What better gift could there be? Both for yourself and your pet. Everything you feed your pet (food and treats) contributes to how long and healthy their life is. It is the most important decision you will ever make for your pet. So who do you trust to help you make that decision?

Can you trust the advertising you see? Most of the time the answer to that question is no.

Can you trust your breeders recommendation? Though most breeders strive to raise healthy animals, it does not make them a nutrition experts. Many are greatly influenced by the fact that they have so many dogs to feed and cost is a primary concern for them.

So you think that leaves your veterinarian. Can you trust their opinion? Again, just because they went to veterinarian school does not mean they know much about nutrition. Let me give you what I consider to be the main point to back this up. Cats are carnivores. That means they get all of their nutritional requirements from meat and fat. Yet most foods on the market, including veterinarian brands, are grain based with little, if any meat. When these diets first came out they were not scientifically tested. The companies learned over time that nutrients were missing because of ailments to your pets. Taurine is a prime example. It is an amino acid in meat and without it cats develop many ailments such as lack of fertility, immune deficiencies, cardiac problems, degeneration of the retina leading to blindness and impaired fat digestion.  If these first formulas were scientifically studied they would have known this before these foods hit the market place. They did not, and after many house hold animals were going to veterinarians with ailments, companies looked into what was causing the problem. They figured out it was a lack of taurine, and ever since have added it to cat food. But why was it missing from their diet? You see taurine is present in meat. Remember when I said cats are carnivores?  Their natural diet has taurine, but these foods that are on the market do not have much meat in them. This includes veterinarian formulas. So what do the veterinarian brands do? They add the amino acid taurine. Ask yourself - why not add meat? If your vet does not know that a cat should eat a meat diet, not a grain diet, should they be who you get nutritional advice from? If their solution is to not feed them a species appropriate diet but instead to add vitamins and minerals and amino acids to replace what they are missing in the diet. What kind of advice is this?

Now let me show you the first veterinarian food that I believe should never be allowed to be sold as a food. Most are not very good foods, but this one is disgraceful. It is a dog food. Dogs are omnivores, which means they mostly need meat and fat to get the nutrients they need but can have small amounts of grains. This is a hypo-allergenic formula. The first five ingredients are the most important.

Purina HA Canine ingredients: Starch, hydrolyzed soy protein isolate, vegetable oil, calcium phosphate, partially hydrogenated canola oil preserved with TBHQ, powdered cellulose, corn oil, potassium chloride, vegetable gums (gum arabic, guar gum), choline chloride, DL-Methionine, salt, magnesium oxide, lecithin, taurine, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, Vitamin E supplement, manganese sulfate, niacin, calcium carbonate, Vitamin A supplement, copper sulfate, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin supplement, garlic oil, Vitamin B-12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, calcium iodate, biotin, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), sodium selenite.

Starch, who knows what kind, but that does not even matter. It is not something dogs should be eating. Next we have the only protein. One of the least absorbable proteins available with large amounts of MSG in it. The rest of the food is oils and supplements. This is like feeding your children French fries with a multi vitamin every meal. The only difference is here you actually have a veterinarian recommending it. Can you imagine if your doctor recommended French fries with a multi vitamin as your child’s diet? You would find another doctor. So yes, if your veterinarian recommends Purina’s veterinarian diets, I would look for another vet. It really is the worst vet food we have ever seen.

So who do you trust?

Here at Tail Blazers we want to make your choices easier. All of our foods and treats are species appropriate and whether you want dry canned or raw food we have foods that will make sure your pet lives a long healthy life. After all, studies show that having a pet increases our life span and health. Shouldn't we do the same for them?

Brent Hauberg
Founder and President of Tail Blazers

Acana is a dry pet food made in Alberta with local, human-grade ingredients, made by the same company as the very popular Orijen. Acana’s new grain-free line comes in three choices: Prairie Harvest (chicken and fish), Pacifica (fish) and Grasslands (lamb & fish).  

Acana uses only high quality meat, sourced locally when possible. Chicken and eggs are free-run sourced from local farms and fish is caught fresh from northern lakes in Alberta and Saskatchewan and off the coast of Vancouver Island. Their lamb meat is from free-range New Zealand sheep. All ingredients are fresh, never frozen and contain no preservatives.
Acana’s grain-free line contains less protein than some other products, including its cousin product, Orijen.  This lower protein content may be beneficial for dogs that cannot tolerate the high percentage of protein in some other foods.  Additionally, Acana is also low in carbohydrates.

As always, Tail Blazers has carefully investigated this food to ensure it meets quality standards before choosing to carry it. Visit www.championpetfoods.com/acana for more information about Acana.
 
*please contact your nearest Tail Blazers location for availability

We would like to thank all of our supporters and wish you Happy Holidays! With your help it has been an amazing eight years and many companion animals are eating better than ever before.

Unfortunately the recent 79 people infected with Salmonella in the USA (click to read article) just goes to show our work is not done. So we would appreciate it if you would send this to all your friends that have pets, to help spread the word about health for our beloved pets!

Find a Tail Blazers location or hours near you!
Visit our website at www.tailblazerspets.com