My grandmother will be celebrating her 85th birthday in 4 days. That is a lot of years behind her. She comes from a time of mustard plasters, liniments and a good sip of brandy would cure just about anything. Natural solutions to every day ailments. What ever happened to those days? Money, convenience, and life happened.
In these days many people are starting to think about their lives again. It's time to reevaluate one's priorities. We here about how we need to save the planet, recycle, eat healthier, get back to nature, make family come first, etc and yet fast food restaurants, over worked soils, large gas guzzling cars, deforestation and war still exist.
The one thing that has started to change is the way people care for themselves. They are becoming more aware that maybe our grandmothers didn't haven't wrong at all! We have begun to eat healthier by buying fresh foods over canned or frozen. We've taken to going organic and free ranged from smaller local farms instead of large mass producing farms. We now know that the food that we do buy, no matter how organic it is, lacks in nutrition compared to the foods of our grandmothers. We know that whole foods are better than synthetic. We've decided to revisit what so many cultures before knew...herbal medicine, acupuncture, holistic methods, homeopaths, etc.
Today, we have taken this new look at health care to a whole new level by including our pets into the mix. My grandmother had dogs. Did she ever use a supplement for her dog? Did she ever do preventative medicine for her dog? Doubtful. Pets were pets. Meant for companionship or work....nothing more. Today is different. Pets are one of the family and thus are being treated the same. The pet food industry knows what they like to call "the trend" is. They know what consumers are looking for. They also know how to cut corners and still make every pet owner out there think that they are getting the best of the best for their pet.
You've seen the commercials...a plethora of vegetables, fresh meat and fish, all wrapped up in a palate pleasing shaped dry dog food. There is the happy go lucky dog and it's owner who is just so darn happy to be feeding his pet the natural foods found in the dog food. All bull.
Have you ever read the ingredients on some of these so called foods or supplements? Here's one to consider:
Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), rice flour, beef, soy flour, sugar, propylene glycol, meat and bone meal, tricalcium phosphate, phosphoric acid, salt, water, animal digest, sorbic acid (a preservative), potassium chloride, dried carrots, dried peas, calcium propionate (a preservative), L-Lysine monohydrochloride, choline chloride, added color (Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 2), DL-Methionine, Vitamin E supplement, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, manganese sulfate, niacin, Vitamin A supplement, calcium carbonate, copper sulfate, Vitamin B-12 supplement, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, garlic oil, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin D-3 supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, folic acid, biotin, sodium selenite.
All those vegetables and fresh meat are not even in here! Marketers know what sells, manufactures know where they can cut corners and consumers don't question either. Granted there are some out there that do try to offer the best they can but they are usually small companies that need to charge a bit more due to the quality of their ingredients. So I guess it is time to ask yourself....quality products at a higher price or do you "settle" for something that is well, not as advertised?
This is where I get to brag a little on Casey Pets. We are one of the smaller ones. We aren't in most of the larger pet stores, we rely on word of mouth to do the speaking for us, and we aren't on the tip of everyone's tongue....yet! What we are is a company that refuses to skimp on any of our 31 ingredients, we use only the best of the best ingredients, and we don't just add ingredients to fill in the gap. We are quality.
So I think it is time to take another look at how our grandmothers lived and maybe this time, let's use our head and don't expect the commercials to be telling all the truth. If we don't question big companies advertising, we'll end up right back where we are. Oh yeah, and Grandma...Happy Birthday!
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1 comments:
Great comments, Tara, and a perfect nudge for each of us not only to investigate our own foods and supplement, but not simply trust the "big companies" for our pets. Research on our own still is the best policy as you perfectly illustrated. They have proven that the sale matters most in bulk again as you have shown above. Healthy choices and carefully weighing nutrition certainly makes an overall difference in medical expenses, quality life, and longevity...and Happy Birthday, Grandmom.
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