Choosing a new #Dog #Food: #Natural #Balance wins

Food?  You have actual food for me?

       What to feed Gizmo, who began being very choosy about his #Purina Beneful, spitting out some niibblets that  were no different from any other bits of #Beneful and finally refusing to eat any of the Beneful that we put out for him.   We began a search for a dog food Gizmo might prefer.

           Then our #Petco groomer, Pamala, suggested Natural Balance because she knew other pets who preferred it. 

           The local #Petco store had many choices and, because Gizmo seemed to like a more expensive (read: VERY expensive) dog food given to him by our friend Joyce in Santa Fe, I got a bag of #Dick Van Patten’s #Natural #Balance #Organic Formulas (with organic chicken, organic grains and organic vegetables).  The label seemed to say that Gizmo would be eating better food for him than we ate for ourselves.

           He  LOVED the food, especially if he got it larded with a few #Beggin #Strips.   But we wondered how long that would last?  I did not want to create a doggy finicky eater.

            Then we read the following story and figured if a Knoxville newspaper can highlight the trend towards organic food for dogs, we could, too:

Pet owners go organic, natural, grain-free, for their dogs and cats KNOXVILLENEWS.COM

                When Katie and Wes Davis go grocery shopping at Earth Fare to pick up their organic fruits and vegetables, they stop in the store next door for Wally's grain-free, antioxidant-rich food, probiotic supplements and organic treats.   Wally is their 1-year-old mutt puppy.

       After months of trying to find food that wouldn't make Wally sick with diarrhea or vomiting, the West Knoxville couple happened upon Natural Pet Supply in Bearden. There, manager Eric Thomason provided several samples of natural and organic pet food.

"He ate the food and loved it," Katie Davis said. "With the Taste of the Wild, he didn't have any problems. He's been healthy ever since. No more trips to the hospital."

As people have become more aware of what they put into their bodies, where it comes from and how it is made, they have begun to ask the same questions about their pets' food and supplies.

Pet owners can buy commercially-prepared raw lamb for pets, coconut oil shampoos and pet beds made from recycled soda bottles at pet boutique stores like Natural Pet Supply, which opened in Knoxville April 1. Even some larger pet stores like PetsMart carry aisles of natural pet supplies.

"People are becoming more and more health conscious, and this is transmitting to their pets," Thomason said. "People are waiting longer to have children, and they are taking their pets' health more seriously than previous generations."

They also have more information available, and several major pet food recalls in recent years have scared people away from traditional kibble.

Almost 73 million homes, or 62 percent of U.S. households, own a pet, according to the American Pet Products Association, a number that is up from 56 percent in 1988.

And we spend big bucks on our pets' food.  Retail pet food sales were $18.4 billion in 2010, according to the market research firm Packaged Facts. Natural pet food is becoming a larger portion of that with sales increasing from $689 million in 2005 to $1.5 billion in 2009.

A local pet-store owner said owning a pet in general can make people greener and more environmentally friendly. Taking dogs on walks and raising an animal can cause people to be more aware of pollution, destruction of habitats and litter.

COMMENT: UNLESS THEY DO NOT PICK UP AFTER THEIR DOG FOULS THE PARKWAYS.

"All of a sudden you have this little being in your life," Raditic said. "It's not just you in the world. It's what animals represent. They are very green. They don't do things to trash the environment." 

COMMENT: BUT, AFTER SEEING A DOG  SCRATCH THE DIRT AFTER ELIMINATING, PERHAPS THEY WANT TO?? 

© 2012, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.

“Living with a dog is messy – like living with an idealist.
”  Henry Louis Mencken