Fungi Treats?

[Stacy]

I promise I'm not considering feeding the girls treats made out of Koji (Aspergillus oryzae) as the protein. But I was randomly browsing the internet and I stumbled across an ad for this, and I thought, "well that's the weirdest thing ever. I better share this with my doodle friends!"

Although I do think at some sort of pseudo meat once that was made from some sort of fungi. I can't remember what it was. But I remember that it wasn't the worst thing I'd ever eaten.

edit: Quorn, I ate quorn. I have no idea why.

 

https://wildearth.com/pages/about-us

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0141/7137/3626/files/Wild_Earth_-...

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Really? I don't have enough to make me crazy with the "grain free foods cause heart disease" nonsense? You have to throw in some vegetarian dog treats made by environmentalists, venture capitalists & Mars Inc? Do you want me never to sleep again? 

This is some slick marketing if I ever saw any, and that's about it. The original premise about the impact of dogs' and cats' inconsiderate meat eating ways on the environment is senseless gobbledy g*** based on a premise (not a study, a premise and a theory) by a geologist. 

WTFudge does this have to do with good nutrition for dogs??? 
It's not even really an original idea. I can show you dozens of treats made from flour, peanut butter, fruit, pumpkin, and some probiotic organisms. The main protein source isn't even the Koji. It's in the grains and the peanuts. And at 20% protein, there's little enough of it, at that. 

Go read Marion Nestle, lol. You have too much time on your hands. 

[Stacy]

Sorry, friend. I promise I'm not tying to make you crazy. It was just an ad that popped up. But even I knew it was dumb. It is slick though. I mean, who doesn't want to save the earth. But I hear you about the grain free thing too. I am seeing so many people recommend Purina with their synthetic Vitamin K, it hurts my heart. 

I really should start reading some Marion Nestle. I keep seeing Karen Becker come up in all of this, but I haven't really read anything about Nestle. There will be people who don't like this, but I really think the dog food thing resembles the anti-vax thing, and I have a deep fear that social media is going to destroy our culture. If they would just stick to cute dog pictures it would be fine.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I share your fear. It's already having the effect of dumbing down America. Critical thinking is becoming rarer than common sense, which is also on the decline. And social media, rather than bringing people together, really seems to dividing people like nothing else ever has. 

You really should read Marion Nestle. She is nothing at all like Karen Becker. She's brilliant, articulate, funny, a stickler for proven facts, and 100% unbiased. She sells nothing except her own books, and she is in nobody's pocket. 

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

I shouldn't have but I recently read the comments on a CBC article about the whole DCM thing... so many people bashing "meat free" dog food... like... what did they even read the article or the ingredients lists of the brands mentioned? Some people obviously get it and were trying to quell the storm but the level of ignorance was pretty astounding.  I mean I shouldn't be surprised and people are just scared and trying to do what's best but it boggles my mind.  I just need to stay away from the comments section next time lol.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I am truly afraid that the good pet food companies are going to go out of business, either just fold because of lost sales or be bought out by the Big Dog Food corporations, and we will be left with no choice other than garbage. We will be back in the pre-2007 days, and all due to this hysteria over nothing. It's happened to so many market segments; corporate giants buying out the small companies and no real choice for consumers. 

And if that does happen to pet food, a BIG part of the blame will fall squarely on the shoulders of anyone who has shared a link to one of those "grain-free food causes DCM" articles/warnings on social media, along with the 83,000 lemmings who have joined that FB group. 

[Stacy]

I'm pointing the finger at the vets on this one too. If I read one more time, my vet recommended Pro Plan, I'm going to lose my mind. I really don't understand if they believe this nonsense, in which case I question their intelligence, or if they have some ulterior motive that I can't figure out. 

Most recently I've run across people saying that they're seeing DCM without low levels of Taurine. I don't dig deeply into it, because it just gives me a headache. But I always want to ask: If it isn't taurine deficiency causing DCM then what evidence do you have that it's food related at all? There are so many environmental and genetic variables out there. What pesticides are they putting on their lawn? What chemicals do they use in their homes? 

It's so frustrating. I believe in science and medicine. And it seems like so many people really believe that we're out to get them and essential oils (and coconut oil!) are the answer to everything.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

That's my question, too. If there is no taurine deficiency, why do they think it's diet related?
It all goes back to Dr. Stern, who was surprised at the uptick in cases of DCM in Golden Retrievers and looked at what factors the affected dogs had in common, including diets. Here is where veterinarians' lack of nutritional knowledge plays a role in this mess, I think. Dr. Stern was not familiar with pet food brands outside of Purina, Royal canin, etc and was also not familiar with the wide variety of animal protein sources used in many of the better pet foods, especially the limited ingredient formulas. To him, a pork based diet was "exotic". To him, a private company like Fromm, which has been making dog food formulated by scientists since 1949, 70 years, in their own manufacturing facility, was a "boutique" company and a "new company". And the craziness took off from there. It now has a life of it's own. Regardless of the fact that there is still no evidence that anything in any of the affected dogs diets caused the problem. Any time anyone in any group on FB asks the innocent question "what do you feed your dog?", someone posts a link to a "grain free food cause sheart disease" article or to the Taurine Deficient Lemmings Group, as I like to call it. It doesn;t even have to be a dog-related group; I saw this happen in my neighborhood FB group. Someone posts "Our family is getting our first dog next week, what's a good food to feed him?" and after one or two people make suggestions, some lemming will come in with the doomsday post. 
I have stopped responding to any food related post on FB.

God help any future dog owner whose dog has health issues like my Jack had. There will be no choice but to feed the dog Science Diet.  

[Stacy]

That is so interesting, and I think it explains so much. Someone said something and then the masses run with it, and there's just no way to roll it back. I am with you, I hope this doesn't destroy the good dog food brands. I do have hope that even though there is a really loud facebook mob there are other, cooler heads that aren't going to change dog food based on a rumor. I hope...

[Barbara, Zoey and Zeke]

Now you are scaring me!  But I know what you mean.  Wednesday I was walking my dogs with my neighbor and her dog.  She told me our other neighbor had asked her to come over because she wanted to give her an article that she had downloaded.  I said "Let me guess - DCM." Sure enough, that was it.  It's like a Purina advertisement.  I told her just that and she agreed.  

It's hard for me to keep quiet or some of those FB posts, but I do like to see some of the dog pictures using my phone instead of the computer.  I'm a nurse and have had some nutrition (but it's been awhile) but some of those people make me want to scream!  Lemmings is a good description.  lol