We are back at the social media content after a short break and set refresh for our favorite season…FALL! With every video comes new geniuses in the comments. This week we have some really good ones.
Before that, here’s our latest Fall recipes:
Also, we are happy to announce our newest Functional Seasoning—Pupkin Spice.
Keep your pups feeling their best this fall and winter with an aromatic wellness booster. Packing a therapeutic dose of Turkey Tail Mushrooms (immune powerhouse) beef bone broth, and Ceylon Cinnamon (instead of common cinnamon), Pupkin Spice is tasty AND supports immune function.
Now on to the *geniuses*, plus other questions and comments!
“Get a life”
Oh Colleen…this is our life. And though it may not look like much, we love it. Some might think the opposite—that we’re living lavish “influencer” lives—but this isn’t true either! Any business owner knows it’s a constant grind. We put everything we make back into producing better content and creating better products for all of you, but we have fun doing it. Our mission is to get more dogs eating and thriving on real food. We do our best to learn about canine and human health to share that information with our audience so that we can all live better and more fulfilling lives.
We see our videos as a form of art and entertainment. We use this medium to spread some positivity and we hope that it inspires pet parents to dig deeper into what they feed their beloved companions.
“My vet says turkey is bad”
As with most comments, it’s hard to tell who is just a troll and who is serious. Since this kind of question comes up a lot, let’s assume that this person truly was told by his vet that turkey is bad in some way. Depending on the context, the vet could be kind of right, flat-out wrong, or anywhere in between.
Roasted turkey that is eaten around the holidays is often brined with salt, spices and flavorings. Too much of these can be a shock to dogs’ systems, especially if the dogs are adapted to kibble (see this post for why that matters). Old or sick dogs can be particularly sensitive to dietary changes. But even then, a light rinse of the meat or a very small piece is unlikely to cause trouble.
There is no reason that regular turkey, or any commonly available protein, would be bad for dogs, especially when compared to kibble. Think about it: dogs ate whatever we ate for over 10,000 years. They aren’t as fragile as we make them out to be. Some dog influencers disparage feeding chicken (and other “low quality” proteins), but we think that messaging does more harm than good. Any fresh chicken, prepared properly, is going to be far better than kibble. Where is the average person expected to find (or afford) exotic meats for their dogs?
There are a few reasons for people to erroneously say “my vet says turkey (or any other food) is bad”. First, there is a huge difference between good, mediocre, and bad health care professionals. Just because someone has a degree or a specific job doesn’t mean that they are actually good at it relative to others. Many vets aren’t well versed in the nutrition requirements of dogs or any other animals that they care for (they aren’t taught in vet school). Yet, people expect them to know, so the less scrupulous ones may opine without being properly informed. The worst ones believe that actually know, when they don’t.
The second reason this can happen is people misunderstand what the vet actually means. “Do not feed holiday turkey that is heavily salted” is vastly different than “don’t ever feed turkey”. The most important follow up question here is “why?”. Why is something bad for a person or a dog? The answer should be rooted in solid science and it should make sense.
“Egg skins are bad!”
We assume that this genius means egg shells since they are harder than the membrane inside, but we can’t be sure with geniuses these days…
Short answer: Wrong. Gently heated egg shells don’t turn hazardous, especially when stewed. Super heated eggshells turn caustic, but that’s at over 700° C. If you’re concerned about rough edges on crushed eggshells just use a mortar and pestle or blender to crush them up into a powder. Smaller dogs will probably prefer a finer powder anyway. Read on for a deeper explanation with some basic chemistry.
Long answer: Egg shells are mostly calcium carbonate (about 95%) which is a stable form of calcium. When calcium carbonate is heated in a dry oven it can dehydrate, which might make edges more brittle, but it definitely does not phase change into anything remotely similar to glass.
Over 700° C, a process called calcination occurs where solid calcium carbonate changes into solid calcium oxide and carbon dioxide gas.
Reaction: CaCO3(s) + heat —> CaO(s)+CO2(g)
Calcium oxide is highly basic and reacts violently with water to release a lot of heat. This can cause heat and chemical burns. But because it occurs at such high temperatures, this is very very unlikely to happen at home. (You’d melt most ovens before then.)
“Does cheap turkey have hormones?”
Walmart and Costco are great for low cost inputs. We got air-chilled chicken drumsticks for $0.99 cents a pound at Costco a couple weeks ago. At Walmart, ground turkey is usually available for less than 2 dollars per pound. Prices could be higher in other cities and countries.
As mentioned above, fresh chicken made for people is almost assuredly better in quality than any animal byproducts that are used as ingredients in kibble. While it is true that pasture raised chicken and eggs may have better fatty acid profiles than traditionally raised chicken and eggs, the nutritional differences are otherwise slim. Most important to fatty acid composition is what the animals eat. Simply being pasture raised does not necessarily equate to better food. Unfortunately, without any way to validate feed quality or nutrients, it’s hard to tell if expensive stuff is really better quality or just better marketing. We can’t wait to raise our own meat…
About hormones in chicken—this is also a marketing ploy. Every package that says “hormone free” is essentially trying to fool you into thinking other brands have hormones. In reality, hormones in U.S. chicken farming were outlawed in the late 1950s and they have never been legal in Canada.
If you’re on a budget, cheap, fresh eggs, chicken or turkey, prepared properly, is absolutely better than feeding your dog kibble.
So how does Walmart sell Turkey for so cheap? If you look at the label, there aren’t additives, but they use “mechanically separated turkey”. It’s all the tiny bits of meat still clinging to the bones and cartilage after the premium cuts are removed. It gets extracted through a machine, and may include connective tissue, bone marrow and is typically higher in calcium and phosphorous…perfect for any healthy dog.
“I found you early!"
We really appreciate all of you, whether you discovered us two years ago or just two days ago. Even though we have been at this for a little while now, we are really just getting started. Thank you so much for being on this journey with us!
That’s it for this week.
All the best,
Joelle and R.A.