April 20, 2019 3 min read
It wasn’t until the depression of the late 1920’s that the traditional meat, bones, offal (organ meat) and table scraps that were fed to dogs for centuries was abandoned. Times were tough and people had no choice but to eat these less desirable foods themselves... or go hungry.
What was available came in the form of grain-based feed. To bolster this up, extra protein and calcium in the form of fertilizer, meat meal, blood, and bone were added. This transition, driven by uncertain economic times, heralded the beginning of the enormous pet-food industry that we know today. This shift was even further reinforced by grain producers realizing the profits to be made from their waste products thus creating the insidious modern pet food industry of today that is damaging to our pet's health.
These newly created pet foods were sold as “scientifically formulated” and “good for your pet.” However, the food was predominantly cereal grain-based. On top of that, it was cooked at very high temperatures and finished with a myriad of colorants, preservatives, and synthetic vitamins. Basically, it was a cereal puff sprayed with vitamins in an attempt to replace the nutrients lost from the high temperatures used in processing. Kibble has many nutritional deficiencies, robbing your dog of the nutrients they need.
In order to garner public support for their new creations, pet food manufacturers re-wrote the scientific classification for dogs. Instead of being classified as carnivores, the pet food manufacturers referred to dogs as omnivores, despite their carnassial teeth and lack of large-flat molars for grinding up plant matter which is found in every other omnivore in known existence.
Here’s where things get even scarier. The manufacturers started sponsoring the nutrition lectures in vet school, teaching student vets that dogs were omnivores. They even gave lucrative sales margins to Veterinarians who carried their food. And so the corruption of our veterinary professionals began... Sadly, this is still happening today (go ahead, Google it).
Dogs are descendants of wolves and feeding them a steady diet of anything that is cooked, canned, or dried is simply unnatural. Over time, doing this puts a strain on their system. Such a chronic strain often results in the formation of many different kinds of health problems of which far too many dogs are suffering from today. Worse yet, the professional community is classifying these conditions as “genetic” when this is simply not the case.
Lear more: 8 Myths About Raw Feeding!
We get it though, with the invention of “pet foods,” there was no more pondering what to feed your dog. Almost everyone loved the idea of simply opening a bag or a can and dinner is served. As a consequence of our desire for simplification, the fast-food industry for dogs was born and so were all of the diet-related health crisis in dogs that is sweeping over the Western World. As a reaction to this epidemic of sick animals, the veterinary industry boomed as well. Yet, most of us still carry on feeding the exact same food that caused the problems in the first place.
Read more: 10 Reasons to Quit Kibble.