A very large push behind why I’m starting a business that has an overall mission of making a change in the pet treat/food industry, is behind a documentary I watched about 6 months ago or so.  The documentary is called ‘Pet Foo(le)d’ and it’s currently available to stream on Netflix.  The documentary is well-made and discusses several topics having to do with pet food, such as the raw diet, the flaws in the pet food industry, and pet food recalls.  The documentary really opened up my eyes to how deceptive the market is towards pet parents in the name of making a profit.

Well, as some of you may know, I got a job recently as a means to an end in order to raise capital for GKB.  We have a new doctor so, naturally, pet food and pet pharmaceutical reps have come to visit the past three days to tell us about their food and drugs.  They come, bring us lunch, and proceed to deliver a presentation essentially saying why their pet food/drugs are the best so that vet offices buy their products and can then recommended them to our patients.  

The past couple days the presentations haven’t been so bad.  I was a little weary getting ready to hear the speech, because I know that vet’s and companies that make food to sell to vet’s often buy into big name pet food propaganda (corn is good for dogs, there’s nothing wrong with meat by-products, etc.)  But today’s presentation really stood out to me.

Today’s presentation was presented by a rep from Royal Canin.  The first thing he did, was show a video that talked all about all sorts of things.  Here are a few things they discussed in the video:

-the fact the meat by-products include important nutrient dense ingredients

-the fact that grains are very digestible

-the fact that grains cause fewer allergies than animal based protein

-corn is NOT a filler

-human grade means nothing

-what pet owners are looking for in food, is already manufactured by science based companies 

Please remember that this video is made by Royal canin (’a science based company’)  so it is very biased.  But as soon as the rep turned on that video and I heard the first few things, I was stunned.  I won’t go over the specifics of why the above is preposterous (if anyone is concerned by this I’d be happy to provide links to anyone who asks), but I will discuss why this is a problem.

Imagine you, just another person who-let’s say, is a teacher- are in a room with a dog parent and a seasoned veterinarian, and the parent asks a question regarding what they should be feeding their dog for optimal health (let’s assume this dog has no present health issues).  You and the vet both give answers.  Who do you think the person is going to listen to?  9 times out of 10, probably the vet.  Why?  Because everyone knows that people who go to school to be a vet loves animals, and they learn all about the animals and what’s best for them.  Sadly, this is not the case.

Vet’s learn little regarding nutrition in vet school, and most vet schools are actually owned by big name food companies- the same ones who preach that corn is good and by-products are AOK.  So what do vet’s learn in school when it comes to nutrition?  Well, I’ve never gone to vet school so I don’t know.  But, I was in the room with two vet’s who did go to school and if it tells you anything, they were completely delighted by the video the Royal Canin rep presented to us. 

After the video was finished, the rep starts to talk about how dog parent’s are fooled into thinking that human-grade is important and how people like Rachel Ray are coming out with dog food and treats.  The vet’s in the room were disgusted at this:  “It makes me so mad... their recipes are based off of roast beef dinner- dog’s don’t eat roast beef dinner!  They’re DOGS!”  Now, I totally understand that Rachel Ray probably isn’t a pet food expert and she just saw a marketing opportunity and took it.  I’m totally aware that people eat that shit up.  But all I could think of is, why is it so taboo to think about feeding your dog real beef and vegetables (excluding corn, of course.)  Why would you prefer to feed your dog dehydrated kibble bits full of corn and by-products, and engineered vitamins and minerals?  Because that’s what they do, and that’s what they’ve done for years.

Here’s the problem.  Pet parents are confused.  They will often listen to vet’s because they’re vets- they’re pet professionals.  What pet parents don’t know unfortunately is that they are taught in schools that are owned by the exact companies that want to make a profit and don’t give a rats ass about actual pet food nutrition.