Full Disclosure

I am not a fan of Susan Thixton for reasons I will not go into on this post. This article did catch my attention. I feel full disclosure of who I work for and what I am about is extremely important in all of the forums I participate in. It is so obvious in some of my forums who the people are that are actually working for a pet food company but do not disclose it. They are easily identifiable to me.

You may not like the company I work for. You may not like me personally but one thing I will not do is be deceptive or outright lie on a forum. Respect is earned and not an entitlement.

http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/art...ting-back.html

They are Fighting Back

* Written By: Susan Thixton
* 7-31-2011
* Categorized in: Pet Food Ingredients

I received a warning from a trusted pet food friend a few days ago. He warned that Big Pet Food is on the move; building pet friendly websites and pushing a collection of new television commercials all appearing to promote new and improved pet foods. 'They' are fighting back against the educated petsumer.

I take what my trusted pet food friend tells me very seriously. Dr. Gary Pusillo is THE pet food/animal food guru. He knows what's going on in pet food/animal food. So when I received a warning from my friend, I felt it was significant; this was the first time I've heard this type of concern from him.

Here is some of what Dr. Gary shared with me...
"Special offers and promotions are invading every aspect of the internet, and there is a growing number of corporate sponsored pet help sites that are disguised as being as saintly and genuine as Mother Theresa."

"Corporate giants in the pet industry are hiring Veterinarians, PhDs, dog groomers, dog trainers and professional writers to infiltrate chat rooms, discussion forums and all matter of internet sites which authentic pet owners frequent. These hired liars betray the decency and integrity of humankind, all for a profit that is obscene. Countless spiritually devoid professionals daily sell their soul for company identity."

Click to expand...

I for one am very happy that you were open about who you work for. If I remember correctly, there have been times where you have recommended other foods in addition to the ones that the company you work for produces - this is a great thing. You realize that what works for one cat/dog may not work for another and are still willing to help others.

I have noticed this a lot lately. I consider myself very educated on dog food, but I know squat all about cat food other than grocery store brands = bad, lol. One of the girls that I work with has two dogs, she was feeding them Pedigree because it was a "good" food through the promotion they do on TV, magazines, etc. We sell it at work, one day I took her to the food and pointed out every single thing that was wrong with it and how it correlated to problems that her dogs were having. She was absolutely beside herself and felt bad because she had no idea.

Unfortunately, you can only educate yourself as much as you can. If you have a veterinarian that has taken additional nutrition courses that weren't sponsored by a pet food company then you have an additional great resource there.

With the commercials I see when I go out(we do not watch tv at home, what we do watch videotaped/youtube/... we don't watch commercials) it makes me glad we no longer have cable.
Though when I read the magazines I get irritated for the same reason-if only the companies put that much into their food we all would be so much better off.
Food is one thing I get depressed thinking about as I know I am doing what I can with my guys.

I'm a new kitty owner, and would LOVE some advice on choosing a good food... or recognizing good and bad foods.

I think we all have to remember that everyone has their own agendas - and some sites disguising themselves as being consumer-oriented and fighting the good fight against 'evil big business' aren't exactly what they appear to be - they may just be fronts for some less that reputable law firms. Also, a lot of internet sites touting themselves as being the 'truth about anything', may or may not have reputable research on their side. It's up to us to really check out why a certain site gets on a bandwagon, and to check out their sources.

I myself don't find the truthaboutpetfood site convincing (and wonder where their financing comes from, as they're a .com) - and Gary Pusillo does a lot of work as an expert witness (expert witness normally don't work for free), and also has his own pet food company - at least that what it says on his bios. I'm not saying they may not have some good points, but I just don't take what they say as gospel, no more than I do Mars. But, then again, I don't think Mars, for example, goes round poisoning pets - if nothing else, it's not good business.

Pusillo may be as pure as the driven snow - but, lots of suits are filed against companies with deep pockets that are without cause - because the plaintiffs hope to get a large settlement, and some expert witness will work for the larger paycheck - not because they're a 'true believer'. I really don't know his background more than a cursory search - but it'd be my job to find out more about him before taking him as a resource I'd trust. Or his comments may have been taken out of context, or even manipulated - my job to find out.

That said, I feed my cats Hills C/D since my boy had struvite crystals - and I'm glad that 'big business' had the resources to develop this particular prescription food which saved my cat's life. And I know Mars has invested millions in pet food research - and just because they're big doesn't mean they're evil - no more than being small means saintly.

And, honestly, just because a food is sold in the grocery store doesn't automatically mean it's 'bad', just as something saying 'organic' means it's 'good'. Sometimes we forget not everyone has access to all levels of pet-specific retailers, or the income to feed 'premium' foods (even assuming those premium foods are good for our specific pet). For me, whatever food keeps my cats healthy and happy, and that they'll eat, is the food they'll get - and I really don't care what Susan Thixton is ranting about today.