I recently stumbled upon a recommendation to watch Pet Fooled on Netflix. I watch anything on there that has to do with animals so naturally I added it to my list.
I thought it was a film about pets’ behavioral peculiarities, little did I know the documentary would make me feel like the worst kitty-mama ever. Pet Fooled interviews veterinarians including dr. Karen Becker who talks about species appropriate food for our favourite cuddle-buddies and how it is needed to secure a healthy life for domesticated cats and dogs.
I always blindly believed the vets when they gave suggestions for this and that type of kibble, and why should I not have? They’re specialists. The thing we don’t realise is that veterinary school was founded on the modern commercial pet food but this type of artificial feed that we know today was only invented 100-some years ago so it is fairly new. Cats are still carnivores just like their ancestors and their genetics has essentially not changed much in the 100+ years that they’ve been domesticated by humans. So why do we feed them biscuits made out of wheat, veggies and soy of all things?
I always said to Twix, my black devil, `stop gulping, chew please!´ not knowing then that being a carnivore cats are gulpers, their mouths are not made for chewing as their jaws are built so they only move up and down, they can’t move their jaws side to side like humans or cows who are chewers, and carnivores’ teeth are designed for ripping flesh from prey.
As a child, I do remember how we fed meat and some grain mixed veggies to our dog so why did I think that raw meat is bad for my cat? I guess I thought that when she eats raw meat she can get worms or fall ill but this is actually why cats’ digestive tracts are shorter and designed to handle the natural occurring bacteria in raw foods, the food is meant to be consumed fast and excreted fast if you know what I mean…
So how have cats survived on kibble if they’re meant to eat raw meats? As humans began farming plants and grains, cats, being hunters just adapted to that diet so they became receptive to those type of foods but in no means did they turn into omnivores.
” Over the last hundred years, major pet food companies have produced most of their products using a base of corn, wheat, rice, or potato. However, our carnivorous pets have not evolved to be able to process those foreign foods.
Dogs and cats are among the most resilient animals on the planet. They are able to withstand really significant nutritional abuse, in my opinion, without dying. Degeneration does occur as the result of an inappropriate diet, but sudden death does not.
So one of the reasons we’ve been able to deceive ourselves into believing convenience pet foods are good for dogs and cats is because they don’t die immediately of acute starvation. For a hundred years our pets have been fed inappropriate diets that have kept them alive, but far from thriving like their wild relatives. Instead, we’ve created dozens of generations of nutritionally weakened animals that suffer from degenerative diseases linked to nutritional deficiencies – a link the traditional veterinary community has not acknowledged. ”
dr. Karen Becker
The ugly truth is that pet food companies are treating our best friends as recycle bins – commercial cat and dog food are places where everything that’s leftover from human food production can be dumped, i.e. seafood and meat industry unhealthy bi-products and cuts, the pieces that contain carcinogens, ingredients that are prohibited by the FDA for human consumption (not that the FDA is any big brother to look up to), and even deceased roadkill and livestock…
All this is considered waste and we unknowingly feed this to our furry friends.
In conclusion, all the cans and pouches and kibble that we serve our cats that they so love, are sort of like drugs to them. It’s like you eating McDonalds. All day. Every day. Forever. It has so many harmful ingredients, including flavour enhancers that make your cat become addicted to the food, not to mention all the diseases and health problems that can appear but can go unnoticed as our felines don’t usually show symptoms.
An official for a certain brand was asked how long the shelf-life of their product is, the answer was a century…just like that Macca’s patty.
What do you feed your cat?
More to come!
Source – Healthy Pets