How to keep your dog healthy and safe
In order for these multinational corporations to thrive, they have to convince you, the consumer, to buy their products and use their services. This is much more difficult when animal lovers are well educated and understand that drugs and processed pet food are not likely to produce long-lasting health for their pets.
This is why I love providing holistic health information, writing articles, creating helpful tools such as the Healthy Dog Tool and teaching you how to make and feed a raw and natural diet.
Based on the data gathered from the Healthy Dog Tool, about half of our community still feeds kibble. It appears that this is either out of convenience or cost concerns and these reasons are valid to a degree. However, the long-term cost of veterinary care and the emotional impact of losing our best friends prematurely are much greater than the savings gained from a bag of kibble.
You can start slowly by taking our “Quick and Easy Raw or Cooked Diet Feeding course,” you will at least know how to increase the proportions of healthier food for your dog.
The reality is that unless you make food yourself or it is made of whole pet food by a company you trust, your dog’s food will continue to be “mystery food”. Sadly, not every company can be trusted and it requires experience and skill to recognize the good ones from the harmful ones.
Rather than writing negatively about other brands, I prefer to share info on how my formulas and products differ in formulation, production, and the fact that we package in glass and carefully source each ingredient because this is what is relevant to the health and well-being of your dog.
- Does the company have clear values that they adhere to? Here are our values.
- Is the company’s communication focusing on “You and Your Dog?” or do they waste your time by blowing their own horn and using the words “we” and “I” more often than “You?”
- Do they put down other brands in order to show how “superior” their products are?
- Do they do their best to help and understand your needs or do they hide behind “the company’s policies" and focus on their needs instead of yours?
- Are their online product reviews positive and freely accessible? How do they respond to negative reviews?
- Is their customer service easily accessible, genuinely caring about you and your dog and is the shipping well organized and streamlined for your convenience?
- Do they focus on the quality of their products and ingredients?
- Is their packaging eco-friendly or do they use cheap plastic packaging?
- Are they confident in the quality of their product by offering no hassle return policy?
- Finally, what does your intuition tell you about them? Do they sound like they care about you and your dog?
Stay tuned for a new piece on the nutrient cycle and how to make sure there is nothing missing in your dog's diet. It is coming next week! 🐶