Angry at Ignorance

I was angry when I went to bed and jumped right back into it when I woke up.  This is not good, you should never go to bed angry, but how am I supposed to make up to a tv show??

Here's the deal.  KGAN news had a segment about "taste testing brand name pet foods vs. store brands."  WHAT!!  DUH!!  Dogs will eat anything.  They eat poop. They eat that festering pile of old deer carcass in the back yard.  They will eat rat poison too, does this mean we should let them?

When you are sitting at a news desk, you kind of have some authority.  You need to especially practice responsible journalism.  Some people only get their information from you and don't use their own brain power to research and to discern if what you say is accurate, they just take you at your word. "I saw on the news that its ok to feed Fido cheap food because he will eat it." By doing this ridiculous piece, they were doing a HUGE disservice to their viewers!  They can't even do their own research and ask just one professional about the difference between cheap food and the brand names?  They can't even look into why one is better than the other?

If you put a pile of candy and chips and pop in front of a child and a pile of fruits and veggies, which one is he going to eat.  The junk food of course.  Does this mean that it is good for him?  Does this mean that it is ok to feed him a diet of cookies and sugar because it is cheaper than quality, nutrient rich food? 

The benefits of a high quality pet food are so enormous that there is no question as to the difference between crappy food and good food.

1) by eating a quality diet filled with real meat, veggies and vitamins, a dog will flourish and live a longer, healthier life just like a person would.  Look at the bag.  Read the ingredients.  The first ingredient should be real meat, not by-products or meal.  By eating a balanced diet, they will get sick less often and it will help prevent more trips to the vet, therefore more money to the vet.  A balanced diet will give them all the correct nutrients they need.

2) they will be able to process and USE more of the good food than the crappy food that contains fillers and bulk that they will not be able to use and it comes right back out as feces.  When they have a food that is all fillers they have to eat more food to get more nutrients out of it, therefore, you have to BUY more food.  If given a complete diet and a quality food free of fillers, dyes and preservatives, they will eat LESS to get what they need out of it.  This also will produce LESS feces, less gas.

3) there are lots of harmful colors, dyes, preservatives in less quality foods.  Those colorful pieces aren't in there for Fido, they are meant to appeal to the owner.  Many dogs are allergic to fake dyes and colors, some of them are even toxic.  Fido doesn't care if his kibble is red, yellow and green so it looks like veggies and fruit...he only cares that you love him and feed him.  There are already so many things in his environment that he can react to, don't give him more. 

4) proper nutrients will give Fido a healthier, shinier coat.  They will not only look nicer, feel softer, but they will SHED less!  Crappy diets result in more hair loss, more dry itchy skin.  You want less shedding, feed him a good diet. 

So if you care about Fido and want him to have a longer, healthier life, less trips to the vet, less poop, less shedding, why wouldn't you give him a high quality diet?  Price.  Ok, you don't have to get the most expensive one.  There are many QUALITY diets that won't break the bank.  READ the LABEL -  look at the ingredients.  You don't want colors, dyes, fillers like corn.  You do want real meats, veggies, foods you can pronounce.

I feel very strongly about this subject.  I often see consumers in Walmart with bags of crap in their cart and I have to hold myself back not to go up to them start telling them how bad that stuff is.  Many people aren't trying to cheat Fido, they just DON'T KNOW.  They aren't informed of the differences between quality and crap food.  KGAN would have done a MUCH MUCH better piece had they done this research and reported on the differences between name brands and store brands rather than just doing a worthless taste test.  DUH.  I'd eat junk food all day too if I thought I could be healthy while doing it.  Ignorance of the subject only hurts Fido.

BTW, I did post on KGAN's facebook and website last night as I was yelling at the tv. No response.