Cat Food and Mad Cow Disease

MacCandace wrote:

I've been trying to educate friends and family and whoever
will listen for YEARS that mystery meats in pet food are bad news, Steve
Crane & Hills to the contrary!

Yeah, but it only takes a little beef stock, beef extract, whatever to cause
CJD. You can't know what's in any cat food or what's in your own food. Go to
a restaurant, they might have beef stock in a dish that doesn't even have meat
in it. Cripes, I've been a vegetarian for 15 years and I know full well that
when I go to restaurants, there most likely is beef or chicken stock in any
number of "vegetarian" dishes: soups, all sorts of things. No one knows for
sure what they are eating.

So it seems almost like we might just as well not worry about it
beyond avoiding the most obvious culprits--unless we can ensure
exactly what is in our foods?

--
Jean B.

If the food says "chicken" it must be meat. If it says "chicken by
products" it may be any other part of the chicken. If it says "meat" "fat"
"bone" "liver" it could be anything. You just have to read carefully.

There is only one store nearby here in Baltimore that sells premium pet
foods, and they have quite a few brands to choose from. They also have four
do it yourself pet bath stations AND a swimming pool (heated) for dogs!

Many of these foods can be found online with research. Check the archives
in Google groups, too.

It takes a lot of footwork and homework.

"Jean B." wrote in message ...
Betsy wrote:

One buys premium cat food with recognizable ingredients, or else one
cooks
for ones cat. I've been trying to educate friends and family and
whoever
will listen for YEARS that mystery meats in pet food are bad news, Steve
Crane & Hills to the contrary!


Do premium cat foods list the parts of the animal that are used?
As far as cooking food for one's cats, how do you ensure they get
the proper nutrients in the proper balance?

And why aren't premium cat foods available locally? Is it the
quality vs. quantity thing?

--
Jean B.

If the food says "chicken" it must be meat. If it says "chicken by
products" it may be any other part of the chicken. If it says "meat" "fat"
"bone" "liver" it could be anything. You just have to read carefully.

There is only one store nearby here in Baltimore that sells premium pet
foods, and they have quite a few brands to choose from. They also have four
do it yourself pet bath stations AND a swimming pool (heated) for dogs!

Many of these foods can be found online with research. Check the archives
in Google groups, too.

It takes a lot of footwork and homework.

"Jean B." wrote in message ...
Betsy wrote:

One buys premium cat food with recognizable ingredients, or else one
cooks
for ones cat. I've been trying to educate friends and family and
whoever
will listen for YEARS that mystery meats in pet food are bad news, Steve
Crane & Hills to the contrary!


Do premium cat foods list the parts of the animal that are used?
As far as cooking food for one's cats, how do you ensure they get
the proper nutrients in the proper balance?

And why aren't premium cat foods available locally? Is it the
quality vs. quantity thing?

--
Jean B.

From: "Jean B."

Betsy wrote:

One buys premium cat food with recognizable ingredients, or else one cooks
for ones cat. I've been trying to educate friends and family and whoever
will listen for YEARS that mystery meats in pet food are bad news, Steve
Crane & Hills to the contrary!

As far as cooking food for one's cats, how do you ensure they get
the proper nutrients in the proper balance?

You can consult with a vet who is well-qualified in feline nutrition, or you
can find recipes in books written by vets, or you can communicate with other
people who feed their animals a properly balanced home diet. It's really not
rocket science if you do your research thoroughly. Afterall, we do make our
own food for ourselves and our children, don't we?

Lauren


________
See my cats: http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe
Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html
http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html
Declawing Info: http://www.wholecat.com/articles/claws.htm

From: "Jean B."

Betsy wrote:

One buys premium cat food with recognizable ingredients, or else one cooks
for ones cat. I've been trying to educate friends and family and whoever
will listen for YEARS that mystery meats in pet food are bad news, Steve
Crane & Hills to the contrary!

As far as cooking food for one's cats, how do you ensure they get
the proper nutrients in the proper balance?

You can consult with a vet who is well-qualified in feline nutrition, or you
can find recipes in books written by vets, or you can communicate with other
people who feed their animals a properly balanced home diet. It's really not
rocket science if you do your research thoroughly. Afterall, we do make our
own food for ourselves and our children, don't we?

Lauren


________
See my cats: http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe
Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html
http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html
Declawing Info: http://www.wholecat.com/articles/claws.htm

From: frlpwr

Betsy wrote:

One buys premium cat food with recognizable ingredients,

Exactly right. What little regulation there is for pet foods is mostly
involved with labelling. If the contents are beef, chicken, fish,
whatever, the label must say so. It is the mysterious "meat
by-products" that can legally contain the flesh or rendered flesh of any
mammals, including mink, marine mammals, zoo animals and, as shown by
some well documented instances in the past, euthanized pets.

You've been away for awhile, haven't you Betsy? As for "well documented"
instances, I'll have to disagree w/ you strongly on that one. Please provide a
name of a food that had dead dogs and/or cats in it. I dare you!

From: frlpwr

Betsy wrote:

One buys premium cat food with recognizable ingredients,

Exactly right. What little regulation there is for pet foods is mostly
involved with labelling. If the contents are beef, chicken, fish,
whatever, the label must say so. It is the mysterious "meat
by-products" that can legally contain the flesh or rendered flesh of any
mammals, including mink, marine mammals, zoo animals and, as shown by
some well documented instances in the past, euthanized pets.

You've been away for awhile, haven't you Betsy? As for "well documented"
instances, I'll have to disagree w/ you strongly on that one. Please provide a
name of a food that had dead dogs and/or cats in it. I dare you!

"Jean B." wrote in message ...

So I wonder how one can avoid such foods, since all of the
credible commercial foods contain byproducts? The chicken etc.
still contains animal byproducts. I guess, then, that one just
assumes that the likelihood of any particular cat getting TSE is
extremely small, just as the chance of our getting it is small.
Still, it is not a comforting thought. It seems easier for me, as
a human, to avoid possibly contaminated foods than it is to
protect my feline friends.

Jean,
Just to make sure there is no confusion here. A pet food labelled
to contain "chicken by products" does NOT contain beef or other meat
meals, it contains CHICKEN by-products and is therefore of no concern.
The term by-products will always have a classification noun to
accompany it in North America. (This is not true is Europe where pet
foods may be labelled simply "meat".) For example chicken
by-products, lamb by-products, or pork by-products etc. It can be
generic under the legal definition "meat-by-products", which can
include any mammalian source of meat protein. If your pet food
contains the ingredient "chicken by-product" - it contains by-products
of chicken, (usually internal organs, backs and necks) not by-products
from beef or any other mammal.

"Jean B." wrote in message ...

So I wonder how one can avoid such foods, since all of the
credible commercial foods contain byproducts? The chicken etc.
still contains animal byproducts. I guess, then, that one just
assumes that the likelihood of any particular cat getting TSE is
extremely small, just as the chance of our getting it is small.
Still, it is not a comforting thought. It seems easier for me, as
a human, to avoid possibly contaminated foods than it is to
protect my feline friends.

Jean,
Just to make sure there is no confusion here. A pet food labelled
to contain "chicken by products" does NOT contain beef or other meat
meals, it contains CHICKEN by-products and is therefore of no concern.
The term by-products will always have a classification noun to
accompany it in North America. (This is not true is Europe where pet
foods may be labelled simply "meat".) For example chicken
by-products, lamb by-products, or pork by-products etc. It can be
generic under the legal definition "meat-by-products", which can
include any mammalian source of meat protein. If your pet food
contains the ingredient "chicken by-product" - it contains by-products
of chicken, (usually internal organs, backs and necks) not by-products
from beef or any other mammal.

"Betsy" -0 wrote in message ...
One buys premium cat food with recognizable ingredients, or else one cooks
for ones cat. I've been trying to educate friends and family and whoever
will listen for YEARS that mystery meats in pet food are bad news, Steve
Crane & Hills to the contrary!

Jean,
Education is a two way street. The term "mystery" meat is simply
silly. Pet foods contain what you the consumer demand to have in the
food. Thus if you want chicken in the food, that's what you get.
Personally I don't care what meat protein a consumer desires, they are
all pretty similar in nutrient composition (lamb excepted). On the
other hand the decision to use any particular ingredient is quite
silly and of little value to the pet. It is the nutrients that the
ingredient provide that are of critical importance. When a consumer
makes a decision based on ingredients they can potentially get into
trouble. Making such a decision is about on par with doing third grade
math - simple addition and subtraction. Making decisions based on the
*nutrients* provided in the food is stepping up to the next level of
nutrition - about on par with high school calculus and trig. As long
as a consumer is content with third grade elementary nutrition, and
there are no disease issues to contend with, choosing a food based on
ingredients works just fine. Unfortunately such choices can prove
potentially disastrous. Placing a geriatric kitty of a food with "good
sounding" ingredients and phosphorus levels above 1.5%, sodium levels
above 1% and low levels of N-3 fatty acids could prove lethal.