People often have the common belief that most commercial pet food is perfectly balanced, nutritious and healthy. Especially if their veterinarian sells it. However, little could be further from the truth.

Most advertising tends to show what people believe to be learned from scientists, but the information is actually just endorsing a product. Then, slogans reinforce this with clever wording: such as 'organic', 'natural', 'no added preservatives', 'perfectly balanced', 'scientifically proved', 'veterinary approved', or other fashionable but not necessarily meaningful words.

Looking a little deeper, you may find something completely different, even alarming. And with it, a growing belief, especially amongst holistic veterinarians and animal natural therapists, that it is this that is the main cause of so many pet health problems.

Firstly, the quality of the meat. Most of this comes from rendering plants. These are adjuncts to slaughter houses which take in and process otherwise waste foods: such as supermarket rejects, waste from slaughtered animals (heads, hooves, beaks, feet, etc), euthanised cats and dogs from veterinary clinics, dead animals (from control measures, farms, roadkill, etc). The bodies are often left for days, rotting in the heat of the day, before being processed. ID tags, flea collars, identity tags and so forth are not removed.

A recent study also found some pet foods contain toxic levels of arsenic, lead, mercury, and even nuclear waste.