Dear President Elect Obama,
Source: The American Chronicle, By Susan Thixton, The Trust About Pet Foods, Nov 17, 2008
The near future is bringing many changes to your family, including the addition of a family dog. Becoming a new dog owner adds another responsibility to your family, including deciding on which dog food is right for the ´First Dog´. The dog food decision might be more of a challenge than you think; before you select a dog food, the following will provide you with some necessary information.
Not that the first family is going to walk into a Petsmart or Petco to purchase their first bag of dog food like other new dog owners across the U.S., but if you did, you´d find aisles and aisles of dog foods to chose from. You and your beautiful family would wander down the aisles to find hundreds of different brands, varieties, and price ranges; everything from kibble, canned, frozen, to dehydrated.
Being a very intelligent man, and caring about the nutrition your new family member will receive, you´ll probably carefully read the labels. On each dog food you´ll notice reassuring words like ´Premium´, ´Choice´, and ´100% Complete´. Some dog foods will also mention health promoting benefits on the label such as antioxidants and omegas.
Before you make your dog food decision however, there are some things about dog foods, cat foods, and pet treats that you need to know.
As you read the reassuring words on the dog food labels, you should be aware that pet food regulations allow “Unqualified Claims, either directly or indirectly” on the pet food label. It turns out that those reassuring words such as ´Premium´ or ´Choice´ can be ´unqualified´ or misleading to pet owners. As an example, a dog food labeled as ´Premium´ might contain cow intestines as a source of protein and risky chemicals to maintain freshness.
Should you, like millions of other pet owning families, decide to give your children some pet care responsibilities, you might want to think twice before allowing your girls to feed the new dog. Sadly, it is currently acceptable practice for diseased animals and euthanized animals to be processed into pet food. Should you give your girls this responsibility, they could be handling a dog food that contains the remains of a diseased animal, possibly even the remains of a cow suspect of spreading BSE or mad cow disease. While the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act firmly states no food, including animal food, can contain a diseased animal or an animal that has died other than by slaughter, the FDA (soon to be your FDA) has been ignoring this law with regards to pet food.
Another consideration is the country of origin of your pet´s food ingredients. Even though you did not have a dog at the time, in 2007 thousands of U.S. pets became ill and died from contaminated grain proteins imported from China. When you face the decision of what food to provide to your new dog, you´ll be at risk of your dog consuming contaminated Chinese imported pet food ingredients, just like millions of other U.S. pet owners. Sadly, country of origin of ingredients is NOT provided to pet owners on any dog food, cat food, or pet treat label. Your children´s new dog could be poisoned without your knowledge because existing pet food regulations don´t feel it is necessary to provide country of origin information to pet owners.
President elect Obama, it is apparent you love your children and truly care about their future. Your children are about to fall deeply in love with a four legged, tail wagging best friend; a friend they will fondly recall for the rest of their lives. Can you imagine how broken hearted your girls would feel if their dog was poisoned by imported Chinese pet food ingredients unknowingly fed in the pet food? Should your children and millions more U.S. children be denied the life lesson of pet care responsibilities because the dog food or cat food might contain diseased animals?
Millions of unknowing parents, whose children have the responsibility of feeding the dog or cat, are not aware the pet food can contain rendered diseased or euthanized animals. Millions of U.S. children every single day are handed the chore of feeding the family pet; these children handle pet food that despite Federal Law against it, is the dumping ground for useless, risky animal remains. You should also be aware of a pet food rumor that has existed for years; that some pet foods contain euthanized dogs and cats. The FDA attempted to disprove this rumor; however their test results only proved that pentobarbital, the drug used to euthanize dogs and cats, is found in many popular brands of dog food. The FDA testing found no positive evidence to disprove that millions of euthanized shelter dogs and cats are rendered and become a pet food ingredient. The rumor remains.
Millions of unknowing pet parents feel they can trust and believe pet food labels that state ´Premium´ or ´Choice´; they are unaware regulations allow pet food to make ´unqualified claims´ on the label. They are unaware that pet food labels, despite Federal Law against it, can be misleading. They remain unaware that risky Chinese imports could be included in their pet´s food.
As you will soon discover, your new dog will become a member of your family. He or she will steal a tiny bit of your heart the day you bring them home, and everyday following they will become more and more a part of you. He or she will become your children´s beloved friend, and if you are lucky, your friend and confidant as well. Unlike average parents, you perhaps will have your staff feed the dog or even have your staff prepare your new dog´s meals. Most pet parents don´t have these options. Most pet parents hold their breath every time they open a new bag of dog food or cat food, hoping this bag of food will be safe. Hoping their children won´t become sick from handling a dog food or cat food. This is America, this shouldn´t happen here. We can only hope that once you are President, and once you have decided upon and adopted your new family member, you will become aware of the challenge 74 million U.S. pet parents face daily. We can only hope that you´ll care enough, not only about your daughter´s dog, but the dogs and cats of all others in the U.S.; and that you will do something to protect everyone.
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