Consumer
Knowledge
Knowledge
It might surprise some dog owners to know that dog meat has been used in dog food. This practice was relatively common until the late 1990's. Even today there are no laws preventing mans best friend from ending up in dog food.
Please note the below information on dead dogs being used in dog food is true to the United States but may also occur in Canada and possibly other countries.
At some time or another pet food companies realized there was a cheap source of meat available... Dog Meat, and it could be purchased cheaply from animal shelters and the dog pound. These were places where dogs were euthanized weekly and there was always a need to dispose of the bodies. Nobody said anything and there were no laws preventing such from happening.
However what started to tip the scales was that the veterinarians who performed the euthanasias at the animal shelters started noticing it was taking more and more drugs to put these animals to sleep. They realized that somehow pets in animal shelters were building up an immunity to the medications used to end their lives. Typically veterinarians are called to shelters every week to euthanize between 10 and 200 animals (or more in larger centers) so this was where they saw the problems develop quite easily.
As such several investigations were launched to see how pets were building up immunities to the drugs. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) launched an investigation. They found that sodium pentobarbital (the drug often used to euthanize pets) passed through the rendering process and ended up in pet food. They admitted finding the drug in some pet foods and stated “several retail feeds were confirmed for the presence of phentobarbital which could only have come from euthanized animals.” Most of these investigations were exposed by television news groups such as Seattle's King 5, and KMOV in St. Louis, Missouri.
What they exposed was something that many people already knew – dead dogs were being used to make dog food. Many animal shelters are government run. These poorly funded shelters found a way of generating extra income and disposing of the animal bodies all at once -Sell them cheaply to a rendering plant. You will note your local SPCA probably does not do this.
The Millstadt plant in Illinois was one that regularly purchased previously euthanized animals and would render them down to be used in pet foods. They would appear on the ingredient list of a pet food under the term Meat Meal, which can be any unidentified meat source. It is not only euthanized animals these rendering plants bought, but also road kill, and animals that died of disease.
When Hershel Pendell appeared in a Seattle King 5 television interview and was asked if pet food contained euthanized pets he said “If the ingredient list meat or bone meal, you don't know if it is cattle, or sheep, or horse... or fluffy.” Pendell was, at that time, president of AAFCO the board responsible in the USA for pet food regulations.
Following the leaks, and especially when a list of pet foods found to contain previously euthanized animals was made public, many food companies tightened their use of euthanized pets in pet food, however even today the practice is legal and continues.
You, the consumer should know that any food containing the mystery ingredient “Meatmeal” can be any dead animal, even cats, and dogs, although often it is horsemeat - typically foals from the PMU Industry. You will note meat meal is an unspecified source, as when compared to a proper ingredient such as “Chicken Meal, or Lamb Meal”.
Be aware that meat by-products can include things like collars, and cancerous tumors.
If the food does not say “Human Grade Ingredients” it can contain euthanized animals (although not necessarily dog).
Source Links (as well as my own knowledge on the subject - due to working in an animal shelter)
http://www.wdcusick.com/dogfoodcounsel-mail.html
http://www.thedogplace.org/Articles/Andrews/Dog.Eat.Dog_02.asp
Related Reading
How to Help your Dog Live a Healthy and Long Life
Tips for Surrendering a Dog to a Shelter
Very startling post but pet lovers should be wary of.
For those wondering the risks to the dogs, there have been reports of deaths suspected to be linked to pets eating euthanized animals.. clearly there are concerns since eating euthanized animals (of any kind) is NOT legal for human consumption, so it must be risky for our pets too.
Even if the only concern was the drugs used to kill the animals, it would still be dangerous to feed your pet. When you add in sickness and other problems, how could it not be harmful.
Disturbing article. Here in Belgium euthanized animals are not used for pet food and are burned or in some conditions used for the making of glue and things like that, but not for food. So some dogs are cannibals. Yikes.
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dog food is made from a dead dog meat is very cheap, but is dangerous for the dog who eat these foods?