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"Pet FooLed"--New Documentary Film on Pet Food Industry

Discussion in 'Commercial Food' started by DKBurtonAdams, Jan 11, 2017.

  1. DKBurtonAdams

    DKBurtonAdams Forums Regular

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    Jan 11, 2017
    Utah
    Hi, Everyone,

    I'm a newly registered member here, although I've visited on and off for several years... We have two shelties in our family: an 18-month-old blue merle girl named Khalessi, and a 9-month-old Sable boy named Drogo.

    Yesterday, an new documentary was released called "Pet FooLed." I've been passionate about optimal pet nutrition for several years, and I would HIGHLY recommend you give this documentary a viewing... It's available to rent from iTunes, Amazon, Hulu, etc., or you can purchase the DVD from Amazon, Target, Walmart, etc. Here's my review:

    "When I was a kid, I dreamed of growing up to become a veterinarian—I even worked as a vet assistant for three years during high school. Although I ultimately chose a different career by the time I reached college, I’ve remained a passionate and dedicated dog-owner ever since my parents finally relented to years of my pleading for a dog by adopting our first Shetland Sheepdog when I was 8 years old. In the last 30-something years since that time, I’ve remained actively involved in personally researching issues regarding optimizing my own pets’ health, with a special focus on what and how I feed my dogs. In recent years, I’ve followed Dr. Karen Becker’s Mercola Healthy Pets website and videos with interest, including sharing them with friends, family, coworkers, and on social media, especially her list of “The Best and Worst Foods to Feed Your Pets.” A common reaction I get, when sharing that particular video, is, “As I watched her videos, I felt almost stupid… like, it makes SO much basic and common sense, I keep asking myself, ‘Why didn’t I ever think about this before…?’” I believe the reason for this reaction is that the colossal amounts of money, time, and effort spent on advertising and branding by the five Pet Food Conglomerates on Marketing over the last 100 years has been hugely successful in changing our cultural paradigm about what ‘dog food’ or ‘cat food’ must be, and, unfortunately, entirely away from ‘real,’ healthy. wholesome food. Before I go any further and by way of full disclosure: although I’m not professionally involved in the pet industry or the makers of this film in any way, today I DO feed my dogs on a rotating diet of different types of raw human-grade meat, eggs, sardines, salmon oil, and pumpkin, mixed together with a nutritionally-complete, FDA-authorized human-grade, all-natural dehydrated dog food.

    "In Pet FooLed, film-maker Kohl Harrington and his team do a phenomenal job laying the foundation of why it’s important that as consumers, ALL of us should be asking ourselves, “WHAT is really in my pet’s store-bought pet ‘food’?” and “What type of diet should I REALLY be feeding my pets for optimal health?” I appreciated hearing about Dr. Becker’s background, and especially the contrast of how our society seems to understand that in a wildlife/zoo setting, we need to feed animals their natural, biologically- and species-appropriate diets, yet we as a society have fallen into the trap of a highly effective (and hugely expensive) marketing lie by Big Business Pet Food Companies who’ve effectively hood-winked a trusting public into believing that leftover refuse/by-products (the garbage left-over after human food has been processed and rendered) can be even further processed and packaged into “nutritious, complete, whole, healthy food” for our pets. The direct ties and comparisons to Big Tobacco companies certainly seems apt, and it is telling that virtually none of the larger companies chose to speak with the filmmakers on camera. Kudos to Kohl and his team for challenging this industry and demonstrating that it’s alleged ‘regulations’ are actually a case of the fox guarding the hen house, with virtually no meaningful accountability. The tragic stories of those pet parents involved in lawsuits was as touching as it was upsetting. With today’s announcement that pet food giant manufacturer Mars, Inc. is purchasing yet another Veterinary chain (VCM, after already owning Banfield, BluePearl, and Pet Partners brands), the implications for the glaring potential conflict-of-interests when food-manufacturing-owned Vet clinics and their employees are ‘educated’ to advocate and push for specific pet food brands becomes all the more concerning.

    "As someone who spends much of my spare time sharing my passion for pet health and optimal nutrition with my friends and acquaintances, I just want to say THANK YOU, Kohl, to you and your team, as well as Dr.’s Becker and Royal, Susan Thixton, and others who participated! I’ve been eagerly awaiting January 10th for this film to be released on iTunes, and I wasn’t disappointed after investing the 70 minutes watching it on behalf of my furry family members’ health. I’m already spreading the word to everyone I know, and even ordered a copy of the upcoming DVD (as well as my digital copy). As far as I’m concerned, the more people who see this film, the better!

    "If you’ve made it this far into my review, and you consider yourself a concerned pet guardian/parent/owner, PLEASE do yourself a favor and watch this film now!”​

    As I mentioned above, I'm not personally involved in any way with this project, but I have been passionate about finding the best food for our pets, so I've decided to try to give this film as much attention as I can... I believe our furry family members deserve nothing less! In that spirit, I hope it's OK to post a few links on where to find it (if these links violate the 'non-advertising' policy of the site, a mod is welcome to remove them, or just let me know and I will delete them myself):

    Amazon Instant Video, click HERE.

    Amazon DVD Pre-order (releasing on Jan 17, 2017), click HERE.

    Target Pre-order, click HERE.

    Walmart Pre-order, click HERE.

    I'd love to hear others' reactions/thoughts/feelings on the topic, too...

    Thanks for listening to a LONG opening post! ha...

    DKBA
     
    Last edited: Jan 11, 2017
    tesslynn likes this.
  2. tesslynn

    tesslynn Forums Enthusiast

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    idaho
    I applaud your research efforts and passion, can I just say it doesn't really receive much of an audience. I only say that because I constantly try to re-educate/inform those I know about what I have discovered and it falls on deaf ears time and time again. I am branded some crazy tree hugger or worse. I went through an awful experience with my previous sheltie when I changed her kibble. They didn't have our type, so I picked up another seemingly similar brand until I could get her regular brand. That began our trials with seizures. This brand contained rosemary, which for some dogs causes seizures. It took me awhile to realize it was a trigger. She was older, but fine, healthy, active, until this food change. It coincided with a Vet clinic buyout and the new Vet had a totally different mindset and philosophy. His attitude was, she is older, prepare to lose her, and lets basically dope her up on meds to ease the transition. I wouldn't accept it, and I am thrilled I didn't. I felt enormous guilt that I caused her grief and put her at risk by feeding her something so highly toxic to her system. That experience pushed me into researching and trying to find alternatives. What I found out changed my life in many, many ways. But mostly it met with resistance, negative comments & attitudes from most I encountered. People are totally brain washed these days on many issues, and they are comfortable in that bubble. But it is their life, their choice. All you can do is hope somehow the information available gets the needed attention and stuff changes. But the reality is, those controlling much in our society aren't gonna let go of their profits or those practices to make profits. They go out of their way to discredit those that refuse to be indoctrinated. Times have changed drastically. It saddens me that pets in our country are exposed to stuff that is so harmful. They have no voice, and most owners aren't getting quality information to make informed choices on their behalf.

    good luck in your quest to get the info out(y)
     
    Piper's mom and DKBurtonAdams like this.
  3. Matsuki

    Matsuki Forums Enthusiast

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    Aug 2, 2015
    Tokyo, Japan
    Hahaha, at least with ASOIAF we will never run out of names. My Sansa is about the same age as Khalessi.

    Definitely checking out the documentary! Thanks!
     

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