Comments on: Documentary Profiling Critics Of Pet Food Industry And Pet Owners Airs On CBC-TV On Thursday

By: FiverCat

FiverCat — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 18:56:55 +0000

I watched the documentary and I was a little disappointed, but perhaps my expectations were high. Ever since the most recent pet food poisoning I have been reading numerous articles about the pet food industry. I already know that 99% of the pet food brands are crap. The documentary referred to the larger companies like Hill’s and Iams and how their versions of “premium” foods area no different from their regular versions. What I really want to know is if I can trust the smaller companies like Wellness, Solid Gold, Innova, Weruvia, etc… I have emailed most companies but again, can I trust what they tell me? I am supplementing with home cooking but working two jobs, I need the convenience of store bought foods.

By: shibadiva

shibadiva — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:11:20 +0000

Just got a response from CBC:

They’re not able to offer this online in Doc Zone, since â€œIt was an independent production (not produced internally) so we donâ€™t have the necessary rights to the material.â€

Hopefully, we’ll have better luck with Yap Films.

By: shibadiva

shibadiva — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 16:51:55 +0000

The documentary was very well done, and a nice reminder to the PF industry that we haven’t forgotten about this tragedy.

Precis of the documentary here, for those that may not get a chance to see it on CBC Newsworld this Saturday, although hopefully CBC will post it on their Doc Zone web page or Yap will distribute it.

http://redstarcafe.wordpress.c.....breakfast/

By: stefani

stefani — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 02:24:18 +0000

Thanks, Bichon Mom!

By: Bichon Mom

Bichon Mom — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 02:16:00 +0000

Usually, the Doc Zone documentaries are posted for online viewing after they have aired on CBC and on CBC Newsworld. This particular Documentary film will be aired on Jan 24th (CBC) and on Jan 26 (CBC Newsworld) so I’m guessing that the links to where you can see it online will be posted sometime after Jan 26th.

Keep checking the link below. When the online version is available, the link will be posted there:

http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/schedule.html

By: Don Earl

Don Earl — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 17:39:57 +0000

RE: “Hereâ€™s the problem and we have brought this to some extent on ourselfs and thatâ€™s buying from China who is the lowest bider.”

This comment plays nicely with my earlier comment about the quality of the US media.

Try going to the FDA’s site and pull up their archives on recalls for past years. What you will find is that recalls of off shore goods are the rare exception rather than the rule. The vast majority of unsafe products in the US are homegrown.

Calling China the “low bidder” is inaccurate. China has cheap labor that is easy for corporate America to exploit. Try this experiment: go to your favorite clothing store and read the labels where a run of garments are made. What you will find is an identical item will be made in dozens of different countries. There are import limits on how much product can be imported from any given country. When a major US garment company hits the limit for a given country, production ramps up for the next country on their list.

In most cases, these so called “imports” are from US companies owned and operated off shore. You aren’t dealing with foreigners with shoddy practices. You’re dealing with corporate America in all its glory.

The food that killed our pets was made in the US and Canada. The second you forget that, you’re painting a big fat bullseye on your pet.

By: Aurora

Aurora — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 12:57:45 +0000

The only way you know and control what goes in your pet’s food is to make it yourself! Dogs’ taxonomy classification is Carnivore, cats are Obligate Carnivores which means they require certain amino acids from raw meat or they die [unless you use a synthetic supplement, which is not the healthiest option]. Yet the pet food industry tell us feeding our pets a mummified food product made mainly from cereal is good for them. This is why we spend thousands of dollars on dental cleanings and health care [diabetes, thyroid, pancreatitis, itchy skin, ear infections, renal failure, cancer] for our short lived pets whose life span has dropped from 25 - 30 for cats to 12 - 14 and 7 or 8 years for dogs who should live to 20 years!
The mentors at RawPaws have been helping pet owners feed a safe, vet approved home diet for over 12 years now. Its as easy as feeding anyone else in your family and costs less than bagged diet.

Diet is only the beginning… question every vaccine your vet wants to give your pet. Google ‘adverse vaccine reactions’ on the web, read how OVER vaccination is harming your pets! Research has determined most vaccines give immunity for 7 years [think about it, humans are not vaccinated yearly though the pharmaceuticals industry is working on this cash cow]! There are options such as titre tests to determine whether your pet has immunity or not without subjecting them to increased risk of cancer or other harm.

Feed them yourself, take control of what goes in the food bowl. Read the following book - sorry I don’t recommend any of Martins books after this one - the folks at RawPaws are cutting edge and their motto is Research, Research and MORE Research!
Amazon.com: Food Pets Die For: Shocking Facts About Pet Food …
Food Pets Die for: Shocking Facts About Pet Food by Ann N. Martin was the first exposâ€š of the shocking practices within the pet food manufacturing industry. …
www.amazon.com/Food-Pets-Die-S.....0939165465 - 242k

By: shibadiva

shibadiva — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 04:57:53 +0000

Einstein also wouldn’t have made it in our modern-day society. He might be relegated to some special-ed class somewhere, and end up doing postal work. Period full stop.

(Been reading too much Temple Grandin…)

By: Velvet's Dad

Velvet's Dad — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 03:49:27 +0000

California Natural is one of the labels of Natura Pet Food and they are among the better commercial foods. I would be very surprised if they did not respond with promptness and genuine concern. Would like to read a followup on this.

Re Don Earl’s first comment (a great one), if Lincoln were alive today, the media would totally ignore him. After all, he’s gawky, physically unattractive and mostly a loser, having lost all but one election before being elected president. And the clincher is, he’s far too intelligent and makes far too much sense for the talking “buttheads” on TV who are only into spin and couldn’t recognize an intelligent commentary if it bit them on the nose.

By: shibadiva

shibadiva — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 01:00:31 +0000

I’ve also emailed - CBC this time - and asked if they planned to post it on their website for viewing. (No response yet).

I’ve asked a friend to record it, and will remind him again.

By: Stefani

Stefani — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:35:12 +0000

I was advised to check the YAP FILMS website to see if they post the video.

They are at

http://www.yapfilms.com/index.html

and they are the producers of this film.

Does anyone have connections in the Cable industry? To get to somebody about rebroadcasting? Contact YAP!!

If not, maybe we can ask them to webcast it.

Stefani

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:53:39 +0000

Here’s the problem and we have brought this to some extent on ourselfs and that’s buying from China who is the lowest bider. I stop buying trearts from Petsmart and those other stores. I saw the crap they were putting in and I won’t eat it! I found this store in VA which makes their own treats. They now sell their treats on the web and I even got them mailed to me when I was in London. My dogs love them and won’t eat anything else. The woman who started the company was in the Washington Post about a year ago and she just loves animals. In fact she just moved to MO to build a bigger facility. Her web site is www.BeccasBarkery.com. I also like this because I’m buying American!

By: Barb

Barb — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 16:03:27 +0000

Thanks for the tips Don, but I’ve always fed my dogs Canidae and never had any problems. What I wrote above was written by a friend of mine, to whom I will pass on your tips. She’s the one that found these plastic splinter bits in her dog food.

By: 5CatMom

5CatMom — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:47:13 +0000

Could some of our Canadian friends please record the Yap documentary?

We can figure out how to get it posted later.

By: Don Earl

Don Earl — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Barb,

At a buck thirty a pound for recycled yuck, you might consider homemade.

Rice is cheap and any budget cut of meat at your local market is orders of magnitude better than the hooves, hide, hair and assorted offal that goes into pet food. For example, a pound of hamburger at $2 per pound and 3 pounds of rice at $.60 per pound, averages out to $.95 per pound. Add in some pet vitamins, put it in baggies in the freezer, and you’re good to go.

That may be somewhat over simplified, but that’s the basic idea. The majority of the commercial pet food on the market today is nothing more than over priced, recycled garbage. Not everyone finds it convenient to make their own, but if it’s practical in your situation, it might be worth considering.