Why Is the Pet Food Industry Killing Our Pets?

By Ann Martin, Earth Island Journal. Posted June 15, 2007.

The commercial pet foods industry rakes in billions of dollars annually. In exchange for our dollars, we trust the companies to provide our pets with quality nutrition. The recent pet food recall demonstrated that our trust has been misplaced. But while many were shocked by the tragic deaths of beloved pets, many more would be shocked to know that the pet food industry has a long history of mistreating our pets. I first began researching the industry in 1990, when my two dogs became ill after eating a well-known commercial food.

The first thing that came to light was the fact that the pet food industry is virtually self-regulated. The only requirement that the industry must meet is to adhere to the Labeling Act, which states that food must contain the name and address of the producing company, whether the product is intended for dogs or cats, the weight of the food, and the guaranteed analysis. The source of the protein included in the analysis can be anything: condemned material from slaughterhouses, road-kill, zoo animals and even euthanized companion animals. Of course, the industry denies all this, especially the use of dead dogs and cats in pet foods. However, a senior official from a large rendering conglomerate in the United States wrote to me, "I know of no rendering company in the U.S. that will segregate companion animals from the rest of the raw material they process."

Dog eat dog?

I personally have been able to trace euthanized pets from veterinary clinics in the city where I live to rendering plants where they are processed; the end results are shipped to pet food companies. Pentobarbital, the drug used to euthanize these animals, ends up being fed to our pets. Results of a study conducted by the University of Minnesota show that pentobarbital "survived rendering without undergoing degradation." In the late 1990s, officials from the Food and Drug Administration, Center for Veterinary Medicine (FDA/CVM) decided to investigate a theory that dogs were exposed to pentobarbital through dog food. Researchers developed a test to detect pentobarbital in dry commercial dog foods.

Tests were conducted in 1998 and again in 2000. The first series of tests detected only the presence of pentobarbital but did not indicate the levels that were present in the foods. The second series of tests used 25 samples: 15 were found to contain pentobarbital. Ol' Roy, Heinz, Kibbles 'n Bits, Trailblazer, Dad's, Purina Pro Plan, Reward and a number of lesser-known brands were among the pet foods showing various levels of pentobarbital. In tests designed to dispute that dogs and cats are the source of pentobarbital in pet food, the FDA/CVM conducted DNA testing to ascertain what animals might be in the food. In a statement released on its Web site, it said that no dog or cat DNA was found and that "the pentobarbital residues are entering pet food from euthanized, rendered cattle and even horses."

Their report two years later in the American Journal of Veterinary research contradicted these findings. "None of the 31 dog food samples examined in our study tested positive for equine-derived proteins." Additionally, they stated: "Cattle are only occasionally euthanized with pentobarbital, and thus are not considered a likely source of pentobarbital in dog food." Their conclusion? "Although the results of our study narrow the search for the source of pentobarbital, it does not define the source (i.e., species) responsible for the contamination.

Hold the poison, please

According to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), pet food is considered adulterated if the "food is packaged or held under unsanitary conditions, food or ingredients are filthy or decomposed, and foods contain any poisonous or deleterious substance." As pentobarbital is considered a poisonous drug, it would therefore be logical that the FFDCA would work to remove that substance from pet foods.

I asked Dr. Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA/CVM, what steps the organization would undertake to remove pentobarbital from all commercial foods. His reply: "This drug is not approved for use in pet food, so it should not be present in these foods. That being said, CVM is not planning to undertake any special enforcement efforts to detect pentobarbital in pet foods."

The contention of the FDA/CVM is that this drug was found in such small amounts in the pet foods that it should not cause a problem. Dr. Tamara Hebbler of the Healing Hope Animal Clinic in San Diego, Calif., disagrees. By feeding your pets foods that contain even traces of pentobarbital, Hebbler states, "you can definitely be slowly causing chronic degenerative disease to happen, much, much faster."

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Ann Martin is the author of Food Pets Die For (NewSage Press, 2003) and Protect Your Pet (NewSagePress, 2001). The updated version of Food Pets Die For will be available in November 2007.

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