Monday, May 21, 2007
PURINA DECIDED TO TALK TO ME.
I received this email from Purina in reponse to my complaint abut their having changed the cat and dog food formulas. I'd sure like a chemist to tell me that it doesn't matter whether a protein obtained from plants is the same as a protein obtained from animals.
"Thank you for contacting Nestlé Purina PetCare Company.We appreciate your interest in our products. Please know that you are correct, cats are carnivores. Keep in mind, a protein molecule is made up of a combination of amino acids. The way the amino acids are arranged determines the nature of the protein. Whether protein is obtained from plants or animals is not as critical as the balance of amino acids. There are 23 different amino acids. Eleven amino acids are considered essential to a cat's diet and ten are considered essential to a dog's diet because the system of the cat and dog cannot manufacture these amino acids in large enough quantities to maintain body functions. Animal products are excellent sources of protein, but plants also contain valuable amino acids. Plant proteins, when combined with animal proteins or other plant proteins, can provide the proper amino acid balance for every life stage of the cat and dog. The protein in Purina pet foods is obtained from a combination of animal and plant sources.Again, thank you for visiting our web site."
Do you suppose that a protein not being so critical occurred to Purina as a way to save some money? The protein in Purina pet foods is obtained from Plant and animal sources. Plants first. A smaller amount of animal protein.
What I really am aware of is that all my cats have refused to eat the new Purina formulae. They've even chosen to boycott the canned foods they loved last week. I'm going to talk to some butchers in the grocery stores.
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4 comments:
Catmoves,
You must have a great way with words since I've never received such a decent quasi-reply from a big corporation.
As you said before, if plant protein is so great, why aren't my kitty boys dragging dead corn husks home and leaving them on my doorstep? My dogs will drag home a cow paddy LONG before they'd stoop to a corn husk. They have retained more natural sense and instinct than we have.
However, are you familiar with some methods of collecting animal protein? Probably not in all cases but sometimes euthanized pets, road kill and 'down' livestock are added to the slurry. We don't even want to consider what the long term consequences are if any of these animals were infected by prions. Maybe I should post something on making our own pet food - I did so for years with very good results.
Hi lin. I don't know about the "way with words", perhaps Purina is getting many complaints about their "new" food. You might try sending them a complaint and see if they send you the same email? Big corporations have a way of making up form emails that sound as if they were composed on the spot when in reality, someone there says, "Oh,oh, send this one form letter 12a".
When we're talking about a gang that makes as much pet food as Purina it would surprise me if they were interested in road kill. Just setting up such an operation would create horrendous logistics.
Our local "pet shelters" have informed me that although they supply carcasses to medical schools and universities they do not supply them to pet food manufacturers.
And you got me. I had to look up "prions". Google is great. :)
If you do post an article on making your own pet food I promise I'll try it.
OMG. What have I let myself in for?
Cat, We use a Presidents Choice brand fo dog food. We make sure it is Lamb and Rice.Notice lamb comes first. I was told by a vet to make sure the meat was first on the label because here in Canada, The main ingredient MUST be mentioned first.
Alphonsedaoose
moose, the U.S. has the same kind of law, except the list of ingredients goes from most to least, in descending order. That goes for both human and animal consumption. Thanks for telling me about the Canadian law.
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