Watch "Pet Fooled" - A Documentary

[cocobutterfly]

Everyone, please watch it. I have no affiliation with the film, but it's eye opening, informative and frankly, disturbing. You can watch it for $4.99 on Vimeo, Amazon iTunes. Best $5 anyone can spend to educate themselves and possibly improve the lives of your pets and their humans.

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/petfooled
http://amzn.to/2jDjgoP

 

[missmimz]

Agreed! I loved it. Very well produced and informative. So many things a lot of people don't know about the pet food industry. 

 

[dorimon]

I've been waiting for this to be released!  It seemed very informative based on the trailers, and also shed a lot of light on the history of the pet food industry (the need to create pet food that didn't need metal packaging during the War, etc.).

I purchased the movie on Google Play and plan on watching it tonight.

(It's slightly cheaper to rent from Google Play if you don't need/want to watch in HD: https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/Pet_Fooled?id=K1axZ9vSjmI)

 

[solomonar]

For me. looking to the food labels is sufficient to see the tricks and how they rip us.

I also suspect many brands has no taurine in their products- which is a crime.

Still, very difficult to prepare high quality home-food.

Why not asking for a "pet consumer protection law"?

 

[sweetpea24]

If many cat food brands didn't have taurine in them, more cats would be blind.

For the average consumer who is not educated in reading labels, this will be an eye opener. There is another documentary called What's for Breakfast? Very interesting as well.

Knowing how messed up the human food industry is, I'm sure it is much worse in the pet food industry.

 

[missmimz]

Still, very difficult to prepare high quality home-food.

It's not difficult in the US/Canada, at least, maybe in your country you may have less access to the right supplements. 

 

[solomonar]

 
It's not difficult in the US/Canada, at least, maybe in your country you may have less access to the right supplements. 

Right supplements in only a part of the story. I can order them from here or I can find them as raw substances.

The difficulties resides in the right knowledge, equipment and available time.

There are also internet sources about how to do it, but it takes some time to make sure the info is correct.

Reading about how to do it offers a false impression of easiness.

One may try to do it. But making home-made food for ten years in row, with quite a lot of time consumed each day and paying attention to every single detail- that is the challenge.

Ok, one can do it, not impossible. But as humans we do have a lot of other obligations to be fulfilled. Still, preparing home-made cat food can be a hobby and like any other hobby shall not rise the question of time budgeting.

 

[solomonar]

If many cat food brands didn't have taurine in them, more cats would be blind.

For the average consumer who is not educated in reading labels, this will be an eye opener. There is another documentary called What's for Breakfast? Very interesting as well.

Knowing how messed up the human food industry is, I'm sure it is much worse in the pet food industry.

Agree.

Who knows how much taurine is in a certan brand product? And who knows whether the percentage of taurine remain the same in all lots?

I also do not underestimate the power of public knowledge. I am almost sure that any major brand has a person following the forums and reporting on the problems.

Reading that in this forum people discuss about reading labels and making points about this shall warn them

.

 

[Willowy]

In the US there are regulations about how pet food is to be made, and for cat food there's a minimum taurine level. So they have to have at least that much. That doesn't mean that the food is made with high-quality ingredients, just that at minimum it has to have certain nutrients.

Of course it's different in other countries.

 

[missmimz]

 
Right supplements in only a part of the story. I can order them from here or I can find them as raw substances.

The difficulties resides in the right knowledge, equipment and available time.

There are also internet sources about how to do it, but it takes some time to make sure the info is correct.

Reading about how to do it offers a false impression of easiness.

One may try to do it. But making home-made food for ten years in row, with quite a lot of time consumed each day and paying attention to every single detail- that is the challenge.

Ok, one can do it, not impossible. But as humans we do have a lot of other obligations to be fulfilled. Still, preparing home-made cat food can be a hobby and like any other hobby shall not rise the question of time budgeting.

I'm honestly not sure where you're getting this information from. I make raw food for 9 cats. It doesn't take very long at all. Making food is really easy, there's no false impression of easiness, it is easy. The longer you do it the more comfortable you become with how it works. I don't need to use any special equipment. I have a grinder but I don't usually grind my own meats. I usually buy pre-ground from a company that produces raw meat for raw feeding, and then add supplements that we know, biologically, cats require in their diet. I have a good quality kitchen scale that's accurate, so I know I'm adding the right amount for the amount of meat I'm making. 

 

[solomonar]

For 9 cats, I would prepare home-made food as you do.

For one cat alone I don't bother, at least as long as he is healthy.

I know the risk level as well.  Risk is not something that happens each day. One error can occur with dramatic impact even tomorrow, or could never happen.

The less time for preparation, the higher the risk. And is also a matter of knowing the hygene at the right level.

For instance, I have seen a lot of people washing carefully their hands after using the WC and then putting hands on the tap, doors and other objects that are contaminated...

Washing hands is a 40-60 seconds jobs. Desinfection of the scale is another operation and so on. One can neglect or do less on these operations and come to very short times. And nothing happens ever. Risk is probability and shall be calculated or at least assessed. Risk tolerance is also personal. Very personal. And is mirrored in time and risk level.

Therefore, caring one cat - as in my case- makes commercial food more usable, in terms of time, money and risk.

Calculation is different in the case of 9 cats and from my rough estimation home-made diet is preferable vs. commercial diet. Costs, knowledge and time shall be estimated as compared with acceptable risk level, which is personal option

 

[Willowy]

It's not like pet food factories are so sanitary :tongue2:.

You don't have to justify why you don't feed your cat a homemade diet, we're just saying it's not that difficult once you know what supplements to use, and finding a scale that weighs as little as 1 gram isn't difficult in the US. It is time-consuming, yes, so it's nice that commercial food exists for those who prefer the convenience.

 

[solomonar]

It's not like pet food factories are so sanitary

.

You don't have to justify why you don't feed your cat a homemade diet, we're just saying it's not that difficult once you know what supplements to use, and finding a scale that weighs as little as 1 gram isn't difficult in the US. It is time-consuming, yes, so it's nice that commercial food exists for those who prefer the convenience.

What I am saying is in long what many say in brief: home-diet and raw food are very good is you know what are you doing. And if you have time to do it.

My point is then the risk management.

I agree that (some) pet-food companies do their tricks. More public pressure, better laws and control  - I agree "tail and paws"

. One way is to have the companies feeling the pressure of the people capacity to prepare home-food. Making home-diets is not like making chicken soup, as one may consider after reading some web-sites.

On the positive side, my grandma care to cats was about giving them raw meat leftovers from the fresh chicken and any leftover of the meals. She just throw away some food and the cats were happy.

  

====

1 g balance I can find at the street corner for some 5 bucks. Not accuracy is the problem, but the quantity and the error class for the given accuracy. When preparing for one cat only, they are very small amounts and the error is higher. When preparing for 10 cats, amount is higher and error is lower. A similar approach to homogenity of the raw meat, though of lower impact.

We do not weight 10 g but a 10 g +- x%. That x% varies by error class, age of the scale, fiability and care, i.a..

The scale indication also varies with temperature, and depends on the technology used for scale.

All these considerations are of lower relevance when feeding more cats.

 

[missmimz]

 
For 9 cats, I would prepare home-made food as you do.

For one cat alone I don't bother, at least as long as he is healthy.

I know the risk level as well.  Risk is not something that happens each day. One error can occur with dramatic impact even tomorrow, or could never happen.

The less time for preparation, the higher the risk. And is also a matter of knowing the hygene at the right level.

For instance, I have seen a lot of people washing carefully their hands after using the WC and then putting hands on the tap, doors and other objects that are contaminated...

Washing hands is a 40-60 seconds jobs. Desinfection of the scale is another operation and so on. One can neglect or do less on these operations and come to very short times. And nothing happens ever. Risk is probability and shall be calculated or at least assessed. Risk tolerance is also personal. Very personal. And is mirrored in time and risk level.

Therefore, caring one cat - as in my case- makes commercial food more usable, in terms of time, money and risk.

Calculation is different in the case of 9 cats and from my rough estimation home-made diet is preferable vs. commercial diet. Costs, knowledge and time shall be estimated as compared with acceptable risk level, which is personal option

I use gloves 

 

[paiger8]

 
What I am saying is in long what many say in brief: home-diet and raw food are very good is you know what are you doing. And if you have time to do it.

I spend about 2.5 hours every 6 weeks for my 2 cats who are 100% raw fed. It can be done.   Once you get a system down, it's super easy. I freeze it in 4oz containers (they each eat 2oz each meal), and I don't have to worry about it for another month and a half. It's honestly easier than canned for me since it comes right to my door (Hare-Today.com meat) + supplements.

I honestly spend more time watching TV or sitting on Facebook in ONE night than I do making awesome food for my cats every 6 weeks.

I was super intimidated at first by the thought of figuring out the amounts of everything. But once you figure out the exact recipe, it's super simple. But to each their own.

I am dying to see this documentary. I'd love to buy it on DVD so I could share it. I'm already super distrustful of the pet food industry, so I'm sure a lot of it is already known. 

 

[solomonar]

 
I spend about 2.5 hours every 6 weeks for my 2 cats who are 100% raw fed. It can be done.   Once you get a system down, it's super easy. I freeze it in 4oz containers (they each eat 2oz each meal), and I don't have to worry about it for another month and a half. It's honestly easier than canned for me since it comes right to my door (Hare-Today.com meat) + supplements.

I honestly spend more time watching TV or sitting on Facebook in ONE night than I do making awesome food for my cats every 6 weeks.

I was super intimidated at first by the thought of figuring out the amounts of everything. But once you figure out the exact recipe, it's super simple. But to each their own.

I am dying to see this documentary. I'd love to buy it on DVD so I could share it. I'm already super distrustful of the pet food industry, so I'm sure a lot of it is already known. 

You perhaps know that there are 2 types of freezing: slow freezing (in the regular kitchen fridge) and rapid freezing (in the industrial premises). The slow freezing makes ice crystals in the cells, which destroys the matrix and modifies the properties, including the taste. Industrial freezing technology uses very low temperature (liquid Nitrogen) which leads to very low temperature and thus to very rapid freezing in mass. Consequentely, there is no ice crystals and the cells preserves the matrix and the components. The taste is also preserved.

Another point is de-freezing: the bacteria grow rapidly after de-freezing. And freezing a mix is something that I shall check before doing, since there is difference between freezing one component and freezing 2 components together. It may be not a problem, I do not know. 

The safest way then is to prepare the food each day or say every two days. As long I do not know what happen with the prepared food kept so long in the fridge, even at  low temperatures, I may not go for this preservation method. Then the time budget changes dramatically.

On the positive side, freezing destroys part of the bacteria (not all). Yes, we humans do it and there is no problem -apparently (apart from bad taste). But remember, cats metabolism is different and we do no know much about it.

Concerning the time budgeting, in fact as I said, that is the real problem. 

The errors in food preparation can affect the health after long periods of time, health problems can go un-noticed for quite sometime. In the human, incorrect proportion of vegetal vs meat in the diet makes damages that can be obserced after years and sometimes decades.

====

I am not against home-made food. In my opinion it is the safest way and the cheapest alternative. Pet food industry got to concentrated, in my view. If more competition, then the companies may monitor each other. ALso, SMEs are more linked and sympathetic to the communities they serve. But I could not came across any SMEs in the pet food industry 

 

[solomonar]

 
I use gloves 

Ok, what sort of gloves? There are many types. The kitchen/bathroom ones have the only purpose to keep the hands away from the contact with corrosive matter. They have a certain porosity - nobody cares. But the pores can host bacteria. It is very difficult - if not impossible - to clean them up to the hygenic standards.

There are also disposable gloves. OK, if they are ... disposed (not reused). And they can not defend against accidental touching of contaminated surfaces - for instance some spots of  the kitchen table. The safest way is a stainless surface cleaned by dezinfectants.

Another source of contamination is the humans breath. Another one is the hair. And so on.

Ok, no need to turn ourselves in safety Nazi! I am posting all this details only to show that  risk management is important and some crucial details may go un-noticed.  The most risk factors reduced, the lower the risk. This is why I said in another post that the personal tolerance to risk is important, with regard to both cat health risk and time management/budgeting.

I wanted to stress that judging risks and operations in the case of home made food is not intuitive 

 

[missmimz]

 
Ok, what sort of gloves? There are many types. The kitchen/bathroom ones have the only purpose to keep the hands away from the contact with corrosive matter. They have a certain porosity - nobody cares. But the pores can host bacteria. It is very difficult - if not impossible - to clean them up to the hygenic standards.

There are also disposable gloves. OK, if they are ... disposed (not reused). And they can not defend against accidental touching of contaminated surfaces - for instance some spots of  the kitchen table. The safest way is a stainless surface cleaned by dezinfectants.

Another source of contamination is the humans breath. Another one is the hair. And so on.

Ok, no need to turn ourselves in safety Nazi! I am posting all this details only to show that  risk management is important and some crucial details may go un-noticed.  The most risk factors reduced, the lower the risk. This is why I said in another post that the personal tolerance to risk is important, with regard to both cat health risk and time management/budgeting.

I wanted to stress that judging risks and operations in the case of home made food is not intuitive 

I honestly just don't understand your argument at all. There's no more risk involved in making raw food for your cat in your kitchen then making a meatloaf. Anyone with raw meat in their kitchen for any reason is following basic hygiene practices, or at the very least should be. You can get sick from bacteria on lettuce or fruit just as easily as you can from raw meat, this has been well documented over the years. I've been making raw cat food for a few years without any issues. No one in my household has become ill with any symptoms related to raw bacteria in meat, nor have any of my 9 raw fed cats, including my senior with a compromised immune system. I use disposable gloves specifically designed for food prep. That doesn't mean I don't wash my hands, obviously, it simply makes it easier to use gloves. 

 

[solomonar]

My questions address  risk management, I am not  against not making home-diet. And I am not saying to transform the kitchen into an aseptic environment. This is neither feasible nor required.

I only stress the need to be very well informed to keep the risks under control (not to eliminate them 100). To do so, one shall be aware about where the risks are, how big they are and what are their nature.  We are very tempted to consider that if nothing bad happen until a certain moment, there is no risk. That conclusion is false.

In order to explain what I mean by risk management I wrote the examples above, to show that they are a lot of hazardous siitation about one may not be aware.

The same apply to pet food industry, with the observation that the industry uses that low public awareness in their benefit.