(Sign reads ‘Dog Food $5 Bag’)

As a producer of raw and dehydrated foods I’m fairly versed as to the cost of quality meats and the costs to produce them.  So, when I see Asian made dehydrated chicken fillets being sold for ridiculously low prices like $13 a pound, I’m left wondering how exactly that is done.

First, if you’re unaware, the FDA in the United States just released yet ANOTHER warning regarding illnesses linked to feeding these Asian produced ‘treats’.  This is their third warning (also issued in 2007, 2009, and now November 18 2011).  The warning is available for review here: http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/NewsEvents/CVMUpdates/ucm280586.htm.  The CVMA also issued a warning last summer.  How many warning are needed before people stop buying this poison!

Personally, I am not the least surprised.  Why?  Because I am involved with what it costs to make the same pound of dehydrated chicken fillets using quality inspected North American human grade chicken.   So I thought I’d share some figures to help illustrate my point:

• It takes 4 lbs of fresh chicken fillets (aka tenders) to produce approximately 1 lbs of dehydrated fillets.
• The cost per pound, bulk wholesale, for chicken fillets is approximately $4 per lb but fluctuates according to season/supply/demand.  So the raw material cost to make 1 lbs of dehydrated treats using 4 lbs of fresh fillets is $16.00
• To pickup the product at the producer, prepare the fillets for dehydrating, load the dehydrators, unload when drying, scale and package can easily consume 0.3 man-hours or about $5.00 per pound.
• Using small commercial dehydrators, you can get a few lbs of dehydrated product per unit.  At 800 watts, and a 36 hour dry time, the current Ontario energy guide states that it will cost approximately $3.33 to operate for that period of time ($1.50 per lb) - note that forecasts state energy prices could rise by as much as 45% in the next 4 years.
• Add to that contribution towards the costs of the dehydrators, coolers, packaging equipment, facility rent, insurance, staff, support staff such as admin and finance, marketing, packaging, labeling, and shipping to name but a few.

So without factoring in anything apart from the chicken, some labour, and electricity the cost is already at $22.50 per pound!

• Next add a fair profit margin for the manufacturer (say 10%) takes the product up to $25.00 per pound.
• Now add shipping costs to the retailers.
• And finally add a fair profit margin for the retailer (again say 10%) takes the costs close to $30.00 a pound and that’s with MANY costs not yet accounted for.

Therefore, how does one come even close to making a pound of the treats for $13?  Especially given that imports from Asia have an 18% duty placed on them when imported to Canada.  Then add the costs and profit margins to insert an importer into the mix (versus just a manufacturer and retailer).  And then of course the costs to bring the product in from the other side of the planet when fuel is at all time highs? When you start working the costs backward it is beyond comprehension how chicken could even be grown for such costs.

The simple truth of it is that this is non-human grade product produced in a far away country outside of the governing bodies that control the high standards of our own locally (North American) grown products.  Add to that the Asian factory worker who likely earns next to nothing. 

Then, it gets even more difficult to see where the product is actually made.   Someone asked on our Facebook group last week (http://www.facebook.com/boldraw) if their ‘Canadian company’ chicken strips were okay.  But when you actually investigate the ‘Canadian company’ yes they have an ‘office’ in Canada, but their production facility is in Thailand and none of it is actually made here.

Another major raw company who advertises on the packaging as ‘Made in the USA’ actually has all of it’s rabbits shipped in from China.  So, if you wonder about how China grows their animal feed chicken you may also want to consider how their rabbits are raised.

Hopefully the next time you see any of the locally produced dehydrated products instead of wondering why it costs so much in comparison, hopefully instead you will ask yourself why the ‘other’ products cost so little. 

Whether it be product that we make here ourselves, or other quality manufactures like Nothing Added (http://www.nothingadded.ca) or Crumps Naturals (http://www.crumps.ca/) you can be assured that your product is being made using only locally raised products from inspected facilities. 

Like the old saying goes ‘if it’s too good to be true it probably is’.

One thing that truly irks me is the fear mongering campaign waged by those so against a raw natural diet.   Whether stated by an “uneducated” vet, an owner, or members of the kibble industry, those opposed to a raw natural diet will spout out ill informed diatribes full of smoke-and-mirror falsehoods regarding raw.  Often a bit of reading will see past the smoke screen and lead folks to a educated choice when it comes to feeding and caring for their fur kids.  I hope that this series of ‘raw myth’ posts will help guide people in knowing that there are other choices to feeding your dog or cat beside that of rendered waste product.

In this first installment, I’ll explore “Is the Dog a Carnivore”?

This is a truly important question in how we choose to best feed our dogs the best and most appropriate diet possible.  Understanding what a dog’s digestive tract is designed to ingest will help us understand what should be placed into it.  It’s like a car, without understanding how the engine works how do you know whether it needs diesel or gasoline to power it?  Our dog’s nutritional care requires the same understanding in order to allow for peak performance and optimal nutritional intake. 

Dogs are certainly adaptable and could be considered a ‘non-obligated’ omnivore, simply meaning that the animal ‘can’ survive by eating a variety consumables, but that does not mean that simply ‘surviving’ is the best means to achieve it’s nutritional requirements.  I could live off of Cheeseburgers and Fries for my entire life, but does it mean it’s HOW my diet should be maintained for optimum health? 

To understand the question of ‘carnivore’ or ‘omnivore’ (hopefully no one in their right mind would consider the dog a herbivore - so I won’t spend time discussing a herbivore’s digestive system in detail) one must first understand the principle differences between the two.   An ‘omnivore’ ~ from the latin words ‘omni’ meaning ‘all’, and ‘vorare’ meaning ‘devour’ and as implied can eat all - plants or meats.  Whereas ‘carnivore’ has the origin of ‘carne’ latin for ‘flesh’ - implying a meat diet.  Examples of omnivores are humans and pigs.  And carnivores would be wolves, cats, carrion birds, and of course dogs.

We could spend time discussing the entire anatomy and structure of a dog and how it is designed to hunt and kill prey, but for sake of time we’ll stick with just the digestive tract for this post. 

The mouth of a dog is one of the a very indicative example of how a dog is classified as a carnivore and has all the tell tale signs of an animal designed to ingest prey.  A dog’s mouth is almost identical to that of it’s wolf ancestor - incisors and canine teeth designed to latch onto prey and to tear flesh.  The carnassial teeth (first molar on lower, and last premolar on upper on each side) create a scissor effect to cut meat and tendons.  The molars are then used to crush bone.  What they lack is flattened molars used to grind vegetation as found in omni and herbivores.  Look into your dog’s mouth - you won’t find a flatted molar suffice like we have to grind food (we’ll get to that reason shortly).

In addition to the jagged teeth designed for quick ingestion without chewing and pre-digestion in the mouth (such as in omni and herbivores) the dog lacks the ability to laterally move it’s jaw (if you’ve never looked go check out your dog - the jaw will only move up and down).  Picture a cow chewing it’s grass - the jaw moves in a lateral motion grinding the vegetation to begin the digestion process.  Same with humans, when we eat there is and up down and sideways movement to break down consumables prior to the next stage of digestion.  This lateral jaw movement and grinding is essential for the digestion of vegetation due to thick cellular walls.

Dogs are designed to “bolt” down their foods.  42 teeth and 2000 tastebuds, compared with our 32 and 9000 tastebuds, dogs are not built to chew and savour their foods.  They ‘wolf’ it down and the mouth is merely an entry portal.  Their system is efficient and meant to ‘grab and dash’ or ‘load and go!’.

A dogs mouth also produces lysozyme, an agent which helps kill and pathogens ingested (stomach acids will help destroy others).

Prior to exploring further down the digestive tract, it also needs to be added that dogs do not produce salivary amylase, a digestive enzyme produced in the mouth to be mixed with ground food during the mastication process and assists with the digestion of carbohydrates.  This does not mean that dogs cannot digest carbohydrates as amylase is produced in the pancreas, but is another sign that they are not predisposed to be eating a carb laden diet.  Most all omnivores and herbivores produce salivary amylase for the work of carb digestion to begin immediately, while all carnivores lack the presence of the secretion.  Some folks who like to claim “well cows don’t have salivary amylase” are not comparing apples to apples - ruminant animals such as cows and sheep operate on an entirely different system not acid based but fermentation based.  When faced with this point, one ‘dog is an onmivore’ supporter stated ‘well, salivary amylase isn’t that important anyhow’ - funny, one would think if the secretion was so unimportant that nature would have sought efficiency and evolved beyond it in other animals.

Down to the stomach where we find more examples of how the canine system is designed for that of meat above all else.  The dog has an extremely acidic stomach with pH levels as low as 1 (7 is neutral).  These strong acid levels allow for the breakdown of animal proteins to all for further digestion by enzymes. 

Moving onwards.  The dog has an intestinal/body length ratio of 6:1 - extremely short when compared with 12:1 in humans and pigs, and 20:1 in ruminants such as cows.  The reason is simple - vegetation requires long digestion times to break down the mater.  Dogs do not require long intestinal tracts and animal proteins are broken down quickly in the stomach and can be moved rapidly thru the intestines. 

Raw dog food can move thru the entire digestive process, from entry to exit in approximately 4-6 hours.   Dry kibble foods can take 10-12 hours to run the course due to the nature of it’s composition - the dogs system needs to work longer and harder to try and extract the needed nutrients - which it still fails to fully achieve when one compares excrement (crude I know, but a great indicator of how they system is functioning).

Notice how when your dog eats a piece of grass, how it’ll often arrive at the other side as green as it was when eaten?  Or feed your dog a carrot and guess what comes out later - a carrot.  As illustrated above, their systems from their teeth onwards are not designed to chew, ingest, or digest vegetation.  It’s important to understand this when considering the best possible diet for our dogs.  And hence the importance to seriously consider the correct classification as carnivore.  And by using that as a starting point we can further examine why a raw natural diet is the most superior form of caring for our dogs nutritional needs.

To suggest a dog is otherwise is no different than stating ‘there are vegan humans, therefore the human is a herbivore’.  Incorrect obviously.  So holds true with our canine friends, simply because they can survive on a certain diet does not mean it is the diet BEST suited for them.

Part II of the raw myths dispelled series will look at the negative campaigning against raw with concerns of salmonella or e-coli.

Dave

Headlines were made a few weeks ago when the “Delta Society” (an American organization which performs Therapy Dog work - similar to TDI and St John’s Ambulance) issued a release stating that effective July 1st 2010 they will no longer allow raw fed service dogs (known as Pet Partners in their program) for fear of passing salmonella on to the patients they visit.

What I find even more interesting is their “study” also indicates that almost 1 in 10 dogs fed processed kibbles contain salmonella in their excrement, yet 1 in 10 is somehow an “acceptable” risk to the society - if such a “risk” even exists!

To begin, we really need to understand salmonella and what it means to North American society.  Salmonella is quite often used by raw fed opponents (namely the multi billion dollar kibble industry) as some poster child against a natural raw meaty bone diet.  Let’s face it, this is a society consumed with fear.  It’s why the television news programs always have segments on “what in your kitchen could be killing you!” or “deadly swarm of killer bees could be coming to America”.  We’ve all seen them, and fear is used as a marketing tool.

However, is salmonella something that really needs to be feared?  If it were, then what does the government do to stop it’s occurrence?  A Consumers Report study found that 80% of store bought chicken contains the bacteria!   So, if such a real concern, then why is it allowed to be so rampantly present in THE MOST consumed meat sources in America?  

Salmonella is one of those few bacteria that are shared with both canine and humans, along with rabies, and why it’s one that is often used.  But that simple fact is that someone would be hard pressed to even find a case of dog to human transmission of the bacteria.

Do raw fed dogs have an increased risk of salmonella ingestion?  Of course!  They are eating meats in their natural state, not after high heat/rendering/extraction/purification/enzymolosis/hyrdolysis (all of which constitute “natural” per the AAFCO) laden with preservatives and other such additives.  But does this adversely affect dogs?  No!  Dogs digestive systems are short, lean, and mean.  They’re extremely efficient at processing meats thanks to highly acidic stomachs and short intestinal tracts - get it in, and get it out!

So now that we appreciate that salmonella does not really affect our dogs, so how does it affect us?  Well, for the most part, might mean some gut rot/aches, perhaps some diarrhea (from the greek meaning ‘to flow thru’ - how true!).   Salmonella is affects almost 3.4 Million Americans per year!  Yes, MILLIONS.  It’s everywhere out there - at the salad bar, in the meats we eat, at the fast foods we frequent, on the surfaces we touch.  And of those MILLIONS of folks hit with it annually there are roughly 500 who unfortunately succumb to the bacteria.

Of those that unfortunately die from salmonella annually, they are generally the very old or the very young and often have weakened immune systems unable to ward off the bacteria.  But of those 500, what is the cause of transmission? 

In 2001 there were 585 salmonella caused deaths in the United stated.  Of those, 569 were directly traced back to food ingestion!  So that leaves 26 cases out of the 1.4 million reported cases (the 3.4 million affected is estimated as very few cases are actually ever reported).  And of those 26 cases, not a single one is identified with a “dog to human” transmission.  Why?  Because there is no evidence that illustrates cases of dogs with salmonella bacteria shedding it on to humans!  It doesn’t happen.

Do dogs “shed” salmonella?  Well, if be shedding you mean pooping out the back side, then I suppose.  And if the concern is picking up salmonella from dog’s excrement, then people need to be concerned more so with other nasties contained in dog excrement in addition to salmonella - like try giardia on for size!  Or perhaps be more concerned about which end of the dog you’re giving a kiss to - the ‘brown rose’ should not be it lol!

So back to the Delta Society.  Is their concern a genuine one based on direct cases of salmonella being spread from canine to human?  No.  Is it based on fear?  Absolutely.  But if this fear of salmonella is so warranted, then why not approach the true known and documented sources of it?  Perhaps they should lobby for no poultry in senior’s homes since as much as 80% of it contains salmonella.  Or what about the treats that Pet Partner’s are bringing into the facilities for the residents to give to the dogs?  Yet another recall just from Merrick a few weeks ago with their Beef Treats along with studies showing that half (51%) of tested dried pig ears carried salmonella?  What about handlers handling those?  Isn’t the truth of the matter that with no demonstrated cases of death attributed to canine to human transfer of salmonella that the real risk is posed in the treats used, the contact with the humans themselves, and even the food fed to the patients?  What about a simple cold, a flu bug, a cough.  All these provide significant and real risk versus a fabricated one.

So, if there is no scientific merit to the position, then what could be the possible source of such a stance?  Well, visit the Delta Society website to begin with.  Scroll down to the lower right side - “Thank you to our incredible Partner and passionate pet people at Purina”. 

Perhaps now you’re thinking, ‘Dave, you’re going to make this into a conspiracy theory?’.  Well, to a certain extent, yes.  How else can one attribute an action with so little merit given the obvious publicly stated partnership between the two?  Nestle purchased Purina for 10.3 BILLION DOLLARS.  Yes, BILLION (!!).  Nestle, like any other business has one end mandate - to serve the shareholders - and that is only achieved by meeting the shareholder’s true goal = profit.  It’s not a bad thing, it’s what they’re supposed to do.  Doesn’t make them ‘evil’, simply means that when looking at their actions you need to consider the end goal.

The pet industry in the United States is forecast to see revenues of $47.7 BILLION dollars in 2010, with $18 billion of that being in food.  Add to this the growing surge of a raw natural diet movement (forecast at a growth rate of 23% this year) after so many recalls of kibble and heightened consumer awareness of what exactly we feed those that love us so unconditionally.  These billion dollar corporations see one thing - market erosion to a product they don’t sell or advocate, nor can they change their stance at this point.

Their influence runs deeper than a simple logo and funding, it runs right into the organizational fabric of such groups as the Delta Society.  Have a visit to the Delta Society “About Us” page and view the composition of the Board of Directors.  Scroll down to the seat of Secretary - Brenda Bax… who just happens to be the Marketing Director of Purina!

Still think there’s no vested interest from such individuals?  Well check out the latest patent application by the Director (Marketing Corporate Brands with Animal Charities).  My favourite section from the patent application is this “13. The method of claim 1 wherein the marketing program benefits the corporation by increasing marketing opportunities for the corporation”

So there you have it.  Some info on salmonella, some info on Delta, and some light on why such decisions could possibly be made without supporting positions.

Pork is a great protein source for any raw meaty bones diet for your dog.  But there is much incorrect information surrounding “risks” of feeding pork.

Canada has done a great job keeping Pseudorabies out of our supply chain by utilizing strict swine import regulations, and made any case of it legally reportable under the Health of Animals Act.

The same cannot be said for the US and for American pig farmers.  Although the country is working hard to eradicate the problem, only 35 states have declared themselves “AD Free”.  And Iowa is still considered at relatively high risk, and the one state alone accounts for 25% of the national herd.  Therefore, some precautions should be followed when feeding raw American pork.

Europe does have significant issues with the disease, with it being quite common in Portugal, Spain, as well as parts of Asia.

It’s generally recognized that freezing for three weeks is enough to kill the virus, so those feeding raw pork to their dogs in susceptible regions are recommended to do so prior to use.  For those in Canada, or other such regions where the pork sources are known and the region is disease free - fresh pork is just fine to feed.  Our pack regularly eats meaty pork riblets and neck bones.

The other one we need to watch, although not as dangerous as AD, is Tapeworm (aka Cysticercosis).  This is a problem considered extremely rare in Canadian swine, and also quite rare in American swine.  Again, anyone with a concern should freeze their pork prior to use (freezing at -10C for 5 days is enough to kill off any tapework cysts that may exist).

The bottom line is that pork is a perfectly fine raw protein source to feed your dog.  Canadian pork is perfectly safe to feed without freezing, but if still uncomfortable, rather than not feeding pork simply freeze the product for a few weeks prior to feeding.

As I was preparing a batch of ground green tripe today, getting ready for all the weekend orders (Saturday’s are nuts over at Bold Canine/Bold Raw as many folks do their weekly pickups) Caroline came home with a pack of ‘green tripe’ she picked up at a raw food store in the city as market research.

I was completely floored by the lack of quality to the product she purchased, and incensed me to the point to need to write a blog article about it (although I need to get back to packaging lol!).

When I recently left the corporate world to follow my passion of working with and for animals, I was committed to providing only the highest quality of product.  Coming from an ISO-9000 background, I believe in processes and quality control.  To both Caroline and I, there is no room in the world for mediocre businesses, and if you’re going to create something it should either be the absolute best, or shouldn’t be done at all.  And more so if you’re promoting healthy foods over canned slop or dry cardboard (aka kibble).

Within our pack of six Shiloh Shepherds, who basically are our four legged children, we only feed them the absolute best possible quality of everything.  We want them to be as healthy as the can be, and although they are Grand Champions in the show ring, it has always been more important that they be Champions of health above all else.  It’s with this vision and passion that we created Bold Raw - Natural Raw Food for Dogs and Cats.  We felt that there was a desire in the pet food world for premium quality products, and noticed that those that were doing it, were either just retails and not involved with the quality control of production, or just doing it as a hobby to sell enough to provide their own pack with food - no commitment, no passion, no quality.

It was with this vision of producing the best that I was so disturbed by the product Caroline picked up at the store, and I’ll explain why.

The photo at the top had the store bought product on the left, and the batch I had just ground 30 minutes earlier on the right.  If you cannot tell, or have not dealt much with tripe, the product on the left is very white - and with tripe there is only one thing that white and it’s hardened pure fat!

Although the label (which I could not show) states 17% fat MINIMUM it’s actually contents I would guess is closer to 40-50% pure fat - if not more!

So how do you get around this?  Easy, you take the painstaking time and you trim away the excess fat.  We at Bold Raw do this by hand, and although it’s a labourious process, it truly provides an ‘ultimate tripe’.   It requires some extra steps including chilling the tripe to harden the fat, and then trimming section by section.  And it’s likely why some sell tripe at a price of $1.50 per pound - sure, because it’s junk.

Fat has no benefit in green tripe as it’s NOT from the stomach itself - there is NO fat inside the stomach walls and all this hard useless fat is located on the OUTSIDE of the stomach, exterior from the organ, and contains none of the benefits that green tripe has to offer.

Producers that include so much fat simply do so out of convenience.  The entire tripe is simply dumped into the grinder and away it goes.  Reducing labour costs, and getting their maximum yield, but not creating the best possible product.

This is the tripe we ground today.  I’d put the fat content at less than 5% (it’s near impossible to remove it all).  There are a few white spots in there, the rest if nice pink/brown/dark stomach meats.  So when our customers serve their dogs green tripe, that’s what they’re getting - not useless filler which actually can do more harm than good.

This photo shows just a handful (this is about 3 lbs worth) of fat trimmed from just half of a single tripe!  That hard white lard like fat has no benefits to your dog, and will serve nothing more than helping making him or her obese and unhealthy.

I’ve said before, I wouldn’t feed my pack anything that I wouldn’t eat myself (well, I wouldn’t eat green tripe myself - but that’s just because we’re not designed to).  Would you eat this fat?  So why should the dog or cat that relies on you for their health eat it?

I didn’t write this blog entry to bolster just how great our product is (although I truly feel it is the absolute best it can be - otherwise I wouldn’t be doing it), but rather to illustrate that even within the world of raw, there are varying qualities of product available and not all raw producers are created equal.

Dave,

Bold Raw