has anyone ever told you to make sure your cat's food is aafco approved?
well cat food fact number one: aafco does not approve cat food.
this is talkspetfood.aafco.
"what pet foods are aafco approved? in short aafco does not approve, certify,
or otherwise endorse pet foods. there is no aafco approved pet food."
petfood.aafco "did you know? aafco does not regulate, test, approve,
or certify pet foods in any way. aavfo has no statutory authority to regulate pet products."
hey friends it's jess and jericho here with some cat food fats.
let me know in the comments if you've heard "make sure your cat food is aafco approved".
because clearly aafco states on two websites that they do not approve or even test cat food.
the rest of these facts may come as a surprise and shock.
so i'd like to invite you to have an open mind.
there's a lot of clever marketing that we need to undo.
cat food fact number two more than half the cats in the us
are classified as overweight or obese. and most of us feed kibble.
this is the association for pet obesity prevention.
they did a survey in 2018 and 2019.
and they found that 59.5% of cats are classified as overweight or obese.
they also found that 82% of us feed dry pet food "exclusively" or "most of the time".
seems obvious what the problem is.
they also found out that raw diets were "never fed" to 88% of cats.
cat food fact number three some cat foods have less than 25% meat.
here's aafco's website again the 25% rule any product name that has word dinner,
entree, or platter, or something similar has a minimum requirement of 25% meat.
then there's the "with" rule that has at least three percent.
and the "flavor" rule that does not need to have a
huge amount of an ingredient which only provides a flavor.
here are some examples "grain free chicken and pea recipe".
this cat food would have at least 25% chicken and peas combined.
because of the word "recipe".
"nature's evolutionary diet with chicken".
this cat food has somewhere between
three percent and 24.9 percent chicken because of the word "with".
"metabolic weight management chicken flavor".
this cat food has somewhere between zero and two point nine percent
chicken because of the word "flavor".
if it had at least three percent chicken the name would say
"with chicken" instead of "chicken flavor".
all of these cat food name examples are real. please look them up!
ps that last one the one that has less than three percent meat, it's a prescription diet.
that's why it's super important to understand
how to read cat food labels based on aafco's labeling requirements.
jericho just can't even with these facts.
cat food fact number four 4d meats are allowed in cat food.
aafco's website again "meat and meat by products not directly suitable for
animal food that are designated as 4d dead disease dying or disabled."
these are considered adulterated unless they are rendered.
here's a crs report for congress on animal rendering.
"renderers convert dead animals and animal byproducts into ingredients for a wide range
of industrial and consumer goods such as animal feed...
renderers annually convert 47 billion pounds or more of raw animal materials
into approximately 18 billion pounds of products.
sources for these materials include meat slaughtering and processing plants, dead
animals from farms, ranches, feedlots, marketing barns, animal shelters, and other facilities
and fats, grease, and food waste from restaurants and stores."
so again it's super important to understand how to read cat food labels properly.
cat food fact number five cats rely on food for moisture.
moisture aka water is essential for life.
this is an anatomy and physiology book that i read as part of my nutrition program.
and it says "mammals consist of about 70% water a loss of as little as 10% of its water can cause
serious illness in most animals and a 15% loss would be fatal without immediate treatment."
the cat's natural prey like mice and birds are typically between 70 and 80 percent moisture.
kibble however is only 10 moisture.
but my cat drinks plenty of water!
"the amount of water that is needed daily by the animal in milliliters is
equal to the amount of its daily energy requirement in calories."
so if your cat consumes 250 calories per day he needs to drink 250 milliliters of water per day.
250 milliliters is equal to 8.4 ounces.
no cat would ever drink that much water every single day.
but if you're feeding wet food or raw food your cat is getting all the moisture from his food.
cat food fact number six holistic vets consider raw food the best medicine.
raw feeding veterinary society nuff said.
other examples include dr karen becker, dr andrea tasi, dr lisa pierson, and dr elizabeth hodgkins.
dr hodgkins actually owns a patent in which she
treats diabetic cats by switching them off kibble to a fresh food diet.
cat food fact number seven bacteria is in all foods, even kibble.
midwestern pet foods salmonella health risk recall.
take a look at all these kibble products recalled due to salmonella. look at all that! over 120!
bravo raw recall for salmonella.
look at that. nine products.
based on these two recalls salmonella in kibble is a much higher risk.
jericho's been eating 100% raw since 2018.
and in march 2021 we did a full gi panel and a fecal exam.
here's jericho's fecal exam and full gi panel.
ova and parasite none-seen.
giardia negative.
all of these bacteria, parasites, and viruses negative.
so even though jericho's diet is 100% raw he does not have any bacteria or parasites.
it all comes down to how you source and handle the food.
cat food fact number eight a raw diet is much more than just raw meat.
the cat's natural diet is whole prey.
when the cat eats a mouse or a bird he eats all of the muscle meat,
all of the bones, all of the organs, the fur, the feathers, the feet, the tail.
literally everything.
so feeding a raw diet requires much more than just raw meat.
you need a specific mix of meat, bones, and organs,
and supplements to make up for any nutrient losses.
cat food fact number nine cats are extremely sensitive to dietary changes.
maybe you tried a new cat food and your cat got sick.
this is very common.
the cat system gets used to processing the same food every single day.
so when we switch a food cold turkey it can cause gi problems.
so you'll have to introduce new foods very very slowly.
and cat food fact number 10 some fresh food is better than no fresh food.
to upgrade your cat's kibble check out that video right over meow.
if you're ready for raw check out that playlist right over meow.
thanks for watching!
cold
cold turkey