Our Animal Friends Deserve the Best!

If a food is not pure enough for you to eat, then it is not good enough for your pets either!  So, should you cook for your dog or cat?

Many well-meaning people who love their companion animals have been seriously misled by the pet-food industry.

Commercial dog and cat food is classified as "unfit for human consumption" for a reason. The appetizing savory beef, lamb, or chicken shown on the labels of familiar brands of canned and dried dog food is really nowhere to be found in the product. Most pet food is made from meat by-products which consist of discarded, and often decaying, body parts (like ears, cartilage, hoofs, intestines, etc.) from slaughterhouses, rancid fats, meat from diseased animals (often from sources that you would probably rather not know about), toxic preservatives and other chemicals, synthetic vitamins, inorganic minerals, (plus taurine for cats), and artifical thickeners in place of natural nutrients. In other words, nothing is wasted by the pet food industry if it can make a profit.

This garbage (which this stuff literally is) is then mixed with cheap fillers - GMO soy, and dirty, moldy grains such as corn and wheat - ingredients that are not at all healthful for dogs and cats to begin with, and are, in addition, loaded with pesticides and fungicides.

There are cleaner, organic and more healthful alternatives available that are better than  supermarket brands; but even these foods, especially dry foods, can contain ingredients that are not natural components of a dog or cat's diet.

If you have a parrot, there are a few halfway decent bird seed brands if you know what to look for.  Avoid pellets/extruded grain and soy products, and supermarket brand seeds tainted with mold and pesticides..  However, birds need other foods to supplement their seed intake.

So, yes, you can cook for your pets, and they would be better off for it. But be aware that there are certain foods that, although healthful for humans, can be toxic to your furry/feathered friends.

For example, don't feed your dog or cat grapes, raisins, chocolate, onions. They do usually enjoy, and benefit from, supplementing their meat with greens and carrots.

There are many so-called human foods that are beneficial for birds such as clean organic carrots, lettuce and peppers, but don't feed your parrot/budgie avocado, or vegetables from the cabbage family, including broccoli.