Why should you cook for your pets?

The health of your pets is basically in your hands and like they say food is medicine. Nutrition is vital to growth and development of your pets and also nutrition plays a vital role in health and wellness of your pets,so with this back drop you must ensure you feed your pets properly. Pet nutrition was mostly left to commercial players,in the pet food industry before of the surge pet food recalls when many discovered that whats on the label is not healthy causing deaths or the food was contaminated at the source e.t.c Read about pet food recalls here, The recent surge in pet food recalls has encouraged more pet owners to try home cooking for their pets to help them stay healthy and live longer. Why should you cook for your pets? 1) To be sure of the content you are providing as many brands have a flavor with recall issues. Home cooking ensures you know the source of ingredients,the quality( fresh,human grade or discarded) and the proportion of the ingredients. A recent survey showed that cats on dry food had a risk of diabetes,as the kibble is loaded with more carbohydrates than needed. 2) home cooking helps to monitor of certain health conditions in pets. Commercial products especially grain-based pose a risk of aflatoxicosis,thus you preparing your pets food with high grade ingredients can remove risk. Allergies are another reason to do home cooking,many products have unnamed ingredients or masked contents which stimulate allergic reactions in the pet. 3)Home cooking also comes in handy when you are managing certain conditions in your pets such as obesity, arthritis, kidney disease ,diabetes etc. Home cooking will allow you use appropriate nutrients at right weight and combination. 4) Home cooking ensures your pets have access to wholesome nutritious food without any food additives or coloring. A recent study showed that there is an increase in cases of chronic diseases linked to food additives in pet foods,so if you want to feed your pets truly natural foods go with home cooking. see

Australian cat food pulled after illness and deaths.

Australian cat food pulled after illness and deaths. In Australia, every can of Best Feline Friend cat food has been pulled from pet food retailers Petbarn and City Farmers, reported the Herald Sun. The removal of food was prompted when reports of alleged deaths and illness in cats filtered in. more

Nutrish faces lawsuit over natural dog food label.

Nutrish faces lawsuit over natural dog food label,because of noncompliance to guidelines on feed control . The term natural is defined in the pet industry and will allow addition of vitamins,minerals and trace elements,but with the disclaimer that with added vitamins,minerals and trace elements prominent on the product. Nutrish is alleged to have misleading labels on their wet and dry dog food packaging.They used deceptive marketing by prominently labeling the products as natural, despite containing “chemicals and artificial and/or synthetic ingredients, which are well-known unnatural, artificial additives and preservatives. The company used the following phrases made with simple, natural ingredients" ,"No artificial flavors or artificial preservatives," ,"Natural Food for Dogs with Added Vitamins and Minerals" while the food actually contained ,L-ascorbyl-2- polyphosphate, Menadione sodium bisulfite complex, Thiamine mononitrate, "natural flavors," and a variety of caramel color. source

Clean label rating site misleading pet food consumers.

A clean label rating site is misleading pet food consumers by wrong endorsements and reviews. Pet owners want to know whats in the food and the benefits to pets,so when a site claims a particular brand is good many rush over boosting sale of brand ,but not necessarily the health of pets. The clean label mode of operation,or what they actually do , or claimed to do, was to test more than 900 cat and dog food products for 130 potentially toxic chemicals, including the heavy metals arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury, and adulterants such as melamine, and rank the products, apparently based on the levels of those substances. This does not have anything to do with the products’ labels? absolutely nothing,because many of the substances they supposedly tested for naturally occur in soil and may show up in minute amounts in anything grown in soil, as the clean label company are not providing any data as to the level of these substances in the food. more

Otago University reveals how to make vegetables last longer.

Otago University reveals how to make vegetables last longer.New research from the University of Otago has revealed the best home storage methods to lengthen the shelf life of vegetables. The research found that the simple act of wrapping a cut avocado in cling wrap and forming a tight seal against the avocado flesh was enough to see it last up to four times longer than an uncovered avocado half. It also found that brushing the avocado flesh with lemon juice or olive oil, a trick many people swear by, was actually detrimental. Another key finding was that carrots could last for up to 10 times longer if stored in an airtight container lined with a paper towel compared to being stored loose in the fridge. more

A new initiative ; the seed library.

A new initiative has been instituted and its called the seed library. The initiative by the Bay College Library will give members of the community a chance to grow vegetables, fruits, flowers, and more while saving money on seeds and providing a wide variety of seeds. The Bay College Seed Library officially opened for business after materials for the program arrived at the library earlier this month. The seed library program allows people to “borrow” seeds from the Bay College Library. Once the seeds used by seed library participants have grown into new plants, participants will collect seeds from these plants and bring them back to the library. more

Avian influenza questions up-most on producers mind.

Avian influenza has spread all over the world with outbreaks reported in many countries and human deaths in others, suggesting that it will challenge poultry production on every continent for along time. Producers are worried about trend and wonder if the incidence is a sign that the virus is a global potential threat that cannot be tamed. Producers are concerned that avian influenza posses a greater threat to the global poultry industry than it was a decade ago?. The largest factor that could make avian influenza more severe is the rapidly growing global poultry population. Population and income growth around the world is dictating larger flocks and bigger operations, but the level of biosecurity isn’t increasing at the same rate, especially in smaller,operations in the developing world. Producers are also wondering about the risk implication of having more birds,a larger operation.? The size of farm or number of birds does not increase or decrease risk,what matters is the biosecurity level of farm and compliance level of farm hands. The most common question is the method to keep free-range and pasture chicken free from avian influenza virus?. The quest to go cage-free and have free range birds is a major foci of bird flu virus as many outbreaks started from free range birds and spread to commercial farms. see The continuous risk of raising free range birds can only be minimized with proper surveillance and monitoring of health status of birds. Education and training on proper management technique will go a long way to reduce risk of exposure and consequently spread of virus.