Petfood Industry

Sanimale said Canada's entire petfood industry was also shunning that type of petfood to avoid a North American-style repetition of Europe's mad cow disease, where cattle fodder containing material from sick sheep is blamed for a new strain of that sickness in cattle.

"We want to be sure that it won't hit us in North America," Couture said. Other Canadian rendering companies said they were not impressed with Sanimal's use of meat from cats and dogs in the first place.

"I don't like the idea. It is bad public policy. We don't do it and most renderers have never done it despite the fact it is not harmful for health," said Humphry  Koch, executive vice-president of Vancouver-based West Coast Reduction.

Sanimal, a 62-year-old company based in Quebec, uses dead animals -- mainly pigs and chicken -- from Quebec and other parts of Canada. It has also started banning sheep and roadkill animals to ensure safer petfood.

But petshop owner Paul Latendresse said Sanimal's decision would pose new problems for veterinaries who will face hefty fees to dispose of euthanised cats and dogs -- rendering plants charged only a modest fee for that.

"It will change things for veterinaries, it will be much more expensive for them now to bury or incinerate domestic animals," said Latendresse, owner of the Quebec City petshop  Anim