Horses are in Fertiliser?

Although it's pretty clear that fertilisers with names like "blood and bone" contain dead animals, it may not be so clear to some that one of the dead animals they contain may be horse.

Obviously there is no requirement for companies to list "horse" in the ingredients of their fertilisers. Check the packaging, and if it says anything about meat meal, or animal byproducts, then you can't rule out the possibility that it may contain horse.

On one hand, at least there is minimal wastage when a horse is slaughtered, as parts of the horse which cannot be used for other things, such as pet food, can at least be rendered into other products with a useful purpose. It should also be acknowledged that some horses sent to knackeries are already deceased on arrival. Their owners have either chosen to dispose of the body this way, or have perhaps not had any other choice, as burying or cremating a horse can be difficult both financially, and in a practical sense.

The aim of the exercise here is to provide information about what products may contain ingredients that were once part of a horse. What people choose to do with the information is obviously up to them.

If you personally are not keen on the idea of putting bits of ground up horse on your garden, then there are plenty of other fertilisers out there that you can use instead.

Plain old horse manure perhaps?

How do you know if there's horse in your dog or cat food?

The best way to determine if there is horse meat in your dog or cat food is to look at the ingredients on the label.

In Australia there is no legal requirement to list horse meat as anything other than "animal byproducts" in pet food. If you find byproducts listed on there, and you do not wish to feed horse meat to your pets, then best you pick another brand!

The problem is that the majority of dog and cat foods on supermarket shelves do contain "animal byproducts". So where do you find something that is "horse safe"?

This is where we owe some serious thanks to the good folk at Charlie's Angels Horse Rescue in South East Queensland. They wrote to pet food companies and asked them whether their products contain horse meat. So far two companies have provided written confirmation that their products do not contain horse meat. Read more in this post from Charlie's Angels Horse Rescue.

Nature's Gift have a written statement regarding their stance on horse meat on their website. They have canned and dry food in various size packages for cats, dogs and puppies. They are available in most supermarkets around Australia, but if you can't find them in your local shops you can purchase online through their website. See here for stockists.

The Complete Pet Food Company produce "raw food" products and deliver throughout Brisbane and the Gold and Sunshine Coasts. Their products are free range and organic and can be ordered from their website or from select retail outlets in South East Queensland.

Thanks for reading, we hope you find this information to be useful! :)