Issue #10

They’re here! Our brand new New Zealand green-lipped mussels are the star of this month’s Real Pet Food box: chicken hearts, beef liver, mussels, lamb weasand, pig skin, turkey neck. Got a shellfish allergy? Let us know and we’ll be happy to replace them with something else.

New Zealand dog diet study a wake-up call for dog nutrition. In only the 2nd study of its kind in the world, an independent analysis found that high meat is easier for dogs to digest. Some other highlights of the study found that dogs on a high meat diet had: smaller poops and better fecal health, higher levels of the bacteria associated with protein and fat digestion, demonstrating that a dog’s gut is biologically designed to digest high meat diets and that more nutrients from a high meat diet can be absorbed.

Doggy Days at Interior. While there’s still no First Dog in the White House, a first for the U.S. in 150 years, Secretary Ryan Zinke of the Dept. of Interior has announced the start of “Doggy Days at Interior,” a new program that will make Interior the first federal agency to go dog-friendly! In case you didn’t know, the Interior Dept. protects America’s natural resources and heritage, honors our cultures and tribal communities, and supplies the energy to power our future.

Nip/Tuck for Dogs. From facelifts to testicle implants, pet plastic surgery is transforming our dogs' health. Because of how they were bred, some dogs are prone to health issues, such as Shar-Peis that have droopy eyelids that scratch their cornea or pugs, that commonly suffer from brachycephalic syndrome, which occurs when the roof of the mouth is too long for the length of the animal's muzzle, causing difficulty in breathing. Surgical advances and technology could be key in helping adoption rates.

Dog drones lead the fight against dog poop. Tinki.nl, a Dutch dog website, and its partner Space53, an international test center for drones, developed two Dogdrones (Watchdog and Patroldog) to find & collect dog poop. Watchdog is an aerial drone that uses thermal imaging to detect dog poop and GPS technology to guide Patroldog on the ground to collect the poo. Pretty cool, huh?

America's most popular dogs for 2016 revealed. Take your best guess. Yup, that’s right, the labrador retriever snagged the No. 1 spot for the 26th year in a row! The rottweiler was No. 8, its highest ranking in almost 20 years. The german shepherd and golden retriever scored spots No. 2 & 3.

Patrick Stewart is in LOVE with his foster pit bull. But you can’t watch their sweetest moments without smiling. #adoptdontshop