Peter Cottontail and the Rendering Plant

Yesterday, the Easter Bunny made an appearance at my store. 15 dogs, a cat, and two kids took turns sitting on the bunny's lap while getting their pictures taken. It went surprisingly well with no incidents of over-zealous terriers trying to kill the rabbit. This was a relief to me because I was the one in the bunny suit. For three hours, I was in a latex and polyester costume that became soaked with sweat within the first 10 minutes. The eyes of the mask were so far apart that I could only see out of one eye at a time. When I finally took it off, I could see stereoscopically for the first time in three hours. Seeing the world in 3-D again was literally dizzying. I could barely walk. Maybe the latex fumes contributed a little. But overall the experience was actually pretty fun.

In a vaguely related note: NONE of the foods sold at our store Treats Unleashed were affected by the pet food recall. We have never carried any of the brands that were tainted. Those foods are all filled with by-products and cheap fillers that aren't good for your pet even when they don't have rat poison and chemical residue in them. If you are concerned about what you are feeding your pet, call, email, or drop by the store. We'll make sure your four-legged friend is well cared for. In the meantime, take a look at the ingredients on their food label. The top five or six ingredients are the most important. If you see corn, wheat, animal digest, animal by-product, gluten, or meat and bone meal then you have a food that is among the lowest in overall quality. Corn and wheat are virtually indigestible to pets especially the "partial" grains that are used in pet food that have already been processed for the human food chain (leaving pets with the waste by-product). "Animal" digest and "meat" meal don't specify what specific animal protein is used in the food because the government does not require pet food makers to reveal which animals have been processed and put into your pet's food. Rendering plants boil various animal remains gathered from slaughterhouses, butcher shops, and in some cases the side of the road that are labeled "not fit for human consumption" and mix them into cheap pet foods. "4-D" animals ( a term describing Dead, Dying, Diseased, or Disabled livestock not allowed into the human food chain) are routinely used in commercial pet foods. If the label doesn't specify what type of meat is in the food, ask yourself if you would go to a restaurant and order "Mystery Meat" off the menu knowing that it could literally be a combination of anything left over on the kill floor of a slaughterhouse. Oh yeah, one more thing: Did you ever wonder what happens to the 1.5 million carcasses of the dogs and cats that are euthanized in animal shelters every year? The majority are sent to rendering plants and rendered into "meat and bone meal" to be used in pet food. Studies show that the poison used to kill them is still in their systems when they are processed and eventually consumed.

Sorry to gross you out. I just think everyone should know what goes into their pet's food. Am I biased toward the products I sell at my store? You bet. None of the foods at our store have any of those questionable ingrediets. I sleep well at night knowing my dogs eat the best food available. I never worry about them eating ground up dogs and cats that were themselves poisoned to death. The San Francisco Chronicle did an expose' on the realities of commercial pet food companies back in 1990. They substantiate all of the claims I am making. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0106-02.htm The next time you buy Ol' Roy or Dog Chow, think about the message on a sign at a rendering plant that the Chronical secretly videotaped. It read: "All animals being processed must be dead first." If they need a sign to tell them that, then you probably need to steer clear of their products.

All right, I'm getting off my soapbox now. Bon appetite!