Switching Pet Foods

We have spent the last two years in the store helping our customers choose great food for their dogs and cats. It hasn’t always been easy though, especially when people can run over to Wal-Mart and pick up a 50-pound bag of their signature food for next to nothing. What was hard to explain was the fact that “next to nothing” also referred to the quality of the ingredients in the actual food too! A poor diet can and will contribute to poor health which can cost so much more in the long-run.

Then, Menu Foods Income Fund announced the first of many recalls surrounding a nutritionally suspect ingredient – Wheat Gluten. Suddenly, everyone began scrutinizing the ingredient labels on their beloved four-legged children’s food. Low and behold, the advertisers of “junk” pet food have been doing a wonderful job. They’ve successfully convinced Americans that they are feeding the best tasting, highest quality food out there.

We all knew that the “low-end” foods (you know what they are so we don’t need to name names!) were truly low-end. That’s a given, although lots of people on a strict budget do use these foods on a regular basis. But who knew that the flashy bags of other foods including Iams and Science Diet had so many cheap fillers in them? Who knew that they were allowing their manufacturer to use some of the same ingredients in Iams as they were using in Wal-Mart’s Ol’ Roy dog food?

The day that the recall hit, we went through the list with a fine-toothed comb to make sure that we didn’t have anything in the store that was recalled. We breathed a sigh of relief once we discovered that we didn’t have anything on the list. Every single time another recall hit, we did the same thing. But this weekend, we finally put everything together.

The reason that we don’t have anything in the store on the recall list is two-fold.

• We don’t carry foods that have cheap fillers like corn, wheat & soy. We realize those are key allergens in pets and provide very little nutritional benefit in food.

• Whenever possible, we buy locally and do business with small businesses. We like the ability to pick up the phone and get a key person to answer questions right away. None of our pet foods are traded on the stock exchange. While these pet food manufacturers certainly are “for-profit” businesses, they don’t substitute quality in order to save a fraction of a penny. They have frequently been on the forefront of pet nutrition and all but one of our foods are always listed on the Whole Dog Journal’s “approved” pet food lists. (Whole Dog Journal is basically the “Consumer Report” for pet products.)

We feel confident that if there were ever a problem with any of the foods in our store, we would be the first to know. We would also call each and every one of our customers (participating in the Barker’s Dozen program) to let them know of a potential problem. Think about it. The grocery stores and big-box pet stores all have shopper cards that track a customer’s purchase. Most of us are tired of carrying cards around in our wallet so we just tell them our phone number at the beginning of the purchase. They all have our phone numbers. Did any of their customers get any phone calls alerting them that they purchased a product that is now being recalled? I highly doubt it.

In any event, we are here to help answer questions about your pet’s food. If you have any doubts, bring in a label from the food that you’re currently feeding and we’ll help you scrutinize it. All of the foods in our store are guaranteed by the manufacturer! If your dog has trouble with a food or your cat just refuses to eat it, feel free to bring it back and we’ll exchange it for another product. Sometimes it takes a little trial and error but we’ll work with you to get the perfect food for your pet.

No matter what sales people tell you, no one food is going to work for every pet!