food is the healthiest way to feed their pet because this is the way wolves and other wild dog species ate. This belief has no scientific facts to value its accuracy. However, a diet of raw food can expose both you and your pet to dangerous bacteria such as salmonella and E. coli.

Therapeutic Dog Food

Therapeutic dog foods, along with necessary medical care, have been the growing trend in dog food products today. It is only available through a veterinarian and is usually prescribed for cases of preventive treatment, as an after-surgery diet, or for certain health problems like food allergies.