Not quite sure where this goes, but- Hill's sent PetSmart their nutrition booklet.

[Mokapi]

It urges us to tell customers how good corn is for dogs. Seriously. Corn is a HIGHLY digestible grain, far more digestible than wheat, rice, etc. Only 2.3% of all food allergies are to corn. Dogs are omnivores and raw diets pose obvious concerns, such as fractured teeth, salmonella poisoning, and meat allergies. Orijen is also lying to consumers because one of the ingredients in their food, zea mays, is actually corn. Orijen is not a good food for dogs and cats. Corn is not a filler, because fillers provide no nutritional value and corn is extremely healthy and grains are necessary in a canine's diet. BARF and raw diets do not meet nutrition needs.

-.-


I guess if you tell yourself something enough, you'll actually start believing it. Oh, and of course all of the studies were done by Hill's.

[Scarlett_O']

WOW....WOW...WOW!!!



This is pretty much EXACTLY the BS that my FIL got fed from his vet....he believes EVERY SINGLE word!!

[hmbutler]

Orijen is also lying to consumers because one of the ingredients in their food, zea mays, is actually corn. Orijen is not a good food for dogs and cats.

So it is suggesting Orijen is NOT good, because it DOES include corn (albeit "secretly")? Geez Hills sure are a breed of their own, aren't they... freaking crazy

[xellil]

Sounds exactly like the spiel from the ER vet - corn is GOOD for dogs, highly digestible, good for stomach upset. And with a waiting room full of Science Diet - I guess so.

Very sad. PetSmart will probably sell alot of it.

[xellil]

So are you going to deliver the message? How on earth can you get around that?

[hmbutler]

WOW....WOW...WOW!!!



This is pretty much EXACTLY the BS that my FIL got fed from his vet....he believes EVERY SINGLE word!!

THATS THE PROBLEM!! I was told by my vet that Purina Supercoat was all my cat and dog needed (they don't even sell the Purina, he told me to get it from the supermarket), along with water... why would I question him? He is supposed to know everything regarding my pet's health, who else would I trust to be educated on these matters??

It's so frustrating now when I tell people about raw, and they say things like "the breeder has bred these puppies all her life, and she's ALWAYS fed _______ so I know thats what the puppy needs", or "my puppy has really sensitive skin so he's on these REALLY EXPENSIVE biscuits that are specially designed for his skin problems". But then I remember when people asked what I fed Duke when he was little, and I would wave away their "home cooked" ideas and say "no the vet told me all he needs is dry food and water"

It borders on an abuse of power - if a lawyer or accountant did this type of thing in their business, they'd have their pants sued off them!!

Good news is, when I took Duke to the vet the other day for the first time since starting raw, I mentioned that I'd switched him to a diet of raw meat and bones, and the vet smiled and nodded and just continued the examination just told me to reduce the volume a little so he leans up a bit more lol

[Mokapi]

Sounds exactly like the spiel from the ER vet - corn is GOOD for dogs, highly digestible, good for stomach upset. And with a waiting room full of Science Diet - I guess so.

Very sad. PetSmart will probably sell alot of it.

We have Nutro and Blue Buffalo reps that come in on the weekends...I'm surprised how many people buy Blue. I know it's not a GREAT food, but it's waaaay better than what people are usually feeding. I've personally convinced...I think 11...customers to switch from something onto Blue in the past two weeks. It's not a huge accomplishment, but it makes me feel good that I can convince people.

I take my job very seriously at PetSmart and work very hard to convince people. I step into conversations to give extra information and try to persuade EVERYONE. It's unfortunate how many people take their breeders' words for it. One woman breeds German rottweilers (backyard breeder definitely) and she's only ever fed Bil-Jac and Purina and said that dogs can't eat food that doesn't have corn in it. I tried working with her for a good 15 minutes...best I could do was get her to buy some canned Blue Wilderness to supplement. I feel so bad for the dogs that have owners like that.

[Tobi]

Hills is so full of it's unbelievable...

WHAT IS ZEA MAYS and WHY IS IT IN ORIJEN?

A: The Zea Mays in ORIJEN is CORN SILK which is actually classified as an herb or botanical – not a grain. Corn Silk is NOT made from grain but rather from filaments from the flowers of female corn plant. This costly botanical features Maizenic Acid as an active ingredient and is formulated in ORIJEN diets at 300mg/kg. As corn silk does not contain corn starch or corn protein it poses absolutely no risk to dogs that may have corn allergies.

Corn silk is used to treat urinary tract infections and kidney stones and is regarded as a soothing diuretic useful for any irritation of the urinary system (a common health problem in today’s companion dogs and cats). As corn silk is used as a kidney remedy and in the regulation of fluids, this herb is believed to be helpful in treating high blood pressure and water retention.

As a well known herbal remedy, corn silk is used to treat urinary conditions in countries including the United Sates, China, Haiti, Turkey, and Trinidad. Furthermore, in China, corn silk as a component in an herbal formula is used to treat diabetes.

Source~Orijen's FAQ page.

[cprcheetah]

Pretty sad they have to resort to talking bad about other food companies, that was always a HUGE pet peeve of mine when my dad carried Hill's their rep was ALWAYS dissing the other brands (Royal Canin and Purina).....yeah that inspires confidence in me. I'm just glad that my babies are fortunate to NOT have to try to process corn.

[Mokapi]

I know it's different than corn and stuff, but I will never doubt again that dogs can't process grains: Chip got into my hamster's bag of food (my fault, I always leave the bag out but didn't close it all the way) and the next day his poop was pretty much nothing but the hamster food...and it looked just like it was in the bag. No change.