Cats

There is much focus in the media today over natural and organic food.  Claims have been made that the more natural the products, the better it is for you.  Keeping this idea in mind, it is easy to believe that organic, natural food is not only good for people; it is good for our furry friends as well.

Many people may scoff at the principles of organic and all natural food, but the health benefits are very real.  Just as natural food for humans is chock full of anti-oxidants and better ingredients, the same holds true natural ingredients used in dog food.

Recent studies have shown that dogs benefit from the same vitamins and minerals, such as Vitamin C, E and beta-carotene, as they do in humans.  In fact, dogs reap the rewards of having these items in their system and show it the same way humans do as well.  When anti-oxidants and vitamins are consumed in the food that dogs eat regularly they have better digestion, live longer, have healthier skin and coats and improved eye sight.  In addition, dogs who eat natural food that have greater amounts of vegetables and whole grain also have less of a chance of developing cancer and reinforce their immune system for better health and a longer life.

There are many kinds of natural dog food now available on the market and are carried by large pet stores making them accessible and easy to find.  In addition, natural dog food is affordable for all consumers.  

We all want to do eat the best things to improve our health and extend our lives; why not do the same thing for Fido?

Thomas Kearl lives with his wife and 3 dogs in Escondido, CA. He only feeds his pets dehydrated raw human grade dog food

Due to few regulations regarding the use of the term ‘organic’ by pet food manufacturers, pet owners are often confused about what precisely organic pet foods are.  They are often unaware that only certified organic pet food claims are regulated and enforced by the U.S. government, whereas any other, non-certified organic pet food claims are not verified by an unbiased third-party, and therefore may not be legitimate.  This confusion over terminology is all the more regrettable since organic pet foods have a variety of nutritional advantages compared to their non-organic counterparts.

If you wish to maintain the health of your dog, cat or pocket pet, you should be aware that certified organic pet foods are significantly healthier and more nutritious than any available alternatives. Furthermore, organic standards also assure that synthetic ingredients, which may pose health risks for pets, are also excluded from certified organic pet foods.

Nutrition provided by organic pet foods offers greater health benefits for your pet than that provided pet foods made from conventionally grown ingredients because organic ingredients contain higher levels of nutrients such as vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals.

If you’ve ever raised a litter of animals with nutrition derived wholly from certified organic pet foods, then you and/or your veterinarian may have noticed that these animals maintained good health, rarely if ever developing any of the more common chronic diseases afflicting large numbers of pets.  An obvious sign of good health based on such a good diet is a soft and shiny coat that persists well into old age. But more importantly, animals raised on a diet of organic foods may develop far fewer allergies and other diseases than animals raised on conventional pet foods. For example, truly nutritious organic pet foods should never contain refined ingredients, such as natural sweeteners (including many sugars and honey) or refined flours, all of which can cause obesity, diabetes and a variety of well-characterized chronic diseases, including arthritis.

Also note that organic food nutrients can often be destroyed during the pet food manufacturing process.  Use of excessive heat is the main culprit here.  Heat destroys many nutrients and chemically alters proteins and even nutritional fibers in ways that too often make these nutrients a challenge to digest.  Such heavy processing can cause not only intestinal upsets and allergies in your pet, but serious nutritional deficiencies as well.

Organic pet food nutrition is ideally based on raw (i.e., fresh or frozen) or raw-dehydrated ingredients.  However, you should be aware that dehydration claims are not regulated, not even those made for certified organic pet food products.  If very high dehydration temperatures are used, many nutrients will be destroyed. Since there is no regulation of the temperatures used during the dehydration process, you need to do your homework and investigate just how trustworthy a given pet food manufacturer really is. Does the manufacturer make many claims that aren’t regulated and can’t be verified by an unbiased third-party?  As often as not, such claims are merely sales pitches with little substance.

The best bet is to always look for legitimate signs of organic certification, such as the USDA organic seal or the ‘certified organic’ claim.  Although USDA organic standards don’t regulate the meaning of all terms (i.e., ‘raw,’ ‘dehydrated’), USDA-accredited organic certification agencies (e.g., Oregon Tilth, Quality Assurance International) obtain all manufacturing records from pet food companies producing organic products, including the temperatures at which products are processed or dehydrated.  Even though organic certification agencies won’t disclose this information to consumers, manufacturers generally adhere to the protocols they submit to these certification agencies, which then must disclose this information to the U.S. government.  Any doubts about this information would likely elicit a federal inspection of a pet food manufacturer’s records.

So, remember: the safest and most healthful way to feed your pet is to stick to organic pet food-based nutrition which is species-appropriate, excludes all obviously unhealthy ingredients, and includes only those foods which have been processed in a manner that retains the natural form and potency of the constituent life-preserving organic nutrients. 

Eric Taylor has years of expertise on pet care and pet rearing. He writes on dehydrated pet products, organic pet food nutrition, natural balanced dog foods and pet treats that could be used as diet for your pets and ensure their health and wellness.

Say Bye, Bye to Pet Foods with By-Products

A common ingredient found in dog food and cat food is by-products. When you look at your pet food or pet treat label, you might see by-product, chicken by-product, turkey by-product meal, or a few more variations. Most pet owners have never been told exactly what by-products are. If you don’t know – don’t feel bad about it…my guess is that even the pet food manufacturers themselves can’t tell you exactly what by-products are in their own brand of pet food.

To give you an understanding of by-products, I’d like to compare it to pies. How many different types of pies you can think of? There are apple pies, cherry pies, chocolate pies, meringue pies, meat pies, mud pies, pie in math, cow pies (yuck!) – I think you get my point. Now imagine if you were to purchase your dinner at the grocery and you looked at the ingredients and you see ‘pie’ listed as the first ingredient in your dinner. You wouldn’t know if it was apple pie or mud pie or even cow pie. All you would know is that your dinner contained ‘pie’. I’d guess if you knew that ‘pie’ could be any kind of pie – you wouldn’t be buying your dinner with ‘pie’ listed in the ingredients.

Thank goodness we don’t have to worry about ‘pie’ being a puzzling ingredient in people food. But there is the worry of the ‘pie’ ingredient in pet food – and that’s by-products.

Wikipedia describes a by-product as “a secondary or incidental product deriving from a manufacturing process,…”

The AAFCO (American Association of Feed Control Officials – the organization responsible for all animal feed manufacturing rules and regulations) defines by-products as “meat by-products is the non-rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes, but is not limited to, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially defatted low temperature fatty tissue, and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. It does not include hair, horns, teeth, and hoofs. It shall be suitable for use in animal food. If it bears name descriptive of its kind, it must correspond thereto.”

So, with respect to pet food – a by-product is a catch-all ingredient name. My guess would be that AAFCO decided that ‘chicken lungs’ or ‘cow intestines’ listing on a pet food label wouldn’t sound very appealing to the pet owner. Probably wouldn’t sell a lot of that food.

Instead, all these less than appealing left-overs are clumped into one ingredient name – by-product. There is NO certainty of what you are feeding – one batch of pet food might be more intestine by-products while the next batch of pet food might be more liver or bone by-products. There is NO consistency to what is actually contained in the pet food ingredient by-product.

Without consistency of ingredients, there is no consistency to the quality of nutrition. Without consistency of quality nutrition, there is no consistency to your pet’s health.

The Center for Veterinary Medicine states that “animal feeds provide a practical outlet for plant and animal by-products not suitable for human consumption.” I can only imagine the conversation when that decision was made…’what are we going to do with all these left over intestines and spleens? Ah, what the heck, let’s put them in pet food. We’ll call it something else – no one will know – and then we don’t have to go through the expense and trouble of getting rid of the stuff.’

Personally I hope there will soon be a day for truth in pet food labeling. If some manufacturers are going to put intestines and spleen in their foods and treats – ok, just tell us. If you’ve got a clinical study showing pets thriving on these left-overs – show us your results. Just don’t put this stuff in my pet’s food bowl and tell me it’s premium and choice.

Please read your pet’s food and treat labels. Read the ingredients. Say bye, bye to by-products!

Wishing you and your pet the best,

Susan Thixton
Truth About Pet Food
Petsumer Report
www.TruthAboutPetFood.com

Susan Thixton has worked in the pet industry for over 20 years. Producing an award winning dog training video, publishing the tell-all book Truth About Pet Food, and currently publishing the first online pet product review magazine Petsumer Report. If you want to learn what’s safe and what’s not safe for your pet, visit her website www.TruthAboutPetFood.com.

If you have a cat that is constantly afraid then you need to read the following very carefully.

A cat should have a good safe hiding place, where it can be left alone until it perceives that things are safe. The cat will usually pick one of its own, but it should have access to its food bowl, water and litter box.

Close room doors when possible to make the cat feel more secure. This is extremely important when company comes to visit or you have a noisy party. Giving a cat as a gift at a noisy party, can freak the cat out, because it violates its comfort factor. Take the time to introduce the cat quietly.

Cats have a social organization that is flexible and allows them to share their territory with other cats. Some times they are accepting of another cat and sometimes they do not – just like people, who have just met someone new. Liking and disliking, on a moments notice. One may want to play and the other may not. Their time as a kitten may determine the likelihood of their desire to be sociable.

When cats have been introduced, they may want to fight to protect territory or establish dominance. Many cat training e-books will tell you NOT TO allow a fight to happen or to continue, if one happens. Make a loud noise, such as yelling HEY. Use a spray bottle with clean water and spray them once or twice from a distance. A clean, well washed out used cleaner bottle will work nicely. They will probably be on the run for their safeafe place before you can get the second spray out.

DO NOT try to physically separate them or in their passion of the moment, they may be aggressive toward you. Be very careful in handling, while a cat is fearful. Their instinct is for self protection. When they have reached their safe hiding place, close the door and give them a time out, just as you would a child.

Be consistent with your water bottle treatment and the time outs. Other punishment may cause further bad behavior and fear. The cat may become aggressive toward you, if it preceives you as a threat. It is NOT acceptable to them, for you to hurt them in your temporary anger. Be loving after the time out, so that the cat knows you love them, but that there are limits to be lived by.

A cat will usually react to fear with 3 Fs – fight – freeze – flee – sometimes loss of bladder/ bowel control. A cat may also puff out its fur, hiss or spit. What causes the fear? Figure it out and fix the problem. Some things that cause fear are a person, children, other animals or loud noises such as a vacuum cleaner being used.

One example we had, was the putting on of a ski hat and sunglasses when Winter came. It freaked out our recently rescued cat the first few times it happened. He had a bad memory?

DO NOT force a fearful thing/ person on them. Introduce at a safe distance – slowly. Feed the cat a treat and praise them for accepting the new thing/ person. Remember that animals have a better inner radar than we do, about people and the vibes they give off. Trust their judgment.

Routines and schedules are important for the well being of your cat. Be as consistent as ppossible. They want the same things to occur each day in the same way and at the same time.

Play time before bed time will help to ensure a good sleep. The more leaping, jumping and running the better. Remember that cats are noctural by nature. They like to play at night and tiring them out will help them sleep. If you sit down to watch a TV program, that you watch each day, the commercial breaks are a great time to brush your cat and play with it.

Author: Judy Jantzen - My husband and I have owned cats for the past 25 years. Currently have a orange tabby and a black short hair. All the cats we have owned have been strays.

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