Disappointing Trend In Rising Pet Food Market

Grain free pet food has grown significantly in popularity in the past several years.  While some manufacturers, commonly privately owned companies hold impeccable standards, other pet food makers are now jumping into this arena in an attempt to market their less expensive knock offs in order to grasp their piece of this multibillion dollar industry.  At Murphy’s Premium Pet Food Market, their are several factors we consider when choosing grain free recipes.  Raw, is of course the first choice in a carnivores diet.  However, we have to consider there is a vast percentage of consumers  requiring a more convenient and or affordable alternative.

First, we only consider pet food manufacturers that refuse to source ingredients from China.  Unfortunately, this eliminates the majority of brands in today’s market.

Second, we evaluate their protein sources.  There is a lot of controversy regarding high protein and kidney function.  Healthy kidneys can handle high protein.  The problem arises when manufacturers use meals including high levels of bone meal.  The phosphorus levels are very hard on the kidneys.  We don’t care for the use of calcium carbonate for the same reason.

Third, we consider protein to carbohydrate margins.  As less expensive recipes enter the market, they tend to reduce meat meals.  In most cases, this increases the carbohydrate load.  If these ingredients are replaced with high fiber complex carbohydrates such as sweet potatoes, squash, or pumpkin, we see less issues than when white potatoes replace protein.  Potatoes convert to glucose rapidly.  High blood sugar levels result in the opposite effect one is trying to achieve with a no grain diet.  The diet is designed to balance blood sugar as well as reduce inflammation. Researchers now believe imbalanced blood sugar is the root of inflammation, resulting in the manifestation of most disease.  We receive calls from veterinarians specializing in cancer treatment. They request diets with high protein and fat and little to no ingredients that convert to sugar quickly.  High sugar levels provide an environment cancer can thrive in.  That says a lot!

While the elimination of grain has ended suffering for uncountable pets as well as saved their owners countless vet bills, we now see a trend that so far our manufacturers refuse to address. Our concern is that now that the market has been established and consumers are willing to pay for quality, pet food makers are finding less expensive protein sources to reduce meat meal in their formulas.  Peas and pea protein have become a concern. When questioned about the changes, we are deluged with scientific research provided by highly ranked universities stating the nutritional contents in peas and pea protein.  My question is, has there been any research to prove whether or not these nutrients are bio-available in a carnivores digestive tract.  Peas belong to the legume family.  Legumes are high in phytic acid.  Phytates have a tendency to bind calcium, magnesium, and iron in animals and humans.

I am even more concerned with the lectin proteins contained in these ingredients.  We have never seen head lines reporting wolf packs or wild cats descending on wheat, corn, or pea fields.  There is a good reason for this.  Lectin proteins are a plants natural defense.  While birds can digest these proteins, humans and carnivores cannot.  Lectins are designed by nature to work through the digestive lining in order to break down it’s predators system and disrupt digestion. When undigested protein enters the blood stream, the immune system sets up an auto immune response resulting in allergies. Lectins are sticky, binding proteins. They attach to leptin receptors which regulate carbohydrates into glucose.  In time, they can disrupt these receptors and lead to diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease; conditions very prevalent in humans and pets today.   Lectins also attach to villi in the digestive tract.  They block absorption of nutrients.  In time the damage becomes permanent.  We see a lot of this in American German Shepherds.  When was the last time you saw an Irish Setter?  Some breeds have been more susceptible to this damage.  Their reputation smeared by reports of stupidity, or aggressiveness.  The truth may be that their digestion,  including pancreatic function is so disrupted that their brains and nervous systems were severely affected. Consider that when the body is under stress, cortisol levels rise and stop producing the natural protective mucus coating needed in the digestive tract, leading to a never ending cycle affecting the nervous system.

Further research reveals that due to their binding ability, lectin proteins are used to splice genes together in genetically modified food. The original wheat contained six chromosomes. The wheat we consume today has as many as forty two chromosomes, each containing proteins not originally coded in the plant.  The next pledge we may need Susan Thixton to ask manufacturers for is non genetically modified ingredients.  With further genetically modification entering our food supply, we are likely to see acceleration in disease.  This may answer the question of why celiac disease and multiple sclerosis are rising at alarming rates around the world.

A carnivores diet is simple.  Unfortunately, pet food manufacturers and suppliers are in a continuous search for less expensive alternatives to feeding animals than way nature designed them.  Symptoms may present themselves quickly for some animals, while others endure damage silently until a sever condition is diagnosed.

Ingredient of caution – pea protein.  High placement of this ingredients on the ingredient list could indicate concentrated levels.  I prefer not to see pea protein or peas in the ingredient list at all, however you’ll be hard pressed finding that in today’s market.  In any given pet food, a few peas is not a huge concern.  My concern lies when manufacturers are replacing meat protein with concentrated high levels of peas or pea protein.

Kimberly Kalander

The  greatness of a nation and it’s moral progress can be judged by the way in which it’s animals are treated.  I hold the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man.    ]Gandhi

Resources for article:
Lund University, Sweden
Tommy Jonsson, Stefan Olsson, Thornkild  C. Bog Hanson

The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University
Copenhagen, Denmark

The Lectin Report
Krispin Sullivan

About Kim Kalander:  Kimberly Kalander founded Murphy’s Premium Pet Food Market in October 2007. Motivated by the senseless loss of the 2007 pet food recalls.  She has applied her thirty years experience in alternative healing studies to animals and has been met with great success. Her small store carries what she believes to be the best pet foods the industry has to offer. She scrutinizes country of origin concerning ingredients. She has held firm on a no Chinese sourced ingredient policy.   She believes the body in general has a great regenerative ability, and when properly supported can regain balance and vitality, as well as put an and end to needless suffering. Her mission is to empower consumers through education in the hope of creating a safer industry that considers nutritional quality over mass profit for investors.