Expert: Ali - 6/18/2009

Question
Hi!  Hoping you can help...took in a female kitten approx. 2-3 wks old (now 11-12 weeks).  She was found in the woods near the road, healthy-no mom even after 3 hours of keeping watch to see if she would be reclaimed.  (Later discovered kittens littermates found by other neighbors-probably dumped by some unfeeling jerk.) Bottlefed her until 7 wks, and slowly introduced her to my 13 yr old cat who has taught her a lot and "adopted" her.  Cats play fight, sleep together, eat together, get along great.  PROBLEM: This week the kitten has started bullying my older cat at the food dishes.  If I'm cooking, or feeding my kids, she growls and tries repeatedly to get your food.  I dropped chicken while cooking (hot) and tried to scoop it up and she tried to get to it with growls, claws and teeth even while I was trying to protect her from getting burned! Given treats, she will snarf her own then rush over to bully my older cat's treats from her! She gets top notch food and treats, so I don't believe nutrition is the cause....I attempted to "scruff" her gently as the instructions said, but she continued to growl and tried to claw me in anger.  She's learning not to attack feet when I walk through a room (very high energy) but I am afraid she will injure my senior cat or my toddler with this aggressive food bullying.  I want to nip this now while she's still small!  Any suggestions?  I've taken in many strays and rehabilitated a few ferral cats through patience and love, but never saw this in a cat before-only in dogs.  Thank you!  Christine

Answer
Christine,

This kitten is one lucky girl to have been rescued by someone as kind hearted as you are. I've dealt with some kittens who have a real aggressive streak similar to what you've described in your question and I'd like to start off by saying that your kitten can be helped and with the right care she should grow up to be a much more polite kitty. The problem behaviors you're seeing are most likely related to the fact that this kitten didn't get the lessons she needed to learn from her mother or a kitty willing to play that role completely. Mother cats are fantastic at teaching their kittens how to function well with their human caregivers as well as other cats and they start disciplining their babies in the days shortly after birth. If you've heard the squabbles that can happen between newborn kittens over a favorite nipple you'll notice that mom only allows things to go to a certain point and then she disciplines her babies gently, but effectively.

I'm a believer in caring for my cats as naturally as possible so I've recommended a few options that you may be interested in trying. I've made a few suggestions of Bach flower essences that may be effective in helping your kitten settle down and building your older cat's confidence. The Bach flower essences are gentle, safe and effective and your cats shouldn't experience any adverse effects. For further advice about homeopathic remedies and to develop a more specific treatment plan for each of your two kitties I'd suggest that you consider seeking the advice of an experienced holistic vet who has experience and training with homeopathy. A holistic vet is trained in conventional medicine as well as one or more alternative therapies which may include homeopathy, acupuncture, massage or herbal medicine to name a few options.

My family vet is a wonderful holistic vet who uses homeopathy in her practice when it's appropriate and I think that this kitten and your older kitty could really benefit from a consultation with an experienced homeopathic vet. I have to say that I've seen some pretty amazing changes in cats when they receive the right homeopathic remedy at the right point in time. There are several advantages when it comes to using homeopathy to treat different issues in cats. First of all homeopathic remedies are very gentle and safe - the worst that will happen if you administer the wrong remedy is absolutely nothing, while giving the wrong drug can have serious consequences. Another great point is that homeopathic remedies often cost less than traditional drugs.

Bach flower essences have been a staple in my household for 10+ years and they're really gentle and effective. You can usually find Bach flower essences at health food stores, naturopathic pharmacies, some mainstream pharmacies actually carry some of these remedies in the aisle with nutritional supplements/vitamins and as far as I know you can purchase these remedies online. A great all purpose remedy that will help your older cat to deal with the stress of the newest household member as well as addressing the trauma your new kitten has already experienced when she was abandoned (it really makes little difference whether her mom left her or a person dumped the entire litter). Rescue Remedy is fabulous for helping deal with anxiety, fear and trauma, I've used it for many cats coming from different situations with great success for years at this point. I'd suggest putting 7-10 drops of Rescue Remedy into a clean dish of fresh water each morning - that's the easiest way to administer all of the Bach flower essences to cats. Any other cats in your household won't be negatively affected by drinking from the same bowl as the remedies are in, if they don't need a specific remedy they won't be negatively affected by it.

I don't typically recommend giving Bach flower essences to cats by mouth except in case of emergency because the flower essences are preserved in a grape alcohol solution which cats don't like the smell or taste of. Your senior cat could use another Bach flower essence to help her cope with the kitten's bullying, it's called Larch and this remedy helps to promote confidence. There are many different reasons your kitten could be bullying the older cat, it may be directly related to the fact she didn't get to spend anywhere near the amount of time she should have with her mom so she hasn't learned how to properly socialize with other cats, she may be jealous of the attention your older kitty gets from you and feeling somewhat possessive or the trauma of being abandoned may have had a negative effect on her.

Three other Bach remedies might help reduce her jealousy and anxiety, Holly (for jealousy), Mimulus (specific fears/anxiety), and Heather (deals with overly demanding or needy behavior/state of mind). My recommendation when using these remedies is to start off with the Rescue Remedy being given consistently for several days to a week. Watch the older kitty and the young kitten closely for any change in behavior or demeanor and take note of the changes you see. The other remedies I've suggested shouldn't be given all at once, you don't want to overload the cats and end up in a situation where none of the remedies worked at all. It's best to decide on one new remedy to try every two weeks if necessary, I'd suggest going with the remedies that closely describe how both cats are interacting with each other, the other cats in the household and their human caregivers.

I've hand raised my share of kittens over the years and I've learned that kittens that grow up without mom to discipline them when necessary, teach them appropriate skills they'll need to be a good pet. The process of socializing kittens should start shortly after birth, they need to be handled gently by a variety of different people in order to learn about the world and be confident enough to function well within a home. Young kittens are very cute and it's very tempting to cuddle them all of the time and allow them to get away with whatever they want to do, however it's best to mimic mom's natural way of dealing with her kittens as closely as possible because many times a kitten's behavioral issues can be traced back to what's happened early in that kitten's life. It's not uncommon for hand raised kittens or those who were taken from their mother before 10 weeks of age to have behavioral issues like you describe. Based on the seriousness of the food aggression you've described it's extremely important at this point to deal with the root of the problem and stop the behavior before this kitten hurts herself or someone else in the household. I'm going to provide you with information geared towards helping this kitten settle down to comfortably live life in a busy household.

I normally recommend that parents never allow a young child to be left alone with household pets at any time for the safety of everyone involved - in this case that advice is even mre important given this kitten's current conduct around food. I'm going to try and help you work with this kitten and get her back on track, the last thing I'd ever want to happen is that your little one decides to feed the kitten from his/her plate and the kitten bites or scratches the child's hand. Another very real possibility based on what you've told me is that this kitten might decide to steal food from your child's plate and since she's acting so possessive when it comes to food I wouldn't want to see anyone get hurt.

Since your kitten is so young and displaying such serious food based aggression I'm left to wonder if she's not actually getting what she needs in her diet or if she's simply acting out because she hasn't had the time with her mom that she needed in order to learn basic manners. Below I've included some information about the pet food industry including a rather eye opening article that helps the average pet parent dissect the string of ingredients on many pet food packages that nobody can pronounce or define. I've also provided some basic information about using humane disciplinary tools and how to properly discipline a kitten who is getting a bit big for her britches. I suspect that the actual underlying problem is a combination of a nutritional issue and a lack of consistent discipline and socialization.

Unfortunately just because a pet food label says a food is premium, vet recommended or 100% nutritionally complete doesn't make it so. The one thing that became clear during the Menu Foods pet food recall in 2007 is the fact that this is a poorly regulated industry with frighteningly low standards. Recently a documentary about the 2007 pet food recall called A Dog's Breakfast aired on television. A veterinarian who worked in the pet food industry in the past was interviewed and she revealed some very disturbing facts about what actually goes into the foods we feed our pets.

Some companies claim to only use human grade ingredients in their food. In most cases they're technically telling the truth, what they don't say is that they use parts of animals thrown away after food has been processed for sale in grocery storesand the most nutritious parts have been trimmed away for human consumption. Many commercially available cat foods actually contain ingredients that cats aren't designed to digest and convert into energy. For tens of thousands of years (and likely much longer) all cats have evolved and survived on a diet largely made up of small birds, rodents and other small mammals. During the course of my research on the pet food industry I've come to believe that whenever possible it's best to try and keep things as close to nature as possible when it comes to feeding our cats nutritious, species appropriate food.

In order to help you understand how my experiences have contributed to my comfort level with most commercially produced pet foods and my concerns about the legislation in place for pet food manufacturers to follow I have to tell you a bit about how recent events have changed my overall view of how safe pet foods are or aren't. My eldest cat, MC almost lost her life during the massive scale Menu Foods pet food recalls as a direct result of eating what I believed to be a safe food containing the highest quality ingredients and manufactured according to high standards...As a pet parent I can truly say that I was shocked at the sheer number of pet food brands made at the same facility. Along with most pet parents I truly believed that all pet foods were made in separate facilities with ingredients of varying quality and I thought that the retail price of many foods was an indicator of the quality of ingredients used in each food. Since the Menu Foods recall in 2007 it's obvious that the majority of pet foods on the market are made in the same facility, that having been said there's no way that this one facility has different containers of the same ingredient based on quality, it's just not cost effective which means that many of the pet foods on the market are pretty much identical when it comes to quality. Many of the pet food brands most frequently recommended by veterinarians including some prescription diets ended up being recalled during the Menu Foods recall.

Since the Menu Foods recall nearly claimed my oldest cat's life I'm far less comfortable with the idea of feeding most pet foods available on the shelves of pet supply stores so my cats now eat a combination of a well balanced homemade raw diet and one of two commercially produced, high quality, holistic cat foods made from human grade ingredients, Wellness and Spot's Stew by Halo. These foods have never been recalled which helps me to feel more confident recommending them to other pet parents. When I spoke with my veterinarian about my concerns she recommended that I check out catinfo.org which is a site created by a veterinarian to help educate pet parents about their cat's unique nutritional needs and what we need to do in order to meet those needs in the best possible way. This site talks about the specific problems with many commercially prepared pet foods and the effects that an inappropriate diet can have on a cat's overall health over time. You can find a recipe for making a well balanced homemade diet on this site as well as other less time/labor intensive ways to meet a cat's nutritional needs properly.

When my 3 resident cats were just eating Spot's Stew a 6 lb bag lasted about a month or so, the food costs roughly $25 CAN and that breaks down to a cost of about 28 cents per cat each day to feed them a high quality food. I have included the ingredient list for Spot's Stew Sensitive Cat by Halo so that you can compare the quality of the ingredients with the food you're currently feeding. The ingredient list of Spot's Stew Sensitive Cat is as follows: Turkey, Pea Protein, Whole Dried Eggs, Oats, Pearled Barley, Pea Flour, Turkey Liver, Salmon, Flaxseed, Salmon Oil, Pea Fiber, Sweet Potatoes, Apples, Blueberries, Green Beans, Carrots, Cranberries, Zucchini, Alfalfa, Inulin, Calcium Sulfate, Potassium Chloride, Taurine, Salt, Folic Acid, Zinc Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Cobalt Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Choline Bitartrate, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Ribflavin Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Biotin, Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Bifidobacterium Longum, Enterococcus Faecium, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite.

In my opinion the massive Menu Foods recall of 2007 was a disaster waiting to happen and without significant, meaningful changes to the regulations in the pet food industry I have no doubt that another disaster of this scale or worse is in our future. Before the Menu Foods recall I was feeding my cats a well known (and supposedly high quality) cat food that many veterinarians were recommending, I really believed that cost was an indication of the quality of ingredients that went into my cats’ food. I learned the hard way that paying premium prices didn‘t necessarily indicate premium quality. I thought I‘d done my best to protect the safety of my cats by going with well known, high quality foods recommended by veterinarians and taking the time to call companies, speak with representatives and ask any questions that I had until I was satisfied with the answers I received. I‘ve included an eye opening, somewhat disturbing article at the end of this answer that I hope will give you some information to help decode the terms routinely used on pet food labels.

Although the pet food industry claims that it’s tightly regulated I think that the 2007 recall clearly shows evidence that suggests a serious lack of accountability to consumers. After the massive recall of pet foods ranging from supposedly premium pet store generics like Authority, Performatrin,  and Blue Buffalo to well known brands available in pet supply stores such as Eukanuba, Evolve, Hartz, Natural Balance, Nutro, Royal Canin prescription diets like Medi Cal, and certain formulas of Hill’s Science Diet as well as less expensive (and supposedly lower quality) pet foods available in grocery stores such as Iams, Lick Your Chops, Master Choice, Pounce, President’s Choice, Price Chopper, Sophisticat, Special Kitty, Triumph, Western Family, Winn Dixie and many more pet food brands the reason for the recall became public - an ingredient imported from China had somehow become tainted with melamine.

In my experience most pet parents are amazed at how much change they see in their cats when they feed their cat a species appropriate diet. Cats fed higher quality diets have softer, silkier coats that are thick and glossy. When a cat is fed the appropriate diet they actually digest their food properly, take the nutrients they need and the rest is waste. A high quality diet results in less waste being produced by each cat and an added bonus that any cat lover will appreciate - litter box deposits not only decrease in volume, they also tend to smell far less offensive overall.I would recommend that you consider checking out this website, it's one my vet recommended to me after the Menu Foods recall - the address is catinfo.org. This web site was launched by a veterinarian who wants to educate pet parents about the nutritional requirements of cats and how best to meet your cat's needs, this vet also has information and recommendations on topics like basic cat care.

It's not unusual for cats eating many commercially produced pet foods to have difficulty with vomiting/diarrhea - in some cases it's because the manufacturer has changed the ingredients without notice so that they can use the cheapest possible ingredients and increase the profits that they and everyone else in the chain of people involved from manufacturer to retailer receive. In some cats their vomiting and/or diarrhea indicates a sensitivity to a chemical, preservative or ingredient in the food. I don't recommend feeding lower quality foods because I don't believe they're properly formulated to meet a cat's complex nutritional needs and beyond that I'm just not convinced that most of these foods are safe to feed our pets since the laws really haven't changed much since the Menu Foods recall.

Lower quality diets can increase a cat's chances of becoming obese or overweight because some cats will continue to eat in spite of being full because they feel like something's missing - and often times the cat's right. Manufacturers are using low quality ingredients and they're also trying to use grains/starches as fillers - this isn't appropriate for cats, they're true carnivores which means that in order to be healthy they must eat a meat based diet, not food made mostly from soy or grain. Many cat foods labelled 'All natural', 'Premium', 'Vet recommended', etc actually aren‘t, there‘s a serious lack of regulations surrounding labelling in the pet food industry. If you want to feed commercially available foods it‘s best to take your time and really do the research, find out important things like whether or not a food has ever been recalled and why. An inappropriate diet can lead to obesity or other serious health problems that can result in fatal complications. Obesity can lead to serious medical problems in cats including heart disease, diabetes, and an increased risk of developing obstructions in their urinary tract (usually more common in male cats because they have a small urinary tract).

All cats, regardless of size or breed are obligate or true carnivores, this means that all cats must eat a high quality meat based diet in order to be healthy. Long before we domesticated cats they had successfully evolved over thousands of years by hunting, killing and eating prey animals. Cats do get small amounts of grains, nuts, vegetable matter and seeds by eating the partially digested stomach contents of their prey, that provides them with vitamins, minerals and fibre to help them stay healthy. Many pet parents believe that commercially available cat foods are the only option when it comes to providing a cat with the best nutrition, the reality: this just isn't true. Some people associated with the pet food industry say that pets are living longer, healthier lives and they attribute that statistic to the foods that line the shelves of pet supply stores. If the pet food industry is right then why are vets are seeing increased incidences of renal failure, diabetes, obesity, cancers and other serious problems more often than ever before in mixed and pure bred cats/kittens. My theories about why pets are living longer, healthier lives have nothing to do with commercially produced pet foods. Our pets are being treated more like members of our families than mousers living in barns or guard dogs living outside, the change in our perception of our pets means that we take better care of them in terms of providing medical care and taking measures to keep our pets from roaming around freely which means they're not as likely to die because they've eaten something poisonous or they've been hit by a car. I'm fairly sure that if we as a society begin paying closer attention to the diet we feed our pets they'll start living even longer, healthier lives.

The pet food industry has few standards or guidelines to follow in terms of what is and isn't acceptable to put in pet food - this means that companies have been and for the most part still aren't taking responsibility for the quality of ingredients they include in pet food. In my opinion allowing pet food manufacturers to decide what's acceptable without stringent standards dictating the type and quality of ingredients end up in pet food which is somewhat like a cat guarding a bird's nest - bad things can happen quickly. I learned a heartbreaking lesson the day that my baby girl almost died - just because the label says the food is high quality, premium or vet recommended doesn't mean it's nutritious, species appropriate or even safe. I've been left with a healthy distrust for the safety of foods manufactured by a poorly regulated pet food industry or anyone else who stands to profit from my fur kids get sick.

Within the pet food industry there's been a substantial change in the way that pet food companies advertise. During the last 20-30 years the pet food industry has run many campaigns that appeal to pet lovers because they make it sound as though they understand that pets are family members and the only way to treat family members is to provide them with the best quality foods available. If only the pet food industry was really forced to live up to their clever advertising campaigns. Over the last two years I've learned that the pet food manufacturers are more concerned with making a profit than they are with the long term health and safety of our pets. Consider this; many pet food manufacturers don't actually make pet food as their primary product, many companies make things like soap, shampoo, anti-perspirant, cleaning products and feminine hygiene products. Many folks believe that pet food manufacturers must follow stringent guidelines that ensure the safety and quality of their products, however experience has shown that's just not the case.

Feeding cats a properly balanced raw homemade diet made from high quality organic ingredients, is healthier for them than many commercially available diets, in fact it’s probably as close to the food they'd be eating if they were given their choice, but it can be expensive to purchase high quality ingredients and the equipment needed to properly prepare the food. I recommend that pet parents who are interested in feeding their cats homemade raw diets do extensive research before diving in. If preparing a homemade diet for your cat isn’t something you can manage a good alternative to seriously consider trying is a commercially available raw cat food like Feline Pride to see how your cats respond. Some cats will need some time to get used to the idea and the switch over will have to happen gradually.

A few simple tricks can make things easier for your cats - for instance making the switch over from dry food to canned before you switch them over to a completely raw diet is going to make things easier. My first experience with feeding raw food was somewhat impulsive - I was preparing boneless, skinless organic chicken breasts for supper and I had an extra one, so I cut it into small pieces and placed some onto the plate - two out of three didn’t get the concept, my youngest cat dove in wholeheartedly without question, in fact she still begs for raw meat when I prepare meals. My other two cats took some time and tested the bounds of my patience, but they now enjoy small frequent meals made up of a balanced, raw diet I make myself - I recommend the recipe at catinfo.org. In addition to using the recipe on that website I’ve found it best to freeze the prepared diet in portion sized pieces - ice cube trays work wonderfully, once the meal is frozen you can store the cubes in a ziploc bag to defrost on an as needed basis.

Some people say that pets are living longer, healthier lives and they attribute that statistic to the foods that line the shelves of pet supply stores, if that's the case why are vets are seeing increased incidences of renal failure, diabetes, obesity, cancers and other serious problems in mixed and pure bred cats/kittens. My theory about why pets are living longer is twofold, pets aren't allowed to roam freely as they once were which means that the number of animals dying because they've eaten something poisonous or they've been hit by a car is lower than it was many years ago. There's also been a significant change in the way we as a society in North America views pets, they're no longer posessions but members of our families - as such many receive basic preventative health care, medical conditions are diagnosed earlier than they were many years ago and in the majority of cases these ailments aren't allowed to become life threatening and because they're caught earlier than they would have been 5, 10, 15 or even 25+ years ago the pets are treated with medication, the appropriate therapeutic tools are used. If anything I believe that nutrition related problems are costing more and more pets their lives and this won't likely change unless we as pet parents stand up and let the pet food industry know that we won't settle for poor quality junk foods any longer, if making sure our pets have safe, nutritious food to eat means we have to hit the companies where it hurts (in their wallets) by boycotting the multi-million (or more) dollar a year market and making our pet's own food instead of buying it so be it.

I have taken the liberty to include a rather eye opening article that I think somewhat sums up the dirty little secrets of the pet food industry. Sadly although many pet food manufacturers claim that they have included nothing but the best and healthiest ingredients this is usually not the case. Often times ingredients change without notice based on what’s cheapest at that time, especially when you are talking about the cheaper foods commonly sold in grocery stores. I have done my own research into making homemade food for my cats although I must say that this would be a rather expensive and time consuming option just due to the fact that cats require fairly complex nutrition and getting it wrong could cost them their life or cause very serious health problems.

I found the article below on a pet care website - bear in mind this article hasn’t been checked for accuracy, it sums up a general view of many pet foods claiming to be “nutritionally complete” or “whole food that your pets need” that market their product in grocery stores with minimal cost. Another revealing fact is that many pet food manufacturers don’t manufacture pet food as their primary product - for instance Procter and Gamble makes Eukanuba and Iams pet foods - they also make soap, shampoo, household cleaners, personal hygiene products like anti-perspirant….Given that their primary focus isn’t on manufacturing a whole pet food with ingredients designed to promote optimum health I have concerns about their food and the potential for other products to end up inside a bag of pet food just as they did during the recent Menu Foods recall of most pet food brands as a result of pets becoming seriously ill and dying because there were ingredients like melamine found in a substandard ingredient from China.

“Whole chickens, choice cuts of beef, fresh grains and all the wholesome nutrition your dog or cat will ever need.”

These are the images pet food manufacturers promulgate through the media and advertising. This is what the $10 billion per year U.S. pet food industry wants consumers to believe they are buying when they purchase their products.

This report explores the differences between what consumers think they are buying compared to what they are actually getting. This document focuses in very general terms on the most visible name brands - the pet food labels that are mass distributed to supermarkets and grocery stores - but there are many smaller, more highly respected brands that may be guilty of the same offenses.

What most consumers are unaware of is that the pet food industry is an extension of the human food industry, also known as the agriculture industry. Pet food provides a place for slaughterhouse waste and grains considered "unfit for human consumption" to be turned into profit. This waste includes cow tongues, esophagi, and possibly diseased and cancerous meat. The "whole grains" used have had the starch removed and the oil extracted -- usually by chemical processing -- for vegetable oil, or they are the hulls and other remnants from the milling process. Some of the truly whole grains used may have been deemed unfit for human consumption because of mold, contaminants, or poor storage practices.

Four of the five major pet food companies in the United States are subsidiaries of major multinational food production companies: Colgate-Palmolive (Hills Science Diet Pet Food), Heinz (9 Lives, Amore, Gravy Train, Kibbles n Bits, Recipe, Vets), Nestle (Alpo, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Mighty Dog) and Mars (Kal Kan, Mealtime, Pedigree, Sheba). From a business standpoint, multinational food companies owning pet food manufacturing companies is an ideal relationship. The multinationals have a captive market in which to capitalize on their waste products, and the pet food manufacturers have a reliable source from which to purchase their bulk materials.

There are hundreds of different pet foods available in this country. And while many of the foods on the market are virtually the same, not all of the pet food manufacturing companies use poor quality and potentially dangerous ingredients.

Ingredients

Although the purchase price of pet food does not always determine whether a pet food is good or bad, the price is often a good indicator of quality. It would be impossible for a company that sells a generic brand of dog food at $9.95 for a 40-lb. bag to use quality protein and grain in its food. The cost of purchasing quality ingredients would be much higher than the selling price.

The protein used in pet food comes from a variety of sources. When cattle, swine, chickens, lambs, or any number of other animals are slaughtered, the choice cuts such as lean muscle tissue are trimmed away from the carcass for human consumption. Whatever remains of the carcass -- bones, blood, pus, intestines, ligaments, and almost all the other parts not generally consumed by humans -- is used in pet food. These "other parts" are known as "by-products" or other names on pet food labels. The ambiguous labels list the ingredients, but do not provide a definition for the products listed. (See the API Pet Food Shopping Guide for a more detailed list of ingredient definitions.)

The Pet Food Institute -- the trade association of pet food manufacturers -- acknowledges the use of by-products in pet foods as additional income for processors and farmers: "The purchase and use of these ingredients by the pet food industry not only provides nutritional needs for pets at reasonable costs, but provides an important source of income to American farmers and processors of meat, poultry and seafood products for human consumption.

Many of these remnants are indigestible and provide a questionable source of nutrition for our animals. The amount of nutrition provided by meat by-products, meals, and digests can vary from vat to vat. James Morris and Quinton Rogers, two professors with the Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of California at Davis Veterinary School of Medicine, assert that, "There is virtually no information on the bioavailability of nutrients for companion animals in many of the common dietary ingredients used in pet foods. These ingredients are generally by-products of the meat, poultry and fishing industries, with the potential for a wide variation in nutrient composition. Claims of nutritional adequacy of pet foods based on the current Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) nutrient allowances ('profiles') do not give assurances of nutritional
adequacy and will not until ingredients are analyzed and bioavailability values are incorporated.

Another source of meat you won't find mentioned on pet food labels are dogs and cats. In 1990 the San Francisco Chronicle reported that euthanized companion animals were being used in pet food. Although pet food manufacturers vehemently denied the report, the American Veterinary Medical Association confirmed the Chronicle's story.  Many pets are euthanized with sodium pentobarbital and then rendered.  This poison does not break down and goes into commercial pet food and feed for cows, pigs and horses.  I must admit that this point has been made many times over many years - if it’s true that has to be one of the scariest things to consider in the case for making high quality food for pets and livestock from ingredients that we would actually consider eating. When you think about this it makes you question the safety of many common foods found in the average human diet - after all, if these ingredients are making into food used to feed livestock are they ultimately making it into the human food chain?For the detailed report by the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine on popular commercial pet foods containing pentobarbital, click here.  When you read the report, please know that AD (animal digest) is animal waste (to be polite)!

Protein is protein once it is rendered. What is rendering? Rendering, as defined by Webster's Dictionary, is "to process as for industrial use: to render livestock carcasses and to extract oil from fat, blubber, etc., by melting."

What can the feeding of such ingredients do to your companion animal? Some veterinarians claim that feeding slaughterhouse wastes to animals increases their risk of getting cancer and other degenerative diseases. One factor is that the cooking methods used by pet food manufacturers and rendering plants do not destroy many of the hormones used to fatten livestock, or medications such as those used to euthanize dogs and cats.  

Animal and Poultry Fat

You may have noticed a unique, pungent odor when you open a new bag of pet food -- the smell of restaurant grease from a hundred fast food restaurants. What is the source of that delightful smell? It is refined animal fat, kitchen grease, and other oils too rancid or deemed inedible for humans.

Restaurant grease has become a major component of feed grade animal fat over the last fifteen years. This grease, often held in fifty-gallon drums, is usually kept outside for weeks, exposed to extreme temperatures with no regard for its future use. The next few times you dine out, be sure to look out back behind the restaurant for a container with a rendering company's name on it. It is almost guaranteed that you will find one. "Fat blenders" or rendering companies then pick up this rancid grease and mix the different types of fat together, stabilize them with powerful antioxidants to retard further spoilage, and then sell the blended products to pet food companies.

These fats are sprayed directly onto dried kibble or extruded pellets to make an otherwise bland or distasteful product palatable. The fat also acts as a binding agent to which manufacturers add other flavor enhancers as well. Pet food scientists have discovered that animals love the taste of these sprayed fats. Manufacturers are masters at getting a dog or a cat to eat something she would normally turn up her nose at.

Wheat, Soy, Corn, Peanut Hulls, and Other Vegetable Protein

The amount of grain products used in pet food has risen over the last decade. Once considered filler by the pet food industry, grain products now make up a considerable portion of pet food. The availability of nutrients in grain products is dependent upon the digestibility of the grain. The amount and type of carbohydrate in pet food determines the amount of nutrient value the animal actually gets. Dogs and cats can almost completely absorb carbohydrates from some grains, such as white
rice. Up to 20% of other grains can escape digestion. The availability of nutrients for wheat, beans, and oats is poor. The nutrients in potatoes and corn are far less available than those in rice. Carbohydrate that escapes digestion is of little nutritional value due to bacteria in the colon that ferment carbohydrates. Some ingredients, such as peanut hulls, are used strictly for "filler" and have no nutritional value at all!


Two of the top three ingredients in pet food are almost always some form of grain products. Pedigree Performance Food for Dogs lists Ground Corn, Chicken By-Product Meal, and Corn Gluten Meal as its top three ingredients. 9 Lives Crunchy Meals for cats lists Ground Yellow corn, Corn Gluten Meal, and Poultry By-Product Meal as its first three ingredients.  

Since cats are true carnivores -- they must eat meat to fulfill certain physiological needs -- one may wonder why we are feeding a corn-based product to them. The answer is that corn is much cheaper than meat.

Of the top four ingredients of Purina O.N.E. Dog Formula -- Chicken, Ground Yellow Corn, Ground Wheat, and Corn Gluten Meal -- two are corn-based products ... the same product. This industry practice is known as splitting. When components of the same whole ingredients are listed separately -- such as Ground Yellow Corn and Corn Gluten Meal -- it appears there is less corn than chicken, even though the combined weight of the corn ingredients outweigh the chicken.

In 1995 Nature's Recipe pulled thousands of tons of dog food off the shelf after consumers complained that their dogs were vomiting and losing their appetite. Nature's Recipe's loss amounted to $20 million. The problem was a fungus that produced vomitoxin, an aflatoxin, which is a subset of mycotoxin, a poison given off by mold contaminated the wheat.

Although it caused many dogs to vomit, stop eating and have diarrhea, vomitoxin is a milder toxin than most. The more virulent strains of mycotoxins can cause weight loss, liver damage, lameness, and even death. The Nature's Recipe incident prompted the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to intervene. Dina Butcher, Agriculture Policy Advisor for North Dakota Governor Ed Schafer, concluded that the discovery of vomitoxin in Nature's Recipe wasn't much of a threat to the human
population because "the grain that would go into pet food is not a high quality grain. Which means that the grain used in pet food is not fit for human consumption and therefore not a threat to the human population.

Soy is another common ingredient that is sometimes used as filler in pet food. Manufacturers use it to add bulk so that when an animal eats a product containing soy he will feel more sated. While soy has been linked to gas in some dogs, other dogs do quite well with it. Vegetarian dog foods use soy as a protein source.

Industry critics note that many of the ingredients used as humectants -- ingredients such as corn syrup and corn gluten meal which bind water to prevent oxidation -- also bind the water in such a way that the food actually sticks to the colon and may cause blockage. The blockage of the colon may cause an increased risk of cancer of the colon or rectum.

Additives and Preservatives

Many additives are added to commercial pet foods to improve the stability or appearance of the food. Additives provide no nutritional value. Additives include emulsifiers to prevent water and fat from separating. Antioxidants prevent fat from turning rancid and antimicrobials reduce spoilage. Added color and flavor make the product more attractive to consumers and their companion animals.

How prevalent are synthetic additives in pet food? Two-thirds of the pet food manufactured in the United States contains preservatives added by the manufacturer. Of the remaining third, 90% includes ingredients already stabilized by synthetic preservatives. Premixed vitamin additives used to supplement pet food can also contain preservatives. This means that your companion animal may eat food with several types of preservatives that have been added at the rendering plant, the
manufacturing plant and in the supplemental vitamins.

Additives in Processed Pet Foods

Anti-caking agents
Lubricants
Antimicrobial agents
Non-nutritive sweeteners
Antioxidants
Nutritive sweeteners
Coloring agents
Oxidizing and reducing agents
Curing agents
pH control agents
Drying agents
Processing aids
Emulsifiers
Sequestrants
Firming agents
Solvents, vehicles
Flavor enhancers
Stabilizers, thickeners
Flavoring agents
Surface active agents
Flour treating agents
Surface finishing agents
Formulation aids
Synergists
Humectants
Texturizers
Leavening agents

Adding chemicals to food originated thousands of years ago with spices, natural preservatives and ripening agents. In the last 40 years, however, the number of food additives has greatly increased. Of the more than 8,600 recognized food additives today, no toxicity information is available for 46% of them. Cancer-causing agents are sometimes permitted if they are used at low enough levels. The risk of continued use at these cancer-causing agents has not been studied and the build up of these agents may be harmful. Ethoxyquin (EQ), for example, was found in dogs' livers and tissues months after it had been removed from their diet, and as of July 31, 1997, the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine requested that manufacturers reduce the maximum level for EQ be cut in half, to 75 parts per million.

While the law requires studies of direct toxicity of these additives and preservatives, most of these additives have not been tested for their effect on each other once ingested. Three commonly used preservatives, BHA, BHT, and EQ, have a proven synergistic effect that may lead to the development of certain types of cancer.

Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxtoluene (BHT) are the most commonly used antioxidants in processed food for human consumption. For these antioxidants, there is little information documenting their toxicity or the safety of long-term use in pet food.

In animal feeds, the most commonly used antioxidant preservative is ethoxyquin. While some pet food critics and veterinarians claim ethoxyquin is a major cause of disease, skin problems, and infertility in dogs, others claim it is the safest, most stable preservative available for pet food. Ethoxyquin is not approved for use as a preservative in human food, however.

Nitrate is the exception to the rule when it comes to safety. Nitrate is used in meat for human consumption. When nitrate combines with bacteria, the chemical can change to another form with carcinogenic properties called nitrosamines. Very small amounts of this chemical can cause acute and chronic liver damage.

"Natural preservatives" and antioxidants are known as Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and mixed tocopherols. While the avoidance of using pet food laced with chemical preservatives is something to consider, some critics think that natural preservatives are somewhat less effective than chemical preservatives.

The Manufacturing Process - How Pet Food Is Made  
Although feed trials are no longer required for a food to meet nutritional standards and profiles, most manufacturers do require a palatability study when developing a new pet food. Animals are fed side by side, one animal fed a new food while the other is fed a similar formula. The total volume eaten is used as a gauge for the palatability of the food. Most pet food companies keep their own animals for taste testing.

Dry food is made with a machine called an expander. First, raw materials are blended, sometimes by hand, other times by computer, in accordance with a recipe developed by nutritionists. The mixture is fed into an expander and steam or hot water is added into the mixture. The mixture is subjected to steam, pressure, and heat until the temperature reaches 305 degrees F. The mixture is then extruded through dies that determine the shape of the final product. Then it is cooked at a high temperatures and high pressure. Then the food is allowed to dry for another 30-45 minutes. Once the food is dried it is usually sprayed with fat to make it more palatable. Although the cooking process may kill bacteria in pet food, the final product can lose its sterility, during the subsequent drying, fat coating, and packaging process.

Ingredients are the same for wet and dry foods. The main difference between the two types of food is the water content. Wet or canned food begins with ground ingredients mixed with additives. If chunks are required, a special extruder forms them. Then the mixture is cooked and canned. The sealed cans are then put into containers resembling pressure cookers and commercial sterilization takes place. Some manufacturers cook the food right in the can.

There are three primary types of wet food. The "all meat" product is defined by AAFCO as "When an ingredient or a combination of ingredients derived from animals, poultry, or fish constitute 95% or more of the total weight of all ingredients of a pet food, the name or names of such ingredient(s) may form part of the product name of the pet food; provided that where more than one ingredient is part of such product name, then all such ingredient names shall be in the same size, style, and color print. For the purpose of this provision, water sufficient for processing shall be excluded when calculating the percentage of the named ingredient(s). However, such named ingredient(s) shall constitute at least 70% of the total product.

The "dinner" product is defined as "When an ingredient or a combination of ingredients constitutes at least 25% but less than 95% of the total weight of all ingredients of a dog or cat food mixture, the name or names of such ingredient or ingredients may form a part of the product name of the pet food if each of the ingredients constitute at least 3% of the product weight excluding water used for processing and only if the product name also includes a primary descriptive term such as 'dinner',
'platter', or similar designation so that the product name describes the contents of the product in accordance with an established law, custom or usage or so that the product name is not misleading. If the names of more than one ingredient are shown, they shall appear in the order of their respective predominance by weight in the product. All such ingredient names and the primary descriptive term shall be in the same size, style and color print. For the purpose of this provision,
water sufficient for processing shall be excluded when calculating the percentage of the named ingredient(s). However, such named ingredient(s) shall constitute at least 10% of the total product.

The "flavor" product is formulated to have a specific flavor, and it is defined as "No flavor designation shall be used on a pet food label unless the flavor is detected by a recognized test method, or is one the presence of which provides a characterisitic distinguishable by the pet. Any flavor designation on a pet food label must either conform to the name of its source as shown in the ingredient statement or the ingredient statement shall show the source of the flavor. The word flavor
shall be printed in the same size type and with an equal degree of conspicuousness as the ingredient term(s) from which the flavor designation is derived. Distributors of pet food employing such flavor designation or claims on the labels of the product distributed by them shall, upon request, supply verification of the designated or claimed flavor to the appropriate control official.

What Happened to the Nutrients?

R. L. Wysong, veterinarian and long time critic of the pet food industry, has said, "Processing is the wild card in nutritional value that is, by and large, simply ignored. Heating, freezing, dehydrating, canning, extruding, pelleting, baking, and so forth, are so commonplace that they are simply thought of as synonymous with food itself. The processing practices for grain and meat used in pet food severely diminishes its nutritional value.

To make pet food nutritious, pet food manufacturers must "fortify" it with vitamins and minerals. Why? Because the ingredients they are using are not wholesome, and the harsh manufacturing practices destroy what little nutritional value the food had to begin with.

Contaminants

Commercially manufactured or rendered meat meals are highly contaminated with bacteria because their source is not always slaughtered animals. Animals that have died because of disease, injury, or natural causes are a source of meat for meat meal. The dead animal may not be rendered or cooked until days after its death. Therefore the carcass is often contaminated with bacteria -- Salmonella bacteria contaminate 25-50% of meat meals. While the cooking process may kill bacteria, it does not eliminate the endotoxins that result from the bacteria. These toxins can cause disease. Pet food manufacturers do not test their products for endotoxins.

Escherichia coli (E Coli) is another bacteria that can be found in contaminated pet foods. E Coli bacteria, like Salmonella, can be destroyed by cooking at high temperatures, however, the endotoxin produced by the bacteria will remain. This endotoxin can cause disease as well.

Aflatoxin -- This is a toxin that comes from mold or fungi, as in the case of Nature's Recipe. The improper drying and storage of crops is the cause of mold growth, which can result in Aflatoxin contamination. Ingredients that are most likely to be contaminated with this toxin are cottonseed meal, peanut meal, and fish meal.

Labeling

The National Research Council (NRC) of the Academy of Sciences set the nutritional standards for pet food until 1974, when the pet food industry created a group called the American Association of Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). At that time AAFCO chose to adopt the NRC standards rather than develop its own. The NRC standards required feeding trials for pet foods that claimed to be "complete" and "balanced." The pet food industry found the feeding trials to be too restrictive, so AAFCO designed an alternate procedure for claiming the nutritional adequacy of pet food. Instead of feeding trials, chemical analysis would be done to determine if a food met or exceeded the NRC standards.

The problem with chemical analysis is that it does not address the palatability, digestibility and biological availability of nutrients in pet food. Thus it is unreliable for determining whether a food will provide an animal with sufficient nutrients.

To compensate for the limitations of chemical analysis, AAFCO added a "safety factor," which was to exceed the minimum amount of nutrients required to meet the complete and balanced requirements. By establishing its own standards and disregarding the NRC standards, AAFCO established itself as the governing body for pet food. In essence the pet food industry developed their own standards for nutritional adequacy.


The 100% Myth -- Problems Caused by Inadequate Nutrition

The idea of one pet food providing all the nutrition a companion animal will ever need for its entire life is a myth... Cereals are the primary ingredients in most commercial pet foods. Most people select one pet food and feed it to their dogs and cats for a prolonged period of time. Therefore companion dogs and cats eat a primarily carbohydrate diet with little variety. Today, the diets of cats and dogs are a far cry from the primarily protein diets with a lot of variety that their ancestors ate. The problems associated with a commercial diet are seen every day at veterinary establishments. Chronic digestive problems, such as chronic diarrhea, are among the most frequent illnesses treated.

Allergy or hypersensitivity to foods is a common problem usually seen as diarrhea or vomiting. Food allergies have become an everyday ailment. The market for "limited antigen" also known as "hypoallergenic" diets is now a multi-million dollar business. These diets were formulated to address the increasing intolerance to foods that animals have developed.

Many commercial pet foods are made with ingredients that have poor protein digestibility. Diets containing protein with less than 70% digestibility cause diarrhea in dogs. Some fillers used in these foods can also cause colitis, which is the inflammation of the colon. Most pet food companies do not publish digestibility statistics and they are never seen on pet food labels.

Acute vomiting and diarrhea is often a symptom of bacteria contamination and the toxins bacteria produce. Dry commercial pet food is often contaminated with bacteris, which may or may not cause problems. Improper food storage and some feeding practices may result in the multiplication of this bacteria. For example, adding water to moisten pet food and then leaving it at room temperature causes bacteria to multiply. Yet this practice is suggested on the back of some kitten and puppy foods.

Pet food formulas and the practice of feeding that manufacturers recommend have increased other digestive problems. Feeding only one meal per day can cause the irritation of the esophagus by stomach acid. Feeding two smaller meals is better.

Urinary tract disease is directly related to diet in both cats and dogs. Plugs, crystals, and stones in cat bladders are caused by commercial pet food formulas. One type of stone found in cats is less common now, but another more dangerous type has become more common. Manipulation of manufactured cat food formulas to affect acidity in urine and the amount of some minerals has directly affected these diseases. Dogs also form stones as a result of their diet.

History has shown that commercial pet food products can cause disease. An often-fatal heart disease in cats and some dogs was shown to be caused by a deficiency of an amino acid called taurine. Blindness is another symptom of taurine deficiency. This deficiency occurred because of inadequate amounts of taurine in cat food formulas. Cat foods are now supplemented with taurine.

Rapid growth in large breed puppies has been shown to contribute to bone and joint disease. Excess calories in manufactured puppy food formulas promote rapid growth. There are now special puppy foods for large breed dogs. But this recent change will not help the countless dogs who lived and died with hip and elbow disease.

There is also evidence that hyperthyroidism in cats results from commercial pet food diets. This is a new disease that first surfaced in the 1970s, when canned food products appeared on the market. The exact cause and effect are not yet known. This is a serious and sometimes terminal disease and treatment is expensive.

Many nutritional problems appeared with the popularity of cereal-based commercial pet foods. Some occur because the diet is incomplete. Some are a result of additives. Others are a result of contamination with bacteria, toxins and other organisms. In some diseases the role of commercial pet food is understood, in others, it is not. The bottom line is that diets composed primarily of low quality cereals and rendered meat meals are not as nutritious or safe as you should expect for your cat or dog.

Despite the appealing blandishments of pet food advertisements with their claims of providing "complete and balanced nutrition," if you're not exceedingly circumspect, you may end up feeding your pet chicken heads, road kills, spoiled or moldy grains, cancerous material cut from slaughterhouse animals, tissue high in hormone or pesticide residues, and even shredded Styrofoam packaging, metal ID tags and minced flea collars.  
A growing number of veterinarians state that processed pet food (kibbles and canned food) is the main cause of illness and premature death in the modern dog and cat. In December 1995, the British Journal of Small Animal Practice published a paper contending that processed pet food supresses the immune system and leads to liver, kidney, heart and other diseases. Dr. Kollath, of the Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm, headed a study done on animals. When young animals were fed cooked and processed foods they initially appeared to be healthy. However, as the animals reached adulthood, they began to age more quickly than normal and also developed chronic degenerative disease symptoms. A control group of animals raised on raw foods aged less quickly and were free of degenerative disease.  

The pet nutrition industry is a multi-billion dollar industry full of hype and false claims. Consumers are being duped into believing that they are feeding their pets healthy foods, when in actuality they are feeding nothing more than inferior meat meals, cheap grains (including corn and soy), fillers, by-products, pesticides, preservatives and toxins.  Never before has the pet-food industry been rocked by widespread contamination and rampant recalls. In all, more than 5,600 products by dozens of pet food makers have been recalled, from chain supermarket brands to prescription-only foods. This is a staggering number of products, and is unprecedented in this business. Thousands of deaths are due to the contamination, and many thousands more have suffered illnesses. We shudder to think of the long-term impacts of the compromised liver and kidney function and how this will affect thousands of companion animals in America. Leading experts believe that the severe reactions experienced by some cats and dogs were the result of an interaction of chemicals, between the melamine and a list of other culprits, including cyuranic acid.  Read the latest about the pet food recall. Thousands of Cats and dogs suffered kidney failure, and many died after eating the affected pet food.  


Dr. Don E. Lundholm, D.V.M. - "We are seeing disease conditions in animals that we did not see years ago. Many of these may be traced to nutrition as the source..."

The primary ingredient in many dry commercial pet foods is not protein but cereal. Corn and wheat are the most common grains used but, as with the meat sources, the nutritious parts of the grain are generally present only in trace amounts. The corn gluten meal or wheat middlings added to pet foods are the leftovers after the grain has been processed for human use, containing little nutritional value. Or they may be grain that is too moldy for humans to eat, so it's incorporated into pet food.

Mycotoxins, potentially deadly fungal toxins that multiply in moldy grains, have been found in pet foods in recent years. In 1995, Nature's Recipe recalled tons of their dog food after dogs became ill from eating it. The food was found to contain vomitoxin, a mycotoxin. Harmful chemicals and preservatives are added to both wet and dry food. For example, sodium nitrite, a coloring agent and preservative and potential carcinogen, is a common additive. Other preservatives include ethoxyquin (an insecticide that has been linked to liver cancer) and BHA and BHT, chemicals also suspected of causing cancer. The average dog can consume as much as 26 pounds of preservatives every year from eating commercial dog foods.  

In addition to trying different homeopathic remedies to help change the behavior that your kitten has been showing it's important to try and take the place of a mother cat and act in that capacity so that you can socialize this baby and teach her important lessons about etiquette when it comes to interacting with other cats and different people. One technique you can still use since your kitten is quite young is to firmly grab the scruff of her neck while she's belly down on the floor and using only the minimum amount of force necessary to hold the kitten flat on the floor you can hold her there until she settles down. In really bad situations you can use two fingers like mom would use her front paws and box the kitten's ears just as mom would while you hiss at her or use a low, growling tone to tell her "NO!" and then let her up again, if she persists you can go ahead and repeat the same techniques again or move on to humane disciplinary tools.

A relatively inexpensive but effective humane disciplinary tool is a can of compressed air, the kind used to clean computer equipment and electronics. Most cats immediately understand the message when you pull the trigger on a can of compressed air, but it's extremely important never to point the nozzle directly at any person or pet because the propellants in the can can cause serious frost bite if they come into contact with human or animal body parts. A simple spray bottle meant for misting plants that you've filled with water and set on stream is also a good teaching too since most cats aren't fond of getting wet. When your kitten misbehaves you can squirt her, she'll most likely run off to sulk, dry herself and smooth her fur back into place, but there's a chance she'll be one of a small group of cats that actually likes being squirted, if she does she'll do her best to make you respond so you will likely need to move back to the compressed air or another type of humane deterrent. You can make a shaker can quite easily by tossing dried beans into a plastic container, putting the lid on and then you're ready to use it, this is meant to immediately snap the kitty out of what she's doing by startling her with the loud noise created by the shaker can. You can also try scat mats if your kitten has her heart set on getting under foot to steal food when you're cooking or eating. Scat mats are small mats that will give a small static electric shock when they're stepped on, this would be an effective way to keep your kitten out of the kitchen when you're cooking and the dining room when you're eating.

If you have any questions about this answer or you'd like me to clarify anything. Please feel free to contact me again if you'd like to learn more about providing your kitties with the best possible diet to maintain good health and contribute to a long and healthy lives for them I'd be happy to help you out to the best of my ability or direct you to good resources with more information if necessary.