Most people don’t know that the diet alone can be the root cause of epilepsy in pets. Something as simple as a B Vitamin deficiency can cause seizures that no medication on the market can prevent.  Another cause of seizures, and not necessarily epilepsy, are substances called Excitotoxins. Excitotoxin, simply explained, is another way of saying toxics chemicals that cause small bombs to go off in the brain. Excitotoxins can also lead to debilitating diseases like Alzheimers and Multiple Sclerosis. Examples of Excitotoxins are Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) and Sucralose. While these ingredients aren’t listed on the bag of dog food, if you see the words ‘by-product’ or another vague term like this there could be just about anything in your pets food.

In my research I’ve learned that pet food manufacturers can get away with putting inedible ingredients like heads, hooves, beaks, feathers, and even cancerous meats in pet food and putting the blanket term ‘by-product’ on the bag to cover it up. There is just no telling how many of these toxins get into your dogs diet everyday. And with by-products being anything they can put into the vat, every bag of food you buy will have different ingredients. So if you wonder why your pet is having a reaction to the same brand they’ve been eating for years, now you know. Every bag is different.

I had a conversation recently with the creator of Luath’s Holistic Pet Foods about ingredients he’s investigated in other pet food brands. I was shocked at his findings. He spoke about a few terms used for ingredients that I’d seen many times on several brands but never really understood what they meant. I had a feeling they weren’t very healthy and boy was I right. Here are a few of them.

Vegetable Protein Isolate - What is it? It’s a mixture of crushed vegetable protein and water which is subjected to ultra-sonic energy. Dimethylformamide is added and cooked for about 1 hour at boiling point. Dimethylformamide is the organic compound whose name is derived from the fact that it is a derivative of formamide, the amide of formic acid. (Formic acid is found in bee stings)…yum?

DL-methionine - This is an essential amino acid normally found in protein sources. It’s inclusion in dog foods raise my suspicion about the quality of the included protein – Dogs need 2 essential amino acids to create Taurine – methionine and cystine. Without both they cannot create taurine.

Beet Pulp - Sugar beet pulp is the correct name for this product – it is the left over after the sugar has been extracted. It is claimed that it is a high quality source of fibre. Nothing could be  further from the truth – it is a low grade and very cheap filler. It is very drying and allows for the inclusion of high levels of fat in dog foods. High fat creates very damp conditions but the beet pulp essentially soaks it up and prevent very soft stools. High fat in the diet will make the digestive system sluggish but it very slowed by the sugar beet pulp.

The list goes on and just gets less and less appetizing. So to sum up my rant of toxins and by-products do your pets a favour, read the ingredients and question anything you’re not sure of. And remember I’m also here to help.