A Pet's View / June 2007
Eating Good from the Neighborhood
Problems with additives from China have sent many pet owners scurrying to find safe, local pet food options. For snacks, there are at least two West Virginia companies that produce worry-free pet snacks from domestic, human-grade ingredients.
According to Jenny Dinsmore, owner of “Poochie’s Choice” in Morgantown, all her products are made from human-grade products. She says, “I buy from human-grade suppliers. They bring me the same flour in 50-pound bags that you or the baker would buy. ” She says her raw materials all come from domestic suppliers and that they contain no gluten or other fillers.
Jenny is working with a veterinary nutritionist on a pet cookbook and more upcoming nutrition products. One product in development will contain glucosamine to help with joint pain in older animals. “People don’t have to buy commercial foods.” With products like cheddar-cheese, whole wheat pretzels and coatings including peanut butter, butterscotch and carob, Poochie’s Choice products could easily be mistaken for human food, except for the doggie-bone shape, perhaps. Although they are safe and wholesome, Poochie’s Choice are “treats,” not pet food and would not constitute a healthy, well-balanced diet.
Pam White, the owner of Paw Prints Doggie Café has actually given each of her recipes a personal “taste test.”
“I have tasted every recipe I make. There is nothing in them that you would not eat yourself,” she says. She says she has always been concerned not only about the products used as ingredients, but how they’ve been manufactured and what their overall quality is. “Pet owners should shop for pet food the same way they should shop for their own food,” she says. “The key thing is to look at the ingredient list – check for whole grains and whole proteins, not filler and byproducts. Read the first five ingredients closely. If it’s something you wouldn’t want to eat yourself, why feed it to your pets?”
Pam makes six basic flavors and Paw Prints’ specialty is the Biggie Boy Buffalo Bone, made with hormone-free, grass-fed American Bison meat. Paw Prints has a kiosk at the Town Center Mall in Charleston and in additon to their home made recipes, also sells high-nutrition pet foods, none of which have been affected by recent recalls.
Both companies’ products are available at Tamarack, Capitol Market and other West Virginia specialty shops.
For more information, visit www.doggiecafe.com, e-mail pwhite@doggiecafe.com, or phone 304-344-4470.
For more information about Poochie’s Choice, visit www.poochieschoice.us, e-mail ruslync@aol.com, or phone 304-292-4101.
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