Pet Nutrition
What's Really in Pet Food
Animal Protection Institute
(www.api4animals.org)
Plump whole chickens, choice cuts of beef, fresh grains, and all the wholesome nutrition your dog
or cat will ever need.
These are the images pet food manufacturers promulgate through the media and advertising. This
is what the $11 billion per year U.S. pet food industry wants consumers to believe they are buying
when they purchase their products.
This report explores the differences between what consumers think they are buying and what
they are actually getting. It focuses in very general terms on the most visible name brands -- the
pet food labels that are mass-distributed to supermarkets and discount stores -- but there are many
highly respected brands that may be guilty of the same offenses.
What most consumers don't know is that the pet food industry is an extension of the human food
and agriculture industries. Pet food provides a market for slaughterhouse offal, grains considered
"unfit for human consumption," and similar waste products to be turned into profit. This waste
includes intestines, udders, esophagi, and possibly diseased and cancerous animal parts.
Three of the five major pet food companies in the United States are subsidiaries of major
multinational companies: Nestlé (Alpo, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Mighty Dog, and Ralston Purina
products such as Dog Chow, ProPlan, and Purina One), Heinz (9 Lives, Amore, Gravy Train,
Kibbles-n-Bits, Nature's Recipe), Colgate-Palmolive (Hill's Science Diet Pet Food). Other leading
companies include Procter & Gamble (Eukanuba and Iams), Mars (Kal Kan, Mealtime, Pedigree,
Sheba, Waltham's), and Nutro. From a business standpoint, multinational companies owning pet
food manufacturing companies is an ideal relationship. The multinationals have increased
bulk-purchasing power; those that make human food products have a captive market in which to
capitalize on their waste products, and pet food divisions have a more reliable capital base and, in
many cases, a convenient source of ingredients.
There are hundreds of different pet foods available in this country. And while many of the foods on
the market are similar, not all of the pet food manufacturing companies use poor quality or
potentially dangerous ingredients.
Ingredients
Although the purchase price of pet food does not always determine whether a pet food is good or
bad, the price is often a good indicator of quality. It would be impossible for a company that sells a
generic brand of dog food at $9.95 for a 40-lb. bag to use quality protein and grain in its food. The
cost of purchasing quality ingredients would be much higher than the selling price.
The protein used in pet food comes from a variety of sources. When cattle, swine, chickens, lambs,
or other animals are slaughtered, the choice cuts such as lean muscle tissue are trimmed away from
the carcass for human consumption. However, about 50% of every food-producing animal does not
get used in human foods. Whatever remains of the carcass -- bones, blood, intestines, lungs,
ligaments, and almost all the other parts not generally consumed by humans -- is used in pet food,
animal feed, and other products. These "other parts" are known as "by-products,"
"meat-and-bone-meal," or similar names on pet food labels.
The Pet Food Institute -- the trade association of pet food manufacturers -- acknowledges the use
of by-products in pet foods as additional income for processors and farmers: "The growth of the
pet food industry not only provided pet owners with better foods for their pets, but also created
profitable additional markets for American farm products and for the byproducts of the meat
packing, poultry, and other food industries which prepare food for human consumption."1
Many of these remnants provide a questionable source of nourishment for our animals. The
nutritional quality of meat and poultry by-products, meals, and digests can vary from batch to
batch. James Morris and Quinton Rogers, two professors with the Department of Molecular
Biosciences, University of California at Davis Veterinary School of Medicine, assert that, "There is
virtually no information on the bioavailability of nutrients for companion animals in many of the
common dietary ingredients used in pet foods. These ingredients are generally by-products of the
meat, poultry and fishing industries, with the potential for a wide variation in nutrient composition.
Claims of nutritional adequacy of pet foods based on the current Association of American Feed
Control Officials (AAFCO) nutrient allowances ('profiles') do not give assurances of nutritional
adequacy and will not until ingredients are analyzed and bioavailability values are incorporated."2
Meat and poultry meals, by-product meals, and meat-and-bone meal are common ingredients in pet
foods. The term "meal" means that these materials are not used fresh, but have been rendered.
What is rendering? Rendering, as defined by Webster's Dictionary, is "to process as for industrial
use: to render livestock carcasses and to extract oil from fat, blubber, etc., by melting."
Home-made chicken soup, with its thick layer of fat that forms over the top when the soup is
cooled, is a sort of mini-rendering process. Rendering separates fat-soluble from water-soluble and
solid materials, removes most of the water, and kills bacterial contaminants, but may alter or destroy
some of the natural enzymes and proteins found in the raw ingredients. Meat and poultry
by-products, while not rendered, vary widely in composition and quality.
What can the feeding of such products do to your companion animal? Some veterinarians claim that
feeding slaughterhouse wastes to animals increases their risk of getting cancer and other
degenerative diseases. The cooking methods used by pet food manufacturers -- such as rendering,
extruding (a heat-and-pressure system used to "puff" dry foods into nuggets or kibbles), and
baking -- do not necessarily destroy the hormones used to fatten livestock or increase milk
production, or drugs such as antibiotics or the barbiturates used to euthanize animals.
Animal and Poultry Fat
You may have noticed a unique, pungent odor when you open a new bag of pet food -- what is
the source of that delightful smell? It is most often rendered animal fat, restaurant grease, or other
oils too rancid or deemed inedible for humans.
Restaurant grease has become a major component of feed grade animal fat over the last fifteen
years. This grease, often held in fifty-gallon drums, may be kept outside for weeks, exposed to
extreme temperatures with no regard for its future use. "Fat blenders" or rendering companies
then pick up this used grease and mix the different types of fat together, stabilize them with
powerful antioxidants to retard further spoilage, and then sell the blended products to pet food
companies and other end users.
These fats are sprayed directly onto extruded kibbles and pellets to make an otherwise bland or
distasteful product palatable. The fat also acts as a binding agent to which manufacturers add other
flavor enhancers such as digests. Pet food scientists have discovered that animals love the taste of
these sprayed fats. Manufacturers are masters at getting a dog or a cat to eat something she
would normally turn up her nose at.
Wheat, Soy, Corn, Peanut Hulls, and Other Vegetable Protein
The amount of grain products used in pet food has risen over the last decade. Once considered
filler by the pet food industry, cereal and grain products now replace a considerable proportion of
the meat that was used in the first commercial pet foods. The availability of nutrients in these
products is dependent upon the digestibility of the grain. The amount and type of carbohydrate in
pet food determines the amount of nutrient value the animal actually gets. Dogs and cats can
almost completely absorb carbohydrates from some grains, such as white rice. Up to 20% of the
nutritional value of other grains can escape digestion. The availability of nutrients for wheat, beans,
and oats is poor. The nutrients in potatoes and corn are far less available than those in rice. Some
ingredients, such as peanut hulls, are used for filler or fiber, and have no significant nutritional value.
Two of the top three ingredients in pet foods, particularly dry foods, are almost always some form
of grain products. Pedigree Performance Food for Dogs lists Ground Corn, Chicken By-Product Meal,
and Corn Gluten Meal as its top three ingredients. 9 Lives Crunchy Meals for cats lists Ground Yellow
Corn, Corn Gluten Meal, and Poultry By-Product Meal as its first three ingredients. Since cats are
true carnivores -- they must eat meat to fulfill certain physiological needs -- one may wonder why
we are feeding a corn-based product to them. The answer is that corn is a much cheaper "energy
source" than meat.
In 1995, Nature's Recipe pulled thousands of tons of dog food off the shelf after consumers
complained that their dogs were vomiting and losing their appetite. Nature's Recipe's loss
amounted to $20 million. The problem was a fungus that produced vomitoxin (an aflatoxin or
"mycotoxin," a toxic substance produced by mold) contaminating the wheat. In 1999, another
fungal toxin triggered the recall of dry dog food made by Doane Pet Care at one of its plants,
including Ol' Roy (Wal-Mart's brand) and 53 other brands. This time, the toxin killed 25 dogs.
Although it caused many dogs to vomit, stop eating, and have diarrhea, vomitoxin is a milder toxin
than most. The more dangerous mycotoxins can cause weight loss, liver damage, lameness, and
even death as in the Doane case. The Nature's Recipe incident prompted the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) to intervene. Dina Butcher, Agriculture Policy Advisor for North Dakota
Governor Ed Schafer, concluded that the discovery of vomitoxin in Nature's Recipe wasn't much of
a threat to the human population because "the grain that would go into pet food is not a high
quality grain."3
Soy is another common ingredient that is sometimes used as a protein and energy source in pet
food. Manufacturers also use it to add bulk so that when an animal eats a product containing soy
he will feel more sated. While soy has been linked to gas in some dogs, other dogs do quite well
with it. Vegetarian dog foods use soy as a protein source.
Additives and Preservatives
Many chemicals are added to commercial pet foods to improve the taste, stability, characteristics, or
appearance of the food. Additives provide no nutritional value. Additives include emulsifiers to
prevent water and fat from separating, antioxidants to prevent fat from turning rancid, and artificial
colors and flavors to make the product more attractive to consumers and more palatable to their
companion animals.
Adding chemicals to food originated thousands of years ago with spices, natural preservatives, and
ripening agents. In the last 40 years, however, the number of food additives has greatly increased.
All commercial pet foods must be preserved so they stay fresh and appealing to our animal
companions. Canning is a preserving process itself, so canned foods contain less preservatives than
dry foods. Some preservatives are added to ingredients or raw materials by the suppliers, and
others may be added by the manufacturer. Because manufacturers need to ensure that dry foods
have a long shelf life to remain edible after shipping and prolonged storage, fats used in pet foods
are preserved with either synthetic or "natural" preservatives. Synthetic preservatives include
butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), propyl gallate, propylene
glycol (also used as a less-toxic version of automotive antifreeze), and ethoxyquin. For these
antioxidants, there is little information documenting their toxicity, safety, interactions, or chronic
use in pet foods that may be eaten every day for the life of the animal.
Potentially cancer-causing agents such as BHA, BHT, and ethoxyquin are permitted at relatively low
levels. The use of these chemicals in pet foods has not been thoroughly studied, and long term
build-up of these agents may ultimately be harmful. Due to questionable data in the original study
on its safety, ethoxyquin's manufacturer, Monsanto, was required to perform a new, more rigorous
study. This was completed in 1996. Even though Monsanto found no significant toxicity associated
with its own product, in July 1997, the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine requested that
manufacturers voluntarily reduce the maximum level for ethoxyquin by half, to 75 parts per million.
While some pet food critics and veterinarians believe that ethoxyquin is a major cause of disease,
skin problems, and infertility in dogs, others claim it is the safest, strongest, most stable preservative
available for pet food. Ethoxyquin is approved for use in human food for preserving spices, such as
cayenne and chili powder, at a level of 100 ppm -- but it would be very difficult to consume as
much chili powder every day as a dog would eat dry food. Ethoxyquin has never been tested for
safety in cats.
Some manufacturers have responded to consumer concern, and are now using "natural"
preservatives such as Vitamin C (ascorbate), Vitamin E (mixed tocopherols), and oils of rosemary,
clove, or other spices, to preserve the fats in their products. Other ingredients, however, may be
individually preserved. Most fish meal, and some prepared vitamin-mineral mixtures, contain chemical
preservatives. This means that your companion animal may be eating food containing several types
of preservatives. Federal law requires preservatives to be disclosed on the label; however, pet food
companies only recently started to comply with this law.
Additives in Processed Pet Foods
Anticaking agents
Antimicrobial agents
Antioxidants
Coloring agents
Curing agents
Drying agents
Emulsifiers
Firming agents
Flavor enhancers
Flavoring agents
Flour treating agents
Formulation aids
Humectants
Leavening agents
Lubricants
Nonnutritive sweeteners
Nutritive sweeteners
Oxidizing and reducing agents
pH control agents
Processing aids
Sequestrants
Solvents, vehicles
Stabilizers, thickeners
Surface active agents
Surface finishing agents
Synergists
Texturizers
While the law requires studies of direct toxicity of these additives and preservatives, they have not
been tested for their potential synergistic effects on each other once ingested. Some authors have
suggested that dangerous interactions occur among some of the common synthetic preservatives.4
Natural preservatives do not provide as long a shelf life as chemical preservatives, but they are safe.
Excerpted from API's investigative report on "What's Really In Pet Food"
See the full report "What's Really In Pet Food."
Revised 01/29/02)
Copyright © 1997-2002 Animal Protection Institute.
Animal Protection Institute
(www.api4animals.org)
Plump whole chickens, choice cuts of beef, fresh grains, and all the wholesome nutrition your dog
or cat will ever need.
These are the images pet food manufacturers promulgate through the media and advertising. This
is what the $11 billion per year U.S. pet food industry wants consumers to believe they are buying
when they purchase their products.
This report explores the differences between what consumers think they are buying and what
they are actually getting. It focuses in very general terms on the most visible name brands -- the
pet food labels that are mass-distributed to supermarkets and discount stores -- but there are many
highly respected brands that may be guilty of the same offenses.
What most consumers don't know is that the pet food industry is an extension of the human food
and agriculture industries. Pet food provides a market for slaughterhouse offal, grains considered
"unfit for human consumption," and similar waste products to be turned into profit. This waste
includes intestines, udders, esophagi, and possibly diseased and cancerous animal parts.
Three of the five major pet food companies in the United States are subsidiaries of major
multinational companies: Nestlé (Alpo, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Mighty Dog, and Ralston Purina
products such as Dog Chow, ProPlan, and Purina One), Heinz (9 Lives, Amore, Gravy Train,
Kibbles-n-Bits, Nature's Recipe), Colgate-Palmolive (Hill's Science Diet Pet Food). Other leading
companies include Procter & Gamble (Eukanuba and Iams), Mars (Kal Kan, Mealtime, Pedigree,
Sheba, Waltham's), and Nutro. From a business standpoint, multinational companies owning pet
food manufacturing companies is an ideal relationship. The multinationals have increased
bulk-purchasing power; those that make human food products have a captive market in which to
capitalize on their waste products, and pet food divisions have a more reliable capital base and, in
many cases, a convenient source of ingredients.
There are hundreds of different pet foods available in this country. And while many of the foods on
the market are similar, not all of the pet food manufacturing companies use poor quality or
potentially dangerous ingredients.
Ingredients
Although the purchase price of pet food does not always determine whether a pet food is good or
bad, the price is often a good indicator of quality. It would be impossible for a company that sells a
generic brand of dog food at $9.95 for a 40-lb. bag to use quality protein and grain in its food. The
cost of purchasing quality ingredients would be much higher than the selling price.
The protein used in pet food comes from a variety of sources. When cattle, swine, chickens, lambs,
or other animals are slaughtered, the choice cuts such as lean muscle tissue are trimmed away from
the carcass for human consumption. However, about 50% of every food-producing animal does not
get used in human foods. Whatever remains of the carcass -- bones, blood, intestines, lungs,
ligaments, and almost all the other parts not generally consumed by humans -- is used in pet food,
animal feed, and other products. These "other parts" are known as "by-products,"
"meat-and-bone-meal," or similar names on pet food labels.
The Pet Food Institute -- the trade association of pet food manufacturers -- acknowledges the use
of by-products in pet foods as additional income for processors and farmers: "The growth of the
pet food industry not only provided pet owners with better foods for their pets, but also created
profitable additional markets for American farm products and for the byproducts of the meat
packing, poultry, and other food industries which prepare food for human consumption."1
Many of these remnants provide a questionable source of nourishment for our animals. The
nutritional quality of meat and poultry by-products, meals, and digests can vary from batch to
batch. James Morris and Quinton Rogers, two professors with the Department of Molecular
Biosciences, University of California at Davis Veterinary School of Medicine, assert that, "There is
virtually no information on the bioavailability of nutrients for companion animals in many of the
common dietary ingredients used in pet foods. These ingredients are generally by-products of the
meat, poultry and fishing industries, with the potential for a wide variation in nutrient composition.
Claims of nutritional adequacy of pet foods based on the current Association of American Feed
Control Officials (AAFCO) nutrient allowances ('profiles') do not give assurances of nutritional
adequacy and will not until ingredients are analyzed and bioavailability values are incorporated."2
Meat and poultry meals, by-product meals, and meat-and-bone meal are common ingredients in pet
foods. The term "meal" means that these materials are not used fresh, but have been rendered.
What is rendering? Rendering, as defined by Webster's Dictionary, is "to process as for industrial
use: to render livestock carcasses and to extract oil from fat, blubber, etc., by melting."
Home-made chicken soup, with its thick layer of fat that forms over the top when the soup is
cooled, is a sort of mini-rendering process. Rendering separates fat-soluble from water-soluble and
solid materials, removes most of the water, and kills bacterial contaminants, but may alter or destroy
some of the natural enzymes and proteins found in the raw ingredients. Meat and poultry
by-products, while not rendered, vary widely in composition and quality.
What can the feeding of such products do to your companion animal? Some veterinarians claim that
feeding slaughterhouse wastes to animals increases their risk of getting cancer and other
degenerative diseases. The cooking methods used by pet food manufacturers -- such as rendering,
extruding (a heat-and-pressure system used to "puff" dry foods into nuggets or kibbles), and
baking -- do not necessarily destroy the hormones used to fatten livestock or increase milk
production, or drugs such as antibiotics or the barbiturates used to euthanize animals.
Animal and Poultry Fat
You may have noticed a unique, pungent odor when you open a new bag of pet food -- what is
the source of that delightful smell? It is most often rendered animal fat, restaurant grease, or other
oils too rancid or deemed inedible for humans.
Restaurant grease has become a major component of feed grade animal fat over the last fifteen
years. This grease, often held in fifty-gallon drums, may be kept outside for weeks, exposed to
extreme temperatures with no regard for its future use. "Fat blenders" or rendering companies
then pick up this used grease and mix the different types of fat together, stabilize them with
powerful antioxidants to retard further spoilage, and then sell the blended products to pet food
companies and other end users.
These fats are sprayed directly onto extruded kibbles and pellets to make an otherwise bland or
distasteful product palatable. The fat also acts as a binding agent to which manufacturers add other
flavor enhancers such as digests. Pet food scientists have discovered that animals love the taste of
these sprayed fats. Manufacturers are masters at getting a dog or a cat to eat something she
would normally turn up her nose at.
Wheat, Soy, Corn, Peanut Hulls, and Other Vegetable Protein
The amount of grain products used in pet food has risen over the last decade. Once considered
filler by the pet food industry, cereal and grain products now replace a considerable proportion of
the meat that was used in the first commercial pet foods. The availability of nutrients in these
products is dependent upon the digestibility of the grain. The amount and type of carbohydrate in
pet food determines the amount of nutrient value the animal actually gets. Dogs and cats can
almost completely absorb carbohydrates from some grains, such as white rice. Up to 20% of the
nutritional value of other grains can escape digestion. The availability of nutrients for wheat, beans,
and oats is poor. The nutrients in potatoes and corn are far less available than those in rice. Some
ingredients, such as peanut hulls, are used for filler or fiber, and have no significant nutritional value.
Two of the top three ingredients in pet foods, particularly dry foods, are almost always some form
of grain products. Pedigree Performance Food for Dogs lists Ground Corn, Chicken By-Product Meal,
and Corn Gluten Meal as its top three ingredients. 9 Lives Crunchy Meals for cats lists Ground Yellow
Corn, Corn Gluten Meal, and Poultry By-Product Meal as its first three ingredients. Since cats are
true carnivores -- they must eat meat to fulfill certain physiological needs -- one may wonder why
we are feeding a corn-based product to them. The answer is that corn is a much cheaper "energy
source" than meat.
In 1995, Nature's Recipe pulled thousands of tons of dog food off the shelf after consumers
complained that their dogs were vomiting and losing their appetite. Nature's Recipe's loss
amounted to $20 million. The problem was a fungus that produced vomitoxin (an aflatoxin or
"mycotoxin," a toxic substance produced by mold) contaminating the wheat. In 1999, another
fungal toxin triggered the recall of dry dog food made by Doane Pet Care at one of its plants,
including Ol' Roy (Wal-Mart's brand) and 53 other brands. This time, the toxin killed 25 dogs.
Although it caused many dogs to vomit, stop eating, and have diarrhea, vomitoxin is a milder toxin
than most. The more dangerous mycotoxins can cause weight loss, liver damage, lameness, and
even death as in the Doane case. The Nature's Recipe incident prompted the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) to intervene. Dina Butcher, Agriculture Policy Advisor for North Dakota
Governor Ed Schafer, concluded that the discovery of vomitoxin in Nature's Recipe wasn't much of
a threat to the human population because "the grain that would go into pet food is not a high
quality grain."3
Soy is another common ingredient that is sometimes used as a protein and energy source in pet
food. Manufacturers also use it to add bulk so that when an animal eats a product containing soy
he will feel more sated. While soy has been linked to gas in some dogs, other dogs do quite well
with it. Vegetarian dog foods use soy as a protein source.
Additives and Preservatives
Many chemicals are added to commercial pet foods to improve the taste, stability, characteristics, or
appearance of the food. Additives provide no nutritional value. Additives include emulsifiers to
prevent water and fat from separating, antioxidants to prevent fat from turning rancid, and artificial
colors and flavors to make the product more attractive to consumers and more palatable to their
companion animals.
Adding chemicals to food originated thousands of years ago with spices, natural preservatives, and
ripening agents. In the last 40 years, however, the number of food additives has greatly increased.
All commercial pet foods must be preserved so they stay fresh and appealing to our animal
companions. Canning is a preserving process itself, so canned foods contain less preservatives than
dry foods. Some preservatives are added to ingredients or raw materials by the suppliers, and
others may be added by the manufacturer. Because manufacturers need to ensure that dry foods
have a long shelf life to remain edible after shipping and prolonged storage, fats used in pet foods
are preserved with either synthetic or "natural" preservatives. Synthetic preservatives include
butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), propyl gallate, propylene
glycol (also used as a less-toxic version of automotive antifreeze), and ethoxyquin. For these
antioxidants, there is little information documenting their toxicity, safety, interactions, or chronic
use in pet foods that may be eaten every day for the life of the animal.
Potentially cancer-causing agents such as BHA, BHT, and ethoxyquin are permitted at relatively low
levels. The use of these chemicals in pet foods has not been thoroughly studied, and long term
build-up of these agents may ultimately be harmful. Due to questionable data in the original study
on its safety, ethoxyquin's manufacturer, Monsanto, was required to perform a new, more rigorous
study. This was completed in 1996. Even though Monsanto found no significant toxicity associated
with its own product, in July 1997, the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine requested that
manufacturers voluntarily reduce the maximum level for ethoxyquin by half, to 75 parts per million.
While some pet food critics and veterinarians believe that ethoxyquin is a major cause of disease,
skin problems, and infertility in dogs, others claim it is the safest, strongest, most stable preservative
available for pet food. Ethoxyquin is approved for use in human food for preserving spices, such as
cayenne and chili powder, at a level of 100 ppm -- but it would be very difficult to consume as
much chili powder every day as a dog would eat dry food. Ethoxyquin has never been tested for
safety in cats.
Some manufacturers have responded to consumer concern, and are now using "natural"
preservatives such as Vitamin C (ascorbate), Vitamin E (mixed tocopherols), and oils of rosemary,
clove, or other spices, to preserve the fats in their products. Other ingredients, however, may be
individually preserved. Most fish meal, and some prepared vitamin-mineral mixtures, contain chemical
preservatives. This means that your companion animal may be eating food containing several types
of preservatives. Federal law requires preservatives to be disclosed on the label; however, pet food
companies only recently started to comply with this law.
Additives in Processed Pet Foods
Anticaking agents
Antimicrobial agents
Antioxidants
Coloring agents
Curing agents
Drying agents
Emulsifiers
Firming agents
Flavor enhancers
Flavoring agents
Flour treating agents
Formulation aids
Humectants
Leavening agents
Lubricants
Nonnutritive sweeteners
Nutritive sweeteners
Oxidizing and reducing agents
pH control agents
Processing aids
Sequestrants
Solvents, vehicles
Stabilizers, thickeners
Surface active agents
Surface finishing agents
Synergists
Texturizers
While the law requires studies of direct toxicity of these additives and preservatives, they have not
been tested for their potential synergistic effects on each other once ingested. Some authors have
suggested that dangerous interactions occur among some of the common synthetic preservatives.4
Natural preservatives do not provide as long a shelf life as chemical preservatives, but they are safe.
Excerpted from API's investigative report on "What's Really In Pet Food"
See the full report "What's Really In Pet Food."
Revised 01/29/02)
Copyright © 1997-2002 Animal Protection Institute.
ALL ABOUT DOGS and CATS Resource Center for Canine & Feline Lovers
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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