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Bone Appetite!
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Rick Allen
July 11, 2004
Let's see a show of hands, how many of you have ever eaten a dog or cat treat? Uh-huh, uh, one, two, four, five, seven, ah, you over there, is that hand up, or are you just scratching at fleas?
OK, put your hands down. Now how many of you have ever snuck a dog or cat treat - just to see what it tastes like?
I admit I have. I tried Milk Bones at different times, but my favorite was something called Doggie Donuts - little blue and red rings about six times larger than Lifesavers, but nowhere near as tart.
Though I didn't eat a lot of them, they were crunchy, kept my teeth clean and eliminated a nasty halitosis problem. The only drawbacks were a tendency to chase cats - I usually ended up slamming my head into trees, which should explain a lot - and howl at the moon.
Admittedly, I was much younger then - by days, at any rate!
Now comes word that an outfit over in my old high school stompin' grounds in Florida's Pinellas County creates treats and food for Fido and Kitty that's good enough for we humans to eat too; still, this could lead to taking the "man's best friend" thing to a new level, even though the growling and bared teeth usually tend to warn most of us off - particularly in Kitty.
The whole idea has the makings of bad TV sitcom: Tonight, on a special expanded episode of "Friends," the one in which Monica prepares dinner for Ross' monkey but Chandler is too hungry to wait.
Or "Sienfeld." George (at table in the Restaurant Restaurant), whispers: "That server over there is a real dog . . . Oh, yes, um gimme the Mighty Dog - that's real lean, right? - and a side of Doggie Donuts."
Server: "Grrrrrrrrrrrr!"
Truly, must-flea TV.
Were it not for a sickly Spot, man's (speaking generically here) and pet's foods would continue sitting on separate shelves. They probably still do, but if your pantry is stocked with Halo, Purely for Pets foods it wouldn't be a culinary disaster if you should pick up a can from the "animal" shelf and dish it up for dinner - your own.
It would be a stew made from free-range chicken, zucchini, squash, carrots, green beans, peas with a little garlic powder garnish; mostly, the same things you'd put into a stew of your own making, only of better quality.
Back in 1986, Halo founder Andi Brown had a cat named Spot - yes, just like Data in "Star Trek: The Next Generation." She continues: "Spot developed health problems that couldn't be corrected; eyes and coat and teeth and an odor problem that could probably clear out all of Ocala.
"The vets diagnosed Spot with an 'incurable genetic intestinal disease,' " she says.
Spot, only about 18 months old at the time, wasn't given much longer to live by the professionals. One night a friend came over and asked what was wrong with the cat. Brown says she explained the diagnosis, and the friend asked, "Well, what are you feeding him?"
"I'm a good mother," she replied. "Only the best available." The friend looked at a can of the premium food, exclaimed "This is garbage!" and proceeded to brew up a chicken stew which the three of them - the friend, Brown and Spot - sat down and enjoyed a hearty meal of together.
"In about four days, Spot began to turn around," Brown says. Before long, Spot was completely healed and was a whole new cat. Moreover, Brown began offering doses of Spot's Stew to friends with sickly pets, "and pretty soon we were curing other's cats and dogs."
Spot, by the way, died about 18 months ago; not bad for an animal given only a few months to live - back in 1986!
Anyway, Spot's Stew is now the foundation of a full-line of pet products produced under the Halo, Purely for Pets label. Brown says all ingredients are 100 percent FDA approved for human consumption made in a U.S.D.A.-approved kitchen.
"I taste every batch we make myself," she adds. "I prefer the food for cats over dogs; it's a bit sweeter."
"We don't test on animals, we test on humans," Brown adds in a letter sent via e-mail.
Most pet food today, Brown says, is made from "by-products" - stuff that used to go straight into the garbage - and grains. "They even include roadkill. You won't find any of that in my pet food."
But one product Brown vows Halo "will never produce is a dry food." Dry food, she says, merely pulls moisture from an animal's body; it's one reason cats especially can have urinary tract troubles.
The closest to dry Halo gets is the Liv-A-Littles treats, freeze-dried bits of chicken, beef or cod.
She sent over a some samples of the fare, and yes, I had to try it: For both dogs and cats, the treats actually do taste like white-meat chicken, if a bit dry, and the beef treats taste like chipped beef. I wouldn't make a habit of them, but both are pretty good. The cats liked them too.
And they're a lot better than Doggie Donuts.
Halo puts out 28 different food and grooming products for pets, including a line for birds. "It's the only pet food approved for human consumption, it's just tailored for pets," Brown says, adding her's was the only pet food manufacturer represented at the Fancy Food Show in New York late last month - a trade show to exhibit the very latest in coming culinary trends.
Halo, she says, beyond creating pet food also exists to educate pet owners on the health and care of their animals. Included with every order, packed in environmentally friendly stale popcorn for shipping, is a booklet on holistic pet care. "Nutrition, not breed, is the single most important factor in your pet's health and longevity," she writes in the booklet.
"One of the biggest, newest problems facing pets today is diabetes," she says. "Their food is mostly grains and grains turn to sugar. Remove the grains from their diet and the pancreas will function the way it's supposed to."
The whole line of Halo, Purely for Pets can be viewed and ordered at the company's Web site, www.halopets.com. The products also are sold at Mother Earth natural foods market on East Silver Springs Boulevard in Ocala.
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