Updated 21.10.2008

RESEARCH EVIDENCE OF PET FOOD HARMS

THESE  RESEARCH PAPERS ALL LINK PET FOOD WITH THE ILLNESS OR DEATH OF THE CAT OR DOG TAKING PART IN THE RESEARCH

Pub Med - J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2004 Mar 15;224(6): 879-86 "Epidemiologic study of relationships between consumption of commercial canned food and risk of hyperthryoidism in cats" and links feeding tinned pet food to causing hyperthryoidism. 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15070058

Pub Med - Am J Vet Res. 2004 Feb; 65(2): 138-42 "Evaluation of effects of dietary carbohydrate on formation of struvite crystals in urine and macromineral balance in clinically normal cats" which says carbohydrate stimulates struvite which stops a cat passing urine and can kill it within 24 hours if it is not  catheterized and that restricting carbohydrate from the diet is desirable to prevent struvite.   Therefore taking the cat off dry food is vital because dry food has up to 50% carbohydrate or even more in it when the cat was never meant to eat any more than 1% carbohydrate according to Richard Allport MRCVS..   The carbohydrate alkalizes the urine of the cat and creates the perfect conditions for struvite stones to form.     http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14974568

Journal of Veterinary diagnostic Investigation, Vol. 19, Issue 5, 525-531 “Outbreaks of renal failure associated with melamine and cyanuric acid in dogs and cats in 2004 and 2007” and this says “Sixteen animals affected in 2 outbreaks of pet food associated renal failure were evaluated for histopathologic, toxicologic and clinicopathologic changes” and goes on to say “Melamine and cyanuric acid were present in renal tissues from both outbreaks.   These results indicate that the pet food associated renal failure outbreaks in 2004 and 2007 share identical clinical, histologic and toxicologic findings, providing compelling evidence that they share the same causation.” i.e. pet food.   The cause was that the pets had been fed pet food produced by Menu Foods who make food for top brand pet food names and many of the pet foods are sold in Britain too but when pets get kidney failure Vets frequently fail to even associate it with the pet having been fed pet food.      Neither melamine nor cyanuric acid should ever have been allowed to get into the pet food but it has been said by various sources that the melamine was deliberately put in the pet food to make it look as if it contained far more protein than it really did contain.        http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:17998549

Mutation Research/Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis, 2003, Vol. 539295-201.   This paper from the Biology and Biotechnology Research Program, Livermore, California  is entitled “Mutagenic activity and heterocyclic amine carcinogens in commercial pet foods” and the paper says that 25 varying brands of  tinned cat food were tested for carcinogens in them and that out of the 25 cat foods tested, 24 of the cat foods were found to have carcinogens which could cause cancer in the cats fed these pet foods.    Presumably dry pet food will also contains these carcinogens and so pet food is clearly causing cancer in pets not least since it usually contains BHT, BHA and other cancer causing chemicals such as Ethoxyquin which is still put into British pet food to give the pet food almost indefinite shelf life.     Ethoxyquin has never been tested in cats to see if it is safe but has been found in dogs to cause illness, which is why American dog owners demanded that it be removed from pet food there.   linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1383571803001645

PubMed, Canadian Veterinary Journal, Vol. 42, January 2001 “Are dry cat foods contributing to the increased occurrence of certain feline diseases?”   John Delack DVM, PhD who has written this letter clearly believes dry food is causing obesity, diabetes, hyperthryoidism, food hypersensitivities etc. in cats by feeding them the 30-60% carbohydrate that is in dry food and thus ignoring that cats have no nutritional need for carbohydrate and were never meant to be fed carbohydrate.   Vets need to speak out about the scandal of feeding carbohydrate laden dry food to cats but instead most have allowed them to be fed food that is causing them serious illness.     Mr. Delack says in his letter that “….it seems possible that many of the diseases we see are due to the foods we feed our feline friends”.     He is right since pet food is causing most of the illness pets get and Vets condone pet food because they make profit from the sale of it and then again from the illness it eventually creates.

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1476420&blobtype=pdf .

PubMed, The Canadian Veterinary Journal 2007 November 48(11): 1105 “Dry cat food by Carol Auld” which is an excellent letter telling how dry food gave her cats diabetes and kidney problems and saying how very wrong it is that Vets sell pet food because the food is causing serious illness in pets.

www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2034416

PubMed - J Am Vet Med Assoc 1993 Mar 1 (202(5): 744-51 "Development of chronic renal disease in cats fed a commercial diet" which says that cats over a 2 year study 3 of the 9 cats in the study had developed renal dysfunction and renal lesions.   The food was high in protein and acid content and possibly the acid content caused the kidney problems because in a paper I have written by Purina they seem to openly admit that acidifying pet food is causing metabolic acidosis, which predisposes to kidney failure.   The former belief that a high protein diet causes kidney failure has been disproved by research which is not surprising since cats were designed by Mother Nature to eat a high protein diet but pet food contains nothing like the level of protein that a cat or dog needs.   To counteract the alkalinity caused by all the carbohydrate in dry food which was causing life-threatening struvite in cats the pet food companies began acidifying the pet food but this has been found by research to be causing calcium oxalate stones and metabolic acidosis both of which can cause kidney failure.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8454506

PubMed, Canadian Veterinary Journal, Sep. 2007 – Ethical Question of the Month 2007 on Vets selling pet food which says “Most veterinarians, carry and sell these products on faith, not on a scientific knowledge basis.   For this reason, unless one has a science-based reason for recommending them, one should refrain from pressing them on clients.    Recent events concerning toxic materials in all levels of pet food have shaken public confidence and this fact provides a prudential reason for not pushing them on clients”.     http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1950106

European Consumer law changed in June 2008 and under this law no Vet must mislead clients into buying anything which means that Vets must not mislead clients into buying pet food or mislead them into believing cats and dogs have a nutritional need for the 30-60% carbohydrate that is in dry food or the up to 30% carbohydrate in tinned food and must not mislead them to believe the food is good for pets when the veterinary research herein proves that pet food is causing serious and even fatal illness in cats and dogs.   Under the new consumer law Vets must not hard-shell pet food or vaccination or veterinary drugs and must not make any health claims for anything they sell unless they have veterinary research to back it up although only completely independent research could have any validity since research produced by a pet food company or pharmaceutical company will have been skewed to produce the result the company wants to favor its product.     It is now an offence under the new consumer laws in Europe for Vets and pet food companies and drug companies to mislead pet owners into buying any of their products.    This means Vets should be stopped by the Office of Fair Trading in London, England from selling any kind of pet food and annual vaccination should cease.

Blackwell Synergy, Journal of Small Animal Practice, Vol. 49 Issue 6 page 266-271, June 2008 “The role of nutrients in modulating disease”.   This paper by Professor D.L. Chan of the Royal Veterinary College, London says “The role of nutrition in the management of diseases has often centered on correcting apparent nutrient deficiencies or meeting estimated nutritional requirements of patients.   Nutrition has traditionally been considered a supportive measure akin to fluid therapy and rarely has it been considered a primary means of ameliorating diseases.   Recently, however, further understanding of the underlying mechanisms of various disease processes and how certain nutrients possess pharmacological properties have fuelled an interest in exploring how nutritional therapies themselves could modify the behavior of various conditions”.  http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1748-5827.2008.00589.x.    It seems incredible that only now in 2008 are Vets at long last realizing that what a cat or dog eats is vital to its health and they should have realized long ago that feeding pet food is causing cancer, kidney failure, heart disease, diabetes, serious and even fatal bladder problems etc. but how many pets have needlessly suffered illness and been euthanized simply because Vets had such blind faith in pet food companies or because the Vets who are making a lot of profit from the sale of pet food never tell clients that pet food is the cause of the illness and that taking the pet off all pet food could even save its life as in the case of cats with struvite crystals where taking them off all dry food can quite literally save the life of the cat. 

Multistate Outbreak of Human Salmonella Infections Caused by Contaminated Dry Dog Food – United States, 2006-2007.

http://www.cdc.gov.mmwr/preview/mnwrhtml.mm5719a4.htm.    This paper says that the Food and Drug Administration in America collaborated with public health officials in Pennsylvania and other states to establish the cause of outbreaks of salmonella in humans and established that the humans had got the salmonella from dry dog food perhaps from not washing their hands after touching it.      This paper shows that the pet food industry which usually says that raw food must  not be fed because it contains salmonella no longer can put forward that argument since pet food has now been proved to have salmonella and Donald Strombeck DVM in his paper on bacteria in pet food says that there is salmonella and e.coli in pet food but that this is something the public is never told. 

PubMed. American Institute of Nutrition, J. Nutr. 121: 891-2, 1991.  “Effect of Low Potassium Commercial Nonpurified Diet on Renal Function of Adult Cats”.    This paper says that it was thought that excessive urinary potassium loss was a consequence of renal dysfunction in cats who had been fed a commercial pet food with too low a potassium content and says “We measured acid base status and renal function of adult cats fed a commercial diet for 65 weeks to test the hypothesis tha the clinical signs we observed were attributable to chronic ingestion of a commercial dry diet inadequate in potassium”.   The result of the study concluded that “Based on the results of this study, we conclude that chronic renal disease may be induced in cats with previously normal renal function by feeding diets containing a combination of high protein and low potassium”.   Clearly lack of potassium in pet food is giving cats kidney failure since they are meant by Mother Nature to eat a high protein diet.   http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/reprint/121/11_Suppl/S91.pdf         

PubMed – J Am Vet Med Assoc. 1995 Dec 1; 207(11): 1429-34 “Evaluation of factors associated with development of calcium oxalate urolithiasis in cats” and this says “Factors associated with an increase in the risk of calcium oxalate urolithiasis in cats were feeding urine-acidifying diets, feeding a single brand of cat food without providing additional foods or table scraps, maintaining cats in an indoor only environment, and being of the Persian breed”.    Calcium Oxalate can cause kidney failure but even dry pet food on sale in supermarkets and pet shops has been acidified and Purina in a research paper say that the increase in kidney failure in cats in the past 10 years is probably due to the pet food companies acidifying the pet food on a routine basis.     http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7493870

PubMed – J. Vet Med Sci 1995 Oct; 57(5): 831-7 “Vitamin D toxicosis in cats:  natural outbreak and experimental study”.    This paper says the cats had systemic calcinosis saying .   “Histologically, marked calcification was present at the vascular walls of almost all the organs including the lungs, trachea, kidneys, heart, aorta, kidneys and stomach, the calcified lesions were associated with deposition of oxalate crystals.   Retrospective examination revealed that these cats had been  fed commercial pet foods containing a large amount of Vitamin D.   These findings suggest that long-term feeding of the pet food containing excessive Vitamin D was responsible for the outbreak of systemic calcinosis in the cats”.    Therefore the cats had Vitamin D toxicosis because of the cat food they were being fed.       Royal Canin pet food were issued with a law suit suing them for $60 M  in a class action by pet owners in March 2007 in which the pet owners claim that their cats or dogs developed kidney failure or died because Royal Canin has far too much Vitamin D in it.     The lawyer suing Royal Canin in a class action by pet owners against Royal Canin pet food is Joel Rochon, a lawyer in Toronto.     He is also suing Menu Foods who make pet food for Purina, Hills, Iams and many other pet food companies in America after cats and dogs developed kidney failure and many died after eating the food in March 2007.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8593288

PubMed, The American Society for Nutritional Sciences, J. Nutr. 134, 2062S-2064S, August 2004 “Diagnosis of Adverse Reactions to food in Dogs:  Efficacy of a Soy-Isolate Hydrolyzate Diet”.    This paper says “Adverse reactions to food include allergy (reactions with an immunological mechanism) and intolerance (nonimmunological reactions including idiosyncratic, metabolic and toxic responses(1).  Adverse reaction to food results in dermatological (puritis, otitis externa, seborrheic dermatitis, recurrent bacterial or fungal dermatitis) and in 10% of cases in gastrointestinal (diarrhea, abdominal discomfort) signs (2).  Food sensitivity is one of the most common causes of nonseasonal allergic skin disease in dogs”.     This shows that pet food being loaded with ingredients dogs were never meant to be fed are getting these needless illnesses but this paper was written by the Royal Canin Research Centre in Belgium so being a pet food company they simply fed the dogs something else they were never meant to be fed because they fed them a Soy based diet which is a cheap source of vegetable protein.    http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/134/8/2062S

Menu Foods are being sued for $50 M.     So far nearly a thousand pets are thought to have died after eating the food in the past week and almost another thousand are thought to have become ill.    The 40 cats and dogs at Menu Foods given the food all died after eating it.    Cornell University Veterinary School found rat poison in the food but say they do not think that killed the cats and dogs because the kidney lesions on the kidneys of the pets that died are not consistent with them having died of rat poison in the pet food though rat poison was found in the pet food.    Wisconsin Lawyers, Progressive Law Group, also intend starting a class action by pet owners whose pets became ill or died after eating the pet food.     The Toronto Star newspaper published an article entitled “Vets call for regulation of the pet food industry” after the pets died saying no-one is keeping a check on what the pet food industry is doing.

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Jan06/dogs.dying.ssl.html

The Veterinary Record, February 24^th 2007 “Magnetic resonance imaging features of thiamine deficiency in a cat” and this says “Thiamine is important in carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism…  Thiamine deficiency causes a progressive encephalopathy in human beings  and animals ……In carnivores, the predominant neuropathology is bilaterally symmetrical petechial hemorrhages, ……..A seven-year-old domestic shorthair cat was presented with one-week history of anorexia followed by the development of impaired vision, ataxia and two generalized toniclonic seizures.   Before the onset of the disease, the cat had been housed indoors and fed exclusively a single supermarket brand of tinned cat food bought in bulk as a single batch……The concentration of thiamine in the cat’s food was 92 ug/kg in contrast to a minimum thiamine requirement of 960 ug/kg  and the dry matter thiamine equivalent was 0.53 mg/kg compared with a recommended minimum of 5 mg/kg dry matter equivalent (Association of American Feed Control Officers 2003), indicating inadequate dietary thiamine).   Therefore the pet food had inadequate thiamine in it and thiamine is largely destroyed by cooking the food and thus the pet food caused the serious symptoms the cat developed.   .    It was give thiamine supplements and one month later mild ataxia was the only symptom observed.        

PubMed - “Hypercalcaemia in two dogs caused by excessive dietary supplementation of Vitamin D” and this says “Subsequent analysis of the dog’s diet revealed that the food contained excessive amounts of Vitamin D.   The hypercalcaemia resolved following treatment with bisphosphonates and dietary change.   Hypervitaminosis was diagnosed in a second unrelated dog, which had been fed the same brand of dog food.     Hypervitaminosis D has been reported to occur secondarily to ingestion of either rodenticides containing cholecalciferol or antipsoriatic ointments that contain vitamin D.    Hypervitaminosis has also been reported following the treatment of hypoparathryoidism.    The potential deleterious effects of over supplementation of Vitamin D should also be acknowledged”.      http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16035450

Journal of Nutrition 2000; 130: 1287-1290 “Dietary Copper Influences Reproduction in Cats”.    This paper says “The objective of this study was to determine the copper requirement of female cats (queens) for gestation…….The dietary concentration of copper had a significant effect on the time taken for queens to conceive.   The current National Research Council recommendation of 5mg/kg diet copper for ctas appears marginal for optimal reproduction”.    Therefore the National Research Council guidelines are wrong.   They are also totally wrong in the carbohydrate, protein and fat levels they say cats need and the result is serious and even fatal illness in cats.

http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/abstract/130/5/1287

Journal of Nutrition 132, June 2002 “Processing of Dietary Casein Decreases Bioavailability of Lysine in Growing Kittens”.     This paper says “Information on the bioavailability of nutrients for cats and dogs is particularly lacking……The results of this study indicate the lower growth rate of kittens fed heated casein reflects a decreased bioavailability of lysine in heated casein resulting from heat processing damage”.     Therefore kittens fed pet food had a lower growth rate because heating the pet food decreases the bioavailability of lysine.     This paper shows that the bioavailability of nutrients has been little studied and so no-one really knows the bioavailability of nutrients in pet food to cats and dogs.

http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/short/132/6/1748S    

Science Daily “Cat Disease linked to Flame Retardants in Furniture and to Pet Food”.    This says that Janice A Dye DVM, PhD at the US Environmental Protection Agency found that the blood of 23 cats contained PBDE’s (i.e. Fire retardants) which the research found to be elevated in the blood of hyperthyroid cats.    It says that the epidemic of hyperthryoidism in cats began 30 years ago when PBDE’s (ie. Fire retardants) were introduced into household carpets and furnishings).    Dr. Dye also tested tinned and dry pet food and found the flame retardants present in both tinned and dry food but at higher levels in tinned food than in dry food and links this with giving cats hyperthryoidism.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070815122354.htm

PubMed, Am. J. Physiol. Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2007, Jan; 292 “Insulin sensitivity, fat distribution and adipocytokine response to different diets in lean and obese cats before and after weight loss” and this paper says “Obesity is a major health problem in cats and a risk factor for diabetes.   It has been postulated that cats are always gluconeogenic and that the rise in obesity night be related to high dietary carbohydrates…..We conclude that the diet High Protein/Low Carbohydrate diet is beneficial through maintenance of normal insulin sensitivity ….”.     This paper shows that a high protein/low carbohydrate  diet is best for cats and indeed Mother Nature meant the cat to eat at least 70% protein and only 0.5% carbohydrate but feeding the 30-60% carbohydrate that is in dry pet food is causing feline obesity and diabetes.   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16902186

Science Journal article entitled “Food Additives & Contaminants” Vol. 19, issue 12 December 2002, pages 1180-3 paper headed “Occurrence of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2 in some Brazilian pet foods” which says “The presence of cereals and grains in the formulation of pet foods suggests the need to control aflatoxin contamination in these foods.    The objective of the study was to analyze domestic pet food to determine the occurrence of aflatoxins as well as their risk to animal health“    The research found aflatoxin to be a common occurrence in pet food and in bird food and it says that aflatoxin is a carcinogen and therefore causes cancer and this must be contributing to the high level of cancer in cats and dogs.     The paper says “Aflatoxins are carcinogenic and their consumption might be a risk for domestic animal health.”   Aflatoxin will not just be in Brazilian pet food since any pet food with grain in it could have aflatoxin.

  http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/tandf/tfac/2002/00000019/00000012/art00009;jsessionid=fel0it5aasm7s.alexandra

Nutrition.org - 2004 The American Society for Nutritional Sciences J. Nutr. 134-2068S "Carbohydrate Malabsorption Is a Feature of Feline Inflammatory Bowel Disease But Does not Increase Clinical Gastrointestinal Signs".    This is a Wathams pet food company paper and in it they admit that it is caused by carbohydrate malabsorption in cats which is not surprising since cats were never meant to eat the huge amount of carbohydrate in dry pet food..    At www.catnutrition.org the lady who runs this website began it because no Vet could cure her cat of ibs but she took it off dry food and changed it to raw food and the cat has been well ever since.

http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/134/8/2068S.   Dry pet food contains 30-60% carbohydrate and tinned up to 30% carbohydrate but cats have no nutritional need for carbohydrate and cannot properly absorb carbohydrate.  

Journal of Nutrition 136 July 2006 “The Evolutionary Basis for the Feeding Behaviour of Domestic Dogs and Cats”.    This paper says in the conclusion “When feeding, domestic cats and domestic dogs both display the legacy of their origins in the Carnivora.    Therefore dogs and cats are considered to be carnivores and it is completely wrong to feed them carbohydrate laden dry pet food which causes them all kinds of illness because in the wild they would never hunt or search out carbohydrate to eat.     Pet food companies, however, have got away with loading pet food with carbohydrates and this is causing diabetes, cystitis, ibs, allergies, dermatological problems, kidney failure etc.  http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/136/7/1927S

Journal of Nutrition Vol. 132, June 2002 “Vitamin E Requirement of Adult Cats Increases Slightly with High Dietary Intake of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids” and this paper says “Over  the last 50 years there have been numerous reports of Vitamin E deficiency in cats with the main cause of these deficiencies being attributed to ingestion of diets high in polyunsaturated fatty acids. Steatitis (“yellow fat disease”) is attributed to Vitamin E deficiency and has been experimentally induced in kittens after feeding a commercial cat food with a high fish content……..”.         

PubMed - J. Am Vet Med Assoc. 2003 Oct. 15; 223 "Taurine deficiency in dogs with dilated cardiomyopathy" which says that dogs fed a commercial dog food were found to have low blood taurine which gave them DCM even although dogs produce taurine and the paper says pet food companies should perhaps add taurine even to dog food.   Feeding the dogs raw food would give them taurine.   I know of a 9 year old pet food fed Lurcher that recently died because of DCM. 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14584743 

PubMed – Am J Vet Res. 2004 Jan; 65(1): 99-103 “Development of polymerase chain reaction based method to identify species-specific components in dog food” and this says that 31 dog foods were analyzed to see if they had pentobarbital which is used to euthanase pets in them.    The result was  “Because canine and feline DNA were not found in a set of 31 retail dog food samples, these results indicate that the source of pentobarbital in dog food is something other than proteins from rendered pet animals”.    This, however, shows that pentobarbital is in pet food for dogs.

PubMed- Veterinary Record 1967 Mar 18;80(11):364 “The dangers of poisoning domestic pets with meat from animals subjected to barbiturate euthanasia”.   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6067627?dopt=Abstract

Journal of Nutrition 129(10) 1999 “Chloride requirement of kittens for growth is less than current recommendations”.     This research paper found that the National Research Council guidelines for chloride in pet food is too high and says “This value is considerably less than the recommended chloride requirement of the National Research Council of 1.9 g Cl/kg diet, or the allowance of the Association of American Feed Control Officials of 1.9 g Cl/kg diet.    Because the bioavailability of chloride is high the previous estimates appear excessive”.    Therefore the National Research Council Guidelines followed by all pet food companies are wrong since they recommend too much chloride be added to pet food.    The National Research Council Guidelines have been produced by a Mark Morris Professor and Mark Morris are another name for Hills Pet Nutrition and by a Walthams pet food Professor and so these are guidelines produced to allow the pet food companies to get away with putting inappropriate and wrong ingredients into pet food.     They are not independent guidelines.

PubMed – Veterinary Record 1977 Jan 15;100(3):48 “Accidental poisoning of dogs by barbiturates in meat”.

PubMed – The Journal of Nutrition Vol 1228 No. 12 December 1998 pp 2801S-2802S “Apparent Ileal Nitrogen and Amino Acid Digestibility of a Moist Cat Food” and says “This study presents apparent ileal nitrogen and amino acid digestibility coefficients for a moist canned cat food using the rat as an animal model and is a first step towards use of the rat for the nutritional evaluation of companion animal diets.  This study, furthermore, indicates that moist canned cat foods that are subjected to heat treatment may have relatively low protein digestibility when determined using a rat bioassay.”                 Cats need a high protein diet with good quality protein but this paper shows that the protein in tinned pet food has low digestibility and shows tinned or moist pet food is not good for cats.   This study shows that rats are being used to test the digestibility of tinned cat food even though rats are omnivores and cats are carnivores.    Another research paper listed here shows that a high protein diet dissolves struvite crystals in cats and so this shows that tinned pet food does not contain adequate protein for a cat.   http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/128/12/2801S

Journal of the American Medical Association 1975 Feb 3; 231(5):484-5 “Lead in pet foods and processed organ meats” and this paper says “The finding that canned pet foods contain considerable amounts of lead is important …….. The lead probably comes from organ meats used in the manufacture of pet foods”.

PubMed – Vet Med Small Anim Clin. 1979 Nov; 74(11): 1609-10 “Lead, arsenic and cadmium levels in commercial pet foods”.

Journal of Applied Poultry Research 13(4): 680-683 2004 “Fat Quality Assessments of Feed-Grade and Pet Food-Grade Poultry By-Product Meals”.    This paper says 46 poultry by product meal were collected during the winter and summer months and the paper says “Pet food grade poultry by product meal samples received in summer were characterized as having poor fat stability and the amount of analyzed residual antioxidant concentration in the pet food grade poultry by product meal was half that found in the feed-grade poultry by product meal samples.    These results confirmed that fat in poultry by product meal requires an adequate amount of antioxidant protection, even when meals are derived from prime offal components”.       Thus by products in pet food do not contain adequate levels of antioxidants which are thought to be vital for health and adding in synthetic antioxidants has been shown in research to be far less effective than obtaining antioxidants directly from the original food source.   

Blackwell Synergy - Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition; Vol 87, June 2003 "Plasma and whole blood taurine in normal dogs of varying size fed commercially prepared food" this is really the same paper as the one above but mentions that the dogs were fed lamb and rice and says that perhaps the lamb in the food caused the low blood taurine but in a different veterinary research paper about low blood taurine in cats which I have it links the feeding of rice as being the cause of the low blood taurine in the cats and cats were never meant  to eat rice.    Dr. Lisa Newman says that Iams have a research paper which shows that feeding rice causes diabetes and I have asked Iams to disclose this paper to me but have not received it. 

Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association;  41: 284-291, 2005 entitled “Taurine-Deficient Dilated Cardiomyopathy in a Family of Golden Retrievers” and this yet again shows that  dogs are getting dilated cardiomyopathy because of a lack of taurine even though dogs make their own taurine but something in pet food fed dogs is interfering with this and causing them and cats to get dilated cardiomyopathy but this paper says “Canine dilated cardiomyopathy is generally progressive and fatal” but says “A reversible taurine-deficient dilated cardiomyopathy occurred in five related golden retrievers.   An apical systolic heart murmur was the most common physical abnormality”.    The dogs were given taurine supplements and the paper says following this “The dogs regained substantial systolic function and four were weaned off all cardiac medications except taurine”.    If the dogs had been fed raw pet food this contains taurine and they would not have got dilated cardiomyopathy which also affects cats and rice in pet food is linked with interfering with the taurine levels of cats and dogs which can give them blindness or dilated cardiomyopathy.   However, given them taurine reversed this usually fatal disease which is caused by feeding pet food.    Dogs fed raw food would not have a lack of taurine since raw food contains taurine.

http://www.jaaha.org/cgi/content/abstract/41/5/284

PubMed – Res Vet Sci. 2002 Oct; 73(2): 177-82 “Determination of bisphenol A in canned pet foods” and this says “Bisphenol A (BPA) contamination of canned foods for human use has been studied, but there are no reports concerned BPA contamination of canned pet foods.”   The study says that 15 samples of cat food and 11 samples of dog food were studied and the result was that Bisphenol A was found in the pet food and was found to have come from the inside coating of the pet food can.  In January 2007 the European Food Agency set a maximum limit for human daily intakes of bisphenol A which is a chemical implicated as a potential carcinogen and widely used in plastic food packaging and cans.   The maximum limit is the basis for scientific risk assessments on whether Bisphenol A can be used, reduced or banned.   Professor Vyvyan Howard of Ulster University says “Given the evidence we now have, bisphenol A should be banned”.   Professor Fred vom Saal of Missouri University is the world’s leading authority on Bisphenol A says it causes abnormal development, Type 2 diabetes and cancer.  Bisphenol A is used to line the inside of tins of pet food.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12204638

J Am Vet Med Assoc. 1995 Dec 1; 207(11): 1429-34 “Evaluation of factors associated with development of calcium oxalate urolithiasis in cats” and this says “Factors associated with an increase in the risk of calcium oxalate urolithiasis in cats were feeding urine-acidifying diets, feeding a single brand of cat food without providing additional foods or table scraps”.     To counteract the alkalinity that the carbohydrate in dry pet food which was causing struvite crystals in cats, even the pet food in supermarkets and pet shops is now routinely acidified with DL Methionine or some other acidifier but even Purina in a research paper mentioned elsewhere in this list of veterinary research says that the high incidence of kidney failure in cats in the past 10 years is probably due to pet food companies putting acidifiers in the dry pet food.    The Purina Research Report entitled “Nutrition and Renal Function” June 4-6, 1998 says “……it is likely that the high incidence of uremic acidosis in cats relates, at least in part, to the acidifying nature of many cat foods.   It has been speculated that routine use of acidifying diets may contribute to the relative high incidence of chronic renal failure observed in cats over the past decade”.    Even supermarket or pet shop dry food has acidifiers in it and so this pet food is clearly a big cause of kidney failure in cats.  

PubMed – N Z Vet J. 2005 Feb; 53(1): 1-5 “Total selenium concentrations in canine and  feline foods commercially available in New Zealand” and this says 50% of the pet food tested in this study was produced in Australian and the other 50% was produced in the US, New Zealand or Thailand.    The result was “Selenium concentrations in commercial pet foods sold in New Zealand appeared to meet recommended  dietary requirements although the range of concentrations was highly variable.   Whether these recommendations are adequate for the maintenance of optimal health in cats and dogs has yet to be determined”.   Selenium is thought to prevent against cancer but the level of selenium needed for cats and dogs still has not been determined.  

PubMed – Can J Vet Res. 2005 Oct; 69(4): 299-304 “Evaluation of meat meal, chicken meal and corn gluten meal as dietary sources of protein in dry cat food”  and this paper says that 12 cats were fed dry food with either meat meal, chicken meal or corn gluten meal as the main protein source although feeding corn to a cat is completely wrong and this paper says “All cats excreted alkaline urine (pH > 7)”.    Cats should not have an alkaline urine and struvite crystals which can stop a cat passing urine and kill it within 24 hours if it is not catheterized usually form because the urine is alkaline which can be caused by poor quality protein and all the protein used in this research is poor quality protein and pet food contains nothing like the level of protein cats need or can be caused by carbohydrate in the food which makes the urine alkaline. 

Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation Vol 19 Issue 2, 168-175 “Aflatoxicosis in nine dogs after exposure to contaminated commercial dog food” and this says “The purpose of this study was to characterize light and electron microscopic findings from 9 dogs that had consumed aflatoxin-contaminated commercial dogs foods from recalled batches.   Four dogs died and 5 were euthanized after signs of liver failure.   Analysis of feed and liver samples confirmed exposure to aflatoxin.    Of the 9 dogs, 8 had classic signs of liver failure and 1 had signs of liver failure”.     Therefore Aflatoxin from grain put into pet food can cause liver failure and death and in addition has been found to cause cancer.    If cats and dogs were not fed grain laden dry pet food they would not get this illness and because cats and dogs would never eat grain in the wild they should not be fed pet food which is often loaded with grain.   A paper in the Journal of Food Protection 2001 May; 64(5): 741-3 entitled “Mycoflora in commercial pet foods” and this says that the level of moisture in dry pet food allows mold growth.    Dry pet food is very low in moisture and according to Dr. Lisa Pierson DVM this chronically dehydrates pets and predisposes to kidney failure.        

Blackwell Synergy - Veterinary Dermatology, Vol 15 Page 137 - June 2004 "A randomized controlled study to evaluate the steroid sparing effect of essential fatty acid supplementation in the treatment of canine atopic dermatitis" and this concludes that when the dogs were given fatty acid supplements this reduced the need for steroids and I think Vets should not be treating this with steroids and should instead be advising clients to feed foods with Omega 3 which is naturally found in raw food and that if pets were fed raw food they would not get all these dermatological problems.   Pet food also has far too little animal fat in it since the National Research Council has laid down eg. that cats only need 9% fat when Graham Roberts MRCVS in the Veterinary Times dated 19.1.2004 says that cats need at least 40% animal fat in their diet and the lack of fat causes dermatological problems. 

PubMed,  Pol J. Vet Sci. 2004; 7(4): 337-41 “Dietary origin of mycotoxins and estrogenic potential and possible health implications for female dogs” and this links mycotoxins in cereals in pet food with causing endometrica pyometra complex (EPC) and fertility problems and links feeding pelleted dog feed with causing the mycotoxins.   It says that Ochratoxin A, deoxynivalenol, nivalenol and monililformin were found to be significant contaminants found in cereal grain samples.   In another veterinary research paper listed herein Ochratoxin was found in the kidneys of cats and Ochratoxin is considered to be a poison.    It would seem the Ochratoxin probably came from the cereal in the pet food they had been eating. 

PubMed – J Anim Sci 1999 Mar; 77(3):693-700 “Overt signs of toxicity to dogs and cats of dietary deoxynivalenol” and this says “Studies were conducted to determine the dietary amounts of deoxynivalenol in dog and cat food that are required to produce overt signs of toxicity (eg. vomiting or reduced food intake.   Wheat naturally contaminated with 37 mg of deoxynivalenol was used to manufacture pet foods….. Deoxynivalenol concentration in pet food following manufacture was unchanged, indicating that the toxin was stable during conventional extrusion processing”.     Therefore, deoxynivalenol naturally found on grain remains active despite the processing it undergoes when put into pet food.    The paper concludes “Vomiting by dogs and cats was commonly observed at the 8 and 10 mg deoxynivalenol levels”.      

Journal of Agric Food Chem. 2006 Dec 27; 54(26): 9623-9635 “Mycotoxins in Pet Food” and this says “Mycotoxins contaminate cereal grains worldwide and their presence in pet food has been a potential health threat to companion animals.   Aflatoxins, ochratoxin A and Fusarium mycotoxins have been found in both raw ingredients and final products of pet food around the globe.”     As stated in another veterinary research paper listed here, Ochratoxin A has been found in the kidneys of cats.    Mycotoxins can kill pets as shown by a paper on the website of Cornell University Veterinary School entitled “Dogs Keep Dying”.    The Journal of Toxicological Sciences, Vol 56, 23-36 (2000) is a paper entitled “Mu-Class GSTs are responsible for Aflatoxin B1-8,9-Expoxide-Conjugating Activity in the Nonhuman Primate Macaca fascicularis Liver” and this says “Mice are resistant to the carcinogenic effects of the mycotoxin aflatoxin B1……”    This shows that mycotoxins in pet food can cause cancer.

PubMed – Aust. Vet J. 1990 Aug; 67(8): 291-4 “Vitamin A concentrations in commercial foods for dogs and cats” and this says “The Vitamin A concentration was determined in 89 Australian brands of commercial foods for dogs and cats.   It was found that 8% of the dog foods and 15% of the cat foods had concentrations of Vitamin A below the minimum recommended 1.1 mg/kg dry matter (dm) for dogs and 1.8 mg/kg dm for pregnant or lactating cats”.    Therefore the pet food did not contain the correct level of Vitamin A for cats and dogs.     This paper also says that the Vitamin A content was exceeded in all the canned dog food tested and that canned food containing liver or kidney showed the highest levels of Vitamin A since pet food with kidney or liver in it was found to contain 13 mg of Vitamin which is way over the recommended level of Vitamin A for cats and dogs.                

PubMed - Am J Vet Res 1996 Dec; 57(12): 1726-32 "Effects of a high protein diet on mineral metabolism and struvite activity product in clinically normal cats" and this says "high protein diets have the potential ability to increase solubility of struvite crystals".    Pet food contains nothing like the level of protein a cat needs and Graham Roberts MRCVS in the Veterinary Times dated 19.1.2004 said cats need at least 50% of the diet to be protein and less than 5% could be carbohydrate but pet food contains nothing like these levels and my contain up to 50% carbohydrate eg. (Hills feline maintenance contains 39% and Iams 30% carbohydrate) and far too little protein and cooked protein has nothing like the same bio-availability that raw food has.   Therefore the lack of protein in pet food is an important factor in causing life-threatening struvite in cats.

Journal of Nutrition 136, July 2006 “The Growing Problem of Obesity in Dogs and Cats” which is a paper written by Alex German of Liverpool Veterinary.   Dr. German is “Royal Canin Lecturer” at Liverpool Veterinary School and they funded the obesity clinic set up there.    In a letter to me dated 16^th May 2006 Liverpool Veterinary School have disclosed to me that between 1.4.2004 and 31.3.2006 they received funding in the sum of    425,871 from pet food companies and    732,615 from drug companies.     Despite this Mrs. Sheila Jones, of Liverpool Veterinary School in a letter to me dated 2.6.2008 says "I can confirm the Faculty of Veterinary Science has not conducted any specific research to prove that pet food does not cause the illnesses which you listed in your e-mail".    They have taken all this funding from pet food companies when there is no proof that pet food is not causing serious illness and a lot of proof that it is causing serious illness.   No funding should be taken from pet food or drug companies because it makes veterinary schools marketing arms of them but pet food companies are wrongly being allowed to teach veterinary students nutrition at veterinary schools and this is how students graduate not knowing that cats and dog were never meant to be fed carbohydrate laden dry pet food and that feeding them this is causing diabetes, struvite, calcium oxalate, kidney failure, ibs, cystitis etc.   The Veterinary Schools have disclosed to me that Royal Canin are teaching nutrition to veterinary students at Edinburgh Veterinary School, Hills are being allowed to teach nutrition to veterinary students at Glasgow and London University Veterinary Schools, Iams have paid for a state of the art operating theatre at Cambridge Veterinary School and part fund a lecturer there and all the veterinary schools say they have done no independent research, free from pet food company finance or influence into whether pet food is causing cancer, diabetes, cystitis which can lead to kidney failure, kidney failure per se, heart disease or any other illness that cats and dogs get.     Edinburgh Veterinary School disclosed to me their Walthams Lecturer in Nutrition contract, their Purina Feline Lecturer contract and their Royal Canin contract which allows Royal Canin to teach veterinary students and I think it is completely wrong that pet food companies in return for funding veterinary schools in return have such influence at veterinary schools when it is food like this which is causing so much illness in cats and dogs.   

PubMed - J Vet Med Sci 2001 Mar; 63(3): 337-9 "Effect of supplementation of dry cat food with DL Methionine and ammonium chloride on struvite activity produce and sediment in urine" and this says that supplementing dry food with DL Methionine to acidify it decreases struvite activity.    However, if the cats were fed raw food which naturally contains methionine this would naturally acidify their urine and they would not get struvite but the carbohydrate in dry food causes the urine to become alkaline and struvite forms in an alkaline urine.    Acidifying pet food causes metabolic acidosis which predisposes to kidney failure, calcium oxalate stones and loss of bone density in cats and so is not as good thing to do but most dry food is acidified and must be causing a lot of kidney failure since Purina say that 85% of cats with kidney damage have metabolic acidosis and they link this to the routine acidifying of dry pet food. 

Purina Research Report presented at the 1998 Purina Nutritional Forum held on 4-6 June 1998 says under the heading “Nutrition and Renal Function”  that 80% of cats with kidney failure have metabolic acidosis and goes on to say “….it is likely that the high incidence of uremic acidosis in cats relates, at least in part, to the acidifying nature of many cat foods.   It has been speculated that routine use of acidifying diets may contribute to the relatively high incidence of chronic renal failure observed in cats over the past decade”.     The paper says that alkalizing to counteract all the acidifiers the pet food companies put into the pet food reduces mortality.   Therefore the pet food companies are to blame for the high incidence of kidney failure in cats because they load the pet food with carbohydrate and this alkalizes the urine which was found to be causing struvite which stops cats passing urine and can kill them  within 24 hours if  they are not catheterized and taken off dry food altogether and because of this the pet food companies began putting acidifiers such as DL Methionine into the dry pet food but this has been found to be causing metabolic acidosis which can cause kidney failure and calcium oxalate stones in the kidneys which can cause kidney failure.      The Purina paper says that acidifying pet food does not cause kidney failure in dogs as much as it does in cats although it does cause kidney failure in dogs too.

PubMed  - J. Nutr. 1998; 128(12) "The effect of diet on lower urinary tract diseases in cats" and this says "Recent observations suggest that recurrence rates of signs in cats classified as having idiopathic lower urinary tract disease may be more than halved if affected animals are maintained on high, rather than low moisture content diets".    This shows that cats fed dry food are chronically dehydrated and that the lack of water causes cystitis/FLUTD.   I would like to see dry pet food banned since as Dr. Kathy Sinning DV says in a letter published in the JAVMA May 15 2001 "Put simply, the assumption that pets must live on man-made processed pellets is just as preposterous as claiming that humans or any other living species could not live without the same.   There is no argument in the human medical community against eating a variety of fresh raw foods.   Yet this article (the one she is criticizing) advocates feeding processed diets that are completely devoid of any fresh foods.  This is the opposite of what undomesticated animals eat in their natural environment".    Cats and dogs are the only creatures on the planet being fed dry pet food and like Dr. Sinning I too think it is completely preposterous that they are being fed this.  

PubMed - Am J. Vet Res. 2003 Aug; 64(8): 1059-64 "Effects of a high protein diet versus dietary supplementation with ammonium chloride on struvite crystal formation in urine of clinically normal cats" and this again comes to the conclusion that "the high protein diet is preferable as a urine acidifier" and yet again highlights that cats should be fed their species appropriate high protein, raw diet rather than the carbohydrate laden dry pet food so many of them eat day in day out.

PubMed - J. Endourol 1999 Nov. "Calcium Oxalate urolithiasis in cats" and this says that 40% of uroliths in cats are now calcium oxalate stones and it links this to the routine acidification of pet food since all the carbohydrate in dry food alkalizes the urine and so pet food companies began acidifying pet food and have caused calcium oxalate stones to form by acidifying it which can only be removed by operation.  

PubMed – Aust Vet J. 2005 Jul; 83(7):408-11 “Thiamine deficiency due to sulphur dioxide preservative in pet meat”.     This paper says that 3 puppies were diagnosed with thiamine deficiency caused by feeding sulphite treated meat.   It says “The 6 year old dog presented with a history of inappetence, weight loss and vomiting that rapidly progressed to signs of multifocal intracranial disease including mental dullness, paresis, seizures, spontaneous nystagmus and strabismus…….The dog recovered with thiamine supplementation”.     Raw meat contains thiamine but cooking meat destroys a great deal of the thiamine as does pet food companies using sulphur dioxide to preserve the meat.  

PubMed, Veterinary Record 1992 Feb 1; 130(5): 94-7 “Thiamin deficiency in a colony of cats” and this paper says “Twenty eight cats belonging to a cat rescue society developed clinical signs consistent with thiamin deficiency after being fed a proprietary canned food containing inadequate amounts of the vitamin.   Five of the cats died but the others recovered after appropriate therapy”.    Cooking meat in the way the pet food would have been cooked largely  destroys the thiamin which is present in raw meat.      

PubMed - J Nutr 2004 Aug; 134(8) "Canine and feline diabetes mellitus: nature or nurture?" and this says "High-carbohydrate diets increase blood glucose and insulin levels and may predispose cats to obesity and diabetes.    Low carbohydrate, high protein diets may help prevent diabetes in cats at risk such as obese cats or lean cats with underlying low insulin sensitivity".     Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins DVM is an expert in feline diabetes and she says that the carbohydrate in dry food is causing the diabetes and I am certain this is correct.

PubMed - J Feline Med Surg. 2006 April; 8(2); 73-84 "Comparison of a low carbohydrate, low fiber diet and a moderate carbohydrate, high fiber diet in the management of feline diabetes mellitus" and this shows that it is the carbohydrate in dry food that is causing the Type II diabetes cats get and says "Diabetic cats in this study were significantly more likely to revert to a non insulin dependent state when fed the canned low carbohydrate, low fiber diet versus the medium carbohydrate, high fiber diet".     Cats left on medium carbohydrate in this study could not be taken off insulin but the cats in this study should have been completely taken off all carbohydrate since cats were never meant to eat carbohydrate and do not even have the salivary amylase necessary to digest carbohydrate and have very little pancreatic amylase because Mother Nature never meant the cat to eat the huge amounts of carbohydrate it is fed when fed dry pet food.    Dogs do make amylase.   

PubMed - J Am Anim Hosp Assoc. 2006 Jan-Feb; 42(1): 28-36 "The effect of ingredients in dry dog foods on the risk of gastric dilatation volvulus in dogs" and says "An unexpected finding was that dry foods containing an oil or fat ingredient (e.g. sunflower oil, animal fat) among the first four ingredients were associated with a significant, 2-4 fold increased risk of GDV".    GDV can kill a dog. 

PubMed - J Am Vet Med Assoc 1997 Jan 1; 210(1) "Clinical evaluation of cats with nonobstructive urinary tract diseases" and this says "Cats with idiopathic cystitis were significantly more likely to eat dry food exclusively than were cats in the general population.   Results suggest that idiopathic cystitis occurs commonly in cats ....and is associated with consumption of dry foods".    This shows that dry food is causing cystitis in cats but Vets treat this with antibiotics when they should advise the owner that the cat should be taken off dry food.   Martin Goldstein DVM in his book "The Nature of Animal Healing" says that pet food is putting a huge toxic load on the kidneys and bladders of pets which Mother Nature never designed them to deal with.

PubMed - Am J Vet Res 2002 Feb; 63(2): 181-5 "Identification and concentration of soy isoflavones in commercial cat foods" and says "Soy isoflavones in some commercial cat foods were detected in amounts predicted to have a biological effect".    Soy is a cheap protein source put into pet food but cats and dogs were never meant to eat Soy and it is a completely species inappropriate ingredient but pet food companies are not regulated and are getting away with putting all kinds of totally species inappropriate ingredients into pet food.

Blackwell Synergy - Journal off Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care, Vol 16, June 2006 "Diet-associated hepatic failure and immune-mediated hemolytic anemia in a Weimaraner" and says "A 4 year old male castrated Weimaraner developed signs of IMHA, hepatic failure, disseminated intravascular coagulopathy and malnutrition after consuming a commercial dog food".    

Can Vet J. 2003; 44(1): 783 "In support of bones and raw food diets" and in this they say that feeding raw food has not caused any medical problems to the pets of clients they have advised to feed raw food to their cats and dogs and detail all the health problems which have disappeared when the pets were fed raw food which include bladder problems.  

National Research Council Nutrient Requirements of Cats and Dogs (current edition) which are followed by all pet food companies say at page 81 “Tarttelin (1991) suggested that feeding too high a level of carbohydrate may induce feline urologic syndrome since any persistent increase in urine pH, such as that induced by ingestion of high carbohydrate levels results in precipitation of magnesium ammonium phosphate crystals (struvite).   This may lead to blockage of the urethra and predispose the cat to dietary induced feline urologic syndrome (Tarttelin (1991)”.     Thus they admit that the high level of carbohydrate in pet food can cause struvite crystals which can stop cats passing urine and can kill them within 24 hours if they are not catheterized and taken off dry food forever.    If the cats are put on dry prescription diets these have acidifiers in them and veterinary research shows that these acidifiers in pet food are causing kidney failure but even dry pet food sold in supermarkets and pet shops has acidifiers in it and so is causing kidney failure in both cats and dogs.    Veterinary students and Vets are not being taught that cats with struvite crystals or any kind of bladder problem must be taken off all dry pet food, even prescription dry pet food because it also contains far too much carbohydrate and acidifiers which can cause kidney failure.   The Pet Food Manufacturers Association in a paper produced by them are wrongly giving pet owners to believing the National Research Council’s Nutritional Guideline for Cats and Dogs are independently produced but that is not correct since two of the authors work for pet food companies i.e. one is a Walthams Professor and another is a Mark Morris Professor i.e. a Hills pet food Professor and one is head of the grain industry in America and so they are produced to favor pet food companies.  

Blackwell Synergy – Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition, Vol 85, August 2001 “Residues of ochratoxin A in pet foods, canine and feline kidneys” which says “The occurrence of ochratoxin A (OTA) in canned (26 samples) as well as dry pet foods (17 samples) for cats and dogs was investigated.  In addition 26 feline kidney samples with or without kidney alterations were surveyed for OTA residues…OTA could be detected in 47% of the pet food samples….Low concentrations of ochratoxin A could also be found in tissue of cat kidneys, with 16 of the analyzed kidneys being positive”.   Although this paper says that no relationship between pathological findings and ochratoxin levels in feline kidneys could be assessed, Ochratoxin A has nevertheless been found in research to be a potent toxin which affects mainly the kidneys in which it can cause both acute and chronic lesions.   Research has shown that the dog is especially susceptible to ochratoxin and many feeding trials lasting up to 90 days or more have examined the progressive effects on kidney function and damage.    Ochratoxin is a molecule which survives most food processing.    Ochratoxin is produced by some species of Penicillium and Aspergillus in cereal grains and is well known to affect kidney function.   

Blackwell Synergy – Veterinary Dermatology Vol. 15, June 2004 “A randomized, controlled study to evaluate the steroid sparing effect of essential fatty acid supplementation in the treatment of canine atopic dermatitis” and the findings of this were “Our findings indicate a steroid sparing effect of essential fatty acid supplementation in canine atopic dermatitis and, furthermore, that there is a time lag before the effect is attained”.   This shows that if dogs were fed raw food which contains the essential fatty acids they need that they would not need to be fed supplements of essential fatty acids.    This paper showed that the supplements of essential fatty acids meant the dogs could get their steroid dose reduced because the essential fatty acids helped stop the canine atopic dermatitis.    Instead to giving steroids to pets, Vets should be advising clients to feed raw food but instead have pets with dermatitis on endless steroids which can end up causing kidney failure.   

PubMed - Tijdschr Diergeneeskd 2003 Dec 15; 128(24); 785-7 "Health claims in dog and cat feed" and this says "The number and diversity of health claims for dog and cat foods have increased markedly over the past few years.   There is no explicit legislation as to these claims.   Many claims are insufficiently supported by research and are vague and suggestive".    This paper says that rules should be set up to stop pet food companies making false and unsubstantiated health claims for their food.

PubMed, The American Society for Nutrition, J. Nutr. 136, 1998S-2000S, July 2006  "Lysine Content in Canine Diets can be severely Heat Damaged".      This paper says that “Although pet foods are extensively heat treated, little research has been conducted into the effects of the various heat processes on the nutritional value of pet foods”.    This paper found that lysine in dog pet food was severely damaged by the cooking of the pet food.   This paper says “Damage to lysine in canned diets most likely by factors such as the use of ingredients containing damaged lysine (e.g. corn, wheat), extrusion and/or storage appears to be significant and varies greatly between brands.   Although the total lysine content may be sufficient to meet lysine requirements for growth and maintenance, a large proportion of the lysine in the diets appears to have been damaged and can be expected to be  unavailable to dogs”.    The National Research Council’s Nutritional Guidelines for Cats and Dogs says that vitamins and minerals are added to pet food in the tin before the contents are cooked but cooking severely damages nutrients eg. about 75% of taurine vital for heart and eye health is destroyed by the heat of cooking.   The pet food companies seem unaware that cooking denatures protein and that vitamins and minerals are damaged by cooking.    Since the cooking by pet food companies is done after the tin has been sealed they have no way of knowing how badly the nutrients have been damaged by the cooking of the tin and its contents unless they test every tint after cooking before it is sold to pet owners.

http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/136/7/1998S.  

American Journal of Cardiology Vol. 62 "Pet Food-Derived Penicillin Residue as a Potential Cause of Hypersensitivity Myocarditis and Sudden Death" which is a paper about how a toddler died after eating a dry cat food which when later tested was found to have 600 tmes the level of penicillin in it which would be safe for a human being.  

PubMed - N Z Vet J. 1997 Oct; 45(5): 193-5 "Nitrite poisoning in cats and dogs fed a commercial pet food" and says "The death of 3 cats from two separate households was linked to toxic concentrations of sodium nitrite used as a preservative in a commercial pet food.  In a further incident, ataxia and weakness was noticed in 2 of 4 dogs after they were fed the same brand of pet food.   One dog was successfully treated".

PubMed - Vet Record (Britain) 2004 Aug 7; 155(6): 174-6 "Accidental poisoning of 17 dogs with lasalocid" and this says "Over a period of 10 days 17 dogs became weak and developed neurological deficits of different degrees of severity.  About 12 hours before these clinical signs appeared they had all eaten a particular brand of commercial dog food from a recently opened bag.......Five of the dogs died but the others improved gradually".

Blackwell Synergy - Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition, Vol 87, Feb 2003.  "Teratogenic effects of chronic ingestion of high levels of Vitamin A in cats" and says "High concentrations of retinoids occur in some commercial cat food formulations as a result of the use of animal liver as an ingredient"   The result was that this was found to cause "Malformations included cleft palate, cranioschisis, foreshortened mandible, stenotic colon, enlarged heart and agenesis of the spinal cord and small intestine and fetal defects consistent with ingestion of excess retinoids in other species".    Therefore too much liver in pet food is causing these problems. 

Nutrition.org, 2004 The American Society for Nutritional Sciences J. Nutr. 134; 21285-21295, August 2004 “Dietary Sodium Promotes Increased Water Intake and Urine Volume in Cats”. This is a research paper produced by Walthams pet food which says “Urolithiasis is a debilitating and potentially life-threatening condition characterized by crystallization of solutes within the urine that can progress to urolith formation….Cats tend to produce small amounts of concentrated urine, and this may be particularly marked when they are fed dry (extruded) diets.    Urine volume is determined to a large extent by water intake and so increasing water intake should result in an increased volume of more dilute urine…..Increasing the water intake showed clear benefits in studies of human urolithiasis”.    This shows that Walthams are admitting that dry food is causing life-threatening struvite in cats and cats on dry food are chronically dehydrated just as Dr. Lisa Pierson DVM says at www.catnutrition.org in her paper about what cats should be fed and she says that feeding them dry food is causing kidney failure and bladder problems.   This Walthams paper says that sodium should be added to the dry food to get the cat to drink more water to flush out the uroliths but what is really needed is for dry pet food to be banned because it is causing life-threatening illness in cats and is causing diabetes, cystitis, kidney failure, ibs etc.     Vets have betrayed pets and pet owners by giving veterinary endorsement to dry pet food.   They clearly have done this because of the huge funding pet food companies are giving the veterinary schools and they even are allowing pet food companies like Hills and Royal Canin and Walthams to teach veterinary students.      Dr. Susan Wynn DVM at The World Small Animal Veterinary Association Congress in Vancouver in 2001 said “What consumer in their right mind would think that you could possibly get all the nutrition you would ever need from a bag or a tin”.    Veterinary students are far too acquiescent and never it seems challenge why they are being told that only pet food can meet the nutritional requirements of cats and dogs when cats have lived for at least 8,000 years on raw food and dogs for at least 12,000 years and it is clear that raw food is the best food to feed cats and dogs since that is what Mother Nature intended them to eat.      Walthams in this research paper suggest that salt must be added to pet food to get cats on dry food to drink more but the answer is to stop cats and indeed dogs being fed dry pet food since as Dr. Kathy Sinning DVM said in a letter published in the JAVMA, it is preposterous that pets are being fed dry pet food.

2002 The American Society for Nutritional Sciences J. Nutr. 132:1745S-1747S, June 2002 “Dietary Rice Bran Decreases Plasma and Whole Blood Taurine in Cats”     This paper says “Deficiencies in taurine result in clinical diseases including feline central retinal degeneration and dilated cardiomyopathy.  Despite the routine supplementation of commercial feline diets with taurine, cats continue to be diagnosed with taurine deficiency……. When either rice bran or whole rice is added to commercial food, it affects the fact, protein and fiber contents, which means that any of these components potentially could alter taurine metabolism……The indigestible protein content of the rice bran may also alter the intestinal bacterial population, resulting in an increased degradation of fecal bile acids and a greater loss of taurine in the feces either as free taurine or as taurine-conjugated bile acids.   Diet formulations with normally adequate taurine supplementation may actually be deficient in taurine if rice bran or whole rice is included as an ingredient”.    This shows that pet food containing rice could cause cats to get enlarged hearts or to get retinal damage or blindness. 

Paper presented by Tony Buffington DVM to the World Small Animal Veterinary Association World Congress, Vancouver 2001 entitled “Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disorders” says “In a recent case series at the Ohio State University Veterinary Hospital, it was found that all cats with a urinary bladder stone consumed dry food…….   These results provide strong evidence that patients with urolithiasis should not consume dry diets”.

PubMed – J. Am Vet Med Assoc.  2006 Mar 1; 228(5): 743-9 “Renal transplantation in cats with calcium oxalate urolithiasis: 19 cases (1997-2004) and this says “Renal transplantation appears to be a viable option for cats in renal failure secondary to calcium oxalate urolithiasis”.     Calcium oxalate stones have been found in research to be caused by pet food companies acidifying dry pet food because all the carbohydrate in it alkalizes the urine and to counteract this pet food companies began acidifying pet food because the alkalization caused by the carbohydrate was cause struvite which can stop a cat passing urine and could kill it if it is not catheterized.    However, acidifying pet food is a completely unnatural thing to do and this in research has been found to cause a considerable increase in calcium oxalate stones which can cause kidney failure.      

Assistant Professor Sherry Anderson of the College of Veterinary Medicine, The University of Georgia says in a paper on her Research Interests that on of her research projects involved “Documenting that diet alone can induce taurine deficiency in dogs.  Prior to this work it was believed that dogs could not develop taurine deficiency from diet alone, however, we proved this was not true.   In addition just like cats, dogs with taurine deficiency can develop DCM (dilated cardiomyopathy ie. enlarged hearts) and the DCM can be reversed with taurine supplementation”.    Research shows that although dogs can produce their own taurine that pet food fed dogs had low blood taurine and because of this developed DCM.    Professor Anderson says in the paper “I am very interested in research that relates to nutritional management of diseases, as well as the use of nutrition to prevent disease”.    DCM is likely to end in the death of the dog but Professor Anderson says  “However, in a clinical study in dogs that developed DCM, we showed that carnitine and taurine supplementation can result in a significant improvement in cardiac function, and in some cases, complete reversal of this disease”.    If dogs and cats were fed raw food this would provide them with sufficient taurine and they would not need supplementation or develop the heart disease and blindness that a lack of taurine can cause.     

LEDA at Harvard Law School paper written by Justine S. Patrick who is now a qualified lawyer in Pittsburgh in April 2006 says "Trusting but uneducated consumers purchase these commercial pet foods under the assumption that the FDA or some other regulatory body has ensured that the foods contain "balanced" meals and "complete" nutrition.   These consumers naively believe veterinarians that endorse and sell pet foods from their offices while neglecting to mention that these "pet doctors" are often "on the take" and can earn up to 20% of their total income from such sales.  This paper will examine the ways in which inadequate regulation results in confused consumers and sick, malnourished pets."   This paper says many American Vets have shares in Hills pet food and this is why they tell clients to feed it and says that the American Veterinary Medicine Association is the biggest shareholders in Hills Pet Nutrition.   Pet food companies give huge funding to veterinary schools and even allow pet food companies like Hills to teach nutrition to veterinary students and this is how they graduate not knowing that dogs have lived on raw food for most of the 100,000 years that dogs are said to have existed in reasonably close proximity to man and that cats likewise have lived on raw food for most of the 8,000 years they are said to have existed in reasonably close proximity to man  and instead Vets tell clients that it is dangerous to feed raw food even though raw food is the species appropriate food of cats and dogs.    In their new advert for cat food Iams say no-one has ever seen a cat hunt vegetables but equally no-one has ever seen a cat hunt carbohydrate but Iams has 30% carbohydrate in it and that is far too much and even dangerous for a cat.   

More Than Pet Insurance in Britain in a survey of Vets said that the Vets reported they were seeing growth in pet illness relating to diet.     A Veterinary Nurse at York Test Veterinary Services in England said "Since we launched our allergy testing service for pets in 2000, more than 12,000 pets have been tested for suspected food allergies".     Pet food is clearly causing immense allergies because in eating pet food pets are eating ingredients Mother Nature never intended them to eat and pet food is also clearly causing the huge increase in cancer in pets and Donald Ogden DVM says that pet food is causing cancer.   Pet food is loaded with known carcinogens such as BHA and BHT and in Britain is still preserved with Ethoxyquin which in research by Nagoya Medical School in Japan was found to cause numerous kinds of cancer.      The Pet Food Manufacturers Association in writing tell me that Ethoxyquin is still used in British pet food.   Raw food has the Omega 3 which Colorado University Veterinary School say is vital for stopping pets getting cancer and in research Omega 3 was found to kill cancer cells in rabbits but pet food does not contain Omega 3 since although James Wellbeloved and other pet food companies say they have added Omega 3 to their pet food, Omega 3 becomes trans-fatty acid if it is heated or exposed to light or air and so whatever Omega 3 they pour over the food will not be enough to protect the pets from cancer or heart disease but Omega 3 in raw food also boosts the immune system.  Colorado University Veterinary School say that pets with cancer should not have lactose or carbohydrate because the carbohydrate turns to glucose and glucose has been found to spread cancer and carbohydrate per say is linked with causing cancer.  

Paper on the website of Cornell University Veterinary School can be accessed by putting in “Dogs Keep Dying” which says that pet owners are far too unaware of toxic dog food and details how dogs have quite literally been dying from the mycotoxins in carbohydrate laden dry dog food.  The paper says that mycotoxins in carbohydrate laden dry pet food can and has been found to be quite literally killing dogs at Cornell University Veterinary Hospital.  

Organic Life magazine, a British magazine, in the January 2007 issue says in an investigation into pet food “While we naturally look to the veterinary profession for advice on animal nutrition, members of that profession are not wholly outside this conspiracy…….If you are a student in a the running for a prize donated by a pet food manufacturer, following a course of lectures given by a lecture who is paid by a pet food manufacturer in a college where huge chunks of money are donated by pet food manufacturers, then are you really coming into the veterinary world with an unbiased view on feeding cats and dogs…One typical veterinary faculty in Liverpool between 2004 and 2006 received Four Hundred and Twenty Five Thousand, Eight Hundred and Seventy One Pounds from pet food companies including one lecturer post in small animal medicine, one residency in small animal medicine, one veterinary nurse post and several student prizes.”   The American College of Veterinary Nutrition’s website shows that Purina are funding its current research.  

The British Veterinary Times dated 19.1.2004 in an article by British Vet, Graham Roberts, said of pet food “Can we, as Vets, continue to justify our selling of it as “premium”, “veterinary recommended” or “best quality.   Most commercial cat foods, particularly complete diets, are high in carbohydrates in the form of cereals.  With felines being obligatory carnivores, a natural diet would be high in protein (at least 50%), moderate to high in fat (up to 40%) and very low in carbohydrate (five percent or less).”    Pet food contains nothing like these levels and when I had Hills tested at Eclipse Laboratories in Cambridgeshire, England the report said that Hills feline maintenance contained 39% carbohydrate, 9% fat and indeterminate protein i.e. they could not tell if it was animal or vegetable protein although they do testing for the pet food industry.

The British Veterinary Times dated 11.10.2004 in an article entitled “Veterinarians ‘unaware’ of the dangers of processed diets to carnivores” says in the first paragraph “Any vet promoting processed pet food is contributing to the eventual ill health of their patients…….”. and says that every Vet condoning pet food is in breach of  the oath they swore when they graduated to do no harm to animals.  

www.wellvet.com in their paper on Kidney Disease in Cats say:

“Commercial dry food diets seem to produce kidney disease, and they certainly produce cystitis.     Meat based diets prevent the development and retard the progression of kidney disease.   We believe that cats fed an all meat diet do not develop as much kidney disease as those fed commercial diets.”

At www.yourdiabeticcat.com Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins DVM says that hundreds of thousands of cats needlessly have diabetes because the carbohydrate in dry food causes the diabetes and cats do not have salivary amylase necessary to digest carbohydrate and have very little pancreatic amylase and so it puts a huge stress on the pancreas having to try to produce enough amylase to try to digest the carbohydrate in dry food because cats were never meant to eat the 39-50% or more carbohydrate in dry pet food.    Hills Feline Maintenance when I had it tested at Eclipse Laboratories in Cambridgeshire was found to contain 39% carbohydrate which is far too much for a cat and it contained 31% protein which is far too little for a cat since Richard Allport MRCVS says a cat needs 50-70% protein and Eclipse Laboratories told me that they could not tell whether the protein in Hills was vegetable protein or animal protein but it is vital that cats get animal protein.    Hills also contained far too little animal fat since it contained only 9% fat and this low level of fat when a cat needs 30-40% fat in its diet causes dermatological problems and cats derive energy from protein but the Pet Food Manufacturers Association wrongly say on their website that cats need carbohydrate for energy but cats produce glucose from protein and so do not need carbohydrate for energy and the Pet Food Manufacturers Association are completely wrong.    They also say on their website that a diabetic cat should have no more than 25% carbohydrate but Elizabeth Hodgkins DVM who is a feline diabetes expert says this is far too much carbohydrate and that a cat or indeed diabetic dog must be taken off carbohydrate completely and she has found that doing this usually allows the animal to come off insulin and to even be cured of diabetes.     Dr. Hodgkins used to work for Hills Pet Nutrition but is now against all pet food and advises her clients to feed raw food as does Dr. Lisa Pierson DVM who at her website www.catinfo.org details all the illness that feeding carbohydrate to cats is causing and there she criticizes Hills Pet food saying it has no good quality protein in it and is laden with carbohydrate.

www.petfoodcampaign.blogspot.com/ has been set up by pet owners who want proper regulation of the pet food industry following the kidney failure and death of pets in Canada and America as a direct result of eating pet food produced by Royal Canin and Menu Foods who make food for Hills, Purina, Iams and many other pet food companies.    

Book entitled “Canine and Feline Nutrition” written by Daniel P Carey DVM, Director of The Iams Company, Leighann Daristotle DVM, Manager, Communications Department, The Iams Company incredibly says “The fact that dogs and cats do not require carbohydrate in their diets is usually immaterial because most commercial foods include at least a moderate level of this nutrient.   In general dry pet foods contain the highest amount of carbohydrate.   Commercial dry foods may include between 30-60% carbohydrate and canned foods contain anywhere between 0-30% carbohydrate”.     Therefore these Iams Vets think the whole physiology of the cat and dog can be totally ignored because Iams and most pet food companies choose to ignore it and put in huge amounts of carbohydrate into dry and even tinned pet food ignoring that feeding carbohydrate to cats and dogs is giving them diabetes, ibd, dilated cardiomyopathy, cystitis, struvite crystals, calcium oxalate stones etc.      Thus they ignore that  Professor David MacDonald of Oxford University in 2007 has produced research which proves the domestic cat has existed for 130,000 years and that the cat was never meant to eat carbohydrate and does not even have the salivary amylase necessary to digest carbohydrate and that it puts a huge stress on the pancreas of the cat to continuously try to produce enough amylase to digest the carbohydrate in pet food which cats were never meant to be fed.    Pet food companies have tricked cats and dogs into eating carbohydrate when even the dog would never eat carbohydrate at the high level it is in pet food.    http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/po/news/2006-07/jun/29a.shtml

WHAT THE VETS SAY

Veterinary Times 19^th January 2004 “Should we be using the ‘Catkins’ Diet in which Veterinary Surgeon, Graham Roberts says “Most commercial cat foods, particularly dry complete diets are high in carbohydrates in the form of cereals.   With felines being obligatory carnivores, a natural diet would be high in protein (at least 50%; moderate to high in fat (up to 40%); and very low in carbohydrate (5% or less)…….Can we, as Vets, continue to justify our selling of them as ‘premium’, ‘veterinary recommended’ or ‘best quality”?.  No pet food contains anything like the level of protein a cat needs and indeed Richard Allport MRCVS says the cat needs 70% protein and should not be fed more than 0.5% carbohydrate which is what it might eat if it ate a mouse or bird.    Dry pet food contains 30-60% carbohydrate and so as Elizabeth Hodgkins DVM says in her book “Your Cat” we are putting the wrong fuel into the cat and the result is illness.   

Professor Marion Smart, Professor of Veterinary Medicine, Western University, Canada says at http://www.smartanimalnutrition.com/ of her year long research into prescription diets “I found prescription diets often had very similar nutrient content and ingredient list as some of the same company’s over-the-counter diets.   More disturbing was that some of the claims made by the companies seemed to be unsubstantiated, yet quoted by veterinarians in review articles related to nutritional advice”.      Vets are just taking the word of the pet food companies when they should be challenging them and advising clients that feeding pet food is likely to cause illness eventually in their cat or dog.    Vets should not be allowed to sell any kind of pet food because it is a conflict of interest to do so and means they give biased advice to clients and tell them to buy the food that makes the Vet 20% profit from the sale of it and which eventually creates illness in the pet in one form or another.  

Journal of the American Veterinary Medicine Association, Vol. 218, No. 10, May 15, 2001.   In this a published letter written by Dr. Kathy Sinning, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine says “Put simply, the assumption that pets must live on man-made processed pellets is just as preposterous as claiming that humans, or any other living animal could not live without the same.   There is no argument in the human medical community against the benefits of eating a variety of fresh foods.   Yet this article (the Dr. Lisa Freeman one) advocates feeding processed diets that are completely void of any fresh foods.   This is the opposite of what undomesticated animals eat in their natural habitats”.         

“Your Cat” by Elizabeth Hodgkins DVM which is currently stocked by Waterstones book shops.      This book says it is not only wrong but dangerous to feed the cat dry pet food and says that raw food is the best food to feed cats.    Dr. Hodgkins only treats cats and has 30 years of experience of this and details in this book how taking cats off dry food can even cure diabetes, bladder problems etc. and how it is feeding dry food that causes many of the illnesses cats needlessly get because they are fed pet food when cats were never meant to eat any kind of cooked food.   She used to work for Hills Pet Nutrition but now sells raw food from her veterinary surgery and advises clients to feed raw food to their cats instead of the highly processed and species inappropriate food that most Vets sell because they make such a big profit from selling it.

“Cat Body, Cat Mind” by Dr. Michael Fox MRCVS, a Vet in Minneapolis in which he says that if pet owners knew what was really in pet food they would be outraged.     In this book he warns cat owners never to feed dry pet food and details the illness this can give the cat if fed dry pet food.     Also "Dog Body, Dog Mind” by Dr. Michael Fox MRCVS

“Not Fit for a Dog - The Truth about Manufactured Pet Food ” by Michael Fox MRCVS which is an excellent book which exposes all the horrendous ingredients of pet food and the serious and even fatal illness that feeding pet food is causing.

Professor David MacDonald of Oxford University has produced research which traces all domestic cats back to 3 female cats who lived 130,000 years ago.    Pet food did not exist then but they survived all these 130,000 years without pet food but now cats and dogs are getting all sorts of intractable illness which Vets often cannot cure because they fail to tell the client to take the pet off pet food and feed it its species appropriate food which is raw food.

Kymythy Schultz, “The Ultimate Diet for  Cats and Dogs” which says that raw food is the food cats and dogs are meant to be fed.      

Kymythy Schultz, animal nutritionist’s book called, “Natural Nutrition for Cats and Dogs” in the foreword of which Cindy Geisler DVM says the relationship between pet food companies and Vets is unhealthy. 

The Times, Monday June 30, 2008 in which nutritionist, Amanda Ursell says that cooking meat at high temperatures releases a molecule called Advanced Glycation End products (AGE’s) which have been found to cause cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer's and heart disease and so in feeding pets cooked meat they too are being exposed to these illnesses.    Amanda Ursell says the same molecule is released when carbohydrate  is cooked at high temperatures and so dry pet food which contains 30-60% carbohydrate is also releasing the same molecule and must be helping give pets these same illnesses.    Mother Nature intended cats and dogs to eat raw food, not cooked food of any kind.   

Martin Goldstein DVM “The Nature of Animal Healing” in which he has a chapter entitled “It all starts  with food” and goes into all the illness that feeding pet food is causing and openly criticizes Hills and other pet food companies. 

The Veterinary Times dated November 12, 2007 article headed “PFMA:  Vet School Funding from Industry is ‘Ethical”.      However, this article quotes various veterinary students from Cambridge University Veterinary School who say it is not ethical and says “Veterinary student James Patrick Crilly asserted that pet food manufacturers must not be allowed exclusive access to veterinary nutrition teaching in order to prevent a “dangerous monopoly” which could undermine the free market approach to improving the quality of diets.    Lorna Brokenshire went a step further and argued that pet food companies should not be able to sponsor nutrition lectures.   She said Vets should be educated, informed and free-thinking”.   

The Veterinary Times dated June 23, 2008 article headed “Vets’ Food Sales ‘Breach’ UK Consumer Legislation” and quotes Fiona MacMillan as saying “….Vets were misleading clients into buying pet food when they should be warning them of the alleged illnesses she says such food can cause”.     The veterinary research herein proves that the illness is not alleged but is a fact.   The article goes on to say “Vets are bound by the new consumer legislation which says no-one must sell anything by misleading people.   This means that all vets who sell pet food are in breach of the new laws because they are misleading pet owners into believing pet food is good for pets when a huge amount of veterinary research blames pet food for causing cancer, diabetes, kidney failure, dilated cardiomyopathy that will eventually kill the cat or dog etc.” 

RECOMMENDED WEBSITES 

www.yourdiabeticcat.com run by Elizabeth Hodgkins, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in which she says hundreds of thousands of cats have diabetes simply because they are fed dry pet food .

www.catinfo.org run by Lisa Pierson, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine who says on it that cats must never be fed dry food and goes into all the illness that feeding pet food is giving cats.  

tedeboy.tripod.com/drmichaelwfox/index.html - 83k run by Dr. Michael Fox, Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons is an excellent website.

True Carnivores website section entitled “What the Vets Say” where numerous Vets are quoted as saying that pet food is causing all kinds of illness in pets.    www.truecarnivores.com/whatvetssay.shtml - 17k

Dr. Jean Hofve DVM who lists on her website all the illnesses caused by feeding pet food.  

Updated 18.5.2008

The Dolittler website of Dr. Patty Khully DVM who says on it that Hills paid for just about everything when she was at veterinary school and the result is Vets who graduate knowing next to nothing about small animal nutrition and animals get serious illness because of this.  

RECOMMENDED VIEWING

DVD of a documentary recently shown on national CBC TV entitled “A Dogs Breakfast” which can be bought in DVD form from YAP Films in Leeds.    It features Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins DVM said on it to be the biggest critic of the pet food industry despite once herself having worked for Hills and features Professor Marion Smart of Western University College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatchewan, Canada who illustrates on the DVD how old leather, wood shavings, fat and some vitamins and minerals added in when tested at a laboratory met AAFCO nutritional guidelines for feeding cats and dogs which shows just how low the requirements are and why pets are getting horrendous illness from being fed pet food.   This is the URL for the documentary should you wish to view it online.    http://www.viddler.com/explore/jennifergoodwin/videos/4/.