As pet owners ” or “pet parents,” as many prefer ” reel from ever-widening recalls of contaminated pet food, many are wondering what’s safe to feed their furry companions. Some are poring over pet-centric Web sites (see sidebar) for the latest updates. While others are seeking advice from local pet stores specializing in holistically produced pet foods and raw diets, such as Noah’s Ark Pet Wash & Boutique, located at 4431 Cass St. in Pacific Beach, and Point Loma Pet Pantry, at 3704 Voltaire St. in Ocean Beach.
Mary Jansky is a nutritionist by training and co-owner of Noah’s Ark Pet Wash & Boutique, which carries several brands of raw pet foods as well as selected canned and dry foods from small producers using no grain or carbohydrate fillers. She advises people to avoid foods made by manufacturers with parent companies.
“They funnel all the waste into pet food, like grain fragments, corn gluten and brewer’s rice, a leftover from brewing beer. Beet pulp is used to harden the stool to make it easier to pick up, but it’s not good for the animal. Wheat gluten is a cheap form of protein. It bumps up the protein content without adding real meat. It’s ‘cheaping out,'” she said.
Jansky said the best thing you can do is educate yourself about the manufacturers, the ingredients and the labeling.
“We say just educate yourself. Be your pet’s advocate. Don’t rely just on your vet or on advertising,” she said.
Jansky, a proponent of raw food, views the raw diet as “the closest you can get to nature. That’s what dogs ate in the wild. But it’s not for every dog.”
She became convinced of its benefits when she saw how energetic her once-lethargic 10-year-old golden retriever became within a month after starting a raw diet.
One bright star in the burgeoning raw food market is Pacific Beach’s The Honest Kitchen, which, Jansky says, “has a fabulous product” offering easy storage.
Bird Rock resident Lucy Postins founded The Honest Kitchen in 2002, which produces a line of dehydrated human-grade raw food diets for dogs and cats. She thought others would be interested in the raw regimen she had developed for her Rhodesian ridgeback puppy, Mosi.
Her company’s pet food is produced at a Los Angeles-area commercial kitchen which also makes baked goods, cereals and organic-prepared foods for human consumption.
Postins, named one of the “Top 25 People to Watch in the Pet Industry in 2006” by Pet Products News magazine, sees her company’s mission as much broader than just making healthful pet food.
“We see our role as helping people learn more about how to buy good pet food and have a holistic approach to their animals’ health, including good nutrition, a conservative vaccination schedule, moderate veterinary care and a happy life,” she said.
Now, Mosi, along with four other dogs and one cat belonging to staff members, comes to work daily as an “executive” at The Honest Kitchen’s sunny offices in North Pacific Beach.
Mosi and his cohorts are in charge of tasting (and eating) his company’s products daily.
All have glossy coats, tartar-free teeth and remarkably even dispositions.
They appear to thrive on their raw food diets.
Postins’ business has exploded since the first news of the pet food recall made headlines in March. She is adding a sixth employee to help process orders, which have more than tripled recently.
Fifty-two new stores now carry her products, which are available locally at Pet Stop and Dapper Dog in La Jolla, City Dog in the East Village, PetPeople and Whole Foods as well as Noah’s Ark and Point Loma Pet Pantry.
Postins, who graduated from Moreton-Morrell Agricultural College in England with a degree in business and equine studies, came to San Diego 10 years ago with husband Charlie, a design sculptor for Nissan, who doubles as creative director for The Honest Kitchen.
Previously, applying her animal and agricultural studies, she worked for Solid Gold, a pet food manufacturer based in El Cajon, “one of the pioneers in holistic pet food,” Postins said.
Postins sees an array of health benefits from feeding a raw, instead of canned or kibble, diet.
“The raw food diet is a much more natural way to feed animals and can prolong their lives,” she said. “Cats and dogs are not meant to be grain eaters. They’re obligate carnivores, meant to eat mostly meat.”
She sees a direct correlation of increases in cancer, diabetes, allergies and other illnesses with the post-World War II advent of the commercial pet food industry.
“People’s pets did a lot better on table scraps,” she said, rather than the grain-based, high-carbohydrate diets produced by the commercial pet food industry, which is a heavy user of byproducts, discards from human food production.
Byproducts may include ground-up beaks, feet, feathers and other animal parts not consumed by humans.
“It was only a matter of time until this recall came up,” Postins said, noting other recent tainted pet food recalls.
The Honest Kitchen uses only human-grade meats, produce and vitamins and minerals in their food and buys organic produce whenever possible.
In order to put “human-grade” on their label, her business had to provide the Food and Drug Administration affidavits from every supplier and her production facility attesting that everything was fit for human consumption.
“We taste everything we put out. There’s no reason not to. So does the plant that makes it. Every batch is tasted by humans at the factory,” she added.
Liz Heinz, co-owner of Point Loma Pet Pantry, is another raw food advocate.
Her family opened the pet food store after adopting a dachshund with severe digestive problems that did poorly on a vet-prescribed diet but “became unbelievably healthy on a raw diet,” she said.
“We don’t carry anything with wheat gluten. Corn, wheat and soy are allergens for pets and not part of their natural diet. It’s only added to the pet food to make extra profits for the industry. Cats are carnivores, dogs require lots of protein. The pet food industry added more and more grains because they produce higher profits, but they’re indigestible for the pet,” she explained.
Pacific Beach resident Tracey Benson converted her pugs to a mostly raw diet after admiring a raw-fed dog’s coat at Dog Beach.
“I thought I’d give it a try. They really like it and are doing really well on it, and their coats have improved,” she said. Her dogs happily agree.
For information about The Honest Kitchen’s pet food products, visit www.thehonestkitchen.com or call (858) 483-5995.
For information about Noah’s Ark Pet Wash & Boutique, visit www.noahsarkpetwash.com or call (858) 270-8161, and for Point Loma Pet Pantry, visit www.pointlomapetpantry.com or call (619) 222-1986.