From: saavik@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Marla Belzowski (K-9's))
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: Hill's Science Diet - good idea?
Date: 8 Apr 92 22:48:53 GMT
Article-I.D.: mentor.44519
Distribution: na
Organization: Purdue University

In article <1992Apr8.194434.22500@den.mmc.com> snoopy@spacemanspiff.den.mmc.com (Cindy Newell) writes:
>>>
>>>     Decaying carcasses are not slaughtered and no cancerous ones are either.
>>>I don't believe you can get cancer by eating something that has cancer anyway.
>>>As I said before, if the animal and/or its organs are not healthy, the USDA
>>>inspector will condemn that animal/carcass in the blink of an eye.
>>
>>This is certainly true when they're doing meat for *human* consumption. But
>>what happens to the ones that don't pass the test? Are they just thrown away
>>somewhere? I doubt it, not only because of the cost of the animals but also
>>because of the problem of disposal. Cows are large animals. Did you see any
>>animals being rejected? If so, did they show you what's done with them? I'd
>>be very interested in knowing. 
>>
>>The consensus seems to be that they wind up in pet food. I don't know whether
>>this is true or not, but I am not particularly worried about it. Predators
>>in the wild often kill diseased or old animals, simply because it's easier; 
>>many will scavenge carcasses as well. I am sure that the processing pet food 
>>receives kills the worst of the bacteria, parasites, etc. that might have 
>>infected the original animal while it was alive. The fact that it's in cans
>>which keep for ages is an indication of this (dry food contains very little
>>animal material). And I have never heard of any proof, or even evidence, that
>>eating cancerous tissue causes cancer.
>
...........
>
>Here I go.  I have friends who have a cattle/pig farm in Northeast 
>Colorado.  Whenever they have an older cow die they call this
>truck and supposedly this truck will come out and pick up the dead
>animal and take it to a pet food processing plant.  I am not sure
>whether or not this is true but I don't expect that these people
>would blatantly lie to me.  After I read this, I didn't know what
>to feed my babies (cats of course), but I had to feed them something.
>I have never paid too much attention to the labels on their food
>so I don't know what exactly in it (they get Purina One).  Hopefully
>it isn't too bad.  I comfort myself in knowing that cats are carnivores
>so maybe the stuff isn't too bad.
>

First of all let me say I worked all summer at KalKan as a chemical
engineering intern.  I saw EVERYTHING that went into the dog and cat food
produced there.  First of all all pet food must meet the same standards that
human food does.    Second of all, we did use all parts of the animals
we got.  We do get animals from the 4D's class, Downed, Dead, Diseased,
Dieing.  However, any of these animals that did not meet the requirments
were rejected.  Overall the quality of dry dog and cat food is
very close to that of your human packaged cereals.  Human cereals have
so many parts per million in fly wings, rat feces, grubs, etc.. just
as pet foods have so many parts per million of the same order of 
gross things.  The rejected animals go to rendering plants for fertializers
and to land fills (solid waste treatment areas or incinerators also).
As part of my Civil Engineering class on Environmental Engineering,
we have dicussed all kinds of possible "final" resting places for dead
or diseased animals.  Animals that don't meet the standards don't
go into the pet food (or they didn't at KalKan).  You also must
think that there are people in the US so poor that they DO eat
dog and cat food.  If this is the case then the dog and cat food
must be either labled not for human consumption and carry a bunch
of warnings about adverse affects.  Since I don't believe it does
I would assume you could survive eating it.  

Secondly, both cats and dogs are carnivores and in their wild state,
all wild animals prey on the weaker prey species.  This usually
is those DISEASED and or DIEING wild animals.  They eat the entire
animal, including all the internal organs, the ears, the tail,
the skin, everything.  In nature nothing is waisted.  They eat
probably many cancerous cells brought on by enviromental pollutions.

Thirdly, the dry food does contain a LOT of animal material.  Most
of it is of course dried (Alias DRY FOOD).  The processing for
animal food is substantially high enough to kill practically any
bacteria in the food.  Infact it is probably more sterile than most
of the fresh food you find in the grocery market.  I'm sorry I can't
tell you everything that KalKan did, but I can tell you that I am
a concerned pet owner (and this is probably why I got the job) and
I was VERY inpressed with the quiality that KalKan stressed on
the job.

I'd be glad to try to respond to any direct questions that you have,
within my limits of the non-disclosure act I signed, but I would
prefer to post this to the net so that everyone could be
educated about the common misconception that is placed on the quality
of animal products in pet foods.

----------------------------------------------------------------
Marla Belzowski   saavik@mentor.cc.purdue.edu
Mauii Nikki Belzowski CD CGC TDI CERF
Brittish Legend of Beowulf (1leg CD) CGC TDI CERF  tri-color collies
and the cat pack -- Simon, Cleo, and Mildred
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats