This is a very interesting perspective from Dr. Randy Wysong (Wysong Pet Food). His words do make you wonder if the complete and balanced pet food prominently pitched at pet owners is more marketing than science.
Quotes from the Dr. Wysong article…
“Every day, people by the millions pour food from a package into their pet’s bowl. Day in and day out, meal after meal, pets get the same fare. This strange phenomenon is widely practiced by loving pet owners who believe they are doing the right thing.”
“Why? Certainly because it is convenient, but also because the labels state that such foods are “complete and balanced,” “100% complete,” or that they have passed various analytical and feeding test standards. Furthermore, manufacturers, and even veterinarians, counsel pet owners about not feeding other foods, such as table scraps, because of the danger of unbalancing these modern processed nutritional marvels. The power of the message is so great that pet owners en masse do every day to their pets what they would never do to themselves or their children, force-feed the same processed food at every meal.”
Dr. Wysong brings up a very good point…“In order for nutritionists and manufacturers to produce a ‘100% complete and balanced’ pet food, they must first know 100% about nutrition.” He shares that nutrition is “not a completed science. It is, in fact, an aggregate science, which is based upon other sciences, such as chemistry, physics, and biology. But since no scientist would argue that everything is known in chemistry, or physics, or biology, how can nutritionists claim to know everything there is to know about nutrition, which is based upon these sciences? This is the logical absurdity of the “100% complete and balanced” diet claim.” http://www.public88.com/organic/organic-chemistry/organic-chemistry-journal-the-myth-of-100-complete-pet-food/
When I was a child, I spent many weekends with my Grandparents who lived in the country. They raised beagles, having a litter of puppies every couple of years. There was always three or four adult dogs around to play with – heaven to me. Never once did these dogs eat ‘dog food’. They were fed scraps and leftovers from the family table – both raw and cooked. Never once did my Grandparents even consider if the dogs diet was ‘balanced’. Never once did these dogs get vitamin supplements. The dogs ate what the family ate; nothing more, nothing less. And…they lived to ripe old ages never suffering from cancer or kidney disease.
I think most Pet Owners of similar generation have the same memories. Forty and fifty years ago ‘pet food’ wasn’t such a big deal. It was common to give your pet table scraps – even if you added it to trendy commercial pet food. Doggie bags actually used to be for the dog!
But today Pet Owners almost feel their pets will fall over from terminal disease if they eat one meal of unbalanced food or table scraps. I can tell you from personal experience from shifting to cooking meals for my pets, I’ve worried if I had the meal balanced right. Laid awake at night wondering if that meal of freshly prepared chicken and vegetables was ‘right’ for them. Did I do something wrong? Was my cooking going to make them sick?
Have we been so brainwashed by the pet food industry that today we almost fear giving our pets people food?
So, what do you think? Is the 100% complete and balanced pet food diet more of a marketing scheme to keep Pet Owners buying commercial pet food? Is the 100% complete and balanced pet food claim valid? Or is the truth somewhere in between?
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author, Buyer Beware
Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
PetsumerReport.com
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