But then you’d have to quibble with me, because with all the years I’ve spent researching pet foods, I can assure you that Halo is different because of the high quality of the actual meat that goes into their formulas instead of meat meals or plant matter as the predominant ingredients. When I pay more for Halo than other brands, I absolutely know what I am paying for: quality protein (which is the most costly part of human or pet dinners). I am also paying for the absence of corn, wheat, soy, or chemicals. In addition, I am also happy to be paying for what Halo does not put in their kibble — like chicken meal, by-product meal, brewer’s rice or other cheap sources of indigestible plant fiber. I am grateful for a company that strives to put the highest quality ingredients IN and keep the lower quality ingredients OUT. That dedication to nutritional quality is what I appreciate and will happily pay a little more for.

When I see a dog kibble brand claiming to be Super Premium and charging way less than what I pay for Halo, it does not make logical sense. I can only say that if a dog food costs substantially less than what I am paying for my kibble, then I know that somewhere along the line in producing that food, the company has to be saving money. HALO has earned my trust by spending the money I pay them to maintain high standards in what they put in the bags and how it is made: for that they are charging me a premium price and I believe I am getting what I pay for. I am getting my money’s worth.

HALO does not spend their money on advertising, unlike other companies that pour buckets of money into those glossy ads. Halo’s philosophy is to build their brand on the strength of the high quality ingredients and by maintaining a feeling of community with the people who serve their food (for example offering a blog from me every week!) and on philanthropy, giving away kibble through Freekibble.com.

I am a big bargain shopper (ask anyone about my addiction to T.J. Maxx or Overstock.com) but where my dogs food is concerned I actually prefer to pay a premium price to a company I trust because I believe it is delivering a Top Shelf premium product with close attention to the details.

–Tracie Hotchner

We each have to take more responsibility for our choices and decisions. You know the saying about people who do not learn from the mistakes in history being destined to repeat them? That is what the recent, ongoing scare about contaminated pet food seems like to me. What many of us learned when pets were sickened and died a few years ago (from what was then a long list of dry foods) was that a vast array of pet foods — from the least expensive, lower quality ones all the way to some premium brands of food — were all being manufactured in the same facility. There were questions about cross-contamination of recipes and ingredients, about how completely the manufacturing equipment was cleaned between batches of different brand foods, and of course the sourcing of the ingredients themselves. In the previous pet food recall case, the culprit appears to have been wheat gluten imported from China, which was used in various recipes to boost the protein count.  It was debatable whether wheat gluten is even a valid source of protein for digestion in dogs — and as we all remember (if we learn our history) that the wheat gluten was either contaminated or was actually not wheat gluten at all, but an entirely different toxic substance called melamine that belongs in the manufacture of plastic bowls, not IN the bowls of our pets’ dinners.

I personally have picked HALO for reasons of quality and accountability. At a time like this I rest easy knowing that it is the only brand of dry food I’ll feed my own dogs and that I recommend to my listeners and readers, whose trust in me is one I take very seriously. Of course I realize that any pet food company is susceptible to some level of risk around food contamination, including Halo, and that one could argue that a voluntary recall can be an indicator of a company that errs on the side of caution.  If Halo did ever find itself choosing to recall certain food batches someday I believe it would certainly be out of love for pets and the people who care for them. HALO has a 26-year track record of never having been recalled, which speaks volumes

It is not only the pets who are at risk, but we humans who so much as touch this potentially contaminated kibble. Salmonella is no laughing matter — it can make pets and people extremely ill, to the point of hospitalization — and beyond. Dry food has been the culprit in all the previous pet food recalls and public panic — you need to know everything you can about the company whose name is on your bags.

I want to say one thing loud and clear: you get what you pay for where pet nutrition is concerned. I believe that the quality standards and control Halo has put in place make it much less susceptible to food contamination than other brands. I made a choice years ago to feed only HALO brand of dry food to my dogs because the company’s whole philosophy is grounded on never compromising about using the highest quality of ingredients — in knowing the sources of them, and because they are a smaller, private company, in having oversight on the manufacturing process.

I also gain confidence in the fact that HALO does not disclose the company that manufactures their kibble for them — they do not want a lot of other companies trying to utilize the same high quality facility and perhaps pushing them out. The recalled foods were all made by the giant pet food manufacturer Diamond. There a couple of very well known dry foods that have some of their foods in the recall — Taste of the Wild and Solid Gold — and pet owners are expressing dismay and shock on the internet that these foods could be made in the same plant on the same machines as the foods they have chosen. It is no surprise to me. It can be more convenient and cut costs tremendously to farm out your recipe to a big facility like Diamond. But there are different costs involved, as the chickens coming home to roost are demonstrating.

There’s already enough to worry about in life that I do not want to be fearful putting my hand into the kibble container, either for myself or my pooches, and I rest easier knowing their squeaky-clean track record. I am glad to feed it to my dogs, proud to be associated with the brand, and greatly relieved that I never have to lose sleep over the kibble I recommend to my followers. And hey, if you cannot easily find HALO at your local store, you can always go to www.Petflow.com and find it there (with no shipping fees if you put DOGTALK10 in the code box at check out) or $10 off an order of $40 or more if you are a first-time Petflow.com customer.

$10 off $40 and Free Shipping at Petflow.com

I’d also like to say that many of us might be doubtful that a pet food company wants a veterinarian to do anything except rubber stamp and follow the direction a company is already going in. Halo is rare because they chose a veterinary professional — Donna is a board certified internist — to educate and make suggestions within the company as well as for customers, guiding all of us in our choices.

Over the years of having the privilege of working alongside Dr. Donna in cyberspace, I can say how much I admire Halo and her because she always speaks her mind with her focus on the wellness of the dogs and cats and the devotion of their owners as her main motivation (a credo Halo clearly shares). She is not saying what she thinks people at Halo might want to hear to protect her own interests — and it’s obvious why she chose Halo as the company she wanted to work with. (It also doesn’t hurt that she is extremely attractive and articulate and does a beautiful job when co-owner Ellen Degeneres invites her on her show to discuss Halo!)

So if you ever wonder if the advice you get on the Halo website from Dr. Donna is the real deal, take my word for it: she is a straight shooter who really knows her stuff and wants pet owners to be informed and proactive in all their decisions. I’ve also had the pleasure of getting to know her personally — we now have an annual three-hour lunch when her family visits Vermont over Thanksgiving — which is another reason I owe thanks to Halo myself!

–Tracie Hotchner

Hi Tracie! I think your advice is invaluable and have fed my cat only wet, grain-free food since I brought her home from the shelter. She is a wonderful 2 y.o. and weighs about 10 lbs. I feed her Soulistic with a few Greenies here and there, but I am worried she’s not eating enough. I think she should be eating 10 oz of food per day, but I’m lucky if I can get her to eat 2 3-oz packets of Soulistic a day. Sometimes she will go for 3, sometimes only 1. Should I be worried? The vet thinks she’s fine, but she looks very skinny to me, and she’s a DMH tuxedo. Thanks!”

Here’s what I told Mary Lynn:

Think how big a mouse is — that’s all the nutrition a cat really needs and she’d be lucky to get a mouse every day! Skinny is good where cats are concerned. That is their “normal” — but we have come to see chubby cats as normal. However I am really concerned about why you would be giving that “treat” to her when it’s certainly not got the ingredients (glycerin, wheat gluten) that you would purposely give your kitty! Check with any expert on feline nutrition and I can assure you they would be very happy you’re feeding wet food only — a fine brand made by Weruva for Petco. But I know they would agree about your choice of occasional “treat” as not being a choice they would make. If you want to give a teat, try the Halo Liv-A-Little freeze dried chicken, beef or salmon. Now THOSE are terrific nutrition and fun for your kitty cat. If you go to Petflow.com you can find the Liv-a-Littles and you can try Weruva’s other pate-style cat food called BFF (Best Feline Friend). If you put CATCHAT10 in the code box at checkout and have never been a customer before, you get $10 off a $40 order!!

PetFlow 10% Discount Offer

Recently I fostered a timid two-year-old Himalayan who came from a hoarding home and had not been neutered. With all that came urinating problems and we couldn’t get him adopted if he would not use the box. The litter coupon from you happened to be in the right place at the right time. The problem was solved in less then a week. If you could spare another coupon for the Oklahoma Custer Friends for Life I am sure they will take one for the team!

And from another listener:

Hi Tracie,

I was just listening to your show — great and informative as always! It was fun to call in again. I am sure that it’s impossible to remember the many, many names of people who call you and write you; plus, knowing that, I didn’t really remind you that we’d corresponded before. I just received the Dr. Elsey’s free litter coupon today from you — thanks! One of my cats, Mr. Darcy, had such a serious out of the litter box problem when I adopted him, but the Cat Attract litter worked with him (after I heard you talking about it). It was the only thing that changed the situation. It made me a believer. Seriously, NOTHING else worked. so I will use that coupon right away!!

Thanks again and take good care,
Kirstin (and Poochie!)

Here’s what she wrote:

I wrote on your Facebook wall a few weeks ago regarding Pets Best Insurance. I got it because my Peyton was hospitalized and I thought I was going to lose her. Now she is insured so I have peace of mind!

Here is a story for you: the customer service at Platinum Performance is outstanding! I was giving Taylor and Peyton the Platinum Plus formula but discontinued it because my girls got hives. I strongly suspected that it was due to the soy in the product and discontinued giving them the Platinum Performance. Anyway, I emailed Platinum Performance and asked them if they had a soy-free formula and they responded yes, but they don’t actually advertise it. I explained that I stopped using Platinum Performance because I thought my dogs were reacting to the soy. They were concerned and sent me out a non-soy replacement for free!  Not only did I not expect a replacement but they wanted to know how the non-soy formula worked out. I told them that so many dogs have soy allergies and that it would be awesome if they advertised a non-soy formula. Hopefully the marketing department will listen to my request! At least I know I can order soy free and I have told several others about it.

It’s only because of you that I got turned on to Platinum Performance! I have told several people about the product and it has been a tremendous help to so many dogs.

Also, I love the Nordic Naturals omega-3 fish oil!  It’s great stuff!!!  I have told a lot of people about Nordic Naturals as well.  One of these days soon I am going to order The Dog Bible from you!

The Dog Bible

Those people who were determined to feed their dogs without any grains understood what I meant about the high standard of quality ingredients, but really wished HALO could offer that level of ingredients and nutrition without barley or oats.

Well guess what? That day is here! And I have to say my hat is off to HALO because they have come up with a unique formula that uses a truly nutritious and digestible starch that also provides protein: peas! Whole peas, pea protein, pea flour and pea fiber are all featured in the food — this is tremendous because it is a great balance to the less-prominent potato in the food (which is usually the only starch in many grain-free foods and less expensive and less nutritious and higher on the glycemic scale than peas).

Of course HALO’s new food has a named protein source as its dominant ingredient, in this case it’s whitefish.

I like to think of myself as the loudest cheer leader on the Halo Cheerleaders Squad, so now with this new grain-free kibble I can make as much noise about all the merits of Halo’s quality when one of my dog-owning listeners on DOG TALK(R) (and Kitties, too!) or CAT CHAT(R) says they have decided to go grain-free.

I love a bargain! Don’t know about you, but I am JUMPING on the special offer to try a bag of the Grain Free food for 50% off and free shipping! It’s only until April 30th.  Put New50April in the code box at the very end of your order — after your credit card info — and before hitting the final “submit” button and it will cut the cost in half and take off the shipping charges. Dig in, friends!

–Tracie Hotchner

Let us start by clearing up what is meant by “grain” — something I know a lot about since I happen to have celiac sprue disease (which means an intolerance to the gluten in grains).  I am supremely aware of what constitutes a grain since I have to carefully avoid grains in any form, but wheat (as bread or flour) is the one most often seen in foods. This is also true of lower quality pet foods — the presence of wheat is a red flag about a product. Wheat is the grain primarily seen in dog food.  Even though dogs do not get celiac disease, wheat is generally considered a possible intestinal irritant and it is also not a quality source of nutrition.  Pet foods based on corn are also seen on the list of lower quality foods, which is because it is high on the glycemic index and can cause obesity and blood sugar issues; the presence of corn indicates that a pet food is heavily carbohydrate-based rather than relying on a good protein source as the primary ingredient. When I was the PETCO spokesperson in 2011 for their natural foods, the signs on the wall in the natural section of their stores said everything you needed to know in choosing a high quality pet food: No Corn, no wheat, no soy.” However, I also want to make sure to clarify that corn is not really considered a grain and is fully allowed on a human celiac diet, as is rice — wheat is the big no-no, as other people who are gluten (grain) intolerant will confirm.

I want to answer Vicki, who wrote into the HALO blog about my previous blog in which I explained that “grain free” is not really what it seems to be because it does not mean “carb free.”  She said that her Pomeranian Spunky “began having seizures at 5 years old and sniffling and scratching a lot, losing much of his hair. I bought him expensive dog food which I thought was GOOD dog food. I sat up for hours one night researching allergies in dogs and found that grains in dog food, corn and wheat in particular, caused allergies in dogs like intense scratching and biting of paws, groins, and near top of back end but also seizures. I have wheat allergies, my daughter has gluten allergies.” She said she put Spunky on a grain free dog food and all his symptoms cleared up in less than two weeks. I can pretty much assure you that if any of Spunky’s symptoms were food related they went away because she stopped feeding the previous food (which she believed to be a “good” food but which she didn’t know because she didn’t read the label). Probably something in the previous food (preservatives, chemicals, poor basic ingredients) had something to do with his scratching if it resolved that quickly — it was fixed by eliminating the previous food, not substituting it for a new better food. However, the “sniffling” that she mentioned is an upper respiratory reaction probably from the environment (like people who take antihistamines) and not food related. Lastly, seizures in a 5-year-old Pomeranian are most likely an inherited genetic trait but in any case cannot possibly be caused by grains, no matter what someone said on the Internet!

Bill wrote into HALO in response to my blog and said: “My vet says absolutely no grain for my allergic 5 year old mini-Sheltie, Bonnie. She came from a shelter with a bad yeast infection of her skin and ears. The vet said no grains, beef or poultry, because they are the most likely cause. I certainly don’t want to keep aggravating a food allergy. So, what can you suggest?”

To Bill I would respectfully suggest changing to a veterinarian who understands food allergies in dogs! A shelter dog can arrive with all sorts of conditions, including neglect, poor hygiene and almost always poor nutrition. Addressing those 3 issues in a positive constructive way will usually solve all of it — and you can think of using a high quality premium pet food like HALO as a powerful tool for ongoing health. You won’t find wheat or wheat gluten (or corn for that matter) in any premium dog food. Trying to avoid chicken, beef and wheat “just in case” would be a lifetime of management without any proven reason. I’ll bet Bonnie has left those problems in the rear view mirror now that she has a new conscientious forever home. Thanks for adopting, Bill!

Let me be really clear about the issues these good folks are dealing with:

1) Issues with human nutrition and digestion are not parallel to the dog digestive system or immune system.
2)  Reading anecdotes on the Internet is not a good way to diagnose or treat any medical or health issue, for our pets or us.
3)  Dogs are rarely allergic to food ingredients — poultry (including eggs) is the number one allergen for dogs (not grains), but the only way a responsible veterinarian instructs owners to discover if their dogs are genuinely food allergic is to go on a two month elimination diet in which ALL commercial food is removed from the diet and the owner cooks a simple diet.
4)  Never substitute assumptions about pet food for a visit to a smart veterinarian who will help you figure out your pet’s problems using common sense and medical skill and technology, not a cook pot!

-Tracie Hotchner

I wanted to arrive at the shelter with a nice offering for the staff and animals of something they could really use but might not know about or be able to afford. I rummaged around on the Dog Shelves of my basement to look for samples left over from the goody bags I handed out at the last presentation I gave at a shelter. Eureka! I came upon a whole box of full size bottles of both Cloud Nine Herbal Ear Cleaner and Cloud Nine Eye Wash that Halo had provided — Halo has always been super generous in providing “swag” for the bags — things like Liv-a-Little treats, samples of Spot’s Stew food, Cloud Nine eye wash and ear cleaner and Cloud Nine shampoo. The company supports my educational messages about quality nutrition, and also about grooming at home as the least traumatic for the pet, the most economical for your pocketbook, and a very good way to check your pet’s health by noticing any physical changes as you groom them.

I had been hanging onto these boxes that each contained nine full-sized bottles of Cloud Nine Ear Wash and Eye Wash, knowing that some day they would make a great donation to a shelter. I had been hanging onto them until such time as I zeroed in on a shelter and could donate them on Halo’s behalf at the same time — and I would spread the word about Halo’s very special products and their largesse to the shelter community in general. Halo donates millions of meals to shelter animals every year through Freekibble.com. The Halo grooming products I was fortunate enough to be able to contribute to the Berkshire Humane Society are environmentally green, gentle yet effective with no harsh chemicals, and products they did not even know about. It made me a most welcome visitor! And gave soothing to relief to a lot of dogs and cats waiting for a Forever Home.

I think we should have learned by now that our pets deserve nothing less than the safety measures for pet food that exist in the U.S.A. There have been dogs suffering terrible medical complications and dying from eating chicken jerky treats made in China going back as far as 2006. You remember the terrible scare of pet illnesses and deaths from melamine food contamination in 2006 in Canada — and 2007 in the U.S.A.? That turns out to be when the first reports of similar problems with chicken jerky were reported — much of it in Canada — but somehow the news did not reach the American public about these so-called treats until 2010, when as many as 50 pets developed a kidney disease from chicken jerky treats that can make a pet sick enough to require hospitalization and even to die.

It was not until November of last year that the Food and Drug Administration finally began warning pet owners that chicken jerky food products imported from China pose this danger — but they still did not ban or get these deadly treats off store shelves! Symptoms of the illness chicken jerky treats from China are: drinking a lot of water, urinating a lot or more frequently, decreased energy, diminished appetite, diarrhea, and vomiting. If left untreated — or misunderstood — the kidneys can fail and the pet can die, as has already happened.

The FDA has made recommendations about not feeding “too much” of the chicken jerky from China — or carefully watching your pet for signs of a medical emergency following eating this toxic stuff! I find it offensive that the FDA is somehow protecting Chinese trade and profit at the expense of protecting our pets. Our government seems to think it best to acknowledge that these products are a risk and danger rather than telling people outright to stop feeding any Chinese-made pet treats.

I am offended by what that implies about an assumption of a low value we put on our pets’ lives. Let us not forget that China is a country where lethally contaminated human infant formula was produced and distributed for quite some time — with a tragic and astounding death toll for their babies — before anything was done to warn people or contain the danger. If one can assume that in most cultures human life would be valued above animal life — and yet in China this heart-breaking man-made, profit-driven disaster still occurred fairly recently. To my mind, this should give a clear idea of what the Chinese attitude about the safety of products for “mere” pets might be. In America, if there was even a suggestion of a Chinese product that was a danger to our babies, you can certain our own government would never show the “wait and see” attitude it is taking towards these Chinese products for our canine family members. We have to rely on our own good sense and take precautions for ourselves. I appreciate that Halo respects how dearly we value our four-legged family members and has allowed me to express what are entirely my own opinions about whether we are better off looking out for our pets’ welfare that mistakenly assuming that the government has the time, resources or motivation to do that.

So I am going to do that: BUY AMERICAN folks! It’s for the health and welfare of our beloved pets. And it’s good for our economy, too!

The only way to protect your own pets is to feed only treats made in our own country. For example, Halo Liv-a-Littles are freeze-dried pure meat that are delectable rewards for kitties as well as for dogs who have weight issues and should lower their carbohydrate intake.

–Tracie Hotchner