There are so many reasons why we should NOT be eating chickens or feeding them to our dogs and cats and I am going to mention the main facts that you may not know.
Frankenchickens are bred intensively
I cannot bring myself to even see the images of what a chicken looks like that is bred nowadays in intensive chicken meat farms as it is such a welfare issue and upsets me so much.
I have just included the drawn image below, as these poor birds are made to grow so fast that they cannot stand from the weight and live in appalling conditions unable to move with the ammonia from their urine stinging their eyes with severe joint pain!
How do Frankenchickens affect the health of our dogs and cats?
In order for these poor birds to grow so fast so that the farmers receive the maximum profit from each bird, they are fed on the highest proteins possible. These include high protein soya that is shipped in from the US where genetically modified soya is grown in monocultures and is sprayed with pesticides to kill the weeds and yield the greatest harvest and make the most profit. The high protein soya is genetically modified to withstand the pesticides used, and once harvested, this soya is then fed to the chickens.
Remember that pet food contains the parts of the chickens that we do not want to eat such as the fat, liver and kidneys - the very places where the pesticide residues from their soya feed ends up as these are the excretory organs in the chicken!
Another food fed to Frankenchickens, is fishmeal to also result in the very fast growth. This fishmeal will contain all the toxins from fish and heavy metals such as Arsenic, Lead, Mercury and even microplastics - yet again these will end up in the excretory organs of the birds - the very organs used in pet food as every part of the bird is used for maximum profit!
This process is called bioaccumulation of 'toxins' and is the main reason why plant-based complete soya-free foods are pure and clean and free from these bioaccumulated pesticides and heavy metals which could lead to an increased risks of cancer in our dogs and cats! (Read Kim et al study)
Our next pandemic could come from the way we treat chickens
As Avian Bird Flu continues to devastate parts of the UK bird population, our farmed chickens are being forced to stay indoors to prevent its spread.
This is a welfare issue as well as a huge concern that intensively raised birds can breed a disease that can spread to man and possibly be another pandemic if numbers of cases continue to rise. The devastation in our wild birds when affected by Avian Flu is of huge concern and also spread through intense farming of chickens.
Read about cats dying from Avian Flu when fed raw chicken products and the concern of an avian flu pandemic here.
Day old macerated male chicks used in pet foods
What happens to male chicks that are born when only females are needed in the egg industry? This is the greatest hidden shocking secret of the egg and poultry industry and yet again I cannot show any images as I have seen footage and it affects me terribly.
As soon as chickens hatch, they are separated into males and females with males being disposed of straight away by being placed on a conveyor belt and quite literally macerated alive and only a few hours old with soft yellow feathers - what a hidden atrocity that I only became aware of when I began questioning the food system as a vegan.
As a vet, I then questioned what they did with these macerated day old bodies as everything has a price and is for profit and no one ever mentioned their use in pet foods (as they certainly couldn't be sold in the human food chain), but then I read this article that highlighted it perfectly for me....a pet food company choosing to eliminate male chicks from their supply chain!
There we have it - proof that this barbaric industry is used to feed our dogs and cats!
The environmental impact of chicken farming
I had to hold back my tears as a passionate vegan vet while speaking at the London Vet Show to vets about the shocking statistics mentioned with one in particular - 82% of all the birds on the planet are chickens!!
A very personal reason to our Just Be Kind family
Coco the chicken changed our lives quite profoundly and was a huge influence in turning our then teenage eldest son Andrew vegan as he adored her as we all did. 💚
Andrew's influence was to inspire his Mum (me only 4 years later!) and his 2 younger sisters Sarah and Emily, to turn to a vegan diet. (Read about our Just be Kind family here)
He even raced into the garden one evening barking when he heard chickens clucking on TV while we watched Poldark!
Coco taught us as a family the true value of chickens and compassion - their intelligence, their sensitivities and their quirks - goodness we loved her so much and how she died is a story for another time!!!
" Your 15kg plant-based dog saves the lives of 100 chickens a year! "
Yes you can be SO proud of this fact to all of you feeding your dogs a plant-based complete and delicious diet!
I continue to sing the praises of our darling Ruff who started his life protecting Coco from dangers in the garden, and now he has saved far more animals in his 7 years being a plant-based dog compared to the animals I have saved in my 32+ years being a vet!!
“If nobody changes then nothing changes, but if somebody changes then everything changes”
Dr Arielle Griffiths Vegan Vet and plant powered family dog Ruff (Read more here)
