Pet Nutrition
ALL ABOUT DOGS and CATS Resource Center for Canine & Feline Lovers
FOOD NOT FIT FOR A PET
Dr Wendell O. Belfield, D.V.M.
Which commercial pet food do I recommend? That's the one question I am asked most
frequently in my practice. My standard answer is "none." But let me clarify. There is no
government agency setting quality standards and guidelines, so there are no assurances
of quality in pet food.
I am certain at some time you have noticed a change in your dog after feeding him or
her different batches of the same brand of pet food. Your pet may have diarrhea,
increased flatulence, a dull hair coat, intermittent vomiting, or may scratch more often.
These are the most common symptoms I have observed over the years, and they are all
associated with commercial pet foods.
In 1981 while Martin Zucker and I wrote the first of my two books, How to Have a
Healthier Dog, we discovered the full extent of the negative effects of commercial pet
foods of that time. Much more recently, San Francisco Chronicle staff writer John
Eckhouse went even further with a two-part exposé entitled "Pet-Food Labels Baffle
Consumers," and (a good candidate for a horror movie title) "How Dogs and Cats Get
Recycled Into Pet Food."
In the second article, published on February 19, 1990, Mr. Eckhouse, an investigative
reporter, writes: "Each year, millions of dead American dogs and cats are processed along
with billions of pounds of other animal materials by companies known as renderers. The
finished products -- tallow and meat meals -- serve as raw materials for thousands of
items that include cosmetics and pet food." There were the usual denials by pet food
executives. Yet federal and state agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration
and medical groups such as the American Veterinary Medical Association and the California
Veterinary Medical Association, confirm that pets, on a routine basis, are rendered after
they die in animal shelters or are disposed of by health authorities, and the end product
frequently finds its way into pet food.
Government health officials, scientists, and pet food executives say such open criticism of
commercial pet food is unfounded. James Morris, a professor at the School of Veterinary
Medicine at Davis, California, says, "Any products not fit for human consumption are very
well sterilized, so nothing can be transmitted to the animal. And to say products are
unwholesome because we Americans don't like to eat them is incorrect. There's nothing
wrong with eating spleen, which we don't do, but some Arabs [do]." In my opinion, it is
obvious that individuals who make such statements know nothing of the meat and
rendering industries.
Hold on to your hats -- I am going to take you on a bumpy ride through the
meat-packing industry. For seven years I was a veterinary meat inspector for the U.S.
Department of Agriculture and the State of California -- in carrying out this office I had to
wade through blood, water, pus, and fecal matter; inhale the fetid stench from the
killing floor; and listen to the death cries of the animals being slaughtered.
Prior to World War II, most slaughterhouses were all-inclusive; that is, the livestock was
slaughtered and processed into fresh meat in one location. There was a section for
smoking meats, a section for processing meats into sausages, and a section for
rendering. During the years after World War II, the meat industry became more
specialized. A slaughterhouse just slaughtered and dressed the carcasses; the making of
sausages was done in a separate facility; and the rendering of slaughter waste also
became a separate specialty -- and no longer within the jurisdiction of government meat
inspectors.
Now that the rendering companies are entities unto their own they can service many
slaughterhouses, plus process any other animal remains that can be rendered. But first,
to prevent the condemned meat from being rerouted and used for human consumption,
government regulations require that the meat must be "denatured" before it is removed
from the slaughterhouse. The denatured carcasses and other waste can then be
transported to the rendering facility.
In my time as a veterinary meat inspector, we denatured with carbolic acid (phenol, a
potentially corrosive disinfectant) and/or creosote (used to preserve wood or as a
disinfectant). Phenol is derived from the distillation of coal tar, creosote from the
distillation of wood. Both substances are very toxic. Creosote was used for many years as
a preservative for wood power poles. Its effect on the environment proved to be so
negative that it is no longer used for that purpose. According to federal meat inspection
regulations, fuel oil, kerosene, crude carbolic acid, and citronella (an insect repellent
made from lemon grass) are the approved denaturing materials.
The condemned livestock carcasses treated with these toxic chemicals can then become
meat and bone meal for the pet food industry. Worse yet, since rendering facilities are
not government-controlled, any animal carcasses can be rendered, including those of
cats and dogs. Eckhouse quotes Eileen Layne of the California Veterinary Medical
Association: "When you read pet-food labels and it says meat or bone meal, that's what
it is -- cooked and converted animals, including some dogs and cats."
Some of these dead pets -- those who were euthanized by veterinarians -- already have
sodium pentobarbital in their bodies before being treated with the denaturing
substances. In veterinary offices most cats and dogs are put to sleep with this chemical.
According to Eckhouse, veterinarians at the University of Minnesota warned that the
sodium pentobarbital used to put pets to sleep "survived rendering without undergoing
degradation," but they concluded that the residue amount would be too small to cause
problems if the carcasses of euthanized pets were mixed with other raw materials during
a day's production run. No mention was made of the cumulative effects on a cat or dog
from ingesting this small amount daily for years. Thus far we have come across the
denaturing chemicals and the sodium pentobarbital, and I have only just begun.
In the finished rendered product, a fat stabilizer is introduced to prevent rancidity. The
common chemicals used are BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (butylated
hydroxytolulene), both known to cause liver and kidney dysfunction. Some European
countries prohibit the use and importation of these preservatives. Another fat stabilizer
often used is Ethoxyquin, suspected of being a cancer-causing agent. Propylene
glycol, first cousin to ethylene glycol (antifreeze), is found in many semimoist dog foods.
It causes the destruction of red blood cells.
Lead also shows up frequently in pet foods, even if they are made from livestock meat
and bone meal, simply as a result of our environment. A paper from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, titled "Lead in Animal Foods," had two frightening conclusions.
First, a 9-pound cat is ingesting more lead daily than what is considered potentially toxic
for children. Second, since some commercially prepared pet and laboratory animal foods
routinely contain lead, feeding these preparations to laboratory animals could add a
significant, uncontrolled variable to experiments and may lead to uncertain experimental
results (James G. Fox, et al., Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Vol. 1,
1976).
You are providing a chemical feast to your pet when you feed it the meat and bone
meal in pet foods. In the absence of any government inspection programs or any rules
and regulations on standards and origins of the ingredients in these foods, my
recommendation would be to feed your pets only food that you would eat, such as
scraps from the table or from the butcher.
Any veterinary nutritionist, government health official, or scientist who says feeding the
aforementioned chemicals daily to our pets will not have a deleterious effect on them is
living in a fool's paradise. Just look at the track record of government health officials and
scientists over the years. Remember DDT? It took the life of a young boy before it was
banned. Thalidomide? It was almost approved for use in America before it was found to
cause severe deformities in unborn babies. The use of DES to fatten food-producing
animals posed no threat to human life, said the health officials and scientists; but they
were wrong. Even today, the government has given its approval to a feline leukemia
vaccine which is not giving protection against the virus. In some instances, it is actually
causing feline leukemia.
I have been practicing small animal medicine for more than 30 years. Every day I have
seen the casualties of the propaganda by the pet food industry. Yet the professors in
the teaching institutions of veterinary medicine generally support an industry that has
little regard for the quality of health in our companion animals. The question has never
been whether or not pets are contracting diseases from pet food, but rather, what is
the status of our pets' health when they are fed a steady diet of toxic chemicals?
One last word of caution, not for pets this time but for their owners: meat and bone
meal from sources not fit for human consumption has found its way into poultry feed.
This means that the animal products rendered under questionable conditions are being
fed to birds that may wind up on your table. Remember this when you are eating your
next piece of chicken or turkey. I have to add, however, that the bone meal sold as a
calcium supplement is from carcasses graded for human consumption; it is not from
condemned animals.
Dr Belfield is a graduate of Tuskegee Institute of Veterinary Medicine and is now in
private practice in San Jose, California. Dr Belfield established the first orthomolecular
veterinary hospital in the US. He is co-author of The Very Healthy Cat Book and How to
Have a Healthier Dog. This article was originally published in Let's Live Magazine, May 1992
Dr Wendell O. Belfield, D.V.M.
Which commercial pet food do I recommend? That's the one question I am asked most
frequently in my practice. My standard answer is "none." But let me clarify. There is no
government agency setting quality standards and guidelines, so there are no assurances
of quality in pet food.
I am certain at some time you have noticed a change in your dog after feeding him or
her different batches of the same brand of pet food. Your pet may have diarrhea,
increased flatulence, a dull hair coat, intermittent vomiting, or may scratch more often.
These are the most common symptoms I have observed over the years, and they are all
associated with commercial pet foods.
In 1981 while Martin Zucker and I wrote the first of my two books, How to Have a
Healthier Dog, we discovered the full extent of the negative effects of commercial pet
foods of that time. Much more recently, San Francisco Chronicle staff writer John
Eckhouse went even further with a two-part exposé entitled "Pet-Food Labels Baffle
Consumers," and (a good candidate for a horror movie title) "How Dogs and Cats Get
Recycled Into Pet Food."
In the second article, published on February 19, 1990, Mr. Eckhouse, an investigative
reporter, writes: "Each year, millions of dead American dogs and cats are processed along
with billions of pounds of other animal materials by companies known as renderers. The
finished products -- tallow and meat meals -- serve as raw materials for thousands of
items that include cosmetics and pet food." There were the usual denials by pet food
executives. Yet federal and state agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration
and medical groups such as the American Veterinary Medical Association and the California
Veterinary Medical Association, confirm that pets, on a routine basis, are rendered after
they die in animal shelters or are disposed of by health authorities, and the end product
frequently finds its way into pet food.
Government health officials, scientists, and pet food executives say such open criticism of
commercial pet food is unfounded. James Morris, a professor at the School of Veterinary
Medicine at Davis, California, says, "Any products not fit for human consumption are very
well sterilized, so nothing can be transmitted to the animal. And to say products are
unwholesome because we Americans don't like to eat them is incorrect. There's nothing
wrong with eating spleen, which we don't do, but some Arabs [do]." In my opinion, it is
obvious that individuals who make such statements know nothing of the meat and
rendering industries.
Hold on to your hats -- I am going to take you on a bumpy ride through the
meat-packing industry. For seven years I was a veterinary meat inspector for the U.S.
Department of Agriculture and the State of California -- in carrying out this office I had to
wade through blood, water, pus, and fecal matter; inhale the fetid stench from the
killing floor; and listen to the death cries of the animals being slaughtered.
Prior to World War II, most slaughterhouses were all-inclusive; that is, the livestock was
slaughtered and processed into fresh meat in one location. There was a section for
smoking meats, a section for processing meats into sausages, and a section for
rendering. During the years after World War II, the meat industry became more
specialized. A slaughterhouse just slaughtered and dressed the carcasses; the making of
sausages was done in a separate facility; and the rendering of slaughter waste also
became a separate specialty -- and no longer within the jurisdiction of government meat
inspectors.
Now that the rendering companies are entities unto their own they can service many
slaughterhouses, plus process any other animal remains that can be rendered. But first,
to prevent the condemned meat from being rerouted and used for human consumption,
government regulations require that the meat must be "denatured" before it is removed
from the slaughterhouse. The denatured carcasses and other waste can then be
transported to the rendering facility.
In my time as a veterinary meat inspector, we denatured with carbolic acid (phenol, a
potentially corrosive disinfectant) and/or creosote (used to preserve wood or as a
disinfectant). Phenol is derived from the distillation of coal tar, creosote from the
distillation of wood. Both substances are very toxic. Creosote was used for many years as
a preservative for wood power poles. Its effect on the environment proved to be so
negative that it is no longer used for that purpose. According to federal meat inspection
regulations, fuel oil, kerosene, crude carbolic acid, and citronella (an insect repellent
made from lemon grass) are the approved denaturing materials.
The condemned livestock carcasses treated with these toxic chemicals can then become
meat and bone meal for the pet food industry. Worse yet, since rendering facilities are
not government-controlled, any animal carcasses can be rendered, including those of
cats and dogs. Eckhouse quotes Eileen Layne of the California Veterinary Medical
Association: "When you read pet-food labels and it says meat or bone meal, that's what
it is -- cooked and converted animals, including some dogs and cats."
Some of these dead pets -- those who were euthanized by veterinarians -- already have
sodium pentobarbital in their bodies before being treated with the denaturing
substances. In veterinary offices most cats and dogs are put to sleep with this chemical.
According to Eckhouse, veterinarians at the University of Minnesota warned that the
sodium pentobarbital used to put pets to sleep "survived rendering without undergoing
degradation," but they concluded that the residue amount would be too small to cause
problems if the carcasses of euthanized pets were mixed with other raw materials during
a day's production run. No mention was made of the cumulative effects on a cat or dog
from ingesting this small amount daily for years. Thus far we have come across the
denaturing chemicals and the sodium pentobarbital, and I have only just begun.
In the finished rendered product, a fat stabilizer is introduced to prevent rancidity. The
common chemicals used are BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (butylated
hydroxytolulene), both known to cause liver and kidney dysfunction. Some European
countries prohibit the use and importation of these preservatives. Another fat stabilizer
often used is Ethoxyquin, suspected of being a cancer-causing agent. Propylene
glycol, first cousin to ethylene glycol (antifreeze), is found in many semimoist dog foods.
It causes the destruction of red blood cells.
Lead also shows up frequently in pet foods, even if they are made from livestock meat
and bone meal, simply as a result of our environment. A paper from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, titled "Lead in Animal Foods," had two frightening conclusions.
First, a 9-pound cat is ingesting more lead daily than what is considered potentially toxic
for children. Second, since some commercially prepared pet and laboratory animal foods
routinely contain lead, feeding these preparations to laboratory animals could add a
significant, uncontrolled variable to experiments and may lead to uncertain experimental
results (James G. Fox, et al., Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Vol. 1,
1976).
You are providing a chemical feast to your pet when you feed it the meat and bone
meal in pet foods. In the absence of any government inspection programs or any rules
and regulations on standards and origins of the ingredients in these foods, my
recommendation would be to feed your pets only food that you would eat, such as
scraps from the table or from the butcher.
Any veterinary nutritionist, government health official, or scientist who says feeding the
aforementioned chemicals daily to our pets will not have a deleterious effect on them is
living in a fool's paradise. Just look at the track record of government health officials and
scientists over the years. Remember DDT? It took the life of a young boy before it was
banned. Thalidomide? It was almost approved for use in America before it was found to
cause severe deformities in unborn babies. The use of DES to fatten food-producing
animals posed no threat to human life, said the health officials and scientists; but they
were wrong. Even today, the government has given its approval to a feline leukemia
vaccine which is not giving protection against the virus. In some instances, it is actually
causing feline leukemia.
I have been practicing small animal medicine for more than 30 years. Every day I have
seen the casualties of the propaganda by the pet food industry. Yet the professors in
the teaching institutions of veterinary medicine generally support an industry that has
little regard for the quality of health in our companion animals. The question has never
been whether or not pets are contracting diseases from pet food, but rather, what is
the status of our pets' health when they are fed a steady diet of toxic chemicals?
One last word of caution, not for pets this time but for their owners: meat and bone
meal from sources not fit for human consumption has found its way into poultry feed.
This means that the animal products rendered under questionable conditions are being
fed to birds that may wind up on your table. Remember this when you are eating your
next piece of chicken or turkey. I have to add, however, that the bone meal sold as a
calcium supplement is from carcasses graded for human consumption; it is not from
condemned animals.
Dr Belfield is a graduate of Tuskegee Institute of Veterinary Medicine and is now in
private practice in San Jose, California. Dr Belfield established the first orthomolecular
veterinary hospital in the US. He is co-author of The Very Healthy Cat Book and How to
Have a Healthier Dog. This article was originally published in Let's Live Magazine, May 1992
Books by Dr Wendell O. Belfield, D.V.M.
ALL ABOUT DOGS
ALL ABOUT CATS
Pet Health Articles
Arthritis In Cats
Arthritis Management - Dogs
Arthritis Treatment - Cats
Causes of Arthritis in Pets
Cold Weather/Holiday Tips
Essential Needs
Flea Control
Glucosamine & Chondroitin
Hip Dysplasia In Dogs
Hot Weather Tips
Importance of Water
Is Your Dog Overweight?
Obesity In Dogs - Causes
Obesity in Dogs - Prevention
Removing Ticks
Tick Control
Pet Nutrition Articles
Importance of Pet Nutrition
What's Really In Pet Food (API)
Pet Food Labels: Part One
Pet Food Labels: Part Two
Selecting A Commercial Pet Food
Food Not Fit For A Pet
Food Pets Die For
The Truth About Cats and Dogs
Diet and the Skin
Feeding Puppies & Kittens
Feeding - Reproductive Stages
Feeding Geriatric Pets
Special Nutrition Care For Cats
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