Bea Reviews Big Kibble by Shawn Buckley, Dr. Oscar Chavez, and Wendy Paris

Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: December 1st, 2020
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

A big, inside look at the shocking lack of regulation within the pet food industry, and how readers can dramatically improve the quality of their dogs' lives through diet.

What's really going into commercial dog food? The answer is horrifying.

Big Kibble is big business: $75 billion globally. A handful of multi-national corporations dominate the industry and together own as many as 80% of all brands. This comes as a surprise to most people, but what's even more shocking is how lax the regulations and guidelines are around these products. The guidelines--or lack thereof--for pet food allow producers to include ever-cheaper ingredients, and create ever-larger earnings. For example, "legal" ingredients in kibble include poultry feces, saw dust, expired food, and diseased meat, among other horrors. Many vets still don't know that kibble is not the best food for dogs because Big Kibble funds the nutrition research. So far, these corporations have been able to cut corners and still market and promote feed-grade food as if it were healthful and beneficial--until now.

Just as you are what you eat, so is your dog. Once you stop feeding your dog the junk that's in kibble or cans, you have taken the first steps to improving your dog's health, behavior and happiness.

You know the unsavory side of Big Tobacco and Big Pharma. Now Shawn Buckley, Dr. Oscar Chavez, and Wendy Paris explain all you need to know about unsavory Big Kibble--and offer a brighter path forward for you and your pet.

My Thoughts:

When the publisher contacted me about reviewing this, my first reaction was "No" as I don't do much non-fiction. But then I thought about it some more. I'm owned by a cat and not a dog but I have been thinking recently about what I feed my cat, so I said yes. While the book's focus is on dogs and their nutritional needs, much of the history of pet feed and its ingredients, applies to cats too. I am definitely reading the labels on Claude's food more closely and reconsidering what I can feed him. The beast is not much for fresh human food; he turns up his nose at turkey, chicken, and tuna but loves cheese. 

Gratuitous cat photo - Claude

If I owned a dog, I would be changing his food ASAP. While Chavez and Buckley don't use scare tactics, they don't really need to. The facts they present are scary enough. Animal poop is allowed to be used in dog food. There's no federal oversight of pet food. The "governing" body is an association that works with feed companies, not to improve them, but to help with sales. Heavy levels of certain metals are allowed in dog feed. The nutritional levels you see posted on labels? Not accurate. They are calculated before the food is processed, but processing, even simple cooking, changes nutrient value. Feed can contain as little as 3% beef, calculated pre-processing, so the final value may actually be 1 or 2% beef. yet that package can legally be labeled as containing beef. 

Chavez, Buckley, and Paris have an easy to read, conversational style. There are a few dry patches and some repetition, the book is heavily researched and annotated, but mostly it was an easy read. Easy in style, if not always in content, and thought-provoking for sure. I was appalled at what is allowed to go into pet food, and just how processed it actually is. The difference between pet food and pet feed was eye opening also. And all those boutique, high-cost brands? Many of them are no different from the cheap feed, just marketed differently. The authors break down what is known about canine nutrition and the methods manufacturers use to meet a bare minimum. A bare minimum calculated before processing. Much of the taste and nutritional value that are lost in processing are added back in via spray-on flavor and generic vitamin mixes. But those mixes aren't regulated like human vitamins are and the minerals and vitamins may not be from optimal sources. But one problem is that not enough is known about canine nutrition. Most veterinarian programs don't even offer courses in animal nutrition. And sponsorship of scholarships and conferences is often hosted by pet feed manufacturers. A common practice in many fields to be sure, but it effects vet students and full-fledged vets opinions of dog food and nutrition. 

And of course, as we know from human medicine, diet effects health. Why wouldn't that be true for dogs? The authors give anecdotal evidence but there is apparently a dearth of research on canine diet and health, a fact they lament. They have done some studies of their own and hope that more people will do similar studies.

Buckley and Chavez have a business making fresh food for dogs and they talk about their path to that event but they don't push their product or business, though they do toot their own horn re work they have done "disrupting" big kibble. But they also acknowledge and praise other businesses, their competitors, making fresh, healthy food for dogs. There are even some recipes included for people who want to try making their own dog food. 

If you have a dog or work in a dog related field, this book is a must. Agree or disagree with it, it will make you think.

Quotes:

"People assume we have a massive amount of data on companion animal nutrition that has been supported by their tax dollars, and that is incorrect. We are 50 years behind human food and livestock feed in terms of nutrition information. There are not federal grants for pet food research. Today, the library of animal nutrition could fill a cardboard box." (location 2673 in my Kindle ARC)

Big Kibble can legally use not only moldy grains and second-rate vegetables and vegetable scraps but also spray-on flavor and outsourced, premade, feed-grade, vitamin mixes-one batch of which recently proved deadly. (location 2460 in my Kindle ARC)

..., the FDA lacks resources and even authority to do everything it should. It has historically lacked the power to impose recalls and punishments and has been lax about following its own recall protocols.*note 28 They have enforcement discretion, which means they pursue and enforce some situations, but certainly not all. (location 1824 in my Kindle ARC) 

Waste products, just to be clear, are not good sources of calories for dogs, and can actually be harmful-a truth about waste-as-food in general (even if your dog has been known to eat rabbit poop while walking through a park.) (location 1753 in my Kindle ARC)