murraysmom

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,263941,00.html

Above is the link to an article discussing making your own pet food.

biscuit

I used to make all Biscuit's and Yogi's food for them. I started doing it because of Biscuit's anal glands and, if I remember correctly, Yogi pretty much grew up on homemade food. I stopped doing it only because it was such a pain!

But it wasn't that hard, really.

And it's true that dogs used to eat people food before they invented dog food.

I think the problem now, though, is that people eat so much processed food. Now THAT, I would have a definite problem feeding to dogs. Dogs shouldn't be eating pizza and Doritoes and Lean Cuisine Sesame Orange Chicken and Hungry Man Swiss Steak dinners and McDonald's and and and ...

Way too much sodium and sugar and crap! Of course, people shouldn't be eating it anyway, but at least they're doing it by choice.

A long time ago, when Biscuit and I were out on a walk, I met some people who had a basset, and they complained how much the poor ittle guy smelled. I asked them what they fed him, and it was just gruesome! Vienna sausage and Cheetos and those horrible processed dog treats and pizza and stuff like that. They were bragging how much he loved the stuff.

I just looked at them and said "No wonder your poor dog stinks. I'm surprised he's even able to walk." They got mad and huffed off, but I hope they took the hint.

In any case - gawd, do I ever shut up - long way around to say both Biscuit and Yogi benefited from a homemade diet. It was people quality, too --- people used to sneak into it and steal bowls of it while I was cooking it.

And it was basically a nice chicken soup with lots of veggies (broccoli, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes) and brown rice. Very easy to make, now that I think about it, but a pain to clean up after.

murraysmom

! ! !

On a more serious note, when Murray was having problems a couple of years ago with abcessing anal glands, you and Jonloanranger both recommended the stew you just mentioned. He now gets 1/2 Wellness kibble, and 1/2 stew, with canned pumpkin and yogurt on the side for yeast problems- the change has been really dramatic. His anal gland problems have gone frome severe, with the vet talking about surgery, to pretty minimal.

At this point I still feel pretty good about Wellness, but this Menu recall on top of the Diamond recall has really shaken my confidence in the pet food industry.

Mikey T

Has Petter pan peanut butter, e coli in spinich and orther leaf greens shaken your cofindence on the human food industry. "In the United States, foodborne diseases have been estimated to cause 6 million to 81 million illnesses and up to 9,000 deaths each year (2-5). " Food-Related Illness and Death in the United States by the CDC. In that light the pet food industry is not too bad.

murraysmom

Yes.

biscuit

Well, yea, they have.

A couple of the biggest problems for me are that: 1. it has become increasingly difficult to track down the source of contamination; and, 2. there are more - and stranger - opportunities for contamination.

Eg, we now have rivers of poop from CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) running next to huge commercial vegetable operations - not to mention, running into rivers, streams, underground water sources, etc.

And we have less oversight, due to budget cuts, so Paris Hilton can have her tax break.

Sickness and death from food-borne contaminants and illnesses have been issues since the beginning of time. But, ya know - until a few years ago, we actually had a pretty good handle on it. We had pretty darned good oversight, an easier time of tracking down contaminants, more centralized food supplies, etc.

But not anymore.

mgbrown66

So there are food problems because rich people need tax breaks? Please....

I bet if I tried to kill, skin, and eat my own poultry I'd be dead in no time. If I had to plant my own vegetables I'd be dead from starvation.

Do you never use Tylenol because there was a cyanide outbreak in the early 80's?

The number of illnesses and deaths is so minuscule compared to the number of consumers. As sad as it is that some were effected and lost their pets, it's not a reason to panic and head to your bomb shelters.

biscuit

Well, I'm far from headed to my bomb shelter.

And I'm far from starving, even though I don't eat vegetables grown next to rivers of poop from factory farmed meat.

Nor do I eat eggs from chickens who spend their lives crippled in cages and covered with poop.

Nor do I eat meat or dairy from cows who live their lives in puddles of poop and covered with same.

And, given a choice, I would prefer we return to the days when adequately funded regulatory agencies had priority over tax breaks for Paris Hilton and the like.

But maybe that's just me - and an ever increasing number of consumers. Obviously, your mileage varies. Such is life.

Signed: biscuit who doesn't even have a bomb shelter

mgbrown66