Most of us have been trained to feed “dog food” and “cat food” to our animals every single day. And for good reason too. These companies claim to provide premium nutrition with only the best ingredients. From roasted bison to grilled chicken, complete and balanced “healthy” food is just one scoop away. But when you look past the pictures of the fresh-cut steaks and all of these claims being made, is any of it actually the way we imagine?
It's no wonder we never stop to take a closer look at the quality of food we are feeding our animals. When the bags look and read the way they do, we picture our dogs eating what’s on the bag — Fresh cuts of meat, vegetables, plus other wholesome ingredients to make sure our pets are healthy. In reality, we've learned that most of these companies have a tremendous amount to hide behind their marketing materials.
The “standards” for the foods we feed our pets are horrifying. Diseased, sick, and decomposing animals that would never pass inspection for human consumption get transported across the country in unrefrigerated trailers to be processed into dog and cat foods.
After being turned into rendered products like “beef meal,” these instead are the “fresh” cuts of meat we see on bags of pet food. The worst part? Regulators allow this to be labeled “premium” “super premium”, and “natural.”
The only way our pets can consume such putrid ingredients and not get horribly sick is because of rendering and extrusion- which ultimately cooks the ingredients FOUR times at temperatures high enough to produce carcinogens (link). These meats are labeled as meals on the ingredient list such as "Chicken meal" and "Beef meal"
By the end of rendering and extrusion, pet foods have such little nutritional value, synthetic vitamins are needed to fill in many nutritional gaps. Unfortunately, these vitamins and minerals are the lowest of quality around and are often overdosed leading to recalls, pet sickness and even death.
The FDA allows diseased animals in pet food
Source: AAFCO
Rendered meals contain mystery meats
Source: AAFCO
A product needs just 3% of an ingredient to be labeled as “made with”
Source: AAFCO
“Premium” and “Natural” aren’t what you think
Source: AAFCO
Pet foods aren’t as safe as the bag leads us to believe
Source: CDC
Unfortunately, these “better brands” do a great job at hiding what’s actually in their product. If they’re using rendered meat meals and synthetic vitamins, you have a lot of questions to ask these companies. It’s important to get actual documents to verify the truth rather than a voiced statement. Carna 4 (link), open farm (link), and Bixbi (link) are the only kibble style foods we choose to carry. With Carna 4 being at the top. Learn what questions to ask
Thankfully, great pet food companies do exist. These companies share the same goal as us-to provide our animals with foods that nourish their bodies instead of damaging them. Many of our favorite companies produce fresh, raw foods for our pets. They go above and beyond, using grass-fed, pasture raised animals and nutrient dense whole foods to sustain not only the environment, but your animals health. We are incredibly proud to offer the products from these companies and can’t wait to share them with you.
With no voice and no choice over what they eat, our animals are desperate in this industry. The most important thing about joining this journey with us is not only to feed your animals better, but to be their voice. Every time you purchase a product, you cast a vote. A vote for the direction this industry will head. Education is incredibly powerful. Educate your friends and family if you know this topic hits home for them
Dogs love us without end. You don’t need money, status, or even a roof over your head to receive it. It doesn’t matter the way you look. And it doesn’t matter the personality you may have.
The famous documentary that exposes the pet food industry for what it really is
