Cheryl in CA said,
Well,
I’m all for spending $30-$40 for a bag of dog or cat food,
which I am with Natural Balance and Blue Buffalo, but now $70-$100
for a 10 lb bag! I have 8 cats, 2 large dogs, and 5 kids, for crying
out loud! If I put out $200 a week for my pets, my kids would starve.
Evy said,
Michael,
Please
refer to the specific ingredient nomenclature properly.
In
the 2007 AAFCO, there are three separate ingredients listed: bone
meal (which on page 300 you will notice has two definitions, steamed
and cooked - you referred only to one) and meat meal on page 259.
Meat
and bone meal has it’s own definition which is much like the
definition for meat meal with the exception that it does contain
the bone meal. A study done by Veterinary School of Medicine at
Purdue University in almost 2,000 giant breed dogs (over five years)
indicated that the specific ingredient ‘meat and bone meal’
in the first four ingredients of a dog food reduced the risk of
bloat (gastric torsion) by 53%. Part of the explanation for this
is the naturally occuring calcium that buffers stomach acid (think
Tums) and helps the stomach maintain a more alkaline environment
where bacteria are less likely to propagate.
When
you listed the definition for meat meal, that is the AAFCO definition
for the pork meal utilized in Back to Basics. Pork meal is meat
meal bearing a name descriptive of its kind, composition or origin,
and corresponds thereto.
Dried
beet pulp.
_________________________________________________________________
Beet
pulp is a great source of fiber, and unlike many other fiber sources,
produces special components called short chain fatty acids which
the good bacteria depend upon for food.
Life’s
Abundance Pet Foods
Dr. Jane Bicks Holistic DVM
________________________________________________________________+
Dr. Jane Bicks Holistic DVM
________________________________________________________________+
Lest
this turn into a treatise that becomes overbearing for the consumer
to read/understand, I would ask that you not make a sweeping statements
like dried beet pulp serves little nutritional value.
Beet
pulp is an excellent source of fiber that does bring it’s
own nutritional value to the food. Folks, what are we told to make
sure we include in our food and don’t get enough of? Fiber!!
Both
too much and not enough carry risks. My nutritionist has found the
perfect balance and produces beautiful stools. You are correct when
you indicate that it swells when moistened - that is the action
necessary in the intestine to help wick out the moisture from the
stool as it is being formed to become feces.
I
can assure you that beet pulp has no ability to ‘hide’
anything from a dog owner. Much to the contrary, one of the feedbacks
from law enforcement canine handlers that has given me a grin is
how much easier a Kumpi stool has been for them to pick up. If their
dog has been exposed to giardia, the pre/probiotics (good bacteria)
in the dog food will actually cause the intestines to begin sloughing
out and CAUSE diarrhea in the effort to fight the bad bacteria.
When
they see a “DQ” stool they have an early warning on
giardia and a trip to the veterinarian for a stool check then protects
their dog from the attack the giardia would have imposed on the
dogs system.
Hope
this helps a bit!!
Everyone
give your FurAngel a special smooshy kiss ‘n hug today. Although
today’s news is scary, IF the FDA felt there was imminent
danger they would disclose who the wheat was sold to. There still
has been no indication of what parts per million the aminopterin
has been found. Aflatoxin could well be found in any dog food containing
corn meal - but at 2 parts per million, the dog food could be placed
in a babys mouth at no risk.
Since
no one is able to conclusively indicate that melamine or aminopterin
have been found at toxic levels, they still have work cut out for
them. The wheat gluten substance is providing them a difficult job
since dries are much easier to test then a semi-moist dry like gluten.
The
FDA is having to service BOTH the industry and the public. I think
that all things considered they are doing a really good job and
are calling on independent labs to help in the investigation.
Don’t
panic anyone!!! Follow the protocol of not feeding a recalled food,
consider (noticed I said consider) not feeding any pet food from
a company that is part of the recall for now and/or any canned product
with wheat gluten - just as a precaution.
Do
keep an eye on your pet, since many cases were salvagable by owners
who were watching carefully and rushed to their veterinarian at
the first signs of distress. While it is always a good practice,
keeping an eye on their stool, water consumption, urination patterns,
etc. is paramount now.
Anna said,
Robin,
you are certainly entitled to feed your pets anything you so desire
be it horse poop, their own poop or whatever. Everyone is entitled
to make that decision, however. I respect your right and hope you
can respect those of us who wish to do further research on the subject
to make a decision we can live with. After reading what *by-products*
can include in “Foods Pets Die For” I knew I wanted
to feed my kids better than that. My mother and I have a running
dialog about this because she feels she cannot afford a higher quality
food. After this particular incident where her food was on the safe
list and mine was not, I’ll choose to keep my mouth shut on
how someone chooses to feed their pets (barring inhumane treatment).
WDJ
has a free 14 day subscription available; however, I did sign up
for the publication and intend on keeping it because it may come
in handy in the future. FWIW, I did find current PDFs of the Mar
(dry food recs) and Apr (canned food recs) publications via search
engine.
Anna
Robin said,
***That
money you think you may save could very well be used for vet bills
later on in life. With many organic pet foods, you feed less because
more of it is absorbed. The end difference in cost amounts to pennies.
Why not spend more on better food? ***
Sorry
that is just not true. I have my B.S. in Animal Science so I know
a great deal about nutrition. I am not feeding my dog department
brand food she is getting natural premium food that I did a great
deal of research on. Funny you say that you feed less organic….the
back of the bag for the food I feed says the SAME recommended amount
as the back of the bag of Organic…and I am feeding LESS then
the recommended amound.
Anna said,
P.S.
Before anyone says anything about my feeding poop comment, I just
want to say I am speaking tongue in cheek and facetiously, just
trying to make a point about being nonjudgmental.
Anna
Back to Basics said,
Anna,
Just
to give a little more insight to why we put grains in cat food (This
based on a conversation with a nutritionist that made it make sense
in MY head): While felines are true carnivores, a balanced diet
is still essential by nature. In the wild, a cat will eat the meat
of its prey, but it will also eat the belly of its prey to obtain
the nutrients needed from the grains that its prey had eaten. While
the amounts vary from species to species, all mammals require proteins,
fats and carbohydrates as a base diet, and grains are a natural
part of a cats diet, just not in the usual way of from the bush.
In
regards to one formula for all ages (especially seniors), and I’ll
use an analogy as well for the whole “sense” factor,
I learn a lot of stuff, but it seems that when someone can accurately
methaphor it for me, it clicks better in my brain.
A
good healthy meal is healthy no matter who you are or how old you
are. So long as the ingredients are quality and the formula (meal)
is balanced, you will be healthy. But there is one key factor that
seperates edibility by babies, adults and seniors… “Digestibility”.
Obviously a toddler cannot handled a strip steak, potatoes and whole
carrots, that is why baby foods are the way they are, so they can
digest them. But the nutritional needs are the same (just in different
amounts). The same applies to seniors.
Our
food is one of THE most digestible foods on the market and so is
good for all ages and great with sensitive stomachs. It has all
of your pet’s nutritional needs in a form that they can all
utilize efficiently. Our digestibility comes from the quality of
our ingredients and fSrom added digestive enzymes (same stuff that’s
in yogurt). Saying a food is fit for all life stages isn’t
hard, the AAFCO regs for making such a statement are minimal, but
we mean it! B2B is over 94% digestible (do your own comparisons,
that’s HUGE!)
So
to recap: Quality + Balance + Digestibility = Perfect for any age.
Back to Basics said,
Robin,
If
you are using a natural, premium food then kudos to you! You gave
me the impression you were okay with Friskies and Alley Cat…
these foods are *looks around for corporate bigwigs* Garbage and
if you do know about nutrition you know this is true.
In
my opinion Organic is a commendable lifestyle choice but will not
make MUCH of a difference in overall health, it will just make you
feel better about yourself for feeding, and with good reason! But
in terms of the “importance” of going organic, I personally
do not believe there is any, it’s just taking the best and
trying to make it better. What IS important is to get away from
the poor-quality foods, but once you get to our caliber of quality,
there not really room for improvement on a health level, only variety
and enviroment friendly desicion-making, which again I commend.
Back to Basics said,
Ugh,
ignore my misspellings, think I had a mild seizure at the end of
that last entry.
Pat Dunlap said,
Back
to Basics said,
March 30, 2007 @ 1:49 pm
To Pat Dunlap:
We do not manufacture at our own facility because we simply cannot afford it, few pet foods could. Our food is however made COMPLETELY in that one facility, bagging included. Also, in the event of an incident where accountability were called into play, Back to Basics is soley responsible for it’s own product.
——————-
To Back to Basics,
>> Tell us, I may have missed it… What facility do you use and where is it located?
Why should we buy your food under your name vs. buying directly from that facility? It seems you are a middleman of sorts.
Who inspects that plant for quality and sanitary conditions?
How often do they close lines and completely sterilize the machinery?
What are the constituent components of the bags themselves? >>
March 30, 2007 @ 1:49 pm
To Pat Dunlap:
We do not manufacture at our own facility because we simply cannot afford it, few pet foods could. Our food is however made COMPLETELY in that one facility, bagging included. Also, in the event of an incident where accountability were called into play, Back to Basics is soley responsible for it’s own product.
——————-
To Back to Basics,
>> Tell us, I may have missed it… What facility do you use and where is it located?
Why should we buy your food under your name vs. buying directly from that facility? It seems you are a middleman of sorts.
Who inspects that plant for quality and sanitary conditions?
How often do they close lines and completely sterilize the machinery?
What are the constituent components of the bags themselves? >>
vintage linda said,
Thank
you very much for compiling this list! It’s been very helpful
to me and I’m sure many others. Thankfully my pet’s
food is not one of the recalled but I have a friend that lost her
beloved “Snickers” to the toxic food.
Please keep up the good work!
Please keep up the good work!
Lori said,
Robin,
in regards to making Menu Foods the “evil entity”: I
can only speak for myself, but at this point since the common link
so far in all these recalls is MENU FOODS, I know I will be avoiding
brands that use them for their foods, regardless of whether the
particular product is on the list or not. They’ve lost my
trust at this point, and companies who use Menu Foods will have
to work hard to gain it back. I don’t feel that “the
sky is falling”, but based on what I’ve read and what
makes ME comfortable, I will be avoiding Menu Foods and the companies
that use them.
As
for targeting foods that use ingredients from outside the US and
Canada, if the ingredients are declared and we know information
about how it is manufactured, I see no reason to do this. There
are reputable companies that have been discussed on this board that
use ingredients from other countries, and I’d sooner feed
most of them to my cats than many of the “made in the USA”
products. To each their own though.
cak said,
Canine
Caviar makes both dog and cat food, kibble and wet.
http://www.caninecaviar.com
Just posting this to inform. I have not written to see if they
use Menu Foods at all. What I will say is that I like what I’ve
read on their website. And, they make a *grain-free* dog
kibble…not too many of those on the market (Innova Evo is
the only other kibble that comes to mind).
http://www.caninecaviar.com
Just posting this to inform. I have not written to see if they
use Menu Foods at all. What I will say is that I like what I’ve
read on their website. And, they make a *grain-free* dog
kibble…not too many of those on the market (Innova Evo is
the only other kibble that comes to mind).
Geff said,
I
am furious that the FDA knows of at least one company with “potentially”
hazardous ingredients & won’t release the information.
I
spoke with Peta by phone, they were unwilling to name company(s).
I asked if this was because of fear of lawsuits or not knowing the
information, they said it was some of both. They also told me that
their advice is to stay away from dry food of any brand that’s
on the Menu recall list.
That
still leaves me wondering what about brands who use Menu but not
on the recall like Wysong & Royal Canin?
I
also called Royal Canin; until this started, that’s what I’ve
fed my guy for years. I have a sense that they’re covering
up; I have received 2 emails from them earlier that were very tight
lipped.
Today, I asked them the question on the list above, do you get your wheat gluten from the same supplier as menu, & does it come from China? the rep named “Jessie” stated that the answer to both was no. I then asked her why the discrepancy between her answer & what was posted above? She got a bit tight lipped at that point. I did suggest that they contact the person who maintains this list & if the printed info above is wrong correct it. So far, I don’t see any change… I also asked if they would consider ceasing using Wheat Gluten. the answer was no, they wouldn’t. This is tough for me, as RC is really the only food I’ve found that my guy (kitty) will tolerate well, but i just don’t feel it’s safe at this time.
Today, I asked them the question on the list above, do you get your wheat gluten from the same supplier as menu, & does it come from China? the rep named “Jessie” stated that the answer to both was no. I then asked her why the discrepancy between her answer & what was posted above? She got a bit tight lipped at that point. I did suggest that they contact the person who maintains this list & if the printed info above is wrong correct it. So far, I don’t see any change… I also asked if they would consider ceasing using Wheat Gluten. the answer was no, they wouldn’t. This is tough for me, as RC is really the only food I’ve found that my guy (kitty) will tolerate well, but i just don’t feel it’s safe at this time.
I’m
not sure if any pet food is safe right now though.
cak said,
Actually,
let me add that I’ve been avoiding chicken and
fish/potato kibbles and have been looking for about 40% protein.
There are a few other grain-free kibbles out there than those I
mentioned in the previous post. Lots of great info at
http://www.dogfoodproject.com
fish/potato kibbles and have been looking for about 40% protein.
There are a few other grain-free kibbles out there than those I
mentioned in the previous post. Lots of great info at
http://www.dogfoodproject.com
BTW,
thanks for putting together the list on this website!