If you own a dog or a cat, you’ve been following the pet food contamination story pretty closely. Rice and corn glutens have now been implicated alongside wheat gluten as being contaminated with melamine. The most logical theory I’ve seen so far is that the melamine was added deliberately, in order to make the gluten appear to have more protein than it really does. Higher protein means more money for the distributor. Melamine is apparently added to ruminant feed, but because of their longer and more complex digestive systems, the practice is (relatively, at least) harmless. Cattle can metabolize the melamine without it harming them.
Anyway, I have to buy both dog and cat food today. Harriet got the end of hers this morning, and Pandora is on her last bowl of food. I’m not looking forward to this. None of the foods I’ve been feeding my animals have any kind of gluten in them, but I’m still leery. There have been so many delays and so much politicking involved in recalls so far that I just don’t trust the government or the pet food industry to get information to us in a timely fashion.
So, what to do, what to do? I think I’m going to go with Canidae and Felidae. I’ve fed both in the past, long-term, and was very happy with the general health of my cats and dogs. Canidae does not use glutens of any kind in their feeds, and they claim that all their ingredients are grown and processed in the US. I have no reason to doubt that they are a trustworthy company, but I can’t help but be concerned.
Also, it’s Little 500 weekend, and I have to work tomorrow. Kill me now!
red paper boat 