I borrowed this book from a customer of mine after he had done some research into pet food.
http://www.homevet.com/petcare/foodbook.html

It is only available on Amazon.com as the author is American and it is not yet available over here I believe.

To say I was appalled is an understatement I was sick to the stomach after reading it. The UK are more strict about what goes into our pet foods, we are ok to put crap in it so long as they are not domestic pets.:suspect:

It is definately worth the read if you can face it, but I think all pet owners should be aware of what their pets are eating.

:gag::rant:

I just don't know what to feed the dogs, short of making everything myself which in honesty i don't have time for and i know i would not be giving the right amounts of everything they need.

I confess i changed my dogs to a cheaper brand after reading good things about it.
I am now going to feed them burns after hearing many recommendations and reading their webpages because their coats are shocking and they are itchy. This has happened since being on the new food. I cannot believe the difference in them and was always a bit of a sceptic and didn't quite believe that food made such a difference. Well i stand corrected it does make a difference so i have gone from £20 for 15kg to £41.99 for 15kg. But i have worked out how long the burns will last for and what the feed cost is per day and amazingly it works out virtually the same as more of the burns is digestible i can feed less thus reducing the cost.

I am however disgusted with myself and guilty and hope that they both pick up quickly and start feeling better:(

Thanks for this Gemima i feel sick but am never buying a tin of crap food again or cheapo complete where i don't know what is in it.

A lot of the information in that article is completely bogus, whether or not it's about the US.

I've had some quite extensive dealings with animal rendering plants in the process of some research.

First up. Different rendering plants deal with different animals, depending on whether they have been rejected from a slaughterhouse as 'not fit for human consumption', died on a farm or died at a zoo. Carcasses from slaughterhouses destined for pet food are not decomposed (after all we let a lot of meat for our consumption effectively decompose for up to a month anyway) or infested with pests or parasites because our food industry is so tightly controlled. These animals will already have had the blood drained and the offal removed. There's nothing wrong with offal as long as it has been thoroughly cleaned. Blood from slaughterhouses is treated completely differently.

Animals that have died on farms etc. are drained of blood and gutted before the carcass is processed (despite what it says in the article). These animals are usually in an advanced state of decomposition but are rendered for their by-products that go into soap and glue manufacture etc., not into pet food.

Hasn't Burns now been bought out by one of the big guys?
I know that James Wellbeloved has, and how long before that just blends into being the same.

I have mine on Royal Canin but it costs a fortune for such large ones as I have - but i have done every type of diet you can think of, and feel guilty for ever changing their food. But never ever happy with what they have.

Like you Adz, i just don't have the time - but I love them to bits and try everything I can to make sure they are healthy. I do feed vegetables, but sporadically -
Just really - what is best for them.?

My ozzie -the beast - will only eat dry crunchy complete - no matter what you offer him - he thinks he is being poisoned if its anything else.

Burns hasnt been bought out, I think Wellbeloved is owned by Mars now. I cant see Burns selling out, seeing as he is "anti commercial pet food".

The author of the book has visited rendering plants in the US and has documentary proof of her findings I believe. I cant comment as I have never been to rendering plant in this country or the US and dont wish to either.:gag:

so James Wellbeloved is now a Pedigree product?

We had a right to-do trying to swap Brude off the only food we'd managed to persuade him to eat as a pup (Bakers - not our choice, his). He was quite taken with the James Wellbeloved Hunny came to stay at our's with, so we tried him on that

It took us flaming months to find out that it was an allergy to this food that was causing the spots and scabs in his coat, and making his fur fall out :(

We've had to swap him back onto his old food to find this out, and having identified it was the JW, we think we've nailed it down to the problem being that it was salmon flavoured, as we've given him real fish on occasions since and seen the same spots and scabs

Time to try him on something better than the Baker's again me thinks