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 We at The McDonald Family Animal Rescue are of the firm belief that many common health problems, such as obesity, kidney disease, and dental problems in today's family companions are caused by the consumption of poor quality food. Unfortunately, the majority of cat and dog guardians choose which brand to purchase after seeing the numerous commercials on TV, having it recommended by their vet, and seeing it pushed and promoted at local grocery stores and pet stores. The truth is, is that just because the product is on TV, and just because the commercial says that they're the best, doesn't make it so. These corporations spend millions of dollars every year on fancy packaging and advertising, and skimp on the areas that matter most; high quality ingredients and proper nutrition. Vets learn little in Veterinary School regarding proper nutrition, and receive funding from major pet food companies if they push their brand at their clinic. Many vets are seen carrying and recommending such low quality foods as IAMS and Hills/Science Diet with little thought put towards the ingredients. Any food that you can find for sale at a Grocery Store is likely of poor quality. Even stores such as Petsmart and Petcetera sell primarily low quality brands, with only a few higher quality (but still not great) choices available. A quick glance at the ingredients list is all you need in order to determine whether or not the food you're buying is good for your pet.
What Makes a Low Quality Food So Bad?  The high quality brands may be more expensive, but in the long run they ARE cheaper. They don't have any indigestible fillers such as corn and wheat products, which means they require less food to acquire optimum nutrition from the food. Corn/Wheat and other similar products are added to food in order to create more for food for less money, but dogs and cats are primarily carnivorous; they can't digest it. When you put garbage into your pet, you'll get just as much garbage coming out the other end. When switched to a high quality, completely digestible diet, their feces will be smaller, harder, and drier and will smell MUCH less then when they were eating low quality food.
Grains also metabolize sugar, resulting in poor muscle development, allergies, and even behavioral issues.
To keep foods fresh and give them a longer shelf life, chemicals banned for use by humans are used as preservatives; BHA, BHT, Propylene Glycol (also used as antifreeze!) and Ethoxyquin (a suspected carcinogen that can also cause infertility and skin problems) are all commonly found in pet food. There are a myriad of other undesirable chemicals such as coloring agents, drying agents, flavoring agents, lubricants, nutritive sweeteners and texturizers.
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- The 95% Rule: If the product says “Salmon Cat Food” or “Beef Dog Food,” 95% of the product must be the named ingredients. A product with a combination label, such as “Lamb and Liver for Dogs,” must contain 95% Lamb and liver, and there must be more lam than liver, since lamb is named first.
- The 25% or “Dinner” Rule: Ingredients named on the label must comprise at least 25% of the product but less than 95%, when there is a qualifying “descriptor” term like “dinner,” “entree,” “formula,” “platter,” “nuggets,” etc. In “Beef Dinner for Dogs,” beef may or may not be the primary ingredient. If two ingredients are named (“Beef and Turkey Dinner for Dogs”), the two ingredients must total 25%, there must be more of the first ingredient (beef) than the second (turkey), and there must be at least 3% of the lesser ingredient.
- The 3% or “With” Rule: A product may be labeled “Cat Food with Salmon” if it contains at least 3% of the named ingredient.
- The “Flavor” Rule: A food may be labeled “Turkey Flavor Cat Food” even if the food does not contain such ingredients, as long as there is a “sufficiently detectable” amount of flavor. This may be derived from meals, by-products, or “digests” of various parts from the animal species indicated on the label.
Some Ingredients to Watch Out For
- Animal Digest: This is the dry by-product of rendered meat. During rendering, all usable animal parts (including fetal tissues and glandular wastes) are heated in vats and the liquid is separated from the dry meal. This meal is covered with charcoal and labeled "unfit for human consumption" before processing it into pet food. Digest can also include intestines, as well as the contents of those intestines, such as stool, bile, parasites and chemicals.
- Animal Fat and Tallow: Animal fat is a "generic" fat source that is most often made up of rendered animal fat, rancid restaurant grease or other oils that are deemed inedible for humans. Tallow is low quality hard white fat that most animals find hard to digest, not to mention the cardiac risks resulting.
- Chemical Preservatives: Chemical preservatives include BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole), BHT (butylated hydroxytolulene), propyl gallate, propylene glycol (also used in automotive antifreeze and is suspected of causing red blood cell damage) and ethoxquin , are all potentially cancer causing agents that your pets are eating every day.
- Chicken By-products: These are ground parts from poultry carcasses such as feet, heads, feathers, intestines, necks and undeveloped eggs and can included any rendered material.
- Corn Products: Corn products including corn meal, gluten and grits are cheap, allergy causing fillers and are very difficult for animals to digest.
- Food Fragments: Lower end by-products of the food manufacturing process, examples include wheat bran and brewers rice which are a waste product of the alcohol industry.
- Ground Whole Grain Sorghum: The feed value of grain sorghum is similar to corn and is grown primarily as a feed grain for livestock.
- Meat and Bone Meal: “Meat” and bone meal are inexpensive sources of animal protein. Note that these companies do not clarify the source of “meat”, nor are they human-grade meat. The protein in Meat meal containing a large amount of processed bone may not be digestible and fail to provide adequate nutrition.
- Meat Based: A label that say "meat based" may also include blood vessels, tendons, organs and other parts of the rendered animal. Note again that these companies do not clarify the source of “meat”, nor are they human-grade meat products.
- Meat By-products: Pet grade meat by-products consist of organs and parts not desired or not fit for human consumption. This can include organs, bones, blood and fatty tissue. It can also include brains, feet, heads, intestines and any other internal parts. Unbelievably, by-products can also contain cancerous or diseased tissue containing parasites, euthanized animals.
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So often we talk to animal lovers who have companions who have suffered from chronic medical conditions, much to the dismay of their caretaker! Constant urinary tract infections and crystals, allergies, frequent vomiting and diarrhea, and of course, who doesn't know a fat cat? Even with our own cats, before we knew about the importance of high quality pet foods, we fed our cats Purina. Both died of kidney disease, and one was treated multiple times throughout her life for urinary tract problems.
We have had none of these problems since we've switched to high quality foods and everyone we know that has switched from Grocery Brands to Premium Brands will attest to the change in their animals! We've recieved many dogs suffering from skin conditions that have quickly cleared up with a switch to a better food, and fat cats and dogs that have shrunk down to an appropriate size merely by changing their diets. A good food has everything to do with overall health!
These Are Just Some of the Health Problems Associated with Diet:
- Urinary Tract Disease (Plugs, Crystals, Stones)
- Obesity (Obese animals more prone to arthritis, heart disease, Diabetes)
- Chronic Digestion Problems such as vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, inflammatory bowel disease, etc.
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Companies and Brands that we do NOT recommend:
- Nestle Purina (Brands include Purina, Alpo, Beneful, Dog Chow, ProPlan, Puppy Chow, Mighty Dog, MoistnMeaty, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Cat Chow, Kitten Chow, and PurinaONE)
- MasterFoods owns Mars, Inc (Brands include Cesar, Pedigree, Sheba, The Good Life, Royal Canin, Temptations, Whiskas)
- Procter and Gamble (Brands include IAMS and Eukanuba)
- Menu Foods (makes "House Brands" like Kroger and Wal-Mart's Ol'Roy)
- Del Monte/Heinz (Kibbles n Bits, Wagwells, 9Lives, Skippy, Nature's Recipe, MilkBones, Pup-Peroni, Snausages, Pounce)
- Petsmart's Authority
- Bil-Jac
- Diamond Products (Nutra Nuggets, Sporting Dog Formula, Performance, etc)
- Eagle Pack Adult Reduced Fat
- Hills (Science Diet, Science Diet Veterinary Formulas)
- Multi-Menu
- Hagen's Nutrience
- Techni-cal
 Companies and Brands that we DO reccomend:Products marked with * we have used personally- Canidae/Felidae
- Chicken Soup for the Puppy/Kitten Dog/Cat Lovers Soul
- PetCurean (Go!Natural *, Now! Grain Free Dog/Cat Food)
- Natura (Innova*, Evo*, California Natural, Health Wise, Mother Nature Natural Biscuits, Karma)
- Merrick*
- Solid Gold
- Timberwolf Organics
- Wysong Archetype Canine/Feline Diet (NOT the maintanence, which we consider poor quality)
- Wellness*/Old Mother Hubbard*
- Champion Pet Foods (Acana* and Orijen) *
- Eagle Pack Holistic
- Natural Balance
Is your brand not on the list? You can check DogFoodAnalysis.com to see how many Stars your brand gets. I've yet to find a similar site for cats, but most of these companies make both dog and cat food and put the same quality of ingredients into each. The best thing you can do to determine whether or not your food is a healthy choice is to look at the ingredients yourself!
Back to the Top! | | | | When you've decided on a brand that you like, go to the manufacturers website. They will have a search function to find suppliers in your area. If you're in Edmonton, we've been able to find great dog and cat food at the following locations:
Pet Planet:
View Edmonton Locations
Pet Planet only carries pet supplies, no animals! They are very active in raising awareness of the importance of high quality food and supporting local rescues. Two locations in Edmonton donate their close to out-of-date food to us for rescued dogs and cats! They only carry high quality products, including extremely affordable and fresh local Timothy Hay for small animals. They carry raw diets as well.
Tail Blazers:
View Edmonton Locations
This company only sells high quality products as well, but we've found them to be a little higher priced then Pet Planet. They also carry raw diets.
Discount Dog Food Club:
6844 82 Avenue NW
Edmonton, AB
(780) 469-3101
This little store just off Whyte Ave is great! They have the lowest prices and only carry the highest quality premium foods. The man that runs it is very passionate about high quality food. The resident dogs are great! They also carry high quality, affordable doggy sweaters, treats, and raw bones.
G&E Pharmacy:
7326 82 Avenue NW
Edmonton, AB
(780) 469-7667
Just down the street from Discount Dog Food Club, G&E beats the prices of all of the local pet stores for small animal supplies! They sell accessories for dogs, cats, rodents, birds, fish, livestock, and more! They also carry high quality dog and cat foods, but be careful; they also sell extremely poor quality foods as well.
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Slipping your dog or cat a bit of human food here and there is a common practice...but could you accidentally be giving your pet something harmful?
Caffiene (Coffee, pop, tea, etc)
| Can affect the heart and nervous system.
| Grapes and Raisins
| Deaths in parrots have been contributed to an unknown toxin in grapes, and can damage the kidneys of dogs and cats as well.
| | Hops | Causes panting, increased heart rate, seizures, fever, and death.
| Large amounts of liver
| Can cause Vitamin A toxicity affecting the bones and muscles.
| Yeast Dough
| Expands and produces gas in the digestive system resulting in severe pain, and in some cases, rupture of the stomach or intestines.
| Sugary Foods
| Leads to obesity, dental problems, and diabetes.
| | Tobacco | Nicotene affects the digestive and nervous systems and can result in rapid heart beat, followed by collapse, coma, and death. Cigarette smoke effects the lungs of animals just as it does humans, but much more quickly and more severely due to their size.
| | Salt | Large quantities of salt can lead to electrolyte imbalances.
| Peach and Plum Pit
| Can cause digestive tract obstructions requiring surgery.
| Onions and Garlic
| Contain sulfoxides and disulfides that damage red blood cells resulting in anemia. Cats are more prone to problems then dogs.
| | Mushrooms | Can cause stomach upset and even organ damage, depending on the species of mushroom.
| Dairy Products
| Most Cats, including kittens, are not capable of breaking down the lactose in milk, making them "lactose intolerant" resulting in diarrhea and abdominal pain.
| Macadamia Nuts
| An unknown toxin affects the nervous and digestive systems as well as muscles.
| Green Tomatoes
| Contain the poisonous alkaloid Glycoalkaloid (also found in Deadly Nightshade) that results in severe and painful gastrointestinal upset.
| | Chocolate | Contains Theobromine which is extremely toxic to cats, dogs, and many other animals.
| Raw Fish
| Regular consumption of raw fish can result in thiamine deficiency resulting in loss of appetite, seizures, and in the most severe cases, death.
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TOXIC PLANTS
Do you have a green thumb? Some of your plants may be toxic to your four legged friend. Cats in particular enjoy chewing on plants. Make sure that yours are either safe or out of reach! Many plants sold at local grocery stores aren't labelled by species, so be cautious! A "mixed 4" tropical plant" might result in tragic consequences.
The plants below are toxic!
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