Thoraiya DyerIf You Love Your Pet, Give Them Food That Looks Like Gravel, Not Like A Gordon Ramsay Creation
May 30th 2008 03:03
When you’re in the supermarket, shopping for your dog or cat, don’t be fooled into thinking that the smaller and more expensive the tin, the more colourful the label, and the more exotic-sounding the ingredients, the better a particular food is for your pet.
Products like “Dine” appeal to “cats who enjoy the finer things in life”, depict purebred Russian blues lounging on red velvet cushions, and come in flavours such as, “Seafood and Chicken Mornay,” “Fillets of Tuna and Tender Crabmeat” and “Chicken and Turkey Morsels.”
At dine.com.au, we find the first and third of those “menu” items defined in more detail, as follows:
“A delightfully decadent seafood meal that draws on the fresh flavours of the ocean, along with tender chicken in a creamy mornay sauce.”
and
“Tender chicken and turkey pieces create this poultry paradise that blends these two classic flavours in a mouth-watering meal that will keep your cat coming back for more.”
Decadent? Do you suppose cats would describe a meal as decadent? I’ve seen one of my cats start keenly devouring the vomit of my other cat…would he call that a delightfully decadent meal? He certainly got annoyed when I stopped him from eating it.
How about “poultry paradise” that “blends two classic flavours”? Succulent dead lizard heads and crunchy mynah bird legs, that’s what I’d call a blend of two classic flavours.
And of course your cat is going to keep coming back for more. She has to eat, doesn’t she? She’s going to come back for more no matter what you put in her bowl.
But this sort of talk isn’t aimed at the cat. It’s aimed at you.
It’s meant to convince you that you’re giving your cat their favourite thing in all the world.
What you’re really giving them is a great big serve of Veterinary Dental Scale and Polish Under General Anaesthetic.
Being squashed in the cat box, trundled along in the car while yowling out the same number of decibels as a RAAF jet, having her madly thumping heart listened to and her temperature taken with a rectal thermometer, then being injected with sedatives and waking up with a dry mouth that feels like she’s been sucking on a vacuum hose – is THAT your cat’s favourite thing in all the world?
I’m willing to bet it’s not.
According to Bligh Park Vets in NSW,
“Studies and observations in practice show that periodontal or gum disease exists in greater than 85% of our pet dogs and cats older than 2 years of age. Periodontal disease is the most common disease seen in general pet practice in Australia.”
Says P. Hennet in an article called “Periodontal disease and oral microbiology” in Manual of Small Animal Dentistry, British Small Animal Veterinary Association. Crossley, D. A., Penman, S. (eds) UK, 1995: 105-113:
“The disease begins with the accumulation of bacterial plaque on the tooth surfaces.
This is gradually initiates an inflammatory response that affects the supporting tissues of the tooth: this is called gingivitis. This remains a reversible phenomenon if the plaque is removed. If left undisturbed, plaque is gradually calcified into calculus.
Calculus is inert so it does not cause gingivitis but it provides a wonderfully rough surface onto which further plaque can accumulate. Gingivitis results eventually in the loss of attachment due to the destruction of the tooth socket tissues; this is periodontal disease and this is an irreversible phenomenon.”
Ie., if you DON’T get it cleaned off at the vet, all the dog or cat’s teeth will fall out. And then you’ll have no choice but to feed soft, mushy foods, because your pet will have a mouth like two opposing squishy jelly babies.
If you don’t believe me, have a look in your beloved companion’s mouth for yourself – or have your vet take a look.
About.com has some good instructions for examining your cat’s teeth, found here: Really Long Link
Basically, you want to decide if they look like this:
Or like this:
You can find more pretty pictures at Indian Walk Vet’s Dental Care page, here: Really Long Link
How can you stop calculus from building up on animals’ teeth?
“The best way to prevent periodontal disease is to remove plaque build up, or better still, prevent it building up. Toothbrushing, with an adequate toothpaste, on a regular basis, has been found to be the most effective method of preventing periodontal disease in cats.
But, the fact is that few pet owners are willing to comply with this toothbrushing, especially with cats,” says B.M. Flax from the American Veterinary Dental College.
Yeah. Nothing like a toothbrush to turn this:
Into this:
Right. So, what’s the second best way?
“A more realistic alternative in managing oral hygiene is to provide cats with a dietary regimen that has the ability to limit dental deposits.”
In other words, stop with the mushy crap!
Anything that comes out of a tin is going to stick to your pets teeth MUCH better than anything dry and rattly that comes out of a packet.
It doesn’t matter how decadent the creamy mornay is, unless you’re going to brush the cat’s teeth afterwards, it’s doing more harm than good.
There are plenty of people who will object to buying dried formulated foods. Here’s one example, from rawdogfood.com.au:
“The core of the whole scandal is that some suppliers of raw material, in this case apparently a Chinese supplier (but it could be anyone), is being paid for "quality", and this is measured by chemical analysis as "protein content".
In order to meet the quality specs of the customer (= the pet food manufacturer), this supplier naturally does what he can to have the chemical analysis show the required "protein", without him paying more than absolutely necessary for the ingredients.
This is the fundamental nature of business. Too bad that this supplier, in accordance with all standard Chinese traditions and common practices, chooses to add some cheap vegetable melanine, which certainly will show up in the chemical analyses as "protein" - even though it is completely indigestible and valueless as nutrient for a carnivore.
But the same could also be said about feather meal (there is a whole industry in the USA based on making powder of poultry feathers - and selling it as "raw protein" exclusively to pet food manufacturers...). And it could also be said about leather, antlers, hairs, claws, and many other organic products that have zero nutritional value and yet systematically and consistently find their way into "high quality pet foods" under the category "raw protein", which no pet food manufacturer bothers explaining the contents of to any consumer. So, there is no point is pointing fingers at China - the very same principles rule in US business as well…And what about all the other contributors to "raw protein", which the pet food manufacturers are more than happy to include, if the price is right? Not to mention the fact that the predominant components of all pet foods are grain products - which typically amount to 60-79% of the food and have no place whatsoever in a carnivore diet.”
That was a pretty good rant, wasn’t it?
Some of it is true – the protein in some of the cheap and nasty cat and dog foods is not quality protein.
But to say that all pet foods are predominantly grain products is rubbish. In an ingredients list, the first item is the majority component.
So. Always check the ingredients. Make sure that the number one ingredient in a “Chicken” flavoured food is “Chicken.” If you see the word “chicken,” then that’s what’s in the food.
Chicken.
An example is Advance Adult Dog food, made in Australia, more nutritious and just as “mouth watering” as the fatty fast-food gunk that is tinned Pal: Really Long Link
Another example is Hill’s Science Diet.
Hill’s also makes an Oral Care dry cat food ( Really Long Link ) which claims to “provide protection from plaque and tartar buildup for adult cats 1 to 6 years of age. Proprietary technology works like a toothbrush during meals to scrub plaque from the cat’s teeth.”
And, yes, a study done by Walthams in 2003 ( Really Long Link ) showed that:
“Feeding larger-rectangle kibbles to cats results in significantly less plaque build up (-41%; p=0.0089) compared to smaller-triangle kibbles within 7 days: this corresponds to the mechanical impact.
- Feeding calcium-chelator (polyphosphate salts)-coated kibbles to cats results in significantly less calculus build up (-45%; p=0.0057) compared to the control within 56 days: this corresponds to the active ingredient impact
- The combination of both, mechanical effect and active ingredients, is expected to have a synergistic effect on decreasing dental deposits
- A dry dietary regimen can become a useful tool in the prevention of feline periodontal disease by limiting dental deposits.”
Now, the main ingredient listed in the Hill’s Oral Care diet is “Chicken By-Product Meal.”
I checked to find out what that is, exactly:
“Definition: Chicken by-product meal consists of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidable in good processing practice.”
This is obviously not as good as plain old “Chicken,” but you might want the extra teeth-cleaning power of Oral Care if you had, say, a cat with a flat face and teeth that didn’t meet properly.
If you see the words “wholegrains and cereal by-products”, “vegetable protein” and “gelling agents” (ewww!) in an ingredients list, then that’s exactly what you’re paying for.
An example is Pal Pedigree “natural” : Really Long Link
Though I must pause to dispute the Raw Dog Foods claim that grain has “no place whatsoever in a carnivore diet.”
Says Dr Billinghurst, advocate of the BARF raw diet for dogs:
“Our pets’ wild ancestors derived their nutrients… from raw carcasses of animals and also from pre-digested raw vegetable material.”
Now, what’s likely to be in the guts of a pigeon or a goat? As much grain as they could get their hands (or beak, or goaty lips) on before they got chomped by a wolf or a wild cat, that's what.
Sure, there will also be plenty of leaves, sticks, fruits, flowers and grasses in the intestines of prey animals. The point is, dogs and cats can’t survive on meat and bones alone.
So it’s OK to have vegetables in your pet food, just as long as that’s not ALL that’s in it.
And I just can’t emphasise enough the benefits of having clean teeth.
As it says on the ADVS Dental Prophylaxis site ( Really Long Link ),
“Imagine what would happen in your mouth if you never brushed your teeth.”
Feeding dry foods, and supplementing with raw meaty bones and/or raw chicken wings and raw chicken necks, is much cheaper than yearly dental prophys, though they are effective at removing existing deposits:
Pets are living longer and longer. Little dogs that used to keel over at age 9 or 10 are now living to be 20 or 22. The same goes for cats. They are going to NEED their teeth. Falsies don’t come in dog-sized.
It may not seem like it, but it's better for their teeth to feed them something that looks like gravel than something that looks like a gourmet meal served up by Gordon Ramsay or Chen Kenichi.
And, truthfully, being alive and healthy and spending time with you is much more likely to be your pet’s favourite thing in the world than a tin of Dine.
Products like “Dine” appeal to “cats who enjoy the finer things in life”, depict purebred Russian blues lounging on red velvet cushions, and come in flavours such as, “Seafood and Chicken Mornay,” “Fillets of Tuna and Tender Crabmeat” and “Chicken and Turkey Morsels.”
At dine.com.au, we find the first and third of those “menu” items defined in more detail, as follows:
“A delightfully decadent seafood meal that draws on the fresh flavours of the ocean, along with tender chicken in a creamy mornay sauce.”
and
“Tender chicken and turkey pieces create this poultry paradise that blends these two classic flavours in a mouth-watering meal that will keep your cat coming back for more.”
Decadent? Do you suppose cats would describe a meal as decadent? I’ve seen one of my cats start keenly devouring the vomit of my other cat…would he call that a delightfully decadent meal? He certainly got annoyed when I stopped him from eating it.
How about “poultry paradise” that “blends two classic flavours”? Succulent dead lizard heads and crunchy mynah bird legs, that’s what I’d call a blend of two classic flavours.
And of course your cat is going to keep coming back for more. She has to eat, doesn’t she? She’s going to come back for more no matter what you put in her bowl.
But this sort of talk isn’t aimed at the cat. It’s aimed at you.
It’s meant to convince you that you’re giving your cat their favourite thing in all the world.
What you’re really giving them is a great big serve of Veterinary Dental Scale and Polish Under General Anaesthetic.
Being squashed in the cat box, trundled along in the car while yowling out the same number of decibels as a RAAF jet, having her madly thumping heart listened to and her temperature taken with a rectal thermometer, then being injected with sedatives and waking up with a dry mouth that feels like she’s been sucking on a vacuum hose – is THAT your cat’s favourite thing in all the world?
I’m willing to bet it’s not.
According to Bligh Park Vets in NSW,
“Studies and observations in practice show that periodontal or gum disease exists in greater than 85% of our pet dogs and cats older than 2 years of age. Periodontal disease is the most common disease seen in general pet practice in Australia.”
Says P. Hennet in an article called “Periodontal disease and oral microbiology” in Manual of Small Animal Dentistry, British Small Animal Veterinary Association. Crossley, D. A., Penman, S. (eds) UK, 1995: 105-113:
“The disease begins with the accumulation of bacterial plaque on the tooth surfaces.
This is gradually initiates an inflammatory response that affects the supporting tissues of the tooth: this is called gingivitis. This remains a reversible phenomenon if the plaque is removed. If left undisturbed, plaque is gradually calcified into calculus.
Calculus is inert so it does not cause gingivitis but it provides a wonderfully rough surface onto which further plaque can accumulate. Gingivitis results eventually in the loss of attachment due to the destruction of the tooth socket tissues; this is periodontal disease and this is an irreversible phenomenon.”
Ie., if you DON’T get it cleaned off at the vet, all the dog or cat’s teeth will fall out. And then you’ll have no choice but to feed soft, mushy foods, because your pet will have a mouth like two opposing squishy jelly babies.
If you don’t believe me, have a look in your beloved companion’s mouth for yourself – or have your vet take a look.
About.com has some good instructions for examining your cat’s teeth, found here: Really Long Link
Basically, you want to decide if they look like this:
Or like this:
You can find more pretty pictures at Indian Walk Vet’s Dental Care page, here: Really Long Link
How can you stop calculus from building up on animals’ teeth?
“The best way to prevent periodontal disease is to remove plaque build up, or better still, prevent it building up. Toothbrushing, with an adequate toothpaste, on a regular basis, has been found to be the most effective method of preventing periodontal disease in cats.
But, the fact is that few pet owners are willing to comply with this toothbrushing, especially with cats,” says B.M. Flax from the American Veterinary Dental College.
Yeah. Nothing like a toothbrush to turn this:
Into this:
Right. So, what’s the second best way?
“A more realistic alternative in managing oral hygiene is to provide cats with a dietary regimen that has the ability to limit dental deposits.”
In other words, stop with the mushy crap!
Anything that comes out of a tin is going to stick to your pets teeth MUCH better than anything dry and rattly that comes out of a packet.
It doesn’t matter how decadent the creamy mornay is, unless you’re going to brush the cat’s teeth afterwards, it’s doing more harm than good.
There are plenty of people who will object to buying dried formulated foods. Here’s one example, from rawdogfood.com.au:
“The core of the whole scandal is that some suppliers of raw material, in this case apparently a Chinese supplier (but it could be anyone), is being paid for "quality", and this is measured by chemical analysis as "protein content".
In order to meet the quality specs of the customer (= the pet food manufacturer), this supplier naturally does what he can to have the chemical analysis show the required "protein", without him paying more than absolutely necessary for the ingredients.
This is the fundamental nature of business. Too bad that this supplier, in accordance with all standard Chinese traditions and common practices, chooses to add some cheap vegetable melanine, which certainly will show up in the chemical analyses as "protein" - even though it is completely indigestible and valueless as nutrient for a carnivore.
But the same could also be said about feather meal (there is a whole industry in the USA based on making powder of poultry feathers - and selling it as "raw protein" exclusively to pet food manufacturers...). And it could also be said about leather, antlers, hairs, claws, and many other organic products that have zero nutritional value and yet systematically and consistently find their way into "high quality pet foods" under the category "raw protein", which no pet food manufacturer bothers explaining the contents of to any consumer. So, there is no point is pointing fingers at China - the very same principles rule in US business as well…And what about all the other contributors to "raw protein", which the pet food manufacturers are more than happy to include, if the price is right? Not to mention the fact that the predominant components of all pet foods are grain products - which typically amount to 60-79% of the food and have no place whatsoever in a carnivore diet.”
That was a pretty good rant, wasn’t it?
Some of it is true – the protein in some of the cheap and nasty cat and dog foods is not quality protein.
But to say that all pet foods are predominantly grain products is rubbish. In an ingredients list, the first item is the majority component.
So. Always check the ingredients. Make sure that the number one ingredient in a “Chicken” flavoured food is “Chicken.” If you see the word “chicken,” then that’s what’s in the food.
Chicken.
An example is Advance Adult Dog food, made in Australia, more nutritious and just as “mouth watering” as the fatty fast-food gunk that is tinned Pal: Really Long Link
Another example is Hill’s Science Diet.
Hill’s also makes an Oral Care dry cat food ( Really Long Link ) which claims to “provide protection from plaque and tartar buildup for adult cats 1 to 6 years of age. Proprietary technology works like a toothbrush during meals to scrub plaque from the cat’s teeth.”
And, yes, a study done by Walthams in 2003 ( Really Long Link ) showed that:
“Feeding larger-rectangle kibbles to cats results in significantly less plaque build up (-41%; p=0.0089) compared to smaller-triangle kibbles within 7 days: this corresponds to the mechanical impact.
- Feeding calcium-chelator (polyphosphate salts)-coated kibbles to cats results in significantly less calculus build up (-45%; p=0.0057) compared to the control within 56 days: this corresponds to the active ingredient impact
- The combination of both, mechanical effect and active ingredients, is expected to have a synergistic effect on decreasing dental deposits
- A dry dietary regimen can become a useful tool in the prevention of feline periodontal disease by limiting dental deposits.”
Now, the main ingredient listed in the Hill’s Oral Care diet is “Chicken By-Product Meal.”
I checked to find out what that is, exactly:
“Definition: Chicken by-product meal consists of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidable in good processing practice.”
This is obviously not as good as plain old “Chicken,” but you might want the extra teeth-cleaning power of Oral Care if you had, say, a cat with a flat face and teeth that didn’t meet properly.
If you see the words “wholegrains and cereal by-products”, “vegetable protein” and “gelling agents” (ewww!) in an ingredients list, then that’s exactly what you’re paying for.
An example is Pal Pedigree “natural” : Really Long Link
Though I must pause to dispute the Raw Dog Foods claim that grain has “no place whatsoever in a carnivore diet.”
Says Dr Billinghurst, advocate of the BARF raw diet for dogs:
“Our pets’ wild ancestors derived their nutrients… from raw carcasses of animals and also from pre-digested raw vegetable material.”
Now, what’s likely to be in the guts of a pigeon or a goat? As much grain as they could get their hands (or beak, or goaty lips) on before they got chomped by a wolf or a wild cat, that's what.
Sure, there will also be plenty of leaves, sticks, fruits, flowers and grasses in the intestines of prey animals. The point is, dogs and cats can’t survive on meat and bones alone.
So it’s OK to have vegetables in your pet food, just as long as that’s not ALL that’s in it.
And I just can’t emphasise enough the benefits of having clean teeth.
As it says on the ADVS Dental Prophylaxis site ( Really Long Link ),
“Imagine what would happen in your mouth if you never brushed your teeth.”
Feeding dry foods, and supplementing with raw meaty bones and/or raw chicken wings and raw chicken necks, is much cheaper than yearly dental prophys, though they are effective at removing existing deposits:
Pets are living longer and longer. Little dogs that used to keel over at age 9 or 10 are now living to be 20 or 22. The same goes for cats. They are going to NEED their teeth. Falsies don’t come in dog-sized.
It may not seem like it, but it's better for their teeth to feed them something that looks like gravel than something that looks like a gourmet meal served up by Gordon Ramsay or Chen Kenichi.
And, truthfully, being alive and healthy and spending time with you is much more likely to be your pet’s favourite thing in the world than a tin of Dine.
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Comment by Brenton
Dr Spin
Tales From The Other Side
Blip Blog
Gadget Museum
Comment by Thoraiya Dyer
Demented World
Comment by Lilla
From The Home Front
Enviro Warrior
Dream Herald
Esoteric Bookshop
My Ninja-Megs has fresh steak every day, a few vet-brought dried bits for dental hygeine, loads of water and human Tuna (amongst other fishes).
This all came about after I read about how cat food is made from using the fat from fat-trps from take-aways mixed with the offal of every creature? Totally gross... *chuckle* she has one favourite mushy food, which we allow twice a week.
I've also heard that chicken bones when slightly cooked, can help clean the teeth?
Lilla ...
Comment by Thoraiya Dyer
Demented World
Ninja-Megs
Great name.
Bones are good for cat's teeth because of their mineral content as well as their texture, but cooking them makes long bones more likely to crack into sharp splinters.
Most vets would not advocate feeding any cooked bones to pets, but it's a matter of risk management, I suppose, and something each owner can decide for themselves.
The tips of raw chicken wings and raw chicken necks are not entirely risk free - it's still possible for these smaller and mostly cartilaginous bones to splinter, but it's much less likely. The rubbery skin is also beneficial for teeth cleaning.
But there are other vets ( Really Long Link ) who would recommend no bones at all, raw or cooked.
Basically, if you are prepared to absorb the costs of treatment (if your pet is the unlucky one in a thousand who gets a bone splinter in the mouth or in the gut), feed as many bones as you like
Comment by Lilla
From The Home Front
Enviro Warrior
Dream Herald
Esoteric Bookshop
Not a must do and now that you have confirmed the risks, not at all, I think her diet is as varied as any kitty could ask for... *chuckle* I was reading about the longest living cat the other day, he was about 36 when he passed on !!!
His diet was steak and vegetables and a saucer of coffee every morning with his owner...
I don;t drink coffee as it gives me hypertension since I turned 45, but perhaps there is something in it for cats?
Thanks for the advice.
Lilla ...