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Pet Food Manufacturers Comparison Chart Dairy Ingredients in Pet Foods (Colostrum, Milk, Whey, Cheese, Yogurt) Rationale for Dentatreat™ Rationale For Equine Diet™ and Supplements Probiotic Supplementation Biotic pH- and pH+ Rationale For Nutritious Oils Clinical Veterinary Nutrition Omega-3 Spectrum Dry Vitamin Basics DSM Oxidation: The Unspoken Danger in Processed Pet Foods The Truth About Pet Foods Rationale for Archetype Diets Wyscin and Other Raw Food Safety Innovations at Wysong Wysong's Master Key To Health Does America Owe an Apology to its Pets How to Apologize to Your Pet Welcome - Wysong Pet Health and Nutrition The Safety of Vitamins and Minerals in Pet Foods Vitamin C in Pet Foods Vitamin D in Pet Foods Vitamin K in Pet Foods Salt in Pet Foods Yeast in Pet Foods Methionine in Cat Foods Montmorillonite Clay in Pet Foods Mung Bean Sprouts in Pet Foods Probiotics and Enzymes in Pet Foods Proteinates in Pet Foods The Soy in Pet Foods Myth Taurine in Cat Foods Turmeric in Pet Foods Kelp in Pet Foods Lecithin in Pet Foods Limestone in Pet Foods Meats in Pet Foods Methionine in Pet Foods Enterococcus Faecium in Pet Foods Fish Oil in Pet Foods Flax Seeds in Pet Foods Fruits and Vegetables in Pet Foods Garlic in Pet Foods Poultry (Chicken) Giblets in Pet Foods Grape Seed Extract in Pet Foods Guar Gum in Canned Pet Foods Corn and Soy in Pet Foods Di Calcium Phosphate (DCP) in Pet Foods Digests in Pet Foods Ecklonia Cava in Pet Foods Wysong Pet Food Ingredients Explained Animal Plasma in Pet Foods Artichoke in Pet Foods Aspergillus in Pet Foods Black Pepper in Pet Foods Bugs, Mice and Grass as Pet Food Ingredients Carageenan in Pet Foods Chitin in Pet Foods Citric Acid in Pet Foods 'Real Chicken' in Pet Foods Fluff, Puff, and Smoke in the Pet Food Industry Irritable Bowel Syndrome in Pets Pet Foods and Bird Flu High Protein Pet Foods and Kidney Disease Dog and Cat Urinary Problems Wysong Prevention and Therapy Guide Allergen Free Pet Foods Cold-Processed Canned Pet Food Pet Foods Developed by Vets, Breeders, etc. Grain Free Pet Food Pet Foods Without Added Vitamins and Minerals Tapioca in Pet Food Are Meat By-Products in Pet Foods Bad? Why Feed Any Processed Pet Foods? Animal Testing and Pet Food Feeding Trials Pet Nutrition is a Serious Health Matter Large Breed Puppy Foods Can Pets Consume Raw Bones? Should Pets be Vegetarians? Should Pets be Vegans? Euthanized Pets as a Pet Food Ingredient Rodents as Pet Food Ingredients Rabbit vs. No Rabbit in Pet Foods Breed Specific Pet Foods 22 Pet Food Fallacies GMO Ingredients in Pet Foods Diet Guides for Pet Health Conditions How Important is Caloric Content in Pet Food? The Pet Food Ingredient Game Can Pet Health be Simple? What are the Healthier Grains? Raw Pet Food Deceptions Exposed The 'Food Allergies Are Cured...' Myth The Challenge of Properly Diagnosing Pet Food Ingredient Allergies The 'Don't Feed Your Pet Table Scraps' Myth The 'Don't Feed Your Pet Bones' Myth The 'Exotic Pet Food Ingredients Mean Good Nutrition' Myth Pet Food Toxins Why You Should Not Rely On Pet Food Ranking and Pledges The "Order of Pet Food Ingredients" Myth Should You Feed Raw To Your Pet? The Case Against Raw Frozen Pet Foods Does 'Organic Pet Food' Mean Healthy? Wysong Pet Foods Preservation Methods Why are Wysong Pet Food Bags Small? Reusing Wysong Pet Food Packaging Why Does Wysong Make Formulation And Ingredient Changes? Why Wysong Pet Foods Are Not Always Uniform Wysong Pet Food Can Linings The 100% Complete Pet Food Myth The Real Problem in Pet Feeding Does Your Pet Need a % of Something? How to Rotate Wysong Pet Diets Why Intermittent and Varied Pet Feeding Pet Foods for Both Canine and Feline Combining Raw Foods and Wysong Pet Diets Fresh and Raw Pet Diets Wysong Feeding Recommendations for Finicky Cats How to Use Wysong Human Supplements for Pets Dry Matter Analysis of Wysong Dry Diets Dry Matter Analysis of Wysong Supplements Wysong Pet Foods Processing Methods Dry Matter Analysis of Wysong True Non-Thermal™ Raw and Canned Diets Archetype Diet Differences Archetype Special Features Rx Diet Regulations Pet Inoculant Uses What Wysong Pet Diets to Begin With? How to Transition to Wysong Pet Foods Wysong Pet Foods Feeding Amount Guidelines Wysong Pet Food Quality Control Rationale for Feline Diets Special Wysong Pet Food Features About Wysong Healthy & Holistic Pet Food Wysong as a Holistic Company Comparing Pet Foods Based Upon What Matters How To Choose Healthy Pet Foods Ingredient Sourcing Wysong Media |
22 Pet Food FallaciesBy Dr. Wysong1) If the ingredient listings on two different pet foods are the same, it means that both pet foods contain the same things. False. Names of ingredients may vary, the same ingredients may vary in quality, and relative levels of ingredients may differ widely even though the ingredient listings may be identical. A food with 30% chicken meat, bone and giblets and 15% whole brown rice can have the same ingredient listing as a food with 20% chicken heads, feet and intestines and 20% refined white rice. Same label, but vastly different nutrition. 2) If the label on a pet food bag reads chicken, beef, lamb, cheese, rice, and so forth, the package contains basically the same foods humans eat. False. The ingredients used in pet foods are usually by-products of the human food industry. Manufacturers mislead consumers by picturing human-type foods in advertisements but then use materials entirely different than in the pictures. For example, dressed grocery store chicken is not the same as pet food ingredient "chicken" which usually is comprised of heads, feet and intestinal tracts. Grocery store steaks and roasts are not the same as the pet food ingredient "beef" which may consist of almost any part of a cow carcass. 3) Feeding pets raw bones is more dangerous than feeding commercial pet foods along with biscuits to clean the pet's teeth. False. Raw bones were eaten by dogs and cats for eons before manufactured super-bow-wow biscuits. Furthermore, animals in the wild do not experience the dental disease that modern companion animals do. Processed biscuits add interesting variety to the diet but do little more for teeth cleaning than do dry pet foods. 4) The present dental and gum disease epidemic in pets is not related to the complete and balanced pet foods they are eating. False. Biscuits and nuggets may be crunchy, but do not adequately clean an animal's teeth. They can leave a gummy plaque which serves as a matrix leading to gum disease and dental caries. Additionally, additives, sweeteners and other refined or artificial ingredients in processed foods can damage teeth in animals just as they do in humans. 5) Table scraps should not be fed because they will upset the "balance" of formulated pet foods, and because they are of inferior quality to packaged pet foods. False. Good table scraps (not human junk food leftovers) are excellent for animals when fed in variety. Most pet foods contain ingredients from the same food families as those found on the human dinner table. Fresh foods from the dinner table have increased freshness and nutrient value over their processed pet food counterparts. 7) A pet food that has passed the AAFCO (American Association of Feed Control Officials) feeding trial tests will be just fine as a pet's only food. False. Such feeding trials are only 26 weeks long. Additionally they are performed on caged laboratory animals. Such testing does not assure animal owners that optimal health will be maintained if these products are fed exclusively over a lifetime. In fact, foods passing such tests have caused serious, even fatal, nutritional diseases. 8) If a pet has an allergy, this can be cured by eliminating pet foods that contain the offending ingredient and buying a new special allergy formula pet diet. False. The cause of modern pet food allergy is not a pet food ingredient. The cause is a compromised immune system as a result of a compromised modern lifestyle and singularly fed, manufactured diets. Seldom does a pet have an allergy to the singular ingredients for which they test positive for if these ingredients are fed fresh, raw and whole. When pet foods are manufactured, the ingredients are altered and complexed into new forms of chemical combinations for which it is impossible to predict sensitivity. The only way to know if an animal is sensitive or allergic to a food is to feed it. 9) The more digestible a food is, the better that food is. False. If percentage digestibility is the key to good nutrition then that would mean that a 100% digestible diet - zero fecal output - would be the best diet of all. This is of course absurd. Animals need some bulk and indigestible material for a properly functioning digestive tract. A small, firm, hard stool that is easy for owners to discard does not necessarily equate with good nutrition or health. 10) Pet foods in paper bags can retain their full nutritional value for many months. False. Who would like to eat meat, dairy products, cereals and grain products after they had been stored on a shelf for months, or perhaps longer than a year? Yet this is what is suggested by pet food manufacturers who guarantee shelf lives for many months and even a year. Rocks and cardboard last indefinitely on a shelf — wholesome foods do not. Time is the enemy of good nutritional value. Nutrition is not mortuary science. Freshness should be of utmost importance to animal owners regardless of shelf life claims. 11) More expensive premium-brand pet foods are better than cheaper brands. False. An expensive brand can actually cost less to produce than a more inexpensive brand. Often the price of a food is set based upon marketing costs rather than actual ingredient value. The high cost of modern day marketing and advertising can result in more marketing in the bag than nutrition. 12) The majority of the cost of a pet food is related to the quality of ingredients. False. The majority of the cost of most commercial products is due to markups, packaging and advertising, not nutritional value. 13) Pet food processing does not change the nutritional value of the ingredients listed on the label. False. The high heat and pressure used in modern food processing greatly alters, diminishes and can completely destroy or even convert to toxins some important food elements. Pet owners are mistaken if they look at an ingredient listing and picture in their minds fresh foods as they see them in a grocery store. 14) Overweight pets need to be put on "Lite" formulas and fiber to lose weight. False. Most "Lite" formulas increase the fiber content of the food and decrease fats and meats. The cause of obesity in modern pets is not a lack of fiber. The cause is high carbohydrate processed foods, sedentary living, pampering with snacks, and feeding more food than is necessary to sustain the animal's activity. 15) A high protein food is a better quality food. False. A high protein percentage does not speak to the value of protein. If large quantities of low-value protein are consumed, organ stress can occur and damage to the animal's metabolic systems can result. Quality of protein, particularly as available in fresh products, is far more important than quantity. 16) Pets require special life stage diets. False. In the wild, animals eat essentially one diet consisting of a variety of raw, natural foods for their entire life. A 10-year-old wolf eats the same foods as a 3-month-old one. Life stage formulation is a marketing scheme, not a nutritional necessity. 17) Cats on foods with low ash and magnesium, and high acid, will not develop urinary problems. False. Cats don't develop FUS because of magnesium and ash. They develop FUS because of the sedentary home-bound lifestyle imposed upon them and because they are being fed commercial diets that have deviated too far from the natural, fresh, raw foods the animal was adapted to. 18) Feeding an animal raw meats, organs and bones is dangerous. False. There is no evidence to demonstrate that feeding fresh raw foods from the grocery store can cause more harm than feeding processed, embalmed, fractionated, additive-laden, synthetically fortified products from pet food manufacturers. In fact, animals survived for eons in good health, and still do in the wild, eating raw unprocessed foods. 19) Veterinarians are highly schooled in cat and dog nutrition. False. Most veterinarians have at most one or two nutrition classes in school. Most of the nutritional propaganda education they get is that presented to them by commercial pet food interests, both during their school years and while in practice. Veterinarians who are truly skilled in nutrition and preventive health develop such skills on their own. 20) Pets today are living longer, healthier lives than before packaged pet foods came along. False. In fact, animals in the wild with sufficient natural food sources do not have the chronic degenerative diseases that are ravaging modern pet populations being exclusively fed supposedly "complete and balanced" modern processed pet foods. 21) Animals will not get nutritional diseases if they eat foods from a reputable manufacturer who has performed AAFCO feeding trial studies. False. Thousands of animals have become nutritionally diseased in the past due to such reliance. Examples include mycotoxemia, as well as, imbalances in zinc, potassium, and taurine. Additionally, there is evidence of degenerative diseases that arise later in life "obesity, periodontitis, cancer, arthritis, autoimmunities, hormone imbalance, organ disease, digestive problems, cataracts, skin disorders, and susceptibility to infection" directly related to feeding processed foods exclusively. Health may be fine during a short term feeding study or while animals have the vigor of youth, but this apparent nutritional adequacy is deceptive, obscuring the relationship of later life diseases to processed foods. 22) If I feed raw meats, I will cause food poisoning. False. In the wild, the only diet for carnivores is raw meat. They will also eat scavenged decaying food that is teeming with bacteria. Steam cleaned, sterile processed foods are not a natural diet. Although pets today may not have healthy populations of protective intestinal flora (a result in itself of eating processed sterilized foods) and may have a bout of digestive upset from food-borne pathogens in raw foods, the alternative of getting serious degenerative disease later in life from sterile processed foods is a far greater risk. Raw foods should be a part of the daily diet of pets to help insure optimal nutrition. Probiotic organisms incorporated into Wysong Diets and supplements help prevent food-borne illness when raw foods are fed. Scientific documentation for the above answers is contained in the following:
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