Dog Food For Dinner

I have some biting news to pass on to you that may make you howl a little. It's one of those "I am a business owner who needs to boost my sales, so I'll do something crazy to be noticed" stories. At least, I think that's what this is all about.  But to the contrary, it could also be that the lady in question is just a little odd, the lone wolf in the pack..or something. The strange woman in question is from nearby  from Washington, a state that has as many odd characters as my own Oregon. She has gotten quite a bit of attention lately because of her unusual diet experiment.

What has she just done? She ate nothing but dog food  for one month to prove...well, I am not sure what. She claims it was to prove that pet food is perfectly fine for human consumption. Or, wait... maybe she wanted to show that our own human food is made with unnatural ingredients?  Hold on, is it just a marketing stunt for her pet food store? One thing for sure, if you meet here, you better stand far enough away from her when you strike up a conversation. No doubt her dog breath is killing.

Her name is Dorothy Hunter, from Richland, Washington,  and she owns a pet store called Paws Natural Pet Emporium, which is allegedly a "natural pet food seller". Sounds tome that she is simply better at marketing than is your average dirty dog store owner.  "We sell holistic, natural foods with good ingredients. I believe in our products and how good they are.  I actually believe our pets are eating better than us," Dorothy said.  

This she said after, being so pressed for time at work, Dorothy started eating the pet food in her store. Hmmmmm I think she might have tried a pizza or some other fast food delivery before scarfing down Fido's dinner, but she claims the dog food is quite tasty, thank you! Ok, I am a cynic and think she is more interested in improving her business than in raising my awareness of the nutritional values of human and dog foods. But Dorothy insists that many of the doggie foods she sells are more "natural" and sustain ably processed that what we buy in our supermarket. She even claims she is now eating some canned cat food that she loves. Oh my, better guard your bananas next up for Dorothy might be the monkey diet.
 
When Woman's Health magazine heard about Dorothy's canine appetite and consulted a registered dietitian to get the scientific lowdown on the health ramifications of her daily diet (Yep! Three doggie meals a day is what she consumed). The expert's answer shouldn't really surprise. “Yes, the ingredients listed in some pet foods may be wholesome and akin to real foods humans eat on a daily basis,” Jaclyn London, a clinical dietitian at Mount Sinai Hospital, reported to Women's Health. “But someone eating pet foods also runs a significant risk of contracting food borne illness from eating foods not intended for the human gut.” So someone should tell Dorothy that it might be smarter to eat foods created for a human's immune system and recommended daily allowance of vitamins and minerals.

Despite the oddness of this woman's new diet choice, I think her message does convey one valid point. Humans should read more of the food labels on both their own food and their pets. But the question to ask is whether Dorothy healthier now on this new doggie diet? Dorothy says that her feet don't swell as much as they used to and she has lost 2.5lbs. It's also safe to say that she is coughing up significantly less hair balls, and her coat is nice and shiny.  But she reportedly has fleas, howls at full moon and bites more often.