What do you think about the new dog food from HSUS?

Comment

Comment by Debbie Phillips-Donaldson on April 26, 2010 at 7:50am

Sent by R. Wysong, DVM:

Thank you for your insightful article on the Humane Society's entrance into the market.

It would seem that the society should first make a thorough investigation into the health consequences of feeding a vegetarian diet exclusively to carnivores. Certainly if such diets cause disease, suffering, and death (which they will likely do) that is not humane.

I too would love to eat and feed without causing death. But that is not reality. Selectively anthropomorphizing certain creatures and sparing them does not make us moral. For one thing, "animal" and "plant" are mere words we have devised to create categories of understanding. It is specious to equate these terms with morality since they do not reflect reality. Life is actually homogenous and wholistic. Although plants cannot run and scream like we do, they have now been shown to communicate, react to dangers...and who knows what other forms of consciousness they may have. (See "Solving the Big Questions As If Thinking Matters."). Additionally, the Earth remodeling agriculture that is necessary to create annual vegetarian foods kills, maims and eradicates millions of autochthonous legged creatures. Although a step removed, such death and suffering is on the plate of every vegetarian.

Vegetarian foods solve nothing. They simply appeal to people (admirably of high conscience) who have not thought through the issue of food and life carefully.

None of this is to say that the treatment of food animals should not be more humane that it is.

Comment by Cleo Parker on April 7, 2010 at 5:59pm

I enjoyed this post - and the article in the upcoming PFI News.I had many of the same thoughts when I first saw the announcement, and talked it about on my blog as well.
http://cleoparker.com/dogmarketing/2010/02/08/hsus-launches-humane-choice-dog-food/

HSUS is doing a good job monitoring their brand online as I had a comment from one of their reps within a day. One of the comments I got after that was so inflammatory I chose not to approve it although to be honest I lean toward that commenter's line of thinking . . .

Comment by B Dawson on April 2, 2010 at 11:35am

Soy-based food is a bad idea for opportunistic carnivores like dogs. I agree with Dr. Hofve, what's next vegan cat food? All dry/canned food is a compromise nutritionally and this one represents a BIG compromise indeed!

Food manufactured with organic or even free-range meat, and hence not factory farmed, is already available on the market. The price is not always appealing to consumers, but it is available.

Instead of trying to spin this article as a political agenda and create a controversy where none may exisit, our industry needs to focus on the quality of what is on the market. There are still tons of issues with pet food - ethoxyquin in fish meal or BPA in pop-top cans for instance.

I'm certain that granola-crunching segment of my town will start asking about this food as soon as the ads hit, so I'm off to research Dr. Hofve's article.....Thank you for doing the legwork.

Comment by Debbie Phillips-Donaldson on February 23, 2010 at 10:19am

Thanks for your feedback, Jean.

As perhaps further proof that HSUS is doing this for the money, a group called the Center for Consumer Freedom took out a full-page ad in the New York Times today, accusing HSUS of failing to allocate a significant amount of donations to needy pet shelters.

Now, this Center for Consumer Freedom probably has its own agenda; it seems to be represented by a blogger, David Martosko, and website, Humane Watch, that boldly declares on its homepage that it's "Keeping a watchful eye on the Humane Society of the United States." So its accusations aren't proven. But it does make you wonder about HSUS's motivations in launching the dog food.

Interestingly, Susan Thixton of TruthAboutPetFood.com, who normally is very critical of the entire petfood industry, pulls no punches in evaluating Humane Choice from HSUS.

Comment by Jean Hofve, DVM on February 22, 2010 at 1:23pm

Your analysis is spot-on. However, the relationship between HSUS and industry are not quite so adversarial. HSUS has always received huge donations from the pet food industry. They aren't doing this alone--I don't know who is formulating and manufacturing the food for them, but it's obviously one or more companies that are already in the biz.

As to motivation, I agree, HSUS looked at that great big petfood pie and decided to help themselves to a slice. HSUS will receive 6% of sales. It's quite handy that such a good money-maker fits so nicely into HSUS's existing agenda. It's also handy that they can get this to market before AAFCO revises the nutrient profiles.

Nevertheless, while vegan dog food is bad enough, I shudder to think of a vegan cat food--especially a popular one. Veterinarians should be jumping for joy at the prospect of all the business these foods will generate.

FYI, I've done a detailed analysis of the potential problems with this food, posted at http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=humanepetfood