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Like many things, when something goes wrong the entire group is painted with a broad brush. If one or 2 jerky treats are found to be a problem, some will paint the entire jerky industry as a problem. They don;t even need facts, just suspicion.
i suggest that what you do is just a bit of research on whatever you feed your pets and try and find the source of their ingredients. If you can trace the main items to responsible vendors and processors, unless your pet gets sick, chances are you have good ingredients. If you can;t trace the source, you just decide if you want to chance it or pick a company you can track. take something like buying cereal, if you can;t trace the source for that cereal, odds are there are dozens you can. So chance it, or just pick another. You have many options. Its not like a product that is specific to only one company, many make them.
What is happening is the pet food industry knows that owners will buy and buy at whatever oprice they feel is acceptable for their desires. Once the premium pet food industry was small operations with major QC. But as people flocked to buy theose as whatever price, many others simpley jumped on the band wagon with clever marketing. Some premium foods are not that much diffrent than some off the shelf mass produced item. Also with so much money at stake, companies are buying up these past private companies and just integrating them into their current supply/processing/distribution with little diference anymore than a slick package.
And to be honest, many of the people putting out reports and notices over what food is and isn;t good are part of competing companies marketing groups. I have seen vets and pet nutritionist associated with particular warnings and advice, but they show up as members of a competing brand. There was even a person on CD hawking a certain food who is suspected of being a marketing rep for that company. You will dribve yuyourself bonkers on this. Just do the best research you can, and decide based on your personal feelings. So long as you know your not falling into the billion dollars marketing of the pet food industry, you'll be fine. Just remmeber that after tobacco, the pet food industry spends the most on marking and consumer testing. The majority of their budgets are spent on selling the product to consumers and only a very small percent on the actual food for nutritional purposes for the animal.
all i know is this: if dave eats a food with corn and/or wheat in it, he will gas me out of my house. this does not happen when he eats a food that does not have corn or wheat.... he seems to be ok with rice, though.....
Not really. I belive based on my vets talk that many "grains' are not bad for the animal. Garins are not that benifical to dogs and cats in their raw plain state. So manufactures adds lots of vitimins & minerals (processed stuff) to make those grains more digestable and add to the final nutrient base of the food. However, often times those additives may be the true cause of dogs and cats getting sick. Without the aditives, those grains have little benefit, with them it improves the nutrietnt of the food at a lower cost than adding meats, fish or poultry.
But because there are cases of problems, if they took out the additives, they would need to add more costly product to make up for it. If they took out the grains, they don;t need to add the addatives. They decide to take out the grains and addatives and just bite the bullet and add other slightly higher cost items to make up for it. Often the replacement is just garbage byproducts. But people arn't going to normally read the lables and jump for joy because they see no grains. Because "Grain Free" is the latest buzz words, when they remove the grains and problem causing addatives so dogs and cats aren't getting sick, they arn't going to rely solely on smart consumers, no, they plaster "GRAIN FREE" all over the bag and use that bandwagon to take their mediocore product to a new higher level in consumer minds. "It's grain free, so it must be better!" thats what they are counting on. In the end, they have to spend a bit more to replace the filler grains and additives for digestion and replace it with some slightly higher meat/fish/poutry byproduct, but by flashing Grain Free all over their marketing, people will spend much more and that means More Profits.
I do not know about these, specifically, but I have found that just because something is sold for pets does not mean they are good for them. I learned early on that my Brittany got "the piddles" when she ate any kind of rawhide chews. I assume it was from cow hormones.
If it works for them & their dog, and the dog is healthy, why does it matter to you?
The dog isn't healthy. They feed him so many of these jerky treats every day that he has diarrhea every day and he's always throwing up. He's so fat he can hardly get himself up off the floor without help. He can hardly do his business outside anymore. That's why I try to discuss it with them. Their vet has too, but they won't listen.
Just because a tech or vet says something, doesn't make it so. My vet has notices up in each room warning against feeding chicken jerky until the cause of the problem is found. So it appears that some vets don't think it's a problem and some do. Who knows which one is right? Until the cause is found, I still feed jerky, but as an occasional treat only, and after the pet food fiasco with the tainted stuff from China, I avoid any pet foods and treats made in China. I know the USA isn't perfect either, but pet foods using ingredients from China have repeatedly had problems, so I'd rather avoid them.
The dog isn't healthy. They feed him so many of these jerky treats every day that he has diarrhea every day and he's always throwing up. He's so fat he can hardly get himself up off the floor without help. He can hardly do his business outside anymore. That's why I try to discuss it with them. Their vet has too, but they won't listen.
Well, you didn't mention all of that! Of course if the dog is unhealthy, they should be reconsidering its diet... but unfortunately there's only so much YOU can do, aside from "dognapping" him to care for yourself. And it doesn't sound like this brand is necessarily the problem, but rather the dog's being overfed an improperly balanced diet. If ANY treats are being fed excessively or exclusively, that will lead to a fat & unhealthy dog.
Today I was at the pet shop, and asked the clerk if they had any dehydrated chicken strips... they are Rudy's favorite type of treat, so I was hoping to find a safer brand for him. Without my saying anything about this issue, she pointed to the top shelf and said "These are made in the US, but the ones on bottom are from China. So you'll probably want to go with the top-shelf brand."
At that moment this discussion started ringing through my head, and I decided just to pass on them altogether. Instead I picked out some Zuke's "Jerky Naturals," MADE IN THE USA with no wheat, corn, soy, by-products, or anything else on the naughty list. Dangit, thanks for making me all paranoid! He seems to like the other treats alright, so I guess he'll get over the loss of his beloved chicken strips - at least until I do more research.
Just because a tech or vet says something, doesn't make it so. My vet has notices up in each room warning against feeding chicken jerky until the cause of the problem is found. So it appears that some vets don't think it's a problem and some do. Who knows which one is right? Until the cause is found, I still feed jerky, but as an occasional treat only, and after the pet food fiasco with the tainted stuff from China, I avoid any pet foods and treats made in China. I know the USA isn't perfect either, but pet foods using ingredients from China have repeatedly had problems, so I'd rather avoid them.
Generally, I agree with everything you've said... I'm just not convinced THESE treats are specifically bad, at least not for my dog (who's never reacted to them). But it's always better to be safe than sorry, so I will now avoid them and find a better alternative.
I am still frustrated, though, since it seems like a new brand is deemed "dangerous" every week! Pretty soon there will be nothing left to feed our pets, ya know? Just don't tell me that rodents are bad for snakes, or I'll REALLY have a problem on my hands.
I am still frustrated, though, since it seems like a new brand is deemed "dangerous" every week! Pretty soon there will be nothing left to feed our pets, ya know? Just don't tell me that rodents are bad for snakes, or I'll REALLY have a problem on my hands.
LOL! I hear ya. It's getting next to impossible to know what to choose for our pets.
The chicken jerkys are my dog's favorite treat too. I order Kona's Chips online, because they're made in the USA with the same USDA chicken sold for humans. The lady who started the company started it because her own dog was affected by the ones made in China. I think she started out making them in her own home kitchen before the company grew. She was so helpful whenever I called to ask about things like phosphorus content and other stuff. She passed away a couple of months ago, but I think her son is going to keep the company running.
They don't have preservatives, so they have always been shipped to me about 1-2 days after baking, so good and fresh. Then I put them in the freezer to preserve them since I only give Shiloh one occasionally. Shiloh likes them just as well frozen. I hope her son keeps it going. They're more expensive than store-bought, but totally worth it. Since I freeze them, I buy the big breeder size bags, which are cheaper in the long run.
Last time I went to my local small pet store, who specializes in holistic and natural foods, when I asked if they had any chicken jerky not made in China, the owner handed me a bag that she swore was made in the USA. On the bag it said "A USA Company". That's what most of them started putting on their bags after this pet food scare started, to try to fool us into thinking they were made in the USA. In very small print on the bottom, almost impossible to find, they put "Made in China". The company might be in the USA, but that doesn't mean it's made here. They've gotten so tricky that you have to read all the small print, which might be hidden somewhere. When I showed the owner of the store that they weren't made in the USA, she said "Well the company rep told me they were."
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He seems to like the other treats alright, so I guess he'll get over the loss of his beloved chicken strips - at least until I do more research.
