GOVERNMENT DOES NOT CREATE THE BEST PET FOOD

You might think that the expertise of pet professionals is really not that important since the government would certainly not permit food in packages that could harm your pet. But history teaches that government is not perfect no matter how well intentioned. It is often incompetent, rarely a solution, and often the problem.

There is certainly no lack of pet food regulation. Pet food companies must comply with the FDA, NRC, USDA, AAFCO, and each state feed regulatory agency. Pet foods have to jump through more hoops than human foods!

The problem is, all these alphabet agencies have it wrong. They operate under the premise that the best pet food is100% complete and balanced. They think this is accomplished by foods meeting certain nutrient percentages or short term feeding trials. This completeness thing dominates their minds so much that they totally ignore prevention and optimizing health through natural nutrition. They also think ingredients are of no consequence beyond what their nutrient analyses reveals.

All these premises are wrong.

As a result, regulators, in effect, foster, condone, and promote a lie (completeness) that has killed and maimed untold thousands of pets, and visited upon their owners terrible emotional anguish and medical costs. It is a tyranny of sorts.

Should we expect regulators, nutritionists and the pet food industry to change any time soon? Don't count on it. Zeitgeists (systems of thought) and institutions die too hard.

Life teaches us that we are our own best caretaker. After all, aren't you the most important person in your life? Don't you think experts and regulators have their own interests primarily at heart too? Should you really then entrust your or your pet's health to another?

The burden is on you, Joe and Sally Public, to become informed, see the obvious, and take control. That is the route to the best pet food.

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Word of the day: glycogen - noun: the form in which carbohydrates are stored in the body. Glycogen is primarily found within muscle and liver and is metabolized to yield glucose for energy needs. Unlike starch found in plants, glycogen in meats is incidental and does not cause the carbohydrate-related health problems of the vast amounts of starches found in the modern pet and human diet.