Here are some concerning facts when it comes to the film-makers attempts at getting information for their documentary. If the following does not raise a red flag or two then our poor pups are sincerely in for a dog bowl full of trouble!
Not 1 Pet Food Company Agreed to Talk to the Filmmakers
Among the many things Kohl learned during his year of research and while making the documentary is that the pet food industry promotes certain ideas that many pet owners disagree with and criticize them for.Kohl remembers thinking that if, for example, pet owners are wrong about corn and it's really a great food for dogs as pet food companies insist, then those companies should be happy to meet with him and explain their position. “That didn't happen,” says Kohl.
He kept a detailed log of all the pet food industry contacts he tried to make. He called company headquarters and left messages. He called media departments and left messages. He wrote emails, and he tried messaging through Facebook.The only verbal response he received from a major company was from Hill's Science Diet. They left a voice message for him stating, “We don't want to participate in this film.” Beyond that single voicemail message, Kohl never received any response from any of the pet food industry people he contacted.
“That says a lot,” says Kohl. “You're being criticized by your customers for product claims and you're not willing to stand behind them, because you don't have to.”
Lesson Learned: Honesty From Pet Food Companies Is Hard to Come By
For the documentary, one of the things Kohl did was research YouTube videos, and he happened to come across one of mine in which I'm talking about pet food ingredient labels.He knew he wanted to use it for “Pet Fooled,” “Because it was so brash and just very well-worded and very clear and concise for the viewer to understand,” he says.
Another person featured in the film is my friend Dr. Barbara Royal, a holistic veterinarian and past president of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association (AHVMA). “We found her in an audio file on a law website,” explains Kohl.
A law student who happened to be very passionate about pet food interviewed Dr. Royal after the 2007 melamine pet food recall.
“I had no idea who she was,” explains Kohl. “I just knew that I liked the way she spoke about this topic. She was very upfront and honest. I needed that honesty about the topic.
Because there are two types of people that you meet: people afraid to say anything and people brave enough to say something. The brave people are very few and far between.”
Kohl explained that each interview he conducted led to additional people he wanted to contact, and additional information he needed to fact check. The pet food industry's position began to take form the deeper he got into things.
If a certain pet food industry leader was touting a certain study about the benefits of corn, for example, he would find the study and read it. “It was very clear they were cherry picking information from their research and using it to their advantage,” he says. Kohl says it took two full years of filmmaking before he had a good understanding of the issues surrounding pet food, and he feels it probably takes pet owners about the same amount of time because there's so much conflicting information out there.“We've been conditioned culturally through advertising to believe a certain way,” says Kohl. “Companies are spending tens of millions of dollars to advertise their products. After awhile, it becomes a normal part of your thinking. It's like, ‘I need a car. I'm going to go buy the one I saw in that commercial.'”
Perhaps we need to see the documentary but what concerns us most is there does not seem to be a consensus. What DO we feed our dogs? IS there a commercially made dog food out there safe for Fido? If not, what are the alternatives?
The very idea that well-thought dog food companies, like Science Diet which all vets seem to recommend, did not want to be interviewed for the documentary – even to tell us why their dog food is safe – is very disturbing. What are they hiding?
To read more go to Healthy Pets.
