Dog food that's good enough for even humans to eat

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Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Dog food that's good enough for even humans to eat
The food is created with ingredients like: beef, lentils, carrots and kale.

Once a month a box arrives at Rachael Warshaw's home. Inside, something that almost always makes her dog, Sadie, go counter surfing, human-grade dog food.

"We decided to go this route because I just felt it was a better option for her," Warshaw said. "I just love being able to read all of the ingredients and not question what any of them are, not have to google what something means."

The food is created with ingredients like beef, lentils, carrots, and kale. Once it's made, it's shipped in vacuum-sealed packs on dry ice, because there are no preservatives. Once it arrives at Rachael's door she stores the pouches in her fridge and freezer.

We found companies making pet treats and food touting products as: "human grade," "real food," "nothing artificial," "minimally processed," and "higher safety standards."

Some food makers boast that even you can even chow down, sometimes employees sample it themselves.

The Farmer's Dog Co-Founder Brett Podolsky said, "People have finally started to really understand the power that food has on our health. Now people are making that connection for their dogs."

A spokesperson for the American Veterinary Medical Association says: "before changing your pet's diet, consult with your own vet. Pets have different nutritional needs than people. There's no peer-reviewed research that supports human-grade pet food is a better choice than any other well-balanced pet food."

However, The Farmer's Dog Company says it is hearing from pet owners who claim to see results.

"Human-grade pet food is a fairly new thing and you know we can wait for years to get the science behind it. We've been getting tons of anecdotal evidence to prove that it's really changing dog's lives," Podolsky said.

Rachael says she's seeing positive changes in Sadie.

"I saw the benefits of it right of way. Her coat got shinier," Warshaw said.

The American Veterinary Medical Association says if you are thinking of changing foods, print out the ingredient list and take it to your vet to get advice.