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animals to eat at times? This statement is generally true for canines, but not wild cats, that eat only freshly killed prey. Wolves and dogs seem to be able to eat meat that is not fresh, even partly decayed, without becoming ill. But here is the difference—in nature, the animals captured and eaten are not chronically ill or filled with drugs or hormones. Having worked with livestock medicine in my early years, I know that a significant percent of the animals sent to slaughter, but not suitable for human consumption, have first been extensively treated with drugs. Since veterinary treatment failed, they are then processed for whatever monetary value can be captured by turning them into food—even pet food.
    It is a similar situation for the animals killed on the highway. Yes, it is possible that a deer was healthy when hit by a car and killed. This meat would be considered appropriate to use. But think of the many agricultural fields sprayed with insecticides or herbicides. Animals caught in these fields or that enter them after they are sprayed can become sick and disoriented, wandering into a road where they are easily killed.
    The pets recycled from veterinary hospitals or shelters can have high levels of antibiotics and various other drugs (in the last attempt to keep them alive), or perhaps the final euthanasia solution. Most of these drugs end up in the food. That is why animals that have had drug therapy are not used in human food. It would make people sick.
    From his experience as a veterinarian and federal meat inspector, P. F. McGargle, DVM, has concluded that feeding slaughterhouse wastes to animals increases their chance of getting cancer and other degenerative diseases. This practice has also been related to mad cow disease, which is discussed in chapter 3. Those wastes, he reported, can include moldy, rancid, or spoiled processed meats, as well as tissues riddled with cancer.
    These meat scraps can also contain hormone levels comparable to amounts that have produced cancer in laboratory animals. Dr. McGargle attributed these high levels to two causes: synthetic hormones routinely fed to livestock to stimulate rapid growth, and meat meal, often produced from glandular wastes and fetal tissues from pregnant cows. Both are naturally high in hormones. When this material is processed, even by high heat, the hormones remain active. Ironic, isn’t it, that the high heat destroys nutrients but retains the harmful drugs? High hormonelevels have the most severe effect on cats, who are extremely sensitive to them. The hormone implants that are used to fatten steers and caponize male chickens, for example, are considered toxic to cats, even in very low levels.
    W HY S OME P ET F OOD S MELLS T HAT W AY
    Although USDA inspectors are only allowed a few seconds to examine each carcass, there are many animals with obvious signs of disease or abnormality, according to Deborah Lynn Dadd, author of The Non-Toxic Home and Office . Dadd’s research shows that:
    “Each year about 116,000 mammals and nearly 15 million birds are condemned before slaughter. After killing, another 325,000 carcasses are discarded and more than 5.5 million major parts are cut away because they are determined to be diseased. Shockingly, 140,000 tons of poultry are condemned annually, mainly due to cancer. The diseased animals that cannot be sold are processed into… animal feed.”
    It’s no wonder that so many pet foods have such an awful smell and appearance, despite the heavy use of artificial flavors and colors to make them more appealing. According to breeder Lee Edwards Benning, author of The Pet Profiteers , one marketing study showed that some kids found the smell of dog food so obnoxious they refused to feed their own pets—poor Mom got stuck with the job. The same study showed that even Mom had qualms. She said she hesitated to use the family’s knives, forks, and spoons to dig the glop out of the cans.
    Perhaps consumer turn-off was one