Kohl Harrington’s documentary takes a harsh look at the questionable ingredients and frequently shabby quality control in today’s pet food industry. The film argues that too many dog and cat owners gets distracted with user-friendly marketing to notice that many of the canned and packaged foods being served to their pets are nutritionally dubious and fail to meet the basic dietary needs despite generous promises of being healthy. Even worse, the lack of care in the processing of these foods resulted in the poisoning deaths of pets and the uncontrollable grief of the owners that felt guilty in feeding their beloved creatures contaminated food. But it appears that no one is keeping an eye on this sector.
Regulating pet food is not a federal priority, and the film argues that the industry itself is not particularly adept at self-policing. It also doesn’t help that only a handful of conglomerates dominate the pet food industry, selling products under a multitude of different brands.
The film pushes the argument that raw foods are the best solution for dogs and cats, and several veterinarians talk up this approach, although potential concerns involving this answer are not raised with any great seriousness. Still, the film provides a provocative consideration of a subject that may catch many pet owners by surprise – and, hopefully, will spur them to take a second look at the ingredients list on their pets’ food cans.