I guess the can stuff could be used for human consumption. With the price of it though you might as well buy people food.

The bag stuff would go bad after a while unless you did buckets and mylar bags.
The variety of human food is very available.

Did find this:

The FDA regulates that can of cat food, bag of dog food, or box of dog treats or snacks in your pantry. The FDA’s regulation of pet food is similar to that for other animal feeds. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) requires that pet foods, like human foods, be safe to eat, produced under sanitary conditions, contain no harmful substances, and be truthfully labeled. In addition, canned pet foods must be processed in conformance with the low acid canned food regulations to ensure the pet food is free of viable microorganisms (see Title 21 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 113).

 

i wouldn't mind in a pinch, there is alot of by-products in it though. At least the cheap food. My hair won't be silky smooth.

 

As a kid, got to hankering for dog biscuits to munch on. Maybe that's why I don't have all my hair?

 

Corn....besides if I ate his food he might attack me

 

I've seen first hand what passes for fish in fish based cat food....nothing nice. I can only imagine what the beef looks like.
Jon

 

Dont do it!

This idea has been floating around the net for years.

I think "The Road Warrior" put this idea in alot of heads.

Max, played by Mel Gibson, opens a tin of Dinky Dee dog food and eats it while watching the oil refinerey.

Heres the news...Dog/cat food has some stuff in it called rendered meat or additives.

Do you know what a rendering plant is?

A rendering plant takes in all animals that died of disease or natural causes or road kill.

The farmer calls the guys from the plant for a pickup and the guys from the rendering plant haul it away.

The animal is rendered, mechanically ripped apart and reused in any way possible.

Ever wonder what happens to all the carcasses left over from the slaughter houses?

Rendering plant.

Next time your in the pet food aisle check a can of food and look for the word rendered.

Not all pet food have it but alot do.

Its up to you if you want to stock pet food for survival.

Why would you do that when can get a can of tuna MADE FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION for $0.67?

Bon appetit!

 

Dirty Jobs did a piece on a rendering plant, it was not at all an appealing sight. Even worse than usual. The mealworm and cricket bits were more appetizing.

Not to mention I believe some can and dog foods have chemcials in them that don't hurt the animal, but aren't good for humans. Nor does pet food provide a balanced diet; in fact, a lot of the bulk is filler that probably won't do a human much good at all.

I'll stick with beans and rice.

 

Most dog food contains a ton of filler and crap. It's heavy, it smells bad, it's expensive. Would I eat it in a pinch, rather than starve? Absolutely. However, I would rather store what I like eating, to the best of my ability. If things get bad, a small bit of food I enjoy will be a welcome comfort....and there might not be many other comforts.

 

There are human foods for the same price or less that are far better nutritionaly for you. And they taste much better. So I have to pass on the puppy chow.:

 

Dry dog foods won't store well long term because of the fats. They preserve the fats with everything from BHA and BHT to mixed tecopherols (vitamin E compounds), but that's just to buy it shelf life. Because of the amount of air between chunks, you'd have to use a LOT of O2 absorbers and I still doubt it would stay edible more than a couple years. There's a reason that fatty foods aren't being packaged by the food storage companies.

Then comes nutrition. I'm sure it would get you by for a while, but it's optimized for a canine's needs and not a human's needs. Dogs make their own vitamin C (though they still benefit from additional C in their diet) so it's usually omitted from dog food. Scurvy would be the result if you ate it for long.

Then there's the "by products". Ingredients such as "animal protein" can be anything from hair to hydrolyzed feather meal. Unlike a canine, our digestive systems can't process those and they could end up being very harmful.

For the price, you could store healthy ingredients like beans and grains, suppliment them with fruits and veggies, and live a longer and healthier life. In a pinch, I might would subsist on dog food, but that's only because it beats starving to death. For food storage, it's just not a good option at all.

 

I just had to get some new food for my dog because of his health. Purina pro plan sensitive skin and stomach. Ain't no way I am eating that stuff. The smell is just too powerful.

 

Its a good thought, and yes if your in dire need you could live off it. but it would be better to store more food for you and feed the dog table scraps, as opposed to stocking up on dog food and sharing with your dog. Yeah keeps some extra dog food on hand for your little buddy, but in the long run you could feed him about anything and he will live..

 

I think we humans are much more capable of consuming things than most of us think. We are "omnivores" we can consume "everything". It's a survival trait! We are capable of eating dead things that have been rotting for a few days (watch some Andrew Zimmer or whatever!) We are capable of much more than we think.

 

The problem with rotting meat is that we've lost a lot of our immunity to things like that. Unless it's urban legend, wasn't "Saurbratten" and recipes like that created to disguise the taste of rotten meat? I know in my grandparents day, they would often make a big brunch and leave it sitting out on the table all day and into the evening, for people to come and help themselves to. Things like that today would put most of us in the hospital.

 

The problem with rotting meat is that we've lost a lot of our immunity to things like that. Unless it's urban legend, wasn't "Saurbratten" and recipes like that created to disguise the taste of rotten meat? I know in my grandparents day, they would often make a big brunch and leave it sitting out on the table all day and into the evening, for people to come and help themselves to. Things like that today would put most of us in the hospital.[/QUO


That is also why spices were so valuable they were needed to cover up the rancid food they ate.

 

Cat food is very high in protein and I would have no problem using Purina cat food to supplement my protein needs during SHTF time.

 

I have worked at the cat food plant...ever hear of liquid chicken?
rail tankers full of it outside baking in the sun...no thank you

 

I think the main point of preparation is so you don't have to improvise. If you are stocking up, buy human food. And an appropriate amount of food for your pets.

 

Couldn't help myself. I just tried a couple of pieces out of the Dog bag. It.....wasn't terrible. Crunchy. Kind of like Bacos. Now I know that I could eat it in a pinch if I have too. That said, I'm storing food so hopefully I won't ever be in a pinch.

 

Ah, Question!

If your eating the dog food what am I eating?

Hey now....!

 

When my dad was a kid he lived next door to an old rich woman who ate cat food.

I'll admit that when I open my cat/dog food I often smell it out of curiosity, and sometimes it actually smells good, however I'll stick to canned meat made for us humans

 

Why would I stock animal food when I can stock human food?

 

Because eating pet food is hard core and awesome. Eating real food is too normal.

I think preppers look at this bass ackwards.

Only this?

 

I have a certain amount of dog food stored and then the dogs will be eating with us. There's something a bit backwards if you have pet food stored but don't have at least an equal time period of people food stored.

 

I think preppers look at this bass ackwards.

we should be storing up people food that the dog or cat can eat in the event of a SHTF.

we make and can / freeze our own dog food.

the simple Bark Stew recipe as follows;

16 oz carrots

16 oz green beans

1 cup rice

1 lb of any meat

no seasoning, no added oil.

brown and drain the meat, cook it all in water until the veggies are soft.

drain the water, (broth) and either discard or keep and freeze to make gravy to add back to the stew later.

its healthy for the dog, we have been feeding ours with it for 3 years, and if I have a notion I add salt pepper, gravey and potatoes and have it for lunch.

yum, bark. :thumb:

 

Good points Saint!


(Kinda weird) but I think I have some what of a long-term solution to feeding our dogs. I have always noticed we have tons of doves in my area, I can easily go out with a air rifle with scope (1200 FPS) and knock down 5-10 of them in 10-15 minutes. Those little breast make a darn nice meal for them and they love them.

2 cents...OM

 

do they still make Gaines burgers?
I ask because that was what went into one of my first attempts at a BOB before I discovered MREs. and before Road Warrior. the logic was that they would be the very last thing a person would want to eat so you wouldn't knosh on it.
I do not remember where I read this and I probably would not libel the author by revealing their name.

short story is they taste and have the consistency of clay and a strange red color that the manufacturer believes simulated ground hamburger.

family legend has it my grandfather ate a can of dogfood believing it was corned beef hash.

 

FYI Dogs can make their own vitamin C so there is none in dog food. You could do worse though.

 

If my dog wont eat canned dog food(she wont)I wont eat it. BTW, about rendering,if you have ever seen or smelled a rendering plant or,one of their trucks,you will surely vomit..saw an overturned one on a freeway some years back,pretty funny to see the police,towdrivers and WA.DOT employees gagging (LOL!).I believe the grease spot is still on I-5.and also, we use soap and other products made from this crap as well.

 

I've read that its an old hikers way to not eat your survival rations is to pack a zip lock bag of quality dry dogfood instead of trail mix.

People will eat the trail mix to often but when you pack dog food you save it until is a real emergency.

Its not for me though.

 

I heard dog food had bone meal in it which can tear up your digestive tract.

 

Bone meal powder is used in people food too. My favorite bread recipe back in the hippie years called for bone meal to up the nutrition in it. You can buy it now in health food stores.

Bone meal that you find in the gardening department as a slow release phosphorous supplement is not ground fine enough for people or dogs.