So, as we all know, the best thing to do with your kids if they're sick is to take them to the doctor, and the best thing to do before that, if you've got some time to kill is to go to the petstore and get freaked out about what's in dogfood.
I did this rather successfully the other day. I went to my favorite pet supply store, Jefferson Feed, and said to the lady behind the counter, "My dog is developing a sensitive stomach. The vet doesn't see anything wrong with her, and I'm wondering if it's her food."
"Ah," she said. "You need to talk to the dogfood specialist."
This took me aback. There is a dogfood specialist, like a person who specializes in dog FOOD? A person who just hangs around the dog food aisle and waits to share knowledge?
AND THERE WAS! Hanging around the dogfood aisle was this guy! Who specializes in dog food! And he was waiting to share knowledge! Which he did. And now I kind of wish he hadn't.
"What are you feeding her right now?" he asked.
"(Insert name of generic dogfood)"I said
He smiled. "Let's take a look at the ingredients in that, shall we?"
The first ingredient was corn, the nutritional benefits of which, for a dog, are debatable. He said it's basically cheap filler. I think the two ingredients that really got me though were the second ingredient "chicken by-product meal" and the fifith ingredient "animal fat." He explained that chicken by-product meal is anything that isn't deemed fit for human consumption - beaks, feet, undeveloped eggs, and possibly that red thingy on top of a chicken's head. "Animal fat" could come from the fat of any animal from anywhere. This could be slaughterhouse waste, or even restuarant grease.
I imagined my dog eating a bowl full of chicken beaks with corn and McDonald's grease dressing.
I gulped. "Um...what do you recommend?"
He brought me over to another aisle where there were bags of dogfood, with flowers and chunks of meat floating around on them. He suggested one that I now can not tell you the name of, because I don't remember, but I can tell you that the first ingredient was lamb, which is processed in such a way that he garunteed me that my dog will not be eating the lamb's hooves or wool, but actual lamb meat. It has 15 ingredients in it instead of 50 and none of them include corn, or corn by-product, or the vegetable-formerly-known-as-corn.
Miraculously, it worked. Lily is happy and her tummy is no longer upset. Mine is, though, when I think about eating chicken feet, and knowing that it's probably a good idea to look at all the labels on processed food, both for humans and beloved beasts alike. Health awareness and carefully reading labels! No! It upsets my stomach!
