Why I am not a vegan

[Jade]

Tanner, I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that we are all doing the best we can with our understanding and what feels good. So thank you for giving me the opportunity to sit on my soapbox and plant a few seeds for people to tend to later, whenever the shoots appear.

Folk-love, there is plenty of research out there about pet foods, and more and more pet foods are swinging to being less garbage food and more real food. Basically, if you're buying cheap food, like Kibbles and Bits or Iams or Ol' Roy, you're probably buying junk. You get what you pay for, as with anything. Learning to read the labels can be a big help. Chicken "meal" or bone meal are big no nos, you want it to just say "Chicken" (as in real chicken meat) or "Beef" or whatever. No weird byproducts, no artificial colors or flavoring, just meat and veggies and maybe some vitamin supplements.

Of course the absolute best is to make your own pet food, if it's at all reasonable. We were cooking every meal (vegan!) for our dog for a long time, but he was sick a few months ago and the only thing the vet could find wrong with him was slight anemia. She wanted to put him on prednisone (no!). So we went home and started mixing up his food a bit more, giving him fresh liver. Now we just make sure to mix it up a lot, he gets a lot of fresh food and we also sometimes feed him Fresh Pet brand (comes refrigerated and has a very short shelf life). Halo is a good pet food brand kibble-wise.