One of you great (and attentive) pet parents out there sent me the article ‘What Not to Feed a Cat’ from RealAge.com. RealAge.com, a website that promotes healthier living to a longer life, told pet parents in this article some misleading information. I sent RealAge some questions (and some pet food enlightenment) regarding this article, which have gone unanswered for ten days.
My guess would be the RealAge article ‘What Not to Feed a Cat’ was written by their sponsor Science Diet. While some of the points in the article were valuable, others were misleading. Here’s what I asked RealAge…
Dear RealAge,
On your page ‘What not to feed a cat‘ you state several things that concern me.
1. “CatAge advises against feeding your cat raw or cooked meat; raw meats may contain parasites and cooked meats tend to be high in fat.”
Don’t commercial cat foods contain cooked meats? In your first paragraph you state “cats are true carnivores” – so again, why make the statement you are against feeding cats raw or cooked meat? Isn’t meat the diet of a carnivore?
2. “Table scraps: Your dinner leftovers and discarded table scraps are not nutritionally complete or balanced foods for cats.”
Your pet food partner, Hill’s Science Diet Age Defying cat food, utilizes some ‘leftovers and discarded’ ingredients. As example, in the Science Diet Senior Age Defying dry cat food, are the ingredients…
Brewers Rice. Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) definition of this ingredient is “The dried extracted residue of rice resulting from the manufacture of wort (liquid portion of malted grain) or beer and may contain pulverized dried spent hops in an amount not to exceed 3 percent.” Doesn’t ‘residue’ rice seem like leftovers or discarded to you?
Chicken by-product meal. AAFCO definition of this ingredient is “consists of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered poultry, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs, and intestines,…” Wouldn’t you consider ‘undeveloped eggs and chicken intestines’ to be discarded leftovers from the processing of human food?
Animal Fat. AAFCO definition of this ingredient is “obtained from the tissues of mammals and/or poultry in the commercial processes of rendering or extracting.” FDA testing linked this ingredient to the euthanizing drug pentobarbital; thus this pet food ingredient is linked to rendered euthanized animals. FDA Compliance Policies also allow this ingredient to contain 4-D animals (dead, diseased, dying, disabled). Does RealAge NOT consider 4D animals and or euthanized animals discarded leftovers?
I would like a response to these questions. I am concerned that your website is providing pet parents with very misleading information.
Susan Thixton
These questions were sent to RealAge on September 16, 2011. I’ve not received a response. If RealAge does respond, I will certainly post their reply.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author, Buyer Beware
Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
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