I accept there are very different opinions on feeding pets and it's something I have been in turmoil with myself over the years. I just feel this program sent out a very damming message with no real investigation.
The only real argument to tell people on main stream TV that raw food is bad and don't feed it, was really down to poor hygiene practice. Dogs do not have impeccable hygiene! Reese being fed a complete raw food is probably the least of my worries with my little walking health hazard!
This program failed as there was no balanced review from the growing number of vets that do support raw feeding, they didnt explain what raw food was fed, they didnt even give an explanation if the same test was carried out on dogs fed other type of food and the results (however, they have online and mentioned the percentage of levels found were higher in raw fed dogs not that the other ways of feeding results were clear)
I feel so sorry for the very good complete raw food companies we have in this country, who work to the strictest guidelines to produce probably some of the safest products in the raw food industry. They made no mention of the amount of kibble etc that have been recalled over the years due to bacteria contamination as well as other things!
It was just very bad, biased reporting.
Last week the same program tested kibble and wet food and stated that most of them have a deficit in the nutrients content, they recommend to feed a wide range of this food in the hope everything needed would be covered. This is something I understand the manufacturers are in uproar over and questioning their testing results.
The pet food industry is a minefield of conflicting information, I saw a report on a kibble I have fed my dogs on in the past that has a 5 star rating on one site due to ingredients, but It gets a 1 star rating from the non profit clean lable project because of the very high amount of heavy metals found tested in the product!!!
I just hope all this will set off real non profit and no manufacturers funded investigations as to how best feed our beloved pets....which is all we really want to do.