When they said it's a "dog eat dog world out there", did they mean it in more ways than one?

Rendering is perhaps a conveniently ambiguous term for converting animal carcasses into other useful products. Often billed as the "world's oldest recycling business", it finds ways to use the animal parts that most people would not eat. Things like bath soap and lipstick are made from rendered animal carcasses, as well as animal feed.

What happens to dog carcasses after being euthanized at animal shelters? They're sold to rendering facilities, and "rendered" into other products, primarily fish food. In some places, they're simply incinerated. For the most part, it doesn't sound like dogs and cats are turned into lipstick, that's from farm animals like cows and pigs.

An article originally published by the Los Angeles Business Journal noted environmental laws actually prevent dog and cat remnants from entering the U.S. feed market...

Because of environmental laws, dog and cat remains cannot be mixed with other beef byproducts. Most states, including some parts of California, incinerate dead animals, according to Franco.

But that doesn't mean it can't enter the feed market in other countries.

The article goes on to say that the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control had a contract with West Coast Rendering, where the County provided the company with dead dogs and cats at a price of $1.00 per carcass. In 2003, the County earned $80,000 from animals euthanized at its shelters.

West Coast Rendering turns the dogs and cats into food to feed fish and shrimp, and is sold primarily in Asian countries. Perhaps if you were to travel to China, you might eat shrimp that fed on the remains of pit bulls. But then again, if you travel to China, you might end up eating pit bull anyways.

Is it safe to say that dog and cat food sold in the USA is free of rendered dog and cats?

I can't answer that with any certainty. The rendering industry seems to keep things fairly hush about their business, for obvious reasons. However, Dr. Wendell O. Belfield, a veterinarian, wrote an article about the rendering industry, and had this to say...

Worse yet, since rendering facilities are not government-controlled, any animal carcasses can be rendered, including those of cats and dogs. Eckhouse quotes Eileen Layne of the California Veterinary Medical Association: "When you read pet-food labels and it says meat or bone meal, that's what it is -- cooked and converted animals, including some dogs and cats."

Keep in mind that Belfield sells a product called "Mega C Plus" billed as a supplement to prevent dogs from getting food borne diseases, and advertises this product in his article.

If you're still concerned that your pooch might be eating rendered dogs, consider there's worse stuff you're consuming right now. You know the fertilizer used to grow vegetables? Yup, made from human feces collected from sewage facilites. Here it is. The next time the wind blows dust from the farm fields, you better hold your breath!