Happy Tails Labradoodles

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

Jesus

Matthew 5:8

About Nutrition

I have spent a number of years studying the effects of the foods we eat. This involves everything from how our food is grown and produced to how our bodies digest the different elements of it and what each element does to our bodies in the process of digestion. I do not have an advanced education and do not claim to be an expert in any way. I simply have a strong desire to learn in order to make better choices for my family and myself. There is a vast amount of information to be taken in on this subject and I feel my knowledge only amounts to a drop in the bucket. However, one thing I have come to believe very firmly is that all of the chemicals and additives used in growing our food and processing packaged foods is the cause of most major illnesses in this day and age.

There is a common practice in the United States, China, India, Brazil and elsewhere in the world referred to as GMO which stands for genetically modified organism. This modification takes place in almost all varieties of our food supply, both plant and animal. For example, wheat and corn are often modified. Farm raised fish, such as salmon, are often fed a diet of genetically modified corn. A pesticide is put into corn. When insects eat the corn, they die. When birds eat the insects, they die. Farmed salmon also contain high levels of pesticides and toxins and are fed artificial coloring to make them pink. A whopping 222 million acres worldwide were planted with GMO seeds in 2005, with more than half in the United States. 7 out of 10 products at the grocery store contain GMO products. Sadly, Americans are more in the dark on this subject than we realize.

All of the above is just a very tiny portion of what we all need to learn about our food. If you haven't already, I'd really like to encourage you to start learning and the Organic Consumer Association is a great place to start. In the top left corner of their home page you will find a link to Genetically Engineered Food and Crops which will lead you to a world of information on this subject. But, the bottom line is this...the closer we get back to eating fruits and vegetables that can genuinely be called organically grown and range fed meats raised by farmers who don't use growth hormones, antibiotics and other drugs, the healthier we will become. The same goes for our pets. Some of the information I am going to share in the section about dog food below may shock you. In fact, you may never eat chicken again.

A Few Words About People Food

Many things people eat will make a dog very ill. Chocolate is highly toxic, as are nuts. Grapes, raisins & grape seed oil can also be toxic. Pesticides on grapes can be contaminated with mold toxins. Avocados will make your dog sick and may even cause pancreatitis. Peas are very hard for dogs to digest even if they are finely ground. Any products containing corn, wheat or soy are bad because they are frequent allergens to dogs. Onions upset their tummies.

There are some foods that people eat that are good for dogs. You must remember that any drastic change in diet will probably upset digestion so anytime you're giving something new to your dog, do so in small amounts. Good things would include steamed green beans, fresh zucchini, squash and carrots, bananas, apples, blueberries. My dogs love to chew on chunks of fresh carrots.

Rice mixed with browned ground beef is a wonderful mixture to feed your dog when he is not feeling well. This mixture is perfect for helping to firm up loose stools. Half of a baked potato with the skin on works well also.

About Dog Food & Dog Treats

News Flash!!!! - A Must Read Article Issued by the FDA Dec '05

Contrary to what most people believe, there are very few pet foods available that are actually healthy for our pets. The brands most of us are familiar with that we see in all the grocery stores and pet stores, as well as some so called prescription pet foods like Science Diet, Eukanuba and Iams, among others, are pretty much garbage because that's what they're made from. I know those are strong words but the following paragraphs will explain why.

The following Italicized excerpts are all taken from an article titled "What's Really in Pet Food" issued by the The Animal Protection Institute and are used by permission. Click here to read the article in it's entirety.

"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."

"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...article lists all these companies and names of pet foods. 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."

"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 it's 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."

"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...there is virtually no information on the bioavailability of nutrients for companion animals in many of the common dietary ingredients used in pet foods."

(Bioavailability is referring to the body's ability to utilize nutrients)

"Some veterinarians claim that feeding slaughterhouse wastes to animals increases their risk of getting cancer and other degenerative diseases. The cooking methods used...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."

"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 it's 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."

Under a section in the article titled Contaminants:

"Commercially manufactured or rendered meat meals and by-product meals are frequently highly contaminated with bacteria because their source is not always slaughtered animals. Animals that have died because of disease, injury, or natural causes are a source of meat for meat meal. The dead animal might not be rendered until days after it's death. Therefore the carcass is often contaminated with bacteria such as Salmonella and Escherichia coli. Dangerous E. Coli bacteria are estimated to contaminate more than 50% of meat meals. While the cooking process may kill bacteria, it does not eliminate the endotoxins some bacteria produce during their growth and are released when they die. These toxins can cause sickness and disease. Pet food manufacturers do not test their products for endotoxins."

"Mycotoxins - these toxins come from mold or fungi, such as vomitoxin...and aflatoxin. Poor farming practices and improper drying and storage of crops can cause mold growth. Ingredients that are most likely to be contaminated with mycotoxins are grains such as wheat and corn, cottonseed meal, peanut meal, and fish meal."

The article is very extensive and gives a person quite an education concerning what we feed our companion animals. I would encourage you to read it and to encourage anyone you know who has companion animals to do the same. In it you will find more information about what is actually in most pet foods, including a list of all the additives commonly put in dog foods.

The following are lists of information provided simply to help you in determining whether or not ingredients listed on a label are something you want to be feeding your pets. Please keep in mind that new information is constantly available and these lists are subject to change.

Wheat, Corn & Soy are three of the top causes of allergies in dogs and can contribute to chronic ear infections, itchy skin, and chewing at the feet or base of the tail. Peanuts are another. Some dogs have epileptic seizures due to peanuts. Also, peanut hulls can be deadly because some hulls contain fungus that cause hepatitis. One prescription dog food company uses 26% peanut hulls as filler in their dog food.

What quality foods and treats never include and why: wild venison due to Chronic Wasting Disease found in 30% of deer killed in several states. Pork is showing signs of disease prions which are not destroyed by cooking. Genetically modified meats, meats fed genetically modifed grains and genetically modifed grains of any kind for all sorts of reasons. Soybeans, wheat, corn, because they are all frequent dog allergens. Peas because they are very difficult for dogs to digest, no matter how finely they are ground. Sunflower oil because a study by the Swedish National Cancer Society found a 69% cancer risk increase by using polyunsaturated oils. Fillers (like peanut hulls-see last paragraph). By-products of any kind (by products are literally all the parts of animals that don't get used in production of human foods). Animal fats of any kind (they clog their arteries same as ours). Artificial flavorings, added salt, sugar beet pulp, colors or chemical preservatives such as BHA, BHT or Ethoxyquin. Always avoid foods with these terms listed in the ingredients: Meat by-products, dried animal digest, poultry by-products, liver glandular meal, chicken by-products, dried liver digest and plant fiber products.

*A special report from Solid Gold Holistic Nutrition Center states that "...beginning October 2005, no dog food may say it's organic. This gives the companies one year to use up their bags. 25% of organic fields that were supposed to be organically raising grains weren't. Pollen drift makes organic grains next to impossible."

Until a recent discovery, I believed that dog food made with chicken meat (not by-products) was OK. However, the January, 2004 edition of "Environmental Health Perspectives" states that; "Consumption of conventional chicken may contribute significant amounts of arsenic to the US Population. Arsenic is classified as causing skin, respiratory and bladder cancers. Arsenic is put in poultry feed to control parasites." Arsenic also contributes to the development of cataracts. There is such a small amount of chemical free chicken available that only one company I know of produces only canned dog food (not dry) with real chicken meat. That company is Solid Gold.

Quality foods and treats are made with premium quality, natural ingredients like fresh, (never frozen) USDA meats and meat meals (from muscles, never meat-by-products) such as beef, bison, lamb, ocean fish & wild salmon. Also, grade I and II grains (meaning pesticide free and free from mycotoxins such as aflatoxin and vomitoxin). Grains would include amaranth, cracked pearled barley, brown rice, rice bran, millet, oatmeal, quinoa and rye. Herbs & other ingredients could include dried chicory root, garlic, flax meal, green tea, parsley, sea vegetation, thyme, yucca schidigera extract, and spearmint. Fruits and vegetables include apples, blueberries, carrots, cranberries, lentils, pumpkin meal, and sweet potatoes. Oils would include unsaturated vegetable, nut and seed oils, such as canola and flaxseed, which contain beneficial essential fatty acids. Natural antioxidants are used to protect foods against spoilage and rancidity.

According to Solid Gold Holistic Nutrition Center, "No matter what other pet food companies tell you, probiotics and digestive enzymes cannot be added directly to pet food. They are killed at 120 F degrees, and pet foods are cooked at around 265 F degrees." Therefore they have produced a wonderful product called SeaMeal which is given to dogs in very small amounts. "SeaMeal is a wonderful source of uncooked, viable, digestive enzymes, which increase the digestibility of the food. It can take up to 22 days for the results of the SeaMeal to be seen. That is the rate of cell turnover in the body."

I firmly believe that if a dog is fed a premium, natural, holistic diet for it's entire lifetime, there is no reason why they can't live five or more years beyond their current life expectancies. There are several dog foods that come close to meeting all the criteria I've listed above with one exception; most all of them list chicken in the ingredients and it's the primary ingredient in most of them. As I said earlier, there are pet foods that are healthy for our pets and based on what I've learned so far, I recommend the following brands. As I learn more, I will update this information.

Solid Gold Health Products For Pets is an awesome company and I wish to thank them for all that they do for our 'fur kids' as they call them. I truly believe they have their very best interests at heart. This is the primary brand that we have chosen to feed our dogs. We also feed them Solid Gold SeaMeal twice a day. Solid Gold Hundchen Flocken Puppy Food is what we feed our pregnant and lactating bitches and puppies. Your puppy will arrive with a 3 day supply of this food.

New Zealand Canz Dog and Cat Foods and Treats are all natural. Their Wilderness Real Meat Treats are great because they are all natural, made from farm raised venison and can be torn into tiny pieces for training purposes.

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