I have been having such a swell time periodically interviewing Nancy Kerns on DOG TALK® — she’s the editor of the greatly admired publication THE WHOLE DOG JOURNAL which takes no advertising and therefore is beholden to no one in the advice and recommendations they make about dog feeding and training. I relied on the WDJ for much of the direction I went in on the trail of nutrition facts and advice when researching THE DOG BIBLE and I continue to read it every month with great interest.

One of the most popular features of the magazine is the annual “Dry Dog Food” issue which includes descriptions of the ingredients and places of manufacture of all the premium dog foods that WDJ approves of (by a standard they explain).  It has bothered me for a long time that my own personal favorite dry dog food — the one I choose to feed my dogs as part of their meals — is not on WDJ’s list. The kibble I use as part of their meals (along with other and ever-changing additional elements of protein and vegetable) is Halo’s Spot’s Stew. I feed the Halo chicken, salmon and now the new lamb recipe, all in rotation.

Because I have become friendly with Nancy over this period of interviewing her, I had some topics I wanted to run by her off the air. In the course of doing so, I decided to raise my preoccupation that some of the finest dry dog foods are not included on her list — namely Halo, Purely for Pets, and other companies that have literally raised the bar for how dry dog food is made and been leaders in positively influencing how other companies make their products. Nancy Kerns explained (as she does in the WDJ) that if a company cannot make public where their foods are manufactured, she cannot include them as that is a prerequisite for inclusion. The companies themselves have explained to me that they have to protect their sources for ingredients and manufacture from other premium brands (as well as lesser-quality more commercial brands) that might try to take advantage of that information. So I understood that it is basically a stalemate and they won’t find themselves in that WDJ listing, despite being what I consider “stars” in the dry food firmament.

But then Nancy divulged an incredible bit of information: her aging, cranky, peculiar and very, very picky cat Shadow cannot live without her Halo dry food! I told Nancy that I recommend no dry cat food of any kind for cats because they are obligate carnivores and should be on a meat-only diet. I tried to give her my “No kitty crack!” lecture but Nancy said this cat would starve to death if she didn’t have access to her bowl of dry food — she’s that determined. Nancy explained that she does also feed some canned food to Shadow, but that if the cat walks by her bowl and does not see some Halo kibble in there, she screams bloody murder!  Sometimes she doesn’t need to eat any, she just needs the reassurance that she can see it in there!  How’s that for irony?!  Shadow the picky eater chose Halo as her favorite and “necessary” cat food and puts her little paw down demanding that it always be visible in her bowl or she has a hissy fit! (In a future blog I’ll write about how the Spirit Essence called Aging Gracefully actually toned down some of Shadow’s mania.)

I assured Nancy that for those rare people (like herself) who must put down some dry food for their cats, Halo’s kibble is the one I recommend because I can trust the quality of the ingredients that went into it: no by products, no meal, no artificial anything.  Ironically, this is equally true of Halo’s dry dog food — which may not be on that list of Whole Dog Journal approved dry foods but certainly deserves to be. Just ask Shadow!

As for The Whole Dog Journal, you will be doing yourself and your pooch a huge favor (or for a gift for a dog-centered friend) by subscribing to this publication the name of which makes me think of the phrase “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” Go to www.whole-dog-journal.com and get hooked up now before you forget!

–Tracie Hotchner

Jane in Lakewood, New York wrote me this simple note that was like a thunder clap for me – I can no longer reject dry cat food for each and every situation. Jane listens to CAT CHAT® and understands everything I have said about the harm of kitty crack. Nonetheless, she and her husband travel and live where there are no neighbors, much less pet sitters. The tone of her letter really got to me. Respectfully, she asked when I was going to “break my silence” and help guide someone whose lifestyle cannot accommodate canned food. The way she asked made me realize that no matter how “correct” I know my conclusions to be, that theories are one thing and real life is often another — and if I care as I do for the health and welfare of ALL kitties, then I cannot simply ignore the needs of those who want to do the right thing for their cats within the realities of their own situation. So here’s the email that rocked my world:

Tracie – I know your mantra about kitty crack. I listen you on Martha on Sirius. I inherited two cats when I married my husband but we cannot accommodate feeding canned food. We both travel for work and live in a rural area with no one to care for the cats while we are gone. I switched from Friskies to Iams and noticed improvement. They certainly eat less and have lost some weight. But I believe I heard you give praises to Halo pet food and am wondering what you think about the claims for their dry cat food? I respect your opinion and am hoping that you will break the silence on which dry food might be better than another for those of us that cannot accommodate wet food but are trying to do better for our cats. They are happy, healthy cats with no objectionable behavior. Thank you.

Hello Jane – this is for you! And all of those whose pussycats I have not been acknowledging, for whom dry food is necessary because they genuinely cannot make canned food an option for their cats. I have always said that it is the highly processed carbohydrates in all dry cat food which causes the health issues — and that remains absolutely true — but if circumstances require dry food, it’s time I told you what you’ve been waiting for: which dry food is best?

Jane is right, I have recently been singing the praises of Halo’s Spot’s Stew. In fact, for the first time I have chosen it as the DOG food kibble that is head and shoulders above the others and which I am now feeding to my dogs as part of their daily meals. And the reason for the tap of the “Tracie Wand” is all about ingredients. For dogs we want a kibble made with the cleanest possible ingredients and with as high a protein content as possible – with cats this goes double, since their digestive systems are not designed for carbohydrates and they need real meat. Well that is what makes Halo’s Spot’s Stew in a class by itself. The protein content of the dry food is 33%, on par with Wellness CORE (and below EVO) however here is the kicker: Halo uses only meat that is “fit for human consumption” in their foods. Halo has made a moral decision that they will only use meat that people could eat — no by-products, meals or any of the suspicious ingredients (which is where wheat gluten and melamine came in pre-pet-food recall) that can raise the theoretical protein content of a food on the label, but which can have origins that make the food indigestible to the pets (or not “bio-available”). As you’ve read in THE DOG BIBLE, the line on a pet food bag which lists the “crude protein” level can be deriving that number from good quality meat or “hooves, beaks and feathers and the manure clinging to them.” If you were a manufacturer and profit margin was your driving concern, would you go to the astronomical additional cost of using real meat “fit for a human dinner table?” Guess what: Halo made a company decision they would do just that — knowing they could actually bag a food claiming twice their protein level, but it would have meant going to some of the non-nutritious ingredients which are legally permitted and being used in a great many pet foods — but not doing the pets any good at all.

So the clear winner of any kibble out there is Spot’s Stew. Every bag is sealed with a company’s code of ethics, to do the best they can to nourish the pets of America. Honestly I am kicking myself that I didn’t learn this earlier, because I have three huge dogs who have been eating kibble as a portion of their meals without my knowing the difference between Spot’s Stew and other high-end brands. Also, it is vital that you know that a great many pet foods, which at one time were owned by a private company (like Halo or Weruva or Dr. Harvey’s or The Honest Kitchen still are) where there was personal pride and commitment to excellence and transparency — are now owned by multi-national corporations selling everything from soap powder to chewing gum. Dry food is the highest profit item in a pet food line and the best way to make more profit is to spend less on what you put inside the bag. So Jane – now that you have gotten me down off my high horse about dry cat food (with the thanks of many other cat lovers, I am sure!) may I ask that you either get a copy of  THE CAT BIBLE (and write to me so I can send an autographed bookplate to stick in it, inscribed to your kitties., along with some nice surprises) and/or spend time on my website www.TracieHotchner.com and learn some more about how to evaluate a pet food by reading the label and learning what those words mean. Even though you raised the level of your cat’s nutrition a little bit, you knew in your heart that you needed to find something genuinely preferable, which is why you wrote to me. So let me add that when you are home you need to please feed canned cat food, any of the flavors and brands on my website. At least your obligate carnivore will be getting some real, minimally-processed meat some of the time! Thanks again for pushing me to offer this advice.

A LITTLE DRY FOOD SOMETIMES

I got this letter from Margo, a CAT CHAT® listener I thanked for listening to me – and for hearing me! So now she has a small window of opportunity to give a little Spot’s Stew dry food, but only when absolutely necessary! Once again, even though a brand may show a high protein content, we have to consider the origin of that protein (Where did it come from? Can the cat’s body really utilize it as protein?) in making the healthiest choice for our kitties.

Hi Tracie – I spoke with you on Martha Stewart radio. I know you are a big proponent of wet food, but due to cost and lifestyle (ie overnight travel)… dry would be nice, an occasional addition, provided that it is not harmful to my kitties.

The EVO brand of dry foods says it contains no carbs and the ingredient list shows no carbs… do you think you might look into this brand? I still feed primarily wet, but if you think I should not even occasionally give them this dry… I will not.

Thank you!

The Cat Bible