SOLID GOLD ADVERTISEMENT

“NO PRESCRIPTION IS MORE VALUABLE THAN KNOWLEDGE”

When Solid Gold introduced the first natural dog food into the U.S. in 1974, people were surprised that it didn't contain the usual ingredients found in other dog foods. We didn't use soybeans, wheat or corn - the number 1, 2 and 3 allergies of dogs that cause them to chew at the root of the tail or lick their feet. We don't use white rice, which is useless and missing 75% of its nutrients. We use amaranth, millet, barley and stone-ground brown rice.

We never use animal fat or poultry fat, which is rancid and may contribute to heart disease and cancer. We use canola oil and flaxseed oil, which are good for the immune system. Our flaxseed oil doesn't contain hexane; a chemical used by other flax oil companies. Our flaxseed oil helps the heart and is used by dogs with cardiomyopathy. Our flaxseed oil helps to reduce the incidence of epileptic seizures.

We never use sunflower oil. Cancer researchers use sunflower oil to induce cancer tumors in rats. Sunflower oil contains no omega 3, essential fatty acids, so necessary for development in unborn and young animals. Without omega 3's, skin problems occur.

Solid Gold Hund-N-Flocken never uses chicken. We use fish and lamb. All the Oriental dogs, Arctic dogs and dogs from England, Scotland, Ireland and water dogs were fed fish in their diets and sea vegetation. Our sea vegetation is our Sea Meal, which is always fed with our dog food. It works through the thymus and thyroid glands for the immune system.

Chickens are about the worst ingredient that could be put into dry dog food. In the 1970's, Dr. Virginia Livingston-Wheeler published her book, "Chicken; Cancer in Every Pet." She stated that cancer is almost 100% transmitted through the DNA and into the eggs. We don't use eggs in our dog food.

In the U.S., many poultry farms put ethoxyquin into the chicken's drinking water. Ethoxyquin is rated as a hazardous chemical by its manufacturer. It is supposed to make the egg yolk a brighter yellow, so you will think you are getting fresh eggs when you're not. Ethoxyquin doesn't have to be listed as an ingredient since the manufacturer didn't put it in the chickens.

In the U.S., many poultry farms put female growth hormones into chicken feed to produce big-breasted chickens for the fast food industry for chicken breast sandwiches. However, doctors are now seeing young boys developing breasts, small sexual organs and low sperm count. Young girls, as young as eight years of age, are experiencing their periods. Breast cancer in women is on the rise. There are ongoing investigations about the female growth hormones in people. What about the effect on our dogs?

The May 26, 1991 Atlantic Journal-Constitution Magazine warned about eating chicken. The magazine interviewed 84 Federal poultry inspectors in five states in the U.S. "Every week, they found millions of chickens leaking yellow pus, stained by green feces, and contaminated by harmful bacteria and marred by lung and heart infections and cancerous tumors. These chickens were shipped out for (human) consumption. The inspectors no longer eat chicken."

If the inspectors passed these for human consumption, what is the chicken in your dog food? Chicken by-products may be beak, feet and feathers. Digest is the full guts of the chicken - including any manure in the chicken when it is slaughtered.

In December 1997, China slaughtered a million and a half chickens. E. coli and Salmonella were found in chickens and ducks there. Some people died. Cooking chicken does not kill these diseases. It only deactivates them for a while. That is why at Thanksgiving, you are told to refrigerate the turkey after it is carved. Room temperature activates these diseases.

RESPONSE TO SOLID GOLD ADVERTISEMENT

"NO PRESCRIPTION IS MORE VALUABLE THAN KNOWLEDGE"

This ad demonstrates that anyone, regardless of credentials, skills, knowledge or motive, can go somewhere to find a pet food manufacturer to produce a food to introduce into the marketplace. Any imaginable nonsensical and irresponsible claim can be made to sell the product until the public wises up or regulatory agencies shut them down. The distortions and untruths in this ad should make any thinking person wonder what is in their product and whether it would be wise to feed products based on such error.

The irresponsible claims in this ad cast any manufacturer who is trying to make a more wholesome natural product in a bad light. It confirms in the consumer's mind the prejudice that "natural" must mean kooky and makes it that much more difficult for responsible progress to be made.

Nutrition is serious business, not a place for sensationalism, half-truths, factual errors, fads, prejudice and ignorance. The writer(s) of this ad should heed their own headline.

CAVEAT EMPTOR (Let the buyer beware).