Blonde By Nature

I just finished watching the CBC (and Yap Films) documentary on the pet food industry. The documentary comes a bit late in theory but maybe a year ago the general population wasn’t ready to hear that they are actually poisoning their dogs, rather than nurturing them - it’s a hard kibble to swallow (sorry, had to say it).

A Dog’s Breakfast profiles 3 pet owners who had to suffer a loss or heartache from the Menu Foods pet recall in March of 2007 who are also involved in the class action lawsuit again the company. My heart goes out to them, I’m very sorry for your losses. As documentaries do, the voice of God narrator introduced us to Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins (a past employ of a pet food company) and Dr. Meg Smart who demonstrate their authority in the industry and reveal that what the pet food industry wants you to believe about their brand of food is, in fact, completely false. And just to knock the point out of the ball park, Dr. Smart mixes up her own batch of dog food which contains a pair of old boots, motor oil and wood chips which actually contains the same amount of protein, fibre, carbs and oil that would actually pass the standard of dog food (hence, there is no standard).

When you look beyond the cheap production values (yes Yap, you cheeky monkeys, I could tell you were filming in Petcetera) and the cliche scene setups, the point is that the population needs to be proactive in deciding what to feed their pets and recognize that there is no standard for pet food. So you literally get what you pay for: you get crap with a beautiful looking label and a thick paperbag - good news is that the bag is recyclable! The abuse that we pet owners have taken from their marketing ploys is unacceptable. Imagine feeding your baby a food that poisons them. Wouldn’t take to kindly to that now would you? If we want that to change we need to stand up for our furry friends and do something about it. The first place you can start is in your home and stop supporting places like Petcetera and Menu Foods. Nothing good comes from them. But if you must feed kibble to your pet because you yourself are eating Kraft Dinner every night for dinner, try companies like Horizon or Orijens and see the difference for yourself. Dr. Smart says you just need to be critical when looking at ingredients and learn about what you are reading. The Dog Food Project has a great breakdown of the ingredients here.

My favorite part of the documentary is when Dr. Smart admits (who is a professor at Western College of Veternary Medicine) that these students who become your vets barely spend any time studying canine or feline nutrition in the classroom, she would know…she teaches them! Yet, SOME have the gall to sit there and hand you photo copies of the nutritional benefits of switching to the food that they sell at the clinic *ahem* Capilano Veterinary Clinic in North Vancouver, BC. PE-SHAW! How would you know any better about animal nutrition than the next well-educated person? You don’t…and Dr. Smart reveals that on national television. That’s not to say that all vets are like this (bless your heart Mosquito Creek), but I want you to be aware that there are a lot of those Pet Factories out there.

And it gets better. The Veternary News Network claims that feeding your pet a raw diet leaves your animal susceptible to bacteria and illness. Hell if that is the case then we all need to become vegetarians even though we have been eating meat for thousands of years! Let’s all stop now because we might become ill. Uh huh.

I often hear, “but it’s just a dog!” or “you’re dog eats better than we do!” If that’s the best argument you’ve got for why you shouldn’t feed your dog FOOD, then give the poor animal away and you need to start eating better.

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