First of all, I am not afraid to admit that I am a food snob. I am because I am ingredient aware, if you will.
I despise mass marketed/mass-produced food. In my opinion, the money spent on marketing should instead be spent on quality ingredients and guardian awareness. Anything that’s being sold in a gas station or any big grocery store chain is as good as eating right out of the litter box. (Which I’m sure happens, fortunately Sterling has never indulged).
When you or I purchase meat, typically you know exactly what part of the animal you are buying. Breast, thigh, wing, ribs etc. Well do you know where the meat comes from in your cat’s bag of mass-produced food? Three words: Meat by-product meal. What is the meat? Chicken? Fish? Beef? Which is it? By product? Do you know what that is? And meal? All mashed up remains of road kill or diseased racoon????
Meat meal can contain the boiled down flesh of animals we would find unacceptable for consumption. This can include zoo animals, road kill, and 4-D (dead, diseased, disabled, dying) livestock. Most shockingly, this also can include dogs and cats.
Come on, Sterling is better than that. She also happens to have an intolerance to chicken, but that’s a recent development, and not the point I’m trying to make. (You know something is wrong when dandruff and liquid poop present themselves around the same time).
I developed my snobiness after working three great years at a locally owned pet store in my hometown of Calgary, extensive nutrition seminars were included in the training process. The tell-all sign was that the chain still sold the “bad stuff”, but each time a guardian came up to the till with a bag of it, you would go over the nutrition basics with them and that was that.
My next issue with mass-produced companies is that they often include grains or carbohydrates as the main ingredient. I call these “fillers”. It fills them up but includes no real nutrition. The purpose of doing so from the company’s perspective? It’s cheaper than quality protein.
Many experts agree that pet foods should not have grains listed as a first ingredient, such as corn. Cats and dogs have not evolved eating grain based diets. Feeding pet foods too high in grain content can cause health problems for your pet, such as obesity and allergic reactions.
http://pet-nutrition.suite101.com/article.cfm/pet_food_ingredients_whats_in_the_bag#ixzz0YE6UflSh
This is all just a sneak peek at my obsession with my choice of cat food, but that’s a good start. My advice? Seriously consider if you would feel comfortable eating the meat being described on your bag of cat food. If not, there are companies out there willing to provide you with honesty and human-grade meat. Check out my next blog on how to choose your cat food.
