Issue #32

Did you know…the maker of Chex cereal was also the first kibble manufacturer? In 1950 the Ralston Purina Company started using a cooking extruder to make their Chex cereal. Here's how it worked: ingredients were pushed through a tube, cooked under high pressure, and puffed up with air. This allowed Chex to stay crisp when milk was added.

At about the same time, manufacturers were getting complaints about the appearance, texture, and digestibility of dry dog food. Purina's pet food division borrowed an extruder from the cereal division and experimented with it in secret for three years. The result: Purina Dog Chow.* Before it became Purina and eventually purchased by Nestle, the Robinson-Danforth Commission Company actually started off as a horse feed manufacturer, got into cereal making and later into the dry dog and cat food.

ICYMI: General Mills moves into the pet food market, buying Blue Buffalo for $8 Billion in cash. This is not the first, and certainly not the last of cereal manufacturers to get into dog food, especially as sales of shelf-stable packaged foods continue to slow down. You may recognize some of General Mills’ other brands -- Lucky Charms, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury and Totino’s. Manufacturing processed food for pets and humans requires similar equipment, so it’s not difficult for traditional food companies to move into space. For Blue Buffalo, it gives a stronger distribution foothold to big-box retailers — outlets the pet food maker only began to explore last year, when it began selling in stores like Target.

Muscles or Mussels? Available until March 25th, this box is swimming with goodness:

🐓 Chicken/Pork Heart

🐖 Pork Kidney

🐚 Green Lipped Mussel

🐥 Duck Feet

🐑 Lamb Trachea

🐄 Beef Backstrap

🔥 Super Chew: Pig Foot

Check out the unboxing. #feedreal

Join our discussion as we talk about dog health, wellness, natural medicine and learn about providing optimal nutrition. We’ll be kicking off our first LIVE with gut health - what it is and how to get there - and supplements like probiotics and digestive enzymes. Follow us on FB to stay up to date.

Having a big breed dog shouldn’t stop you from finding a place to live. At least that’s what Colorado’s legislatures think! Colorado’s House of Representatives is gearing up for a dogfight as it tackles a bill to prohibit community associations from banning dogs based on their size or breed. “People with big dogs are having a hard time finding a place to live,” said Rep. Paul Rosenthal, D-Denver/Arapahoe, explaining why he drafted the legislation. But the bill has some HOA members worried because “some people have chosen communities specifically because of the limits they had on large dogs and removing restrictions could open communities to litigation and cause insurance premiums to rise.”

Barbra Streisand cloned her dog. For $50,000, you can clone yours. In an interview last week, Ms. Streisand revealed that two of her three Coton de Tulear dogs were clones. Specifically, the magazine reported that the dogs — Miss Violet and Miss Scarlett — had been cloned from cells taken from the mouth and stomach of Ms. Streisand’s late dog Samantha, who was 14 when she died last year. Even if you are not a close follower of clones, you may recall Dolly the Sheep, who was born in 1996. Since then, researchers have cloned about two dozen other mammal species, including cattle, deer, horses, rabbits, cats, rats — and yes, dogs. But science has other intentions with cloning -- puppies have been deliberately encoded with specific diseases into their DNA and cloned. Dogs share the most inheritable diseases with human beings, giving us an opportunity to learn more and possibly find cures we wouldn’t otherwise be able to.

Local school camp offers Robotics Pet Vet sessions you wish were available when you were younger! A nationally recognized summer program, Camp Invention focuses on creativity, innovation, real-world problem solving and the spirit of the invention while exploring various modules. This year during the Robotics Pet Vet sessions, campers will not only take apart the robotic dogs to compare and contrast the inner mechanics, anatomy, and physiology of a real dog; they will also learn about spatial reasoning and design while constructing a dog park. #happyinternationalwomensday

Need a Date? First, get a dog… science says. “The bottom line message that women get when they see a man with a dog: He’s capable of nurturing, of giving without receiving a lot, of caring for another. He’s made a commitment to this animal.” Have you ever been more attracted to someone because they had a pet?

Britain’s Armed Forces are being put down because they are “failing to maintain standards.” Figures released by the Ministry of Defence show that nearly 40 military working dogs were euthanized in the ten months between March and December last year. Of these six were put down due to their dangerous temperament, but a further six were destroyed because they did not meet the standards required by the military. The practice has been criticized as “cruel” and more must be done to re-home former service dogs. “These dogs are paying the price for being trained to be aggressive,” and whilst these animals are often purported to be 'heroes', once their working lives are over they are often disposed of.”