Over 60% of pets that are seen by vets are overweight. A lot of pets are suffering with hip dysplasia, arthritis, and hip and joint diseases. Another one that comes up is skin problems. One of the first things that a vet is going to recommend if you bring your pet in to them and they've got some skin issue or skin problem, they're going to change their diet. That's the first thing they're going to change, because that's probably the cause of it.The commercials you see on TV, they don't care about the health of your pets. They care about moving product. Pet owners see their pet care professionals as being their animal advocate in the new millennium more than the commercials now, more than their vets. The pet food recall in 2007? That was a big wakeup call. That was a really big cloud over the pet food industry for a while, but the true silver lining of that dark cloud*is that it brought everyone's attention to the lack of enforced regulation in the pet industry.
The importance of optimal nutrition can't be stressed enough. Pets, just like human, require a balanced diet of fresh, natural, nutritious human-grade food. And we do live in a very polluted world. We need to make sure they have a balanced diet, and that it's fresh. If you've ever heard of the BARF diet, the Bones and Raw Food, that's a great choice.
The top two ingredients you never want to see in your pet's food are:
By-product. By-product could be any part of any animal, and it's not fit for human consumption. That just goes back to if it's not good enough for us; it's probably not good enough for our pets.
Beet pulp or peanut shells. Beet pulp is sugar beets and they truly have beaten all of the sugar out of it, it's just pulp. It has no nutritional value whatsoever. It's added to create firm stools. They know what you pet parents are looking for, and they know that in general pet parents like to see their dogs or cats take big poops, because they think that's a good thing.
If you don't supply a constant supply of cool, fresh, clean water for your pet, they're going to find it somewhere. And we don't want them drinking it out of the toilet. That's not healthy. But also the studies are showing that our dogs and our cats are not drinking enough water. The majority of our pets are suffering from dehydration.
