Mountaintop Natural Pets

Source: NaturalNews  Tuesday, November 11, 2008 by: Susan Thixton

(NaturalNews) If you haven’t seen it yet with your brand of dog food or cat food, you probably will soon. Prices of pet food ingredients are rising just like the prices of your groceries in recent months. Many pet food manufacturers are scrambling to stay competitive; some changing the formulation or recipe of their products trying to save money. What is going to happen to our pet foods is a question on many pet owners minds.

The rules of pet food manufacturing state that a company can change the ingredients in a pet food at any time yet they are not required to show the changes on the label for six months. With rising prices of ingredients in a very competitive market, every pet food manufacturer is facing the decision of a formula change using less costly ingredients or risk raising product prices and losing customers. The worry for pet owners is the quality and nutritional value of those ‘cheaper ingredients’. And of course they worry if more pet food companies will turn to countries with little to no quality control as a supplier of ‘cheaper ingredients’.

After the six months label change has been made, reflecting the new list of ingredients, do you think you would notice it? Do you examine the ingredient list every time you purchase a new food? If you are like most consumers, you don’t. And you shouldn’t have to.

I am not sure what can be done about this, but it’s certainly time that all food regulations – pet and people – are developed to protect the consumer or petsumer instead of business. The pet owning customers are solely responsible for the profits and the existence of pet food companies. It’s time we are treated far better than how you are treating us. We’ll be glad to take our money elsewhere if you continue this way.

Here is an example of how important it is that rules of pet food manufacturing and labeling be changed; proving the point that the existing non-disclosure is of no benefit to pet owners and to quality minded pet food companies. In 1938 when the world listened to radio, a 60 minute broadcast of the H.G. Wells’ novel The War of the Worlds terrified listeners all over the country. Excerpts of the book were presented as news bulletins, suggesting to listeners than an actual Martian invasion was in progress. Listeners panicked assuming the broadcast was real and an invasion was actually happening. In reality it was just Wells’ novel being read as a ‘show’. Fast forward to the present; multiply the H.G. Wells reaction by millions with the Internet. One unknowing pet owner’s dog has a reaction to the ingredient changes in their pet food. The dog gets loose stool and is showing signs of ‘tummy’ problems. With all the recalls in the last few years, the owner justifiably panics and turns to the Internet; posting the information about her dogs reaction to the food. She discovers that other pets have suffered the same experience; more tummy problems. And naturally everyone – NOT knowing the pet food company changed their recipe – assume the next recall is on the way! Then later when they discover the pet food had an ingredient change – without their knowledge. They feel duped. Taken advantage of. Misled and mistreated for years of customer loyalty. This pet food company, by NOT being upfront with customers regarding ingredient changes, just put many pet owners through great worry and concern. Because they did not put the concern of the pet first, they just lost customers.

You should know that pet food companies CAN choose to alert their customers to any ingredient changes or supplier changes, but they do not have to. The existing regulations do NOT deny them the opportunity to alert their customers to any changes in the pet food.

Pet owners should also be aware that some pet food companies have hired representatives all over the globe to secretly post good reports about their products on blogs and forums all across the Internet. Some of these representatives have blogs of their own – pretending to be a faithful fan of a particular pet food line; spreading nothing but positive information. Others are sent to post comments on forums regarding the pet food line they work for. Take great caution with any information you read.

Add everything together – pet food regulations protecting pet food instead of petsumers, higher ingredient prices, non-disclosure of recipe changes, non-disclosure of ingredient sources, and the rapid spread of information on the Internet – pet owners continue to fret and worry what to do about pet food. Unlike pet food companies, pet owners don’t look at their dog or cat as a business. They are family to us. Without changes to pet food regulations demanding timely and truthful information, without responsible pet food manufacturers taking the fight on themselves for changes in existing regulations (instead of letting consumers groups do all the work), pet owners continue to worry and stress over which pet food products they can trust. Surely somebody will ‘get’ this.

Responsible pet food manufacturers should be the ones lobbying AAFCO and the FDA to demand changes in pet food regulations instead of leaving all this work to a few pet consumer groups. It is time things change and the few responsible pet food companies out there that DO care about producing high quality pet foods instead of high quality commercials should step up and take the bull by the horns. Demanding changes to the extremely lax laws governing pet food will not only benefit pet owners, it will benefit reputable pet food manufacturers as well. Are you listening?

In the meantime, changes in a pet food, even small changes, can affect your pet; dogs especially. Most dogs need to change foods – even change of a new recipe of the same food – slowly. I suggest to pet owners to add ¼ new food to ¾ old food for 4 to 7 days, ½ to ½ for another 4 to 7 days, and so on. Cats can typically change foods quickly without problems. But should you notice any problems in elimination or behavior with your dog or cat, immediately call the pet food manufacturer and ask of the ‘formulation’ or recipe has been altered. Slight changes of ingredients will probably only affect your pet for a few days. Don’t wait to see if ‘things’ improve in a few days, call the manufacturer right away. If they tell you no changes have been made in the food’s formulation, you should probably consult your veterinarian just to be safe.

Source: NaturalNews, Friday, October 24, 2008 by: Susan Thixton

(NaturalNews) We all do it; we give our pets treats as a reward or just because we love them. And many times pet owners don’t think about the extra calories in treats or worse yet, consider if the treat contains harmful ingredients. It’s a treat, it won’t hurt anything… right? Well, it could. Dog and cat treats are not required to meet the nutritional standards of pet food and many are nothing more than junk food for pets adding useless calories and potentially dangerous ingredients to their diet. So please, don’t give your pet a treat –- give them a ‘bonus’.

A ‘bonus’ would be one of the many treats that contains added nutrients and health promoting ingredients. Some include nutrients that even pet food can’t provide or doesn’t provide enough of. A ‘bonus’ can add these health promoting benefits to your pet’s diet and many of them can do this in a low fat/low calorie fashion.

Poor quality treats contribute to the obesity problem in pets. I’ve talked to many pet owners who have been directed by their Veterinarian for the pet to lose a few pounds –- yet owners forget about the contribution that a handful of treats add to the weight problem. And right along with weight issues, many treats are made using by-products and chemical preservatives and utilize ingredients that are difficult for the pet to digest. You might be feeding your dog or cat the right food, yet they still show signs of being overweight or have digestion and/or allergy issues. It could be that you have forgotten about looking at the ingredients in treats. And good marketing helps to sway pet owners from even thinking about looking at the ingredients.

A few months back, I went to one of the pet super stores to browse the dog and cat treats just to see what they offered. A mom and her two sons with dog in tow were searching for dog treats. The only ones that caught their attention were treats that had some type of human food connection like ‘ribs’, ‘bacon’, and so forth. Never once did they look at the ingredients on the ‘ribs’ or ‘bacon’ treats. I did and every single variety they picked out contained by-products and BHA, BHT, or ethoxyquin. The pet treat marketing lured them into a comfort zone thinking treats with names like ‘ribs’ and ‘bacon’ were as safe as human food. Again, every single treat this family picked out contained by-products and chemical preservatives linked to cancer. Pet owners must look at the ingredients of everything they feed their pets. Treat manufacturers are not going to alert you if they use risky ingredients. As you would guess, treats with the names ‘Chicken Feet Dog Treats’, ‘Cow Intestines Cat Treats’, or ‘Cancer Causing Chemical Treats’ won’t be top selling items; yet more treats than you realize contain all three of these undesirable ingredients.

Read those labels regardless of what the name of the dog treat or cat treat implies. Avoid treats that contain the ingredients ‘by-product’, ‘meat and bone meal’, ‘animal digest’, ‘BHA’, ‘BHT’, and ‘ethoxyquin’ (the short list). Look for health promoting ingredients like antioxidants and omega fats from natural sources and as supplements. Don’t forget about some ‘people food’ bonuses. Carrots, green beans, and apple slices make great treats for dogs (and even some cats). Canned pumpkin makes a great healthy treat for cats. Always consult your veterinarian if your pet has a health condition that requires care or you have any questions. Stop feeding treats, give your pet a nutritional bonus instead!

Summer is coming and people are starting to worry about fleas. There are so many great natural options out there, when so many pet owners fail to have hear about the hundreds of dogs that get sick and/or die from commercial flea products. Here are just a few quick pieces of info on natural options as summer approaches….

First and foremost is a healthy diet. Fleas prey on weak immune systems, not just all dogs. A healthy diet is the key to a healthy dog. My raw-fed dogs are 6 and 4 years old and the only time we have ever seen a flea and that was when our youngest dog was a puppy. Puppies are most likely to attract fleas as all pups have a lower immune system than adult dogs.

We treated both our dogs, as well as our house with the following “products” and have never seen another flea. Let me also just mention that one of our dogs is a pointer, who frequently accompanies my husband in the woods for hours at at time and under all conditions.

Garlic and B-1 (thiamine) help repel fleas. I tend to add a small amount of garlic on occasion to my dogs food (fresh minced garlic) and find it helps. Oma’s Pride also sells a great product called Actif Allium, a german product that is like a treat roll filled with garlic. My dogs LOVE this!

There are many great natural flea shampoos by companies such as Halo Purely for Pets and other natural product companies. Starting out as a horse person, we always sprayed our horses in Avon Skin-So-Soft for the flies and Ive used this ever since for myself, my kids and my dogs!

For your home you can keep certain types of herbs around that tend to repel fleas. Catnip and eucalyptus and two good examples of scents that help keep fleas away. I used to keep dried eucalyptus around the house and you can even drop essential oils near your doorways to help keep them from entering during the summer months.

Unfortunately over the years Ive gotten very good at maintaining a healthy diet and keeping good alternative medicinal remedies on hand…. now I just have to work on treating myself as good!

Here is a great source for natural pet products: