Here at the Hearty HQ, we often question pet owners – from close pals to friendly strangers we bump into on a dog walk – all in the name of research. One of the things we ask is “What do you feed your dogs and cats and why?” A lot of owners tell us they opt for commercial kibble for a number of reasons. At Hearty Apetite we’re all about giving your pet the best chance of a long and happy life. As you can read here, we believe kibble isn’t the best thing to guarantee your pet’s long-term health, so why do loving pet owners continue to buy it?
Let’s look a bit closer at some of the things you tell us.
The pet food industry is big business and we all know that where there’s money to be made, there’s mass marketing. A lot of cash and strategic planning goes into ensuring us trusting pet owners pick up a bag of kibble while on a supermarket shop. In the US alone, the pet food industry was worth just short of $30 billion in 2015 (US Bureau of Labor and Statistics). Mass availability doesn’t mean kibble is the best for your pet’s health – just look at the growth of fast food in tandem with the rise in obesity-related disease. More and more pet owners (including us at Hearty Apetite) are making the connection between pet health and nutrition. Bespoke brands such as the ones we hand-select at Hearty Apetite are focused on your pet’s health, choosing to stay small and bespoke in order to guarantee a quality product. You can check our the brands we carry and their products here.
Long life food guarantees you’ve always got something on hand. But have you considered how it’s possible for kibble to be stored for weeks and months? The answer is extreme processing. Kibble is dried at extremely high temperatures, effectively killing any chance of retaining any nutritional value in its ingredients. Fats essential for pet health begin to oxidise after you open the bag and these rancid fats can contribute to pet disease.
Cheap kibble contains low quality meats and lots of fillers that don’t promote good pet health. Would you eat cheap fast food every day and expect to stay in peak condition? We created Hearty Apetite so you don’t need to sacrifice convenience in order to give your pet what it needs to thrive. And you can be sure you’re investing in good pet health and a future that doesn’t rely on trips to the vet clinic and costly medication.
Kibble is actually taste-free – any flavour has been scorched out of it during processing. In order to get your pets to tuck in, flavourings and additives are introduced. These highly addictive and often unnatural substances are what keeps your pet coming back for more. The good news is it’s easy to get your pet to swap to a natural diet so they can enjoy wholesome, tasty food that provides for their innate nutritional needs and keeps them out of the vet clinic. A healthy pet is a happy pet (and a happy owner)!
As we’ve already mentioned, the growth of kibble is driven by profit and promotion. Pet parents are at the mercy of the information supplied by the industry to those who give dietary advice – vets and sales assistants in pet stores. Neither vets nor pet store staff are nutritional experts – they have incentives to promote some brands over others. We trust them to give us nutritional advice but in reality pet owners get their information from salespeople while vets are ‘educated’ – often while still studying – by the big multinationals who pay for ‘training’ in the best foods to give animals – so it’s no surprise which products get promoted most frequently? Discussions about the link between our pet’s health and diet just don’t happen at the pet store or in the vet’s clinic so pet owners never get the chance to consider other options.
Dogs and cats are hardy. Give them a bad diet and they will soldier on, albeit at greater risk from developing health conditions such as obesity, diabetes and digestive disorders. But living is not the same as thriving. Giving your pets a nutritionally-balanced, species-appropriate diet could protect them from developing life-threatening conditions
When it comes to your own way of eating, do you consider prioritising healthy food over processed junk as an indulgence? No, and neither do we. We sometimes hear from pet owners that they don’t want to ‘spoil’ their pet by giving them a fresh or raw diet. We think that’s crazy. We’d never do it to ourselves so why do we give our pets highly processed food that can contribute to illness, not to mention costly vet bills? A balanced diet of fresh or raw pet food is not a luxury, it’s what our animals need to stay healthy and happy for longer.
We’re passionate about giving pets the best chance to enjoy a healthy life through a balanced diet. To find out more about why we say no to kibble, click here.
