THESE RESEARCH PAPERS ALL LINK PET FOOD WITH THE
ILLNESS OR DEATH OF THE CAT OR DOG TAKING PART IN THE RESEARCH
lovingly compiled by Fiona MacMillan
The following articles have not all been reviewed by the
webmaster - opinions expressed are those of Ms. MacMillan.
Journal of Nutrition 136, July 2006 “The Growing
Problem of Obesity in Dogs and Cats” which is a
paper written by Alex German of Liverpool Veterinary. Dr.
German is “Royal Canin Lecturer” at Liverpool Veterinary
School and in a letter to me dated 16th May 2006 Liverpool Veterinary
School have disclosed to me that between 1.4.2004 and 31.3.2006
they received funding in the sum of 425,871 from
pet food companies and 732,615 from drug companies. No
funding should be taken from pet food or drug companies because
it makes veterinary schools marketing arms of them but pet food
companies are wrongly being allowed to teach veterinary students
nutrition at veterinary schools and this is how students graduate
not knowing that cats and dog were never meant to be fed carbohydrate
laden dry pet food and that feeding them this is causing diabetes,
struvite, calcium oxalate, kidney failure, ibs, cystitis etc.
PubMed - J Feline Med Surg. 2006 April; 8(2); 73-84 "Comparison
of a low carbohydrate, low fiber diet and a moderate carbohydrate,
high fiber diet in the management of feline diabetes mellitus"
and this shows that it is the carbohydrate in dry food that is
causing the Type II diabetes cats get and says "Diabetic
cats in this study were significantly more likley to revert to
a non insulin dependent state when fed the canned low carbohydrate,
low fiber diet versus the medium carbohydrate, high fiber diet".
Cats left on medium carbohydrate in this study could not be taken
off insulin but the cats in this study should have been completely
taken off all carbohydrate since cats were never meant to eat
carbohydrate and do not even have the salivary amylase necessary
to digest carbohydrate and have very little pancreatic amylase
because Mother Nature never meant the cat to eat the huge amounts
of carbohydrate it is fed when fed dry pet food.
Dogs do make amylase.
PubMed – J. Am Vet Med Assoc. 2006 Mar 1; 228(5):
743-9 “Renal transplantation in cats with calcium
oxalate urolithiasis: 19 cases (1997-2004) and this says
“Renal transplantation appeas to be a viable option for
cats in renal failure secondary to calcium oxalate urolithiasis”. Calcium
oxalate stones have been found in research to be caused by pet
food companies acidifying dry pet food because all the carbohydrate
in it alkalises the urine and to counteract this pet food companies
began acidifying pet food because the alkalization caused by the
carbohydrate was cause struvite which can stop a cat passing urine
and could kill it if it is not catheterized. However,
acidifiying pet food is a completely unnatural thing to do and
this in research has been found to cause a considerable increase
in calcium oxalate stones which can cause kidney failure.
PubMed - J Am Anim Hosp Assoc. 2006 Jan-Feb; 42(1): 28-36 "The
effect of ingredients in dry dog foods on the risk of gastric
dilatation volvulus in dogs" and says "An unexpected
finding was that dry foods containing an oil or fat ingredient
(eg. sunflower oil, animal fat) among the first four ingredients
were associated with a significatn, 2-4 fold increased risk of
GDV". GDV can kill a dog.
Blackwell Synergy - Journal off Veternary Emergency and Critical
Care, Vol 16, June 2006 "Diet-associated hepatic
failure and immune-mediated hemolytic anemia in a Weimaraner"
and says "A 4 year old male castrated Weimaraner developd
signs of IMHA, hepatic failure, disseminated intravascular coagulopathy
and malnutritiin after consuming a commercial dog food".
Journal of Nutriton 136 July 2006 “The Evolutionary
Basis for the Feeding Behaviour of Domestic Dogs and Cats”. This
paper says in the conclusion “When feeding, domestic cats
and domestic dogs both display the legacy of their origins in
the Carnivora. Therefore dogs and cats are considered
to be carnivores and it is completely wrong to feed them carbohydrate
laden dry pet food which causes them all kinds of illness because
in the wild they would never hunt or search out carbohydrate to
eat. Pet food companies, however, have
got away with loading pet food with carbohydrates and this is
causing diabetes, cystitis, ibs, allergies, dermatological problems,
kidney failure etc.
Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association; 41:
284-291, 2005 entitled “Taurine-Deficient Dilated
Cardiomyopathy in a Family of Golden Retrievers”
and this yet again shows that dogs are getting dilated cardiomyopathy
because of a lack of taurine even though dogs make their own taurine
but something in pet food fed dogs is interfering with this and
causing them and cats to get dilated cardiomyopathy but this paper
says “Canine dilated cardiomyopathy is generally progressive
and fatal” but says “A reversible taurine-deficient
dilated cardiomyopathy occurred in five related golden retrievers. An
apical systolic heart murmur was the most common physical abnormality”. The
dogs were given taurine supplements and the paper says following
this “The dogs regained substantial systolic function and
four were weaned off all cardiac medications except taurine”. If
the dogs had been fed raw pet food this contains taurine and they
would not have got dilated cardiomyopathy which also affects cats
and rice in pet food is linked with interfering with the taurine
levels of cats and dogs which can give them blindness or dilated
cardiomyopathy. However, given them taurine reversed
this usually fatal disease which is caused by feeding pet food.
Nutrition.org - 2004 The American Society for Nutritional Sciences
J. Nutr. 134-2068S "Carbohydrate Malabsorption Is
a Feature of Feline Inflammatory Bowel Disease But Does not Increase
Clinical Gastrointestinal Signs". This
is a Wathams pet food company paper and in it they admit that
ibs is caused by carbohydrate malabsorption in cats which is not
surprising since cats were never meant to eat the huge amount
of carbohydrate in dry pet food.. At www.catnutrition.org
the lady who runs this website began it because no Vet could cure
her cat of ibs but she took it off dry food and changed it to
raw food and the cat has been well ever since.
PubMed - J Nutr 2004 Aug; 134(8) "Canine and
feline diabetes mellitus: nature or nurture?" and
this says "High-carbohydrate diets increase blood glucose
and insulin levels and may predispose cats to obesity and diabetes.
Low carbohydrate, high protein diets may help prevent diabetes
in cats at risk such as obese cats or lean cats with underlying
low insulin sensitivity". Dr. Elizabeth
Hodgkins DVM is an expert in feline diabetes and she says that
the carbohydrate in dry food is causing the diabetes and I am
certain this is correct.
Blackwell Synergy - Veterinary Dermatology, Vol 15 Page 137 -
June 2004 "A randomized controlled study to evaluate
the steroid sparing effect of essential fatty acid supplementation
in the treatment of canine atopic dermatitis" and
this concudes that when the dogs were given fatty acid supplements
this reduced the need for steroids and I think Vets should not
be treating this with steroids and should instead be advising
clients to feed foods with Omega 3 which is naturally found in
raw food and that if pets were fed raw food they would not get
all these dermatological problems. Pet food also has
far too little animal fat in it since the National Research Council
has laid down eg. that cats only need 9% fat when Graham Roberts
MRCVS in the Veterinary Times dated 19.1.2004 says that cats need
at least 40% animal fat in their diet and the lack of fat causes
dermatological problems.
PubMed, Pol J. Vet Sci. 2004; 7(4): 337-41 “Dietary
origin of mycotoxins and estrogenic potential and possible health
implications for female dogs” and this links mycotoxins
in cereals in pet food with causing endometrica pyometra complex
(EPC) and fertility problems and links feeding pelleted dog feed
with causing the mycotoxins. It says that Ochratoxin
A, deoxynivalenol, nivalenol and monililformin were found to be
significant contaminants found in cereal grain samples. In
another veterinary research paper listed herein Ochratoxin was
found in the kidneys of cats and Oxhratoxin is considered to be
a poison. It would seem the Ochratoxin probably
came from the cereal in the pet food they had been eating.
Pub Med - J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2004 Mar 15;224(6): 879-86 "Epidemiologic
study of relationships between consumption of commercial canned
food and risk of hyperthryoidism in cats" and links
feeding tinned pet food to causing hyperthryoidism.
PubMed - Am J Vet Res. 2004 Feb; 65(2): 138-42 "Evaluation
of effects of dietary carbohydrate on formation of struvite crystals
in urine and macromineral balance in clinically normal cats"
which says carbohydrate stimulates struvite which stops a
cat passing urine and can kill it within 24 hours if it is not catheterized
and that restricting carbohydrate from the diet is desirable to
prevent struvite. Therefore taking the cat off dry
food is vital because dry food has up to 50% carbohydrate or even
more in it when the cat was never meant to eat any more than 1%
carbohydrate according to Richard Allport MRCVS.. The
carbohydrate alkalises the urine of the cat and creates the perfect
conditions for struvite stones to form.
PubMed – Am J Vet Res. 2004 Jan; 65(1): 99-103 “Development
of polymerase chain reaction based method to identify species-specific
components in dog food” and this says that 31 dog
foods were were analysed to see if they had pentobarbital which
is used to euthanase pets in them. The result
was “Because canine and feline DNA were not found in
a set of 31 retail dog food samples, theseresults indicate that
the source of pentobarbital in dog food is comething other than
proteins from rendered pet animals”. This,
however, shows that pentobarbital is in pet food for dogs and
in pet food for cats too presumably.
Blackwell Synergy – Veterinary Dermatology Vol. 15, June
2004 “A randomized, controlled study to evaluate
the steroid sparing effect of essential fatty acid supplementation
in the treatment of canine atopic dermatitis” and
the findings of this wer “Our findings indicate a steroid
sparing effect of essential fatty acid supplementation in canine
atopic dermatitis and, furthermore, that there is a time lag before
the effect is attained”. This shows that if dogs
were fed raw food which contains the essential fatty acids they
need that they would not need to be fed supplements of essential
fatty acids. This paper showed that the supplements
of essential fatty acids meant the dogs could get their steroid
dose reduced because the essential fatty acids helped stop the
canine atopic dermatitis. Instead to giving steroids
to pets, Vets should be advising clients to feed raw food but
instead have pets with dermatitis on endless steroids which can
end up causing kidney failure.
Nutrition.org, 2004 The American Society for Nutritional Sciences
J. Nutr. 134; 21285-21295, August 2004 “Dietary
Sodium Promotes Increased Water Intake and Urine Volume in Cats”.
This is a research paper produced by Walthams pet food which says
“Urolithiasis is a debilitating and potentially life-threatening
condition characeterized by crystallization of solutes within
the urine that can progress to urolith formation….Cats tend
to produce small amounts of concentrated urine, and this may be
particularly marked when they are fed dry (extruded) diets. Urine
volume is determined to a large extent by water intake and so
increasing water intake shouldresult in an increased vlume of
more dilute urine…..Inceasing the water intake showed clear
benefits in studies of human urolithiasis”. This
shows that Walthams are admitting that dry food is causing life-threatening
struvite in cats and cats on dry food are chronically dehydrated
just as Dr. Lisa Pierson DVM says at www.catnutrition.org in her
paper about what cats should be fed and she says that feeding
them dry food is causing kidney failure and bladder problems. This
Walthams paper says that sodium should be added to the dry food
to get the cat to drink more water to flush out the uroliths but
what is really needed is for dry pet food to be banned because
it is causing life-threatening illness in cats and is causing
diabetes, cystits, kidney failure, ibs etc. Vets
have betrayed pets and pet owners by giving veterinary endorsement
to dry pet food. They clearly have done this because
of the huge funding pet food companies are giving the veterinary
schools and they even are allowing pet food companies like Hills
and Royal Canin and Walthams to teach veterinary students. Dr.
Susan Wynn DVM at The World Small Animal Veterinary Association
Congress in Vancouver in 2001 said “What consumer in their
right mind would think that you could possibly get all the nutrition
you would ever need from a bag or a tin”. Veterinary
students are far too acquiescent and never it seems challenge
why they are being told that only pet food can meet the nutritional
requirements of cats and dogs when cats have lived for at least
8,000 years on raw food and dogs for at least 12,000 years and
it is clear that raw food is the best food to feed cats and dogs
since that is what Mother Nature intended them to eat.
Walthams in this research paper suggest that salt must be added
to pet food to get cats on dry food to drink more but the answer
is to stop cats and indeed dogs being fed dry pet food since as
Dr. Kathy Sinning DVM said in a letter published in the JAVMA,
it is preposterous that pets are being fed dry pet food.
PubMed - Vet Record (Britain) 2004 Aug 7; 155(6): 174-6 "Accidental
poisoning of 17 dogs with lasalocid" and this says
"Over a period of 10 days 17 dogs became weak and developed
neurological deficits of different degrees of severity.
About 12 hours before these clinical signs appeared they had all
eaten a particular brand of commercial dog food from a recently
opened bag.......Five of the dogs died but the others improved
gradually".
PubMed - Tijdschr Diergeneeskd 2003 Dec 15; 128(24); 785-7 "Health
claims in dog and cat feed" and this says "The
number and diversity of health claims for dog and cat foods have
increased markedly over the past few years. There
is no explicit legislation as to these claims. Many
claims are insufficiently supported by research and are vague
and suggestive". This paper says that rules
should be set up to stop pet food companies making false and unsubstantiated
health claims for their food.
PubMed - J. Am Vet Med Assoc. 2003 Oct. 15; 223 "Taurine
deficiency in dogs with dilated cardiomyopathy"
which says that dogs fed a commercial dog food were found to have
low blood taurine which gave them DCM even although dogs produce
taurine and the paper says pet food companies should perhaps add
taurine even to dog food. Feeding the dogs raw food
would give them taurine. I know of a 9 year old pet
food fed Lurcher that recently died because of DCM.
PubMed - Am J. Vet Res. 2003 Aug; 64(8): 1059-64 "Effects
of a high protein diet versus dietary supplementation with ammonium
chloride on struvite crystal formation in urine of clinically
normal cats" and this again comes to the conclusion
that "the high protein diet is preferable as a urine acidifier"
and yet again highlights that cats should be fed their species
appropriate high protein, raw diet rather than the carbohydrate
laden dry pet food so many of them eat day in day out.
Blackwell Synergy - Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutritioin,
Vol 87, Feb 2003. "Teratogenic effects of chronic
ingestion of high levels of Vitaman A in cats" and says "High
concentrations of retinoids occur in some commercial cat food
fomulations as a result of the use of animal liver as an ingredient"
The result was that this was found to cause "Malformations
included cleft palate, cranioschisis, foreshortened mandible,
stenotic colon, enlarged heart and agenesis of the spinal cord
and small intestine and feotal defects consistent with ingestion
of excess retinoids in other species".
Therefore too much liver in pet food is causing these problems.
Can Vet J. 2003; 44(1): 783 "In support of bones
and raw food diets" and in this they say that feeding
raw food has not caused any medical problems to the pets of clients
they have advised to feed raw food to their cats and dogs and
detail all the health problems which have disappeared when the
pets were fed raw food which include bladder problems.
Blackwell Synergy - Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition;
Vol 87, June 2003 "Plasma and whole blood taurine
in normal dogs of varying size fed commercially prepared food"
this is really the same paper as the one above but mentions that
the dogs were fed lamb and rice and says that perhaps the lamb
in the food caused the low blood taurine but in a different veterinary
research paper about low blood taurine in cats which I have it
links the feeding of rice as being the cause of the low blood
taurine in the cats and cats were never meant to eat rice.
Dr. Lisa Newman says that Iams have a research paper which shows
that feeding rice causes diabetes and I have asked Iams to disclose
this paper to me but have not received it.
Journal of Nutrition Vol. 132, June 2002 “Vitamine
E Requirement of Adult Cats Increases Slightly with High Dietary
Intake of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids” and this
paper says “Over the last 50 years there have been
numerous reports of Vitamin E deficiency in cats with the main
cause of these deficiencies being attributed to ingestion of diets
high in polyunsaturated fatty acids. Steatitis
(“yellow fat disease”) is attributed to Vitamin E
deficiency and has been experimentally induced in kittens after
feeding a commercial cat food with a high fish cntent……..”.
Journal of Nutrition 132, June 2002 “Processing
of Dietary Casein Decreases Bioavailability of Lysine in Growing
Kittens”. This paper says
“Information on the bioavailability of nutrients for cats
and dogs is particularly lacking……The results of this
study indicate the lower growth rate of kittens fed heated casein
reflects a decreased bioavailability of lysine in heated casein
resulting from heat processing damage”. Therefore
kittens fed pet food had a lower growth rate because heating the
pet food decreases the bioavailability of lysine. This
paper shows that the bioavailability of nutrients has been little
studied and so no-one really knows the bioavailability of nutrients
in pet food to cats and dogs.
PubMed - Am J Vet Res 2002 Feb; 63(2): 181-5 "Identification
and concentration of soy isoflavones in commercial cat foods"
and says "Soy isoflavones in some commercial cat foods were
detected in amounts predicted to have a biological effect".
Soy is a cheap protein source put into pet food but cats and dogs
were never meant to eat Soy and it is a completely species inappropriate
ingredient but pet food companies are not regulated and are getting
away with putting all kinds of totally species inappropriate ingredients
into pet food.
2002 The American Society for Nutritional Sciences J. Nutr. 132:1745S-1747S,
June 2002 “Dietary Rice Bran Decreases Plasma and
Whole Bood Taurine in Cats” This
paper says “Deficiencies in taurine result in clinical diseases
including feline central retinal degeneration and dilated cardiomyopathy. Despite
the routine supplementation of commercial feline diets with taurine,
cats continue to be diagnosed with taurine deficiency…….
When either rice bran or whole rice is added to commercial food,
it affects the fact, protein and fiber contents, which means that
any of these components potentially could alter taurine metabolism……The
indigestible protein cntent of the rice bran may also alter the
intestinal bacterial population, resulting in an increased degradation
of fecal bile acids and a greater loss of taurine in the feces
either as free taurine or as taurineconjugated bile acids. Diet
formulations with normally adequate taurine supplementation may
actually be deficient in taurine if rice bran or whole rice is
included as an ingredient”. This shows
that pet food containing rice could cause cats to get enlarged
hearts or to get retinal damage or blindness.
PubMed - J Vet Med Sci 2001 Mar; 63(3): 337-9 "Effect
of supplementation of dry cat food with DL Methionine and ammonium
chloride on struvite activity produce and sediment in urine"
and this says that supplementing dry food with DL Methionine to
acidify it decreases struvite activity. However,
if the cats were fed raw food which naturally contains methionine
this would naturally acidify their urine and they would not get
struvite but the carbohydrate in dry food causes the urine to
become alkaline and struvite forms in an alkaline urine.
Acidifying pet food causes metabolic acidosis which predisposes
to kidney failure, calcium oxalate stones and loss of bone density
in cats and so is not as good thing to do but most dry food is
acidified and must be causing a lot of kidney failure since Purina
say that 85% of cats with kidney damage have metabolic acidosis
and they link this to the routine acidifying of dry pet food.
Paper presented by Tony Buffington DVM to the World Small Animal
Veterinary Association World Congress, Vancouver 2001 entitled
“Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disorders”
says “In a recent case series at the the Ohio State University
Veterinary Hospital, it was found that all cats with a urinary
bladder stone consumed dry food……. These
results provide strong evidence that patients with urolithiasis
should not consume dry diets”.
Blackwell Synergy – Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal
Nutrition, Vol 85, August 2001 “Residues of ochratoxin
A in pet foods, canine and feline kidneys” which
says “The occurrence of ochratoxin A (OTA) in canned (26
samples) as well as dry pet foods (17 samples) for cats and dogs
was investigated. In addition 26 feline kidney samples with
or without kidney alterations were surveyed for OTA residues…OTA
could be detected in 47% of the pet food samples….Low concentrations
of ochratoxin A could also be found in tissue of cat kidneys,
with 16 of the analysed kidneys being positive”. Although
this paper says that no relationship between pathological findings
and ochratoxin levels in feline kidneys could be assessed, Ochratoxin
A has nevertheless been found in research to be a potent toxin
which affects mainly the kidneys in which it can cause both acute
and chronic lesions. Research has shown that the dog
is especially susceptible to ochatoxin and many feeding trials
lasting up to 90 days or more have examined the progressive effects
on kidney function and damage. Ochratoxin is
a molecule which survives most food processing. Ochratoxin
is produced by some species of Penicillium and Aspergillus in
cereal grains and is well known to affect kidney function.
Journal of Nutrition 2000; 130: 1287-1290 “Dietary
Copper Influences Reproduction in Cats”. This
paper says “The ojective of this study was to determine
the copper requirement of female cats (queens) for gestation…….The
dietary concentration of copper had a significant effect on the
time taken for queens to conceive. The current National
Research Council recommendation of 5mg/kg diet copper for ctas
appears marginal for optimal reproduction”. Therefore
the National Research Council guidelines are wrong. They
are also totally wrong in the carbohydrate, protein and fat levels
they say cats need and the result is serious and even fatal illness
in cats.
PubMed - J. Endourol 1999 Nov. "Calcium Oxalate urolithiasis
in cats" and this says that 40% of uroliths in cats
are now calcium oxalate stones and it links this to the routine
acidification of pet food since all the carbohydrate in dry food
alkalises the urine and so pet food companies began acidifying
pet food and have caused calcium oxalate stones to form by acidifying
it which can only be removed by operation.
Purina Research Report presented at the 1998 Purina Nutritioinal
Forum held on 4-6 June 1998 says under the heading “Nutrition
and Renal Function” that 80% of cats with
kidney failure have metabolic acidosis and goes on to say “….it
is likely that the high incidence of uremic acidosis in cats relates,
at least in part, to the acidifying nature of many cat foods. It
has been speculated that routine use of acidifyingdiets may contribute
to the relatively high incidence of chronic renal failure observed
in cats over the past decade”. The
paper says that alkalizing to counteract all the acidifiers the
pet food companies put into the pet food reduces mortality. Therefore
the pet food companies are to blame for the high incidence of
kidney failure in cats because they load the pet food with carbohydrate
and this alkalises the urine which was found to be causing struvite
which stops cats passing urine and can kill them within 24
hours if they are not catheterized and taken off dry food
altogether and because of this the pet food companies began putting
acidifiers such as DL Methionine into the dry pet food but this
has been found to be causing metabolic acidosis which can cause
kidney failure and calcium oxalate stones in the kidneys which
can cause kidney failure. The Purina paper
says that acidifying pet food does not cause kidney failure in
dogs as much as it does in cats although it does cause kidney
failure in dogs too.
PubMed - J. Nutr. 1998; 128(12) "The effect
of diet on lower urinary tract diseases in cats"
and this says "Recent observations suggest that recurrence
rates of signs in cats classified as having idiopathic lower urinary
tract disease may be more than halved if affectred animals are
maintained on high, rather than low moisture content diets".
This shows that cats fed dry food are chronically dehydated and
that the lack of water causes cystitis/FLUTD. I would
like to see dry pet food banned since as Dr. Kathy Sinning DV
says in a letter published in the JAVMA May 15 2001 "Put
simply, the assumption that pets must live on man-made processed
pellets is just as preposterous as claiming that humans or any
other living species could not live without the same.
There is no argument in the human medical community against eating
a variety of fresh raw foods. Yet this article (the
one she is criticising) advocates feeding processed diets that
are completely devoid of any fresh foods. This is the opposite
of what undomesticated animals eat in their natural environment".
Cats and dogs are the only creatures on the planet being fed dry
pet food and like Dr. Sinning I too think it is completely preposterous
that they are being fed this.
PubMed - J Am Vet Med Assoc 1997 Jan 1; 210(1) "Clinical
evaluation of cats with nonobstructive urinary tract diseases"
and this says "Results suggest that idiopathic cystitis occurs
commonly in cats ....and is associated with consumption of dry
foods". This shows that dry food is causing
cystitis in cats but Vets treat this with antibiotics when they
should advise the owner that the cat should be taken off dry food.
Martin Goldstein DVM in his book "The Nature of Animal Healing"
says that pet food is putting a huge toxic load on the kidneys
and bladders of pets which Mother Nature never designed them to
deal with.
PubMed - N Z Vet J. 1997 Oct; 45(5): 193-5 "Nitrite
poisoning in cats and dogs fed a commercial pet food"
and says "The death of 3 cats from two separate households
was linked to toxic concentrations of sodium nitrite used as a
preservative in a commercial pet food. In a further incident,
ataxia and weakness was noticed in 2 of 4 dogs after they were
fed the same brand of pet food. One dog was successfully
treated".
PubMed - Am J Vet Res 1996 Dec; 57(12): 1726-32 "Effects
of a high protein diet on mineral matabolism and struvite activity
product in clinically normal cats" and this says
"high protein diets have the potential ability to increase
solubility of struvite crystals". Pet food
contains nothing like the level of protein a cat needs and Graham
Roberts MRCVS in the Veterinary Times dated 19.1.2004 said cats
need at least 50% of the diet to be protein and less than 5% could
be carbohydrate but pet food contains nothing like these levels
and my contain up to 50% carbohydrate eg. (Hills feline maintenance
contains 39% and Iams 30% carbohydrate) and far too little protein
and cooked protein has nothing like the same bio-availabilty that
raw food has. Therefore the lack of protein in pet
food is an important factor in causing life-threatening struvite
in cats.
PubMed – J Am Vet Med Assoc. 1995 Dec 1; 207(11): 1429-34
“Evaluation of factors associated with development
of calcium oxalate urolithiasis in cats” and this
says “Factors associated with an increase in the risk of
calcium oxalate urolithiasis in cats wee feeding urine-acidifying
diets, feeding a single brand of cat food without providing additional
foods or table scraps, maintaining cats in an indoor only environment,
and being of the Persian breed”. Calcium
Oxalate can cause kidney failure but even dry pet food on sale
in supermarkets and pet shops has been acidified and Purina in
a research paper say that the increase in kidney failure in cats
in the past 10 years is probably due to the pet food companies
acidifying the pet food on a routine basis.
PubMed – J. Vet Med Sci 1995 Oct; 57(5): 831-7 “Vitamin
D toxicosis in cats: natural outbreak and experimental study”. This
paper says the cats had systemic calcinosis saying . “Histologically,
marked calcification was present at the vascular walls of almost
all the organs including the lungs, trachea, kidneys, heart, aorta,
kidneys and stomach, the calcified lesions were associated with
deposition of oxalate crystals. Retrospective examination
revealed that these cats had been fed commercial pet foods
containing a large amount of Vitamin D. These findings
suggest that long-term feeding of the pet food containing excessive
Vitamin D was responsible for the outbeak of systemic calcinosis
in the cats”. Therefore the cats had Vitamin
D toxicosis because of the cat food they were being fed. Royal
Canin pet food were issued with a law suit suing them for $50
M in a class action by pet owners in March 2007 in which
the pet owners claim that their cats or dogs developed kidney
failure or died because Royal Canin has far too much Vitamin D
in it. The lawyer suing Royal Canin in
a class action by pet owners against Royal Canin pet food is Joel
Rochon, a lawyer in Toronto. He is also
suing Menu Foods who make pet food for Purina, Hils, Iams and
many other pet food companies in America after cats and dogs developed
kidney failure and many died after eating the food in March 2007. Menu
Foods are being sued for $60 M. So far
nearly a thousand pets are thought to have died after eating the
food in the past week and almost another thousand are thought
to have becme ill. The 40 cats and dogs at Menu
Foods given the food all died after eating it. Cornell
University Veterinary School found rat poison in the food but
say they do not think that killed the cats and dogs because the
kidney lesions on the kidneys of the pets that died are not consistent
with them having died of rat poison in the pet food though rat
poison was found in the pet food. Wisconsin Lawyers,
Progressive Law Group, also intend starting a class action by
pet owners whose pets became ill or died after eating the pet
food. The Toronto Star newspaper pubished
an article entitled “Vets call for regulation of the pet
food industry” after the pets died saying no-one is keeping
a check on what the pet food industry is doing.
J Am Vet Med Assoc. 1995 Dec 1; 207(11): 1429-34 “Evaluation
of factors associated with development of calcium oxalate urolithiasis
in cats” and this says “Factors associated
with an increase in the risk of calcium oxalate urolithiasis in
cats were feeding urine-acidifying diets, feeding a single brand
of cat food without providing additional foods or table scraps”. To
counteract the alkalinity that the carbohydrate in dry pet food
which was causing struvite crystals in cats, even the pet food
in supermarkets and pet shops is now routinely acidified with
DL Methionine or some other acidifier but even Purina in a research
paper mentioned elsewhere in this list of veterinary research
says that the high incidence of kidney failure in cats in the
past 10 years is probably due to pet food companies putting acidifiers
in the dry pet food.
PubMed - J Am Vet Med Assoc 1993 Mar 1 (202(5): 744-51 "Development
of chronic renal disease in cats fed a commercial diet"
which says that cats over a 2 year study 3 of the 9 cats in the
study had developed renal dysfunction and renal lesions.
The food was high in protein and acid content and possibly the
acid content caused the kidney problems because in a paper I have
written by Purina they seem to admit that acidifying pet food
is causing metabolic acidosis which predisposes to kidney failure. The
former belief that a high protein diet causes kidney failure has
been disproved by research which is not surprising since cats
were designed by Mother Nature to eat a high protein diet but
pet food contains nothing like the level of protein that a cat
or dog needs. To counteract the alkalinity caused by
all the carbohydrate in dry food which was causing life-threating
struvite in cats the pet food companies began acidifying the pet
food but this has been found by research to be causing calcium
oxlate stones and metabolic acidosis both of which can cause kidney
failure.
PubMed - “Hypercalcaemia in two dogs caused by
excessive dietary supplementation of Vitamin D”
and this says “Subsequent analysis of the dog’s diet
revealed that the food contained excessive amounts of Vitamin
D. The hypercalcaemia resolved following treatment
with bisphosphonates and dietary change. Hypervitaminosis
was was diagnosed in a second unrelated dog, which had been fed
the same brand of dog food. Hypervitaminosis
D has been reported to occur secondarily to ingestion of either
rodenticides containing cholecalciferol or antipsoriatic ointments
that contain vitamin D. Hypervitaminosis has
also been reported following the treatment of hypoparathryoidism. The
potential deleterious effects of over supplementation of Vitamin
D should also be acknowledged”.
Nutrition.org - Journal of Nutrition "Lysine
Content in Canine Diets can be severely Heat Damaged".
American Journal of Cardiology Vol. 62 "Pet Food-Derived
Penicillin Residue as a Potential Cause of Hypersensitivity Myocarditis
and Sudden Death" which is a paper about how a toddler
died after eating a dry cat food which when later tested was found
to have 600 tmes the level of penicillin in it which would be
safe for a human being.
Assistant Professor Sherry Anderson of the College of Veterinary
Medicine, The University of Georgia says in a paper on her Research
Interests that on of her research projects involved “Documenting
that diet alone can induce taurine deficiency in dogs. Prior
to this work it was believed that dogs could not develop taurine
deficiency from diet alone, however, we proved this was not true. In
addition just like cats, dogs with taurine deficiency can develop
DCM (dilated cardiomyopathy ie. enlarged hearts) and the DCM can
be reversed with taurine supplementation”. Research
shows that although dogs can produce their own taurine that pet
food fed dogs had low blood taurine and because of this developed
DCM. Professor Anderson says in the paper “I
am very interested in research that relates to nutritional management
of diseases, as well as the use of nutrition to prevent disease”. DCM
is likely to end in the death of the dog but Professor Anderson
says “However, in a clinical study in dogs that developed
DCM, we showed that carnitine and taurine supplementation can
result in a significant improvement in cardiac function, and in
some cases, complete reversal of this disease”. If
dogs and cats were fed raw food this would provide them with sufficient
taurine and they would not need supplementation or develop the
heart disease and blindness that a lack of taurine can cause.
LEDA at Harvard Law School paperwritten by Justine
S. Patrick who is now a qualified lawyer in Pittsburg in April
2006 says "Trusting but uneducated consumers purchase these
commercial pet foods under the assumption that the FDA or some
other regulatory body has ensured that the foods contain "balanced"
meals and "complete" nutrition. These consumers
naively believe veterinarians that endorse and sell pet foods
from their offices while neglecting to mentjion that these "pet
doctors" are often "on the take" and can earn up
to 20% of theier total income from such sales. This paper
will examine the ways in which inadequate regulation results in
confused consumers and sick, malnourished pets."
This paper says many American Vets have shares in Hills pet food
and this is why they tell clients to feed it and says that the
American Veterinary Medicine Association is the biggest shareholders
in Hills Pet Nutritiion. Pet food companies give
huge funding to veterinary schools and even allow pet food companies
like Hills to teach nutrition to veterinary students and this
is how they graduate not knowing that dogs have lived on raw food
for most of the 100,000 years that dogs are said to have existed
in reasonably close proximity to man and that catsl ikewise have
lived on raw food for most of the 8,000 years they are said to
have existed in reasonably close proximity to man and instead
Vets tell clients that it is dangerous to feed raw food even though
raw food is the species appropriate food of cats and dogs.
In their new advert for cat food Iams say no-one has ever seen
a cat hunt vegetables but equally no-one has ever seen a cat hunt
carbohydrate but Iams has 30% carbohydrate in it and that is far
too much and even dangerous for a cat.
More Than Pet Insurance in Britain in a survey
of Vets said that the Vets reported they were seeing growth in
pet illness relating to diet. A Veterinary
Nurse at York Test Veterinary Services in England said "Since
we launched our allergy testing service for pets in 2000, more
than 12,000 pets have been tested for suspected food allergies".
Pet food is clearly causing immense allergies because in eating
pet food pets are eating ingredients Mother Nature never intended
them to eat and pet food is also clearly causing the huge increase
in cancer in pets and Donald Ogden DVM says that pet food is causing
cancer. Pet food is loaded with known carcinogens
such as BHA and BHT and in Britain is still preserved with Ethoxyquin
which in reseach by Nagoya Medical School in Japan was found to
cause numerous kinds of cancer.
The Pet Food Manufacturers Association in writing tell me that
Ethoxyquin is still used in British pet food. Raw
food has the Omega 3 which Colorado University Veterinary School
say is vital for stopping pets getting cancer and in research
Omega 3 was found to kill cancer cells in rabbits but pet food
does not contain Omega 3 since although James Wellbeloved and
other pet food companies say they have added Omega 3 to their
pet food, Omega 3 becomes trans-fatty acid if it is heated or
exposed to light or air and so whatever Omega 3 they pour over
the food will not be enough to protect the pets from cancer or
heart disease but Omega 3 in raw food also boosts the immune system.
Colorado University Veterinary School say that pets with cancer
should not have lactose or carbohydrate because the carbohydrate
turns to glucose and glucose has been found to spread cancer and
carbohydrate per say is linked with causing cancer.
Paper on the website of Cornell University Veterinary School can
be accessed by putting in “Dogs Keep Dying”
which says that pet owners are far too unaware of toxic dog food
and details how dogs have quite literally been dying from the
mycotoxins in carbohydrate laden dry dog food. The paper
says that mycotoxins in carbohydrate laden dry pet food can and
has been found to be quite literally killing dogs at Cornell University
Veterinary Hospital.
Organic Life magazine, a British magazine, in
the January 2007 issue says in an investigation into pet food
“While we naturally look to the veterinary profession for
advice on animal nutrition, members of that profession are not
wholly outside this conspiracy…….If you are a student
in a the running for a prize donated by a pet fod manufacturer,
following a course of lectures given by a lecture who is paid
by a pet food manufacturer in a college whee huge chunks of money
are donated by pet food manufacturers, then are you really coming
into the veterinary world with an unbiased view on feeding cats
and dogs…One typical veterinary faculty in Liverpool between
2004 and 2006 received Four Hundred and Twenty Five Thousand,
Eight Hundred and Seventy One Pounds from pet food companies including
one lecturer post in small animal medicine, one residency in small
animal medicine, one veterinary nurse post and several student
prizes.” The American College of Veterinary Nutrition’s
website shows that Purina are funding its current research.
The British Veterinary Times dated 19.1.2004
in an article by British Vet, Graham Roberts, said of pet food
“Can we, as Vets, continue to justify our selling of it
as “premium”, “veterinary recommended”
or “best quality. Most commercial cat foods,
particularly complete diets, are high in carbohydrates in the
form of cereals. With felines being obligatory carnivores,
a natural diet would be high in protein (at least 50%), moderate
to high in fat (up to 40%) and very low in carbohydrate (five
percent or less).” Pet food contains nothing
like these levels and when I had Hills tested at Eclipse Laboratories
in Cambridgeshire, England the report said that Hills feline maintenance
contained 39% carbohydrate, 9% fat and indeterminate protein ie.
they could not tell if it was animal or vegetable protein although.they
do testing for the pet food industry.
The British Veterinary Times dated 11.10.2004
in an article entitled “Veterinarians ‘unaware’
of the dangers of processed diets to carnivores” says in
the first paragraph “Any vet promoting processed pet food
is contributing to the eventual ill health of their patients…….”.
and says that every Vet condoning pet food is in breach of the
oath they swore when they graduated to do no harm to animals.
www.wellvet.com in their paper on Kidney Disease in Cats
say: “Commercial dry food diets seem to produce kidney disease,
and they certainly produce cystitis. Meat
based diets prevent the development and retard the progression
of kidney disease. We believe that cats fed an all
meat diet do not develop as much kidney disease as those fed commercial
diets.”
At www.yourdiabeticcat.com
Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins DVM says that hundreds
of thousands of cats needlessly have diabetes because the carbohydrate
in dry food causes the diabetes and cats do not have salivary
amylase necessary to digest carbohydrate and have very little
pancreatic amylase and so it puts a huge stress on the pancreas
having to try to produce enough amylase to try to digest the carbohydrate
in dry food because cats were never meant to eat the 39-50% or
more carbohydrate in dry pet food. Hills Feline
Maintenance when I had it tested at Eclipse Laboratories in Cambridgeshire
was found to contain 39% carbohydrate which is far too much for
a cat and it contained 31% protein which is far too little for
a cat since Richard Allport MRCVS says a cat needs 50-70% protein
and Eclipse Laboratories told me that they could not tell whether
the protein in Hills was vegetable protein or animal protein but
it is vital that cats get animal protein. Hills
also contained far too little animal fat since it contained only
9% fat and this low level of fat when a cat needs 30-40% fat in
its diet causes dermatogical problems and cats derive energey
from protein but the Pet Food Manufacturers Association wrongly
say on their website that cats need carbohydrate for energy but
cats produce glucose from protein and so do not need carbohydrate
for energy and the Pet Food Manufacturers Association are completely
wrong. They also say on their website that a
diabetic cat should have no more than 25% carbohydrate but Elizabeth
Hodgkins DVM who is a feline diabetes expert says this is far
too much carbohydrate and that a cat or indeed diabetic dog must
be taken off carbohydrate completely and she has found that doing
this usually allows the animal to come off insulin and to even
be cured of diabetes. |
