SeaHeart

One of my favorite blogs, Something Good (o_my_goodness), recently celebrated its one year anniversary. To celebrate, I am participating in the Group Writing Project for... well - putting the word out there for something good in the world. :)

There are lots of things I could talk about that are very near and dear to my heart - but this one is one of the foremost, so - hey. And you might not have heard about it. :)

What do you feed your dog or cat? Is it Iams? Eukanuba? Science Diet? How about any of the major dog or cat food brands that are on the market today?

Honestly - I'm not trying to be sensationalistic - simply heartfelt... but if I could give you one of the best pieces of advice in my life - it would be to not feed those foods.

My family has been breeding, showing and training Newfoundlands and Collies for over thirty years. We've researched and gone through every dog food you could possibly imagine, trying to find the food that is best for our animals - whether that be organic ingredients, whole ingredients or supplements included. I won't tell you which brand we currently feed to the family's breeding girls and boys (or the brand Jenn and I feed our cats and puppy), because I don't want this to sound like a commercial... but suffice it to say that we finally found one that contains those aspects of a good food we were looking for.

Do you want to know what is in the high end foods that vets and pet stores push (all the ones I mentioned above)? Even the "Beneful" type foods that they swear are the healthiest thing a dog or cat could possibly have?


Spray-dried blood from the walls of the slaughter houses (peeled off the walls and congealed into a mixture)
Dead cats and dogs that were put to sleep
Road kill
Animals that have died of diseases
Rotten meat
Vats of chemicals
Chicken beaks, feet
The bits of animals considered unfit for anyone's consumption (unclean intestines, hooves, etc)
Corn (no dog or cat's digestive system can digest corn - it's often the main ingredient. This means they are getting ABSOLUTELY NOTHING from the food, except a full feeling in their tummies.)
Lots of other nasties I can't remember off the top of my head. If you would like a complete list, please read Food Pets Die For - it's an amazing book, and can make the argument much more eloquently than I. :)



Obviously, with these kind of hazardous ingredients, animals that eat these foods - if they don't already have a strong immune system - will be more prone to illness and will NOT live long lives. For example - the Collies we fed Eukanuba to lived to be about ten. Collies we fed our holistic pet foods to (once we'd discovered this) ended up living to fifteen or sixteen years. And they were all healthy - unlike the previous ones (much to my utter sadness). :/

Research, research, research. There are SO many healthy pet food alternatives - and you love your babies (I know I love mine~). :) DON'T feed the food you find in pet stores and vet offices (vets are given a high commission from Science Diet, which is why they push it and sell it - it has nothing to do with how healthy it is. Trust me - I asked that question, too. ;) Also, vets are usually taught about ten hours of nutrition in their entire eduation - they honestly don't know what's involved in the food). Go off the beaten path and feed them something that will make them thrive with all the joy and health they deserve~

Do something good!

~*~

As a total aside, I went and picked up some more food for Poesy last night... My family feeds a BARF based diet (it stands for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food), with some kibble mixed in - Poesy, since she's so young, is still mostly on kibble... But I also picked up this organic frozen yogurt for puppies and dogs. :p It was the cutest thing I'd ever seen - it came in this TINY little package.

I put it in front of her when I got home (after all the wet kisses and general bounding happiness that greeted me at the door~), and she licked it and licked it and licked it and loved it~ Again, cutest thing ever. XD