Pet Food Alert: 2nd Installment

"WHAT IS REALLY IN YOUR PET FOOD???

"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 promote 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. This report explores the differences between what consumers think they are buying and what they are actually getting.
It focuses in very general terms on the most visible name brands -the pet food labels that are mass-distributed to supermarkets anddiscount stores - but there are many highly respected brands that may be guilty of the same offenses. 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 throw aways, 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 ar subsidiaries of major multinational companies:
- Nestle/Alpo (Fancy Feast, Friskies, Mighty Dog)
- Heinz (9 Lives, Amore, Gravy Train, Kibbles n Bits, Recipe, Vets)
- Colgate-Palmolive (Hill's Science Diet Pet Food)

Other leading companies are:
- Procter & Gamble (Eukanuba and Iams)
- Mars (Kal Kan, Mealtime, Pedigree, Sheba)
- Nutro

From a business standpoint, multinational companies owning pet foodmanufacturing companies is an ideal relationship. The multinationalshave a captive market in which to capitalize on their waste products,and the pet food manufacturers have a reliable source from which topurchase their bulk materials.
There are hundreds of different pet foods available in this country.And while many of the foods on the market are virtually the same,not all of the pet food manufacturing companies use poor qualityand potentially dangerous ingredients."

So what foods are safe to feed your furry, four-legged friends? Find out in tomorrow's post.
And to learn more, visit http://www.i-love-dogs.com/ and subscribe to the Pet Food Alert.