A Closer Look At Cans

It was reported a few years ago that more canned pet food diets were fed in Europe than dry food. That might not be the case now with the marketing from big commodity diets chasing dollars, but it was the case for certain not long ago.

A couple months ago we published an article where we highly recommended adding moisture to dry pet food to make it more genetically proper for dogs and cats since their prey diet would be very high in moisture, not dry like kibble. Canned food is high in moisture, which makes it more genetically proper for a carnivore assuming the ingredients are proper and healthy.

Things to Consider About Cat Food

From Scott Freeman, Founder of Nature's Logic ________________________________________________ Most typical dry cat foods do not incorporate enough meat and sometimes no organ meat to be really carnivore appropriate. These insufficient diets not only must use synthetic vitamin and mineral packs, but also added synthetic taurine and other synthetic amino acids such as dl-methionine. If using a proper percentage of meat and organ meat, there would be no need to add these synthetic ingredients. Almost all of these added synthetic supplements and amino acids are made in China, and most are toxic and some lethal at high levels. Many site in their documentation the LD50 levels. LD50 is the amount, if fed, that would be fatal at that dosage to 50% or more of the test animals. Here is an example of a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) of synthetic Taurine showing the LD 50 levels and other toxicology information. (see Section 11. Toxicological Information)  Almost without exception, dry cat foods are coated with hydrolyzed poultry liver taste enhancers. This form of MSG is very addictive to cats and causes a challenge to convert cats off of MSG coated dry food to high quality, high animal protein, 100% real food. But one should not give up on converting cats over from these addictive dry diets. These palatant coatings are also undesirable because they contain an acidic chemical called sodium acid pyrophosphate. This is what gives many cat foods that acidic smell along with synthetic added dl-methonine. Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (SAP) is also very toxic and lethal at a certain level and because of this, also has a determined LD50 level. (see Section 3 and 11 for Hazard and Toxicological Information) Also, here is the ingredient label for a popular cat food hydrolyzed liver coating containing SAP and hydrolyzed liver. Don't free feed dry food; don't leave it out. Dr. Pitcairn in one of his famous books titled, “Natural Healing for Dogs and Cats” literally begs cat owners not to free feed dry food and never leave it out. Cats need moisture in their diets. Their prey in the wild would be around 70% moisture; not 10% or less moisture like dry cat food. Not only do most dry cat foods contain little moisture, most are high in carbohydrates and low in animal protein content lacking adequate muscle and organ meat. Dr. Pitcairn said, as a way to make a point to his customer, “if you want your cats to have bladder problems, feed dry food all the time and leave it out.” In other words, he recommends cats be given portion feedings to restrict calories to only what they need daily, and to incorporate wet food into a cat's diet. So what about Nature's Logic? From the dry, to wet, to raw frozen, it is high in animal protein, and all diets incorporate organ meat. Because of our formulations, not a one of them needs to be supplemented with synthetic vitamins, minerals or amino acids. For example, you will never see Taurine as an ingredient because all Nature's Logic Feline diets contain more than adequate natural taurine, just like they get it in the wild. During feeding trails of our feline dry diets, the Queens at the end of lactation had over 50% more blood taurine than was required to pass an all life stage feeding trial. The kittens, after 12 weeks of growth, had over 90% more blood taurine than was required to pass an all life stage feeding trial. Similar indicators of superior nutrition were in the Queens' and Kitten's blood levels of hemoglobin, albumin and red blood cells. Here is some data from those trials and below is a picture of one of the kittens born during the trials and then adopted out at the end of the trial along with all other Queens and kittens in our feeding trials. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Other features of Nature's Logic cat foods are: We never use hydrolyzed liver palatants; a hidden form of MSG  We never use Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate  They contain NO ingredients from China  We always use enough meat, organ meat and concentrates of other whole foods and natural ingredients so we never have to add any synthetic supplements or amino acids  If you have not tried Nature's Logic cat foods, we encourage you do so, and help your cat be healthier by allowing them to eat diets free of all the hidden things sited above that have nothing to do with health and nutrition.

Do Single Protein Diets for Pets Really Exist?

From Scott Freeman, founder and owner of Nature's Logic:
This is a true story. In talking with a dog food plant that makes kibble for private labels, a customer came to them with a formula, which included “dehydrated chicken”. When the pet food company was ready to begin production, they asked the customer to supply them with the dehydrated chicken since they did not have this ingredient. The customer told the dog food plant to just use chicken meal. The plant explained they could not do that because chicken meal cannot be called dehydrated chicken. The customer asked why they couldn’t; because this is the way he was going to differentiate his food from other foods.

It seems the customer was trying to be different without being different at all. Only on the false label would he have been different.

In the pet food industry we have all seen this battle to differentiate. Grain free diets come out using potato. Then another grain free diet comes out using tapioca, saying why tapioca is better than potato and yet another grain free diet is released using peas instead of potatoes, explaining why peas are better. Etc., etc., etc.

Now that the grain free buzz has saturated the market, single protein limited ingredient diets are starting to make their debut. Why? Well of course, to show that a brand is different and then create marketing around it to reel in customers.

Is Grain-Free Really Better?

Dog and cats are naturally carnivores receiving the majority of their required nutrients from meat. This has lead pet food manufactures to create grain-free formulas for both dogs and cats promoting that it is healthier and more natural. However, while grain-free manufacturers are migrating away from including grains in pet foods, they are instead using other starch ingredients such as potato, tapioca, peas or chickpeas.  

While some in the pet community will advocate grain-free foods as better for pets a question arises. Are potatoes, chickpeas, and tapioca really biologically-appropriate foods for dogs and cats? And though they may be grain-free they are still a starch and these starches are a major source of carbohydrates and sugar in dry kibble pet foods and often linked to various pet allergies or health issues.

Dogs and Cats are NOT Naturally Grain-free

In the wild meat-eating predators consume nearly their entire prey, including the intestines. This supplies them with additional nutrients from predigested fruits, vegetables and yes, grains, in the stomach of their prey, and from the little that they will forage in the wild. So actually the most natural diet for dogs and cats is not one that is grain-free, but rather one high in animal protein and low in carbohydrates.

Starch and its Purpose in Pet Food

A starch is a complexcarbohydrate found chiefly in seeds, fruits, tubers, roots and stem pith ofplants, notably in corn, potatoes, wheat, and rice¹. Grain-free kibble brands still contain starch from one or more of these sources, not because of the nutritional value, but because it makes the kibble stick together and hold its shape.

If you as a pet parent have decide to feed your pets dry kibble for whatever reason, (cost, convenience, etc.) but some form of starch is required to help kibble keep its shape, then is there a healthy starch that is low in carbohydrates and a more natural option?

Benefits of Millet

Millet is a grass seed is similar to one a carnivore might consume from eating the stomach of a bird or herbivore. So it is a starch that is more likely to be eaten by predators in the wild, either directly or through their prey. This is much more likely to occur naturally in a wild dog or cat’s diet than chickpeas or potato, so will be more natural for their digestive systems.

Further, millet is low in sugar and carbohydrates. The grain contains less natural sugar than other starches frequently used in pet foods. Plus millet contains NO gluten, a relatively common allergen for pets.

Nature’s Logic dry kibble formulas for both dogs and cats include millet as the only starch. Since Millet is low in carbohydrates and Nature’s Logic diets are high in protein it makes all our kibble a biologically-appropriate, healthy diet for your pets. If you would like to learn more about Nature’s Logic dry kibble diets that are 100% natural visit our website www.natureslogic.com