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Diets |
Alternative Veterinary Medicine Centre |
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Manufactured Feeds & Supplements The UK pet food market is of staggering proportions. Annual turnover was approximately £1.5 billion in 2001, with Whiskas the top brand at £87.5 million (http://www.tutor2u.net/business/marketing/casestudy_petfood.asp). The horse feed market is also massive. With an estimated 1.35 million horses in the UK, there's a lot of money spent on horse feeds and supplements. Our rough estimate is £70 million on compound feeds alone, in 2001. The profits generated by this market are jealously guarded and fuelled by attractive packaging and seductive advertising.
It stands to reason that an animal’s diet provides the building blocks for body growth, development and healing and provides the fuel and raw materials for function. Sub-standard food brings sub-standard structure or function, or both. Good nutrition in our patients is the platform upon which we try to build health. Each species has its own special requirements, dictated by its evolutionary development and its natural ecological niche. Whether feeding dogs, feeding cats or feeding horses, the principles are the same. Only the special needs, susceptibilities and capabilities of each species have to be considered. The basis of all good medicine must be a wholesome diet, which is designed and formulated to be compatible with the evolved needs of that species. Watch out for fancy and seductive advertising. Fish is not horse food! Manufactured and processed foods are no better for animals than they are for us. They serve profit as the chief master, not health. Animal-derived ingredients and products should not be fed to herbivores. Pappy food is not suitable for animals with carnivorous dentition. Artificial colourants (colorants), preservatives, anti-oxidants, gelling agents, anti-caking agents, humectants, lubricants and flavourings are not good for any species. There is absolutely no dietary requirement for them and they can be harmful, depending upon the circumstances. Processing itself is not good for food. If a farm animal is producing heavily, each nutrient (whether energy, protein, oils, minerals or vitamins) has to be in sufficient supply and in balance with other dietary components. These are nature’s rules, not ours. Tooth health is critically affected by diet. Manufactured foods for dogs and cats permit or encourage plaque and tartar formation, resulting in gingivitis, gum recession and eventual tooth loss. Sugars in horse diets lead to enamel weakness and concentrate feeding can lead to tartar and to incorrect tooth wear - Teeth (Horses & Ponies) : Teeth & Teething (Dogs & Cats). At the AVMC, we set about ensuring that full, clear and unequivocal feeding advice is given, whatever the species being treated. This is a cornerstone of our medical input. Fresh is best.
We try, also, to make this advice practical and achievable, according to personal circumstance. While we support the use of organic food across the board, we realise this is not for everyone. We also stress those items in a diet which really must be organic, for health reasons. We do not support off-the-shelf 'prescription diet' products, which are highly processed and suffer all the disadvantages of feeding manufactured food. Hippocrates is credited with saying “Let food be thy medicine and medicine thy food.” He saw the point and we err if we ignore this. Good and appropriate food is fundamental to health. In addition to important nutritional questions, there are ethical questions to address. Many of the most popular brands of pet food (including rabbit, ferret, and bird food) are manufactured involving animal experimentation. Reducing this fact to its essentials, buying such foods is funding meaningless laboratory cruelty. Such research has little or no scientific justification but brings great commercial rewards. Manufacturers involved in animal experimentation:
Visit: www.uncaged.co.uk who have some vital campaigns. We enthusiastically support their aversion to animal experimenting pet food manufacturers (http://www.uncaged.co.uk/petfood.htm). However, unlike them, we are unable to recommend feeding ANY manufactured pet food. Other Pages of related interest: Manufacturers somehow persuade us that it is safest and best to feed our animals on formulated and processed products. If manufactured feed were to be the correct, safest and best way forward for our animals, then it would also be best for us. We should all be buying and eating a complete, pelleted diet all our own lives if it were so healthy to do so. Shopping and meal planning would be so easy! Books by Christopher Day: Christopher Day has written a book(let), 'Feeding Dogs the Natural Way' - Chinham Publications, available from the AVMC (see address etc. below). He has also written a book(let), 'Feeding Horses the Natural Way' - Chinham Publications, which can be ordered from the AVMC (see address etc. below) [Not yet in print]. Other books: Books by Tom Lonsdale 'Raw Meaty Bones' and Ian Billingshurst 'The BARF Diet' (bones and raw food) have been recommended to us and have a great following but we have not yet read them (so cannot comment). Copyright © AVMC - June 2006 |
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