Holistic pet stores near Bloomfield? (Pittsburgh, California: buying, organic, live)

[Susecita]

Where should I look? My dogs eat human grade food---Innova, Nature's Miracle, Etc. and I want to keep them on a similar diet. Thanks!

[Hopes]

I just put your zip code into Innova's "where to buy" webpage.

The following places are the closest to you:

Wag Barkery Boutique
815 South Aiken Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15232
(412) 802-8300

Smiley's Pet Pad
215 S. Highland Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15206
(412) 362-7556

Here's the link: Where to Buy Holistic Dog Food & Holistic Cat Food Products – Innova Holistic Pet Food

The site recommends calling first to make sure the store has the brand you prefer.

Apparently, some stores do not actually carry the food, but they will order it for you.

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by Susecita

Where should I look? My dogs eat human grade food---Innova, Nature's Miracle, Etc. and I want to keep them on a similar diet. Thanks!

I feed my herd of kitties Innova -- they have the best coats... (but I'm in California -- Innova is easy to get out here.)

Just an FYI -- Natural Balance dog food is under recall AGAIN -- this time botulism. Along with a bunch of canned chilis from Georgia.

Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance® Pet Foods :1

[hnsq]

if your dog eats human grade food, why not just go to a grocery store?

just a thought...

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by hnsq

if your dog eats human grade food, why not just go to a grocery store?

just a thought...

In order to cook for one's pet, you have to do a lot of study of what they need. It's not an easy route to go -- at least not for cats, dogs may be easier since they are not obligate carnivores -- so that's why we turn to pet food companies that use human grade foods.

The term "human grade" means that they use real chicken or beef or pheasant or venison and use that in the food -- unlike the cheaper brands of pet foods that usually list ground corn (a filler, and not very good for pets) as the first ingredient, and the protein source is ground meal -- which doesn't say what it is... and then theres animal digest... ewwwww.

And try to find ingredients for the cheaper foods online. No -- they hide that. They don't want you to know how yucky it is... they just tell you it meets the nutritional standards. But feed them a good food and watch how healthy they'll get....

[Hopes]

My dogs do just fine with slightly upper middle class dog food and the occassional people food.

[Mr. Mon]

FYI: Wag on South Aiken has been closed for a few months now. I believe there's a restaurant in the space these days. I'm sure they'd feed your dogs if you asked nice enough.

[Susecita]

As Tally's mom said, it is very hard to strike a balance when feeding human food. My dogs actually are on a half kibble half raw diet after much research and consultation with a nutritionist. Yes, they are spoiled silly. Hence, I do make raw patties for them that they love but that leaves me still with trying to track down holistic food in Pittsburgh. Grrrr. Any first hand experiences? I plan to take a big bag of food from here to last me a while but would love to locate a holistic pet store at a point in Pitt.

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by Hopes

My dogs do just fine with slightly upper middle class dog food and the occassional people food.

I was once part of a cat board where the fights over food quality were "fur flying"...

So I'm not goin' there!!

And while I do feed my nine fur babies the best stuff I can find... I also remember that Dagwood, Che and Basil -- our first three cats -- lived for the longest time on Friskies and Purina, because that's all we knew about. We lost Basil at 17, Che was 18, and Dagwood was 21.

Do they still makes Dad's? I remember they loved that stuff...

Jean -- humom to Seamus, Zasu, Tally, Baby, Sam, Knuckles, Bonus, Edgar and Squinkle.

[boxergirl32]

I have no problem with others using the stuff from the grocery store, but as someone whose good friend lost 2 animals during the last recall I am now pretty saavy as to what is in those dog foods and I will not use them until those companies quit charging obscene amounts of money for their garbage. There is a reason that most of the main food producers also own major dog food companies and that is because they can get rid of their waste---ALL of it.
My neighbor worked in a dog food factory 2 years ago and he witnessed rancid meat still packaged from the grocery store- foam and plastic wrap intact going in, animal oil from fryers that sat out in vats in the sun for over 4 weeks getting antifreeze agents to stop the spoilage process, and instead of the lovely corn and wheat shown on the package he witnessed fiber being added in the form of stale "sno-caps" and twinkies in plastic, in the box being fed into the mix by the pallet load. He was fortunate enough not to work in the "meat by product" rendering plant that processes roadkill and dogs and cats put to sleep (with collars still on...) that comprised much of the animal protein-which by the way, the process does not completely neutralize the poison used to put the animals to sleep.

Del Monte and many other big names own some of the biggest names in dog food and charge you for buying their garbage. Read the ingredients-if it says meat by products, meat broth, or any type of unspecified "meat" product as an ingredient---it is something they are not proud of displaying by name. They have no problem identifying chicken or beef but what falls under the category of "meat" could be anything that does not qualify as a "normal" source of protein. It is a blanket term used to hide that you are turning your own animal into a cannibal.

I can vouch for human grade dog food, I feed my dog Evanger's cans with Timberwolf Organics and Fromm mixed together as dry and my senior boxer who was plauged with dietary problems (even with Science Diet), was getting frail, and prematurely grey is now several years later looking younger than he was 5 years ago! His grey is diminished, his coat is rich and shiny, and his muscle tone is back the way it was as a young dog, he no longer has problems up stairs or getting in the car. I am just glad to do anything to give my dog whatever it took to extend his healthy life with me!

The best part of the human grade diet is that since there is so much less filler (or NO filler) in it- he eats less and poops only once or twice a day versus LARGE movements almost 4 times. I save money on the amount of food for a large dog, and his vet visits are only for check ups! Right there it was worth it.

What made me the sickest was the new food called Benefuls in the cute little rectangular boxes. Still using unidentified meat as a main ingredient, they are charging over $2.00 a serving! People should be mad as consumers!

I do admit a failure though...I was very unsuccessful in converting my cat to a human grade diet. So I went through all the types of cat foods that she would eat and found that Meow Mix was probably the best in quality while Deli Cat was the Worst. Meow Mix dry and the cups have very little "meat" ingredients if any. I talked with my vet and he said that people have the hardest time converting cats over because they become very attached to the coating and oils present in commercial cat products. I was disgusted to find out that if my cats food did not have that thick oil sprayed on it, it would smell so bad the cat would not even use it as litter.

I am still very interested in the labels in the grocery store and if I come across a dog food that is cost effective and has no scary ingredients I will pass it on...if you gotta use that stuff I recommend using Butcher Block Pedigree cans, and Iams chicken flavored dry dog food as the lesser of all evils. Also in moderation I have found that those Semi-moist burger beef flavored Moist and Meaty have little "bad" ingredients but are bad for dog's teeth and contain much sugar.

All in all I protest these companies for passing on their garbage to us in expensive bags and cans. I want them to make a quality product so that I CAN buy dog food in the store.

For those who nay say this...my gramps fed his animals people food along with a high quality (for the time period) dry and his dogs lived to 17 thru 22 years old and he had cats that lived to 28 and a record of 31 years old!