When I was a kid, I dreamed of growing up to become a veterinarian—I even worked as a vet assistant for three years during high school. Although I ultimately chose a different career by the time I reached college, I've remained a passionate and dedicated dog-owner ever since my parents finally relented to years of my pleading for a dog by adopting our first Shetland Sheepdog when I was 8 years old. In the last 30-something years since that time, I've remained actively involved in personally researching issues regarding optimizing my own pets' health, with a special focus on what and how I feed my dogs. In recent years, I've followed Dr. Karen Becker's Mercola Healthy Pets website and videos with interest, including sharing them with friends, family, coworkers, and on social media, especially her list of "The Best and Worst Foods to Feed Your Pets." A common reaction I get, when sharing that particular video, is, "As I watched her videos, I felt almost stupid
like, it makes SO much basic and common sense, I keep asking myself, 'Why didn't I ever think about this before
?'" By the way, for full disclosure: although I'm not professionally involved in the pet industry or the makers of this film in any way, today I feed my dogs on a rotating diet of different types of raw human-grade meat, eggs, sardines, salmon oil, and pumpkin, mixed together with a nutritionally-complete, FDA-authorized human-grade, all-natural dehydrated dog food.
In "Pet FooLed," film-maker Kohl Harrington and his team do a phenomenal job laying the foundation of why it's important that as consumers, ALL of us should be asking ourselves, "WHAT is really in my pet's store-bought pet 'food'?" and "What type of diet should I REALLY be feeding my pets for optimal health?" I appreciated hearing about Dr. Becker's background, and especially the contrast of how our society seems to understand that in a wildlife/zoo setting, we need to feed animals their natural, biologically- and species-appropriate diets, yet we as a society have fallen into the trap of a highly effective (and hugely expensive) marketing lie by Big Business Pet Food Companies who've effectively hood-winked a trusting public into believing that leftover refuse/by-products (the garbage left-over after human food has been processed and rendered) can be even further processed and packaged into "nutritious, complete, whole, healthy food" for our pets. The direct ties and comparisons to Big Tobacco companies certainly seems apt, and it is telling that virtually none of the larger companies chose to speak with the filmmakers on camera. Kudos to Kohl and his team for challenging this industry and demonstrating that it's alleged 'regulations' are actually a case of the fox guarding the hen house, with virtually no meaningful accountability. The tragic stories of those pet parents involved in lawsuits was as touching as it was upsetting. With today's announcement that pet food giant manufacturer Mars, Inc. is purchasing yet another Veterinary chain (VCM, after already owning Banfield, BluePearl, and Pet Partners brands), the implications for the glaring potential conflict-of-interests when food-manufacturing-owned Vet clinics and their employees are 'educated' to advocate and push for specific pet food brands becomes all the more concerning.
As someone who spends much of my spare time sharing my passion for pet health and optimal nutrition with my friends and acquaintances, I just want to say THANK YOU, Kohl, to you and your team, as well as Dr.'s Becker and Royal, Susan Thixton, and others who participated! I've been eagerly awaiting January 10th for this film to be released on iTunes, and I wasn't disappointed after investing the 70 minutes watching it on behalf of my furry family members' health. I'm already spreading the word to everyone I know, and even ordered a copy of the upcoming DVD (as well as my digital copy). As far as I'm concerned, the more people who see this film, the better!
If you've made it this far into my review, and you consider yourself a concerned pet guardian/parent/owner, PLEASE do yourself a favor and watch this film now!"
In "Pet FooLed," film-maker Kohl Harrington and his team do a phenomenal job laying the foundation of why it's important that as consumers, ALL of us should be asking ourselves, "WHAT is really in my pet's store-bought pet 'food'?" and "What type of diet should I REALLY be feeding my pets for optimal health?" I appreciated hearing about Dr. Becker's background, and especially the contrast of how our society seems to understand that in a wildlife/zoo setting, we need to feed animals their natural, biologically- and species-appropriate diets, yet we as a society have fallen into the trap of a highly effective (and hugely expensive) marketing lie by Big Business Pet Food Companies who've effectively hood-winked a trusting public into believing that leftover refuse/by-products (the garbage left-over after human food has been processed and rendered) can be even further processed and packaged into "nutritious, complete, whole, healthy food" for our pets. The direct ties and comparisons to Big Tobacco companies certainly seems apt, and it is telling that virtually none of the larger companies chose to speak with the filmmakers on camera. Kudos to Kohl and his team for challenging this industry and demonstrating that it's alleged 'regulations' are actually a case of the fox guarding the hen house, with virtually no meaningful accountability. The tragic stories of those pet parents involved in lawsuits was as touching as it was upsetting. With today's announcement that pet food giant manufacturer Mars, Inc. is purchasing yet another Veterinary chain (VCM, after already owning Banfield, BluePearl, and Pet Partners brands), the implications for the glaring potential conflict-of-interests when food-manufacturing-owned Vet clinics and their employees are 'educated' to advocate and push for specific pet food brands becomes all the more concerning.
As someone who spends much of my spare time sharing my passion for pet health and optimal nutrition with my friends and acquaintances, I just want to say THANK YOU, Kohl, to you and your team, as well as Dr.'s Becker and Royal, Susan Thixton, and others who participated! I've been eagerly awaiting January 10th for this film to be released on iTunes, and I wasn't disappointed after investing the 70 minutes watching it on behalf of my furry family members' health. I'm already spreading the word to everyone I know, and even ordered a copy of the upcoming DVD (as well as my digital copy). As far as I'm concerned, the more people who see this film, the better!
If you've made it this far into my review, and you consider yourself a concerned pet guardian/parent/owner, PLEASE do yourself a favor and watch this film now!"