So just how much seperation is there here? Is there a grade of food that is below human standards, but ok for pets? Or are there food products that are sold to humans that have no difference whatsoever to pet food.
For example, the meat inside canned ravioli. I think we can all agree this is low grade stuff. Is this the same meat used, untouched in pet food? What about canned chili or beef stew?
Aside from large amounts of ash used as filler, pet foods also contain ground up bits of bone and flesh that: best-case-scenario are left over from slaughterhouses after they’ve trimmed all the human consumables off, and worst-case-scenario are from euthanized shelter animals and roadkill. Keep in mind that this is also the same stuff that’s fed to beef cattle, so if you’re a meat-eater you’re sorta eating it either way.
I wonder if some of these “gourmet” pet foods who make of point of mentioning the real chicken or whatever are coming close to the same grade as really bad human food that is too nasty even to advertise…
There’s a growing market of “super premium” foods that claim to use the same quality meat in their pet food that humans would eat. Flint River is the most popular one. I recently ordered a free sample of their cat food, because as a vet tech, these things interest me. If the claims about their food are true, it might get me to switch from Science Diet and Eukanuba. Might. I have to do a little more research.
I seen on the news last night that SOME Afghanies are feeding the US food dropped from planes to their animals (because it doesn’t suit their tastes). So in this case, pet food certainly is the same grade as people food:D.