Do you worry about all of the pet food recalls? It seems like so many of the most popular food brands are recalled. I was very surprised to learn how many brands are all made by the same company, like Merrick. I doubt these manufacturers will stop manufacturing their food in China. Have you changed brands because of the recall? I switched to an American made food, and I know a lot of pet owners are switching to high end brands like Honest Kitchen.
I actually hadn't even given it a thought. I'm a bit bad on this kind of thing, though, and depend on my husband to keep up-to-date on things like this in the news. I think about other things causing us to lose our girls (two cats) more than food recalls. It makes me sad to think of the time they will no longer be with us (putting our dogs down, though the right decision for those pets, was heart-wrenching!) but I realize that, like losing anyone you love, your grief is going to come as part of the immense joy and love they bring into your life. I don't think I'd want to have lived without that, even though losing them is so hard!
It's definitely something that I worry about a lot. I don't have dogs anymore but used to and I wouldn't want anything nasty to happen to them due to adulterated or contaminated food. The last major recall was due to unscrupulous manufacturers in China adding melamine (a form of plastic) to there pet food in order to make the protein content appear higher when tested in the lab. The melamine scandal got worse when other manufacturer's added it to milk formula for babies so that's when everything went really, really out of hand.
I do not think I could ever trust products made in China especially the cheaper stuff! Who knows what else they've got in there!
I'm very worried about my pets food in general, not just because of this case. Mass producers often worry only about profit and cheat where they can, and pets always get the worst end of the stick. I try to learn as much as I can about the food I'm buying, and how to read the labels. Eventually, when I get the right conditions, I would like to make food for my cats myself, I would feel safer that way.
We do definitely need to be careful what kind of dog food we feed our dogs (and cats, too, of course ), not only because a lot of the food is being manufactured by China, but because of practices by dog food companies right here in the US.
And it is not just the cheap brand dog food that is a problem, but even the high priced dog food may not be something that is healthy for your dog.
I was just reading that Royal Canin, which is one of the premium dog food manufacturers, is going to be marketing dog food made from CHICKEN FEATHERS ! ( I could hardly believe what I was reading)
Apparently, they somehow chemically melt down the feathers, and then process them with the other ingredients of the dog food.
I have read that some of the dog food is made from all kinds of leftover animal parts, head,feet, feathers, entrails, all the stuff that used to to trashed basically. It is enough to make you hate to feed dog food at all, and that is even without the recalls for when they find salmonella , or some other contaminant in there.
I use the leftovers we have, and cook them together with some brown rice, veggies, or oatmeal, and feed that to my dogs.
I do give them dog food, just to be sure that they always have food there to eat, but pretty much I like to make their food just like I make my own.
I worry about all the pet food being sold. I also worry about people who decide to make their own but may leave out ingredients the pets need or add some that are bad for them. I was researching how to make food for my doggies and realized it's not just a simple thing. It needs to be balanced. There are many blogs about it and I think it's wise to read all that can be found before deciding to make pet food at home.
It is important to research what is needed for a dogs nutrition, but commercial dog food certainly does mot always provide a healthful diet, just because it is marketed by a pet food company. A lot of dog food is made using corn as a main ingredient, and this is not good for a dog at all. You have to read what all the ingredients are, as well as the amounts of each ingredient, to try and decide what is healthy.
Commercial dog food is actually a pretty new thing for dogs to eat, considering all the thousands of years that dogs and humans have lived together, and for almost all of those years, dogs simply ate the scraps fed to them after the people were done eating, plus whatever wild animals they caught and ate. People usually killed and ate wild game, fish, and vegetables they grew, and dogs had the leftovers.
Only in the last 100 years have there been factories that made and sold food, and then started using the scraps to market as pet food.
Pet food companies donate to veterinary schools, so vet clinics advertise and promote dog food from those companies, but that does not mean that it is healthier for our pets than fresh wholesome food that we cook for them ourselves.
I buy Nature's Recipe. I was worried during those big recalls, but Nature's Recipe was not involved (they didn't use the substance that was at issue in their dog food).
I try to keep up on the latest news. Unfortunately, companies don't always recall a product even if there are complaints. I remember last year when their was concern about Milo's Kitchen dog treats as dogs were getting sick and dying after eating them. The company claimed an internal investigation showed no problem. I think eventually some stores did pull the product in questions. I have noticed that they used to advertise on TV heavily in my area and no longer advertise at all.
So, I think it's important to stay on top of things. If there are news stories about the brand you buy, it's best to make sure that you aren't giving your dog something that isn't safe.