Broadsheet: What do they put in a can of pet food?

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self. - Cyril Connolly

Monday, March 19, 2007

I'd rather not know, but after years of feeling increasingly guilty for only serving my cats dry kibble with the occasional wet snack of plain old canned tuna as a treat, I'm finally feeling like I did the right thing.

I found my last cat, a stray I named Buddy, a few months after college, so he got only dry kibble, and only what was on sale. Wet food was only when he got sick (rarely), was homemade (tuna, chicken, and rice), or he got "Pounce" as a junk food treat at Christmas.

As he got older and his teeth started to crumble, the vet prescribed wet food, but it wreaked havoc with an old cat's digestive system, and the after effects were bad for both of us.

Despite all the "neglect" and cheap food...he lived to be 19, and finally succumbed rather quickly to kidney failure and old age over a period of less than a month. Pretty good odds for a cat, I'd say.

The two monster stray kittens I took in four years ago as a replacement, also enjoy dry food (and to look at them, lots of it), although I now go out of my way to buy the more upscale vet blend for them. I sometimes supplement it with the junk food morsels and/or a bowl of tuna or canned chicken as a treat, but they are so BIG, active, and feisty, and their coats are so glossy, that wet food still seems an unnecessary extravagance.

With this recent scare, I'm glad I use the dry food.

I know America's food supply has been at risk many times over the last few years (beef, peanut butter, green onions, spinach....), but when the majority of a food source like pet food, comes from a single supplier, it's very scary indeed.

Only 10 pets have reported to have died so far (although I'm sure it's more than that), and yet knowing how much we love our pets in the US, the safety of their food supply, as well as ours (and livestock for that matter), is of paramount importance.

posted by Broadsheet @ 9:04 PM