Issue #61
Which table scraps are safe to feed? It’s that time of the year where begging snouts around the dinner table are nearly unavoidable. The good news, if you and your family are eating fresh, real food, you can share most things with your pup! Our advice - skip the starchy, high carbs (potatoes) and overly seasoned foods. Dropping bits of cooked meat, raw or cooked veggies, or raw bones is totally safe and healthy!
‘Cause no one's got what we got! Available until Dec. 29th, here’s the current line up:
🐖 pork heart 🐑 lamb spleen 🐟 yelloweye rockfish 🦆 duck feet 🐄 beef tendon 🐖 pig ear Super Chew - 🐑 lamb femur.
Sneak peek at the next box coming out on Monday? Gobble gobble 🦃.
The better conversion of dog years to human years. Researchers say they have a new formula to convert dog years to human years, based on a relatively new concept in aging research: that chemical modifications to a person’s DNA over a lifetime create what is known as an epigenetic clock. All dogs—no matter the breed—follow a similar developmental trajectory to humans. A 7-week-old puppy would be equivalent roughly to a 9-month-old human baby, both of whom are just starting to sprout teeth. The formula also nicely matches up the average life span of Labrador retrievers (12 years) with the worldwide life expectancy of humans (70 years).
Another Hill’s Pet Nutrition lawsuit. A Texas breeder who lost 16 dogs becomes the latest to sue Hill's. The new litigation, which defendant Hill’s Pet Nutrition Inc. on Thursday moved from state court to federal court, joins a list of 30-plus lawsuits from California, Florida, New York and other states that are being consolidated in a multidistrict litigation action in Kansas. In January of this year, Hill’s recalled canned Prescription Diet dog food because of excessive vitamin D levels - many dogs exhibited symptoms of excessive thirst, drooling and lethargy before ultimately dying.
The Real Petfood Company vs Real Pet Food Company. Remember when we used to be “Real Pet Food”? Well damn, did we dodge a bullet? UK pet food manufacturer The Real Petfood Company has successfully opposed an attempt by VIP Topco to register the trademark of a company of the same name from Australia in the UK. Truth be told, we changed our name because we wanted our members to know that our focus was on DOGS and not just “pets,” plus we aren’t too keen on the word “pet” for some reason.
Military dogs need hearing protection too. Hearing loss or damage isn’t only a problem for soldiers in the midst of a cacophony of explosions and associated sounds of combat. The Canine Auditory Protection System has been developed through an Army Research Office initiative with Zeteo Tech, Inc. and a retired Navy officer turned professor at the University of Cincinnati using lightweight, high-quality acoustic absorption materials to block unwanted sounds. It uses flexible materials that conform to the dog’s head, giving better fit and protection with proper sealing around the ear, unlike conventional canine hearing protection.
The U.S. Stops sending bomb-sniffing dogs to Egypt after deaths. After an investigation disclosed that several dogs in both Jordan and Egypt died because of mistreatment and neglect, triggered by a whistleblower complaint and eventual State Department report. There are about 135 U.S.-provided bomb-sniffing dogs overseas in Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Nepal, the Dominican Republic, and Afghanistan.
The first study on human-grade dog food finds fresh food to be highly digestible. Researchers tested six commercial cooked dog foods (not raw, not kibble) formulated using human-edible ingredients, such as rice, carrots, broccoli, chicken, lamb, and others, in a kind of casserole, supplemented with human-quality vitamins and minerals. The researchers determined the chemical composition of the six diets, as well as their nutrient and amino acid digestibility and energy content and found the cooked fresh food diets were highly digestible. The study was funded by Justfoodfordogs to test its own food, but nonetheless, the results speak for themselves.