[Akari_32]

This Monday, Purina is coming in to the vet I’m interning at and bringing us all lunch (Panera! Heck yeah! Bacon Turkey Bravo, here I come!) and giving us a nutrional class sort of thing. I’m actually looking forward to it, despite it being Purina. I was worried I’d have to miss it because I’m only available 4 days a week at my regular job, Monday being one of those days, and they rarely ever give me a day off, since they already see me as having 3 days a week off (which between school and interning, I actually don’t).

I’ve had trouble signing into my work account all day to look my schedule for next week, and I took it as a sign when I finally got logged on and saw that I had Monday off, by some strange stroke of luck.

Anyways, I’m interesting in seeing what they have to say. I’ve never been to anything like this before, and it’ll be a fun experience! I look forward to my free Panera, as well :p

Can’t wait to let you guys know how it goes!

[GizmoMom]

That should be interesting! Would you be allowed to ask questions? Like why they use corn in their products, etc.

[InkedMarie]

I love Panera! I’m steering clear of bread these days but bacon turkey bravo & turkey bacon avocado were two of my favorites!

Report back on the meeting.

[Akari_32]

I hope so. I’d also like to ask them a few other questions, which I’ll have to brush up on on my terminology first (fancy words aren’t my friends LOL). But I will for sure let you all know how it goes 🙂

Anyone have anything they’d like me to keep an ear out for?

[Hound Dog Mom]

I feel like every interview or business luncheon I’ve ever gone to has been at Panera. I don’t know what’s up with that lol. I hate Panera too, it’s so awful.

[Akari_32]

Aw man, you’re weird! I love Panera! Lol

[aquariangt]

I hate Panera as well. I liked them when they first came to market because they were the only ones doing what they do, but I feel like they are so average in taste-with small portion sizes to boot. They also steal a lot of my business 🙂

I’m very interested in your meeting though, definitely take notes!

[theBCnut]

They do have excellent baked potato soup.

[Naturella]

Akari, if I were you, I would inquire of the use of so much grain in most of their foods. I mean, I understand that in the wild, a dog would be going for the gut and organs of a prey animal first, and inevitably ingest some of its prey’s feed, but not in an amount that would be bigger than the meat and organs they would consume… right? Or maybe I’m mistaken? Maybe Purina can answer that… LoL.

P.S. Yay for Panera! If they offered a soup in a Bread Bowl, I would sign up as 2 people and get both soups… NOM, sourdough bowl with hot soup in it… MMMM… (I digress… Sorry! lol)

[Akari_32]

That is exactly along the lines of what I’m wanting to ask them. I’ve been, out of boredom, looking around online, and found both these websites that make very good sense. I will admit, both the authors seem a little coo-coo in the head at times (like the puppy food protein percentage on the Catahoula page), but they both certainly make very good points.

http://www.catscradlecatahoulas.com/html/raw_meat_diet.html

http://rawfed.com/myths/carbs.html

The Myths About Raw Feeding website is actually very interesting. Heres the main page so you guys can see the rest of the myths.

http://rawfed.com/myths/

[Naturella]

OMG!!! *drooling over pages, especially the one with the myths* …. Love all the info!!!

[theBCnut]

If you liked the raw fed website, you should look at their recipes. I was ROFL for 20 minutes.

[Akari_32]

I never looked at anything other than the myths lol Never even realized they had anything else on there! I’ll have to look lol

[theBCnut]

Their recipes are like this

Brisket of Beef

Take one brisket of beef and hand it to the dog.

Goat Head

Take the goat head and hand it to the dog.

Eggs

Hand the eggs to the dog. Or you may want to feed them as a supplement to another meal.

Cracks me up just thinking about it. When I found their “recipes.” I was scouring the internet looking for recipes for balanced raw meals. They definitely made me relax a bit, quite a bit.

[Cyndi]

Ha ha!! I got a kick out of those “recipes” too BCnut! I clicked on everyone, just to see if they said the same thing, lol!

Akari, you should ask Shawna on here if there is anything she’d like you to ask. She was recently blocked from one of Purina’s facebook pages for sharing her point of view. Too bad she doesn’t live near you, I’m sure she’d LOVE to sit in on that meeting. Lol!!

[Dori]

Cyndi and Akari. Shawna isn’t typically on the forums so you would have to figure out a different way to reach out to her otherwise she may not even know about the Purina talk on Monday. Never mind. I’ll send Shawna an email right now and ask her to check out this thread. 🙂 Duh????? Sometimes it takes a moment, a senior moment I guess, for a lightning bolt to hit me and come up with the most common sense of ideas.

[Cyndi]

Lmao!! Dori! I was just going to send her a link to this thread on facebook, but your way is good too, lol! Especially since you did so good coming up with the idea. 😉

[Dori]

Cyndi and Akari. I just sent Shawna an in-depth email re this thread and told her to post her to Akari any questions she might want Akari to ask the Purina people. HAHAHA. I thought it would make for a more entertaining meeting for Akari and they can’t just block her out of the meeting and pretend they didn’t hear the questions. You know Shawna will have some choice questions. Would love to be a fly on the wall.

Akari. DO NOT GET sidetracked by the Panera lunch. Listen, learn, ask questions and report back. Hee Hee! I’m giggling but am perfectly serious. Sometimes if you’re chewing you can’t hear as well. Just take the Panera lunch home with you for supper. We need you on your toes.

[Dori]

Just heard from Shawna and she’s going to check this thread out. Oh goody!

[Cyndi]

Lmao @ Dori!!! You crack me up!

[Akari_32]

Oh boy, now *I’M* gunna have to worry about getting blocked from all of Purina’s social media pages and emails LOL

I will for sure see how the meeting goes and ask what I can. I guess we only have about an hour with them, so I’ll do what I can (provided it corresponds to what we even talk about– the vet tech said they are typically “no big deal” so I’m not really sure what to expect lol)

[Shawna]

OH MY GOSH!!! You guys are hysterical!! 🙂

Cyndi and Dori are correct. I did get blocked from posting to the Purina Veterinary Exchange Facebook page. 🙂 I posted much more than below but this will give you an idea.

They recently posted an article about reasons not to feed “people food” to dogs which drummed up a LOT of negative feedback for them. I was actually one of the nice (well, polite) ones on the page. 🙂

1. I asked them if they felt veterinary nutritionist Meg Smart (who taught veterinary nutrition) was incorrect when she stated “I see a benefit in feeding whole foods whether cooked or raw.” http://www.angryvet.com/angryvet-nutrition-interview-drs-joseph-wakshlag-and-meg-smart/#sthash.fVPLTfI9.dpuf They ignored my question but warned me about marketing for other sites.

2. Sugar is apparently added for “texture and fiber”. But do the nutritionists and vets who formulate Purina diets, specifically Beneful, really feel that sugar is an appropriate ingredient for dogs? They told me this page was for their prescription line and that my question was “off topic”. Keep in mind that the original post was about “human foods” like “milk”, “raw eggs” etc. 🙂 I actually don’t disagree with most of the points they were trying to make (adding foods could alter the balance of the already balanced diet). It was their delivery that was the problem.

3. They posted info about their new HA line for allergies. These foods have been chemically hydrolyzed to break the proteins down into amino acids which makes them less likely to cause an allergic reaction (as the body is allergic to proteins not amino acids). However proteins that have been hydrolyzed create the same issue as monosodium glutamate — which has been shown to cause illnesses like diabetes, heart disease, white matter brain lesions, multiple sclerosis etc. So I asked Purina if dogs were “immune” to the problems associated with MSG in humans. They told me to check with my vet on what my dog might be immune to. Uhm??? So I explained I meant all dogs, not just mine. They ignored the question. Then I linked this article by vet Dr. Shawn Messonnier suggesting dog are affected by “excitotoxins” like those in Purina HA. http://www.byregion.net/articles-healers/Dr_Shawn.html Still ignored the question.

4. They also posted an article stating “Many people have turned to gluten-free diets to help them lose weight & feel better, but the fact remains that very few dogs’ diets are improved by going gluten-free.” So I asked them if they had done testing to demonstrate that gluten couldn’t cause “gluten ataxia” in dogs (gluten ataxia is a neurological disease in humans caused by gluten). I linked articles discussing gluten’s role in other diseases in humans, like type 1 diabetes (the kind dogs get) and asked if any testing had been done.

I also linked a Journal of Nutrition page demonstrating dogs can lose weight on a HIGH protein diet (52% was the diet tested). This is about the time they blocked me and deleted all of my comments.

I don’t feel too bad cause they deleted most of the negative and questioning comments on their page from others too. 🙂

My guess is that you would be asked to leave, or appropriately quieted, if you started asking questions like this but if it’s boring and you want to stir the pot a bit….. 🙂

I LOVE Panera salads and more importantly, my 3 year grandson who is gluten intolerant loves their salads. Especially the apple one although he gives me all his pecans.. Woot woot 🙂

• This reply was modified 10 years, 1 month ago by Shawna.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 1 month ago by Shawna.

[Akari_32]

That’s historical, Shawna! OMG XD I’ll try and adapt these questions a bit and see if I can’t fit them in. I’d love to here an actual answer from them lol

All this talk about Purina, and this post popped up as a “suggestion” on my timeline

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10152395297948857&id=136818983856

Let me know if that doesn’t work, and I’ll try it on the computer.

[Dori]

Interesting Akari, the link isn’t working. Never mind. It just came up. Thx

• This reply was modified 10 years, 1 month ago by Dori.

[Akari_32]

I was scrolling through the comments, and this one caught my eye. The way the rep responded to the dog that diet of cancer is just down right crazy! Safe when used as directed– How else would you use a dog food? Shove it down their nose?? LOL

https://m.facebook.com/comment/replies/?ctoken=10152395297948857_10152396905498857&ft_ent_identifier=10152395297948857&gfid=AQBA9Mr4szrB_T-M

[Bobby dog]

There’s a message that the page I requested can’t be displayed at this time. 🙁

[Akari_32]

Hm, works for me. It’s probably because I posted it from my phone. I’ll do it from the computer when I get home from work.

[Bobby dog]

Morning! Don’t worry about it, you have other things to do just wanted to see with my own eyes. lol

[Dori]

Bobby dog. I got the same message with I first tried it, second time I tried it it worked fine.

Hey Akari 32. We’ve had some laughs going back and forth on this thread with you about the Purina meeting on Monday, but first and foremost, keep in mind that it is your job so you don’t want to antagonize your boss, the vet. No one wants you to lose your internship because of this. It will be interesting enough just to hear what they actually say to vets and staff when they go around visiting vets.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 1 month ago by Dori.

[aimee]

Dori,
I think that is a very good point… especially if the the boss is paying the employees for their time.

Akari 32,
If you are going to bring up particular issues be well prepared. For example, if I was at the meeting with you and you asked about a hydrolyzed diet causing harm due to freed glutamate these are things as your co worker I may ask you: What do you see as the significant difference between glutamate being freed before ingestion vs soon after since glutamate is freed through digestion? I may also ask you to explain that effects of dose and route of administration. When given independently in high doses as a gavage or when injected glutamate can indeed cause harm but those same effects were not be duplicated when fed as part of a diet. As this exposure is at physiologic levels and dietary how would that research be relevant in this situation? From an evolutionary point why if free glutamate is so harmful is it abundant in breast milk?

I’m just thinking out loud here… make sure you understand your concerns, and you are well prepared.

[Akari_32]

Here’s the link to the video. Should work now, and you can access the comments off to the side.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152395297948857&set=vb.136818983856&type=2&theater

I will certainly not get myself into anything I can’t get myself out of, or anything that’ll get me kicked out or in bad blood with the vet I’m interning with. The tech I shadow shares similar views with me about Purina, but the vet is one of those “if it’s vet recommended, it must be good” people. He likes Purina, Iams, Hills, and all that junk. Surprisingly, though, he doesn’t seem to approve of Royal Canin. But he’s not going to say anything bad about any food his clients feed their dogs, though he does turn them towards Science Diet if something that the prescription line “treats” arises. He’s traditional in that sense, but he doesn’t push unnecessary vaccines and medication. Interesting lol

[Akari_32]

Todays the day! I’ll be brushing up on my nutritional terms and such over the next hour a half, and I have a note book and pencil ready to take with me! Hopefully no one will think I’m nuts LOL

[Cyndi]

Good Luck!! Enjoy your Panera, lol!

[Akari_32]

Just letting you guys know I haven’t forgotten about you! I have some notes written down that I need to type out, and I haven’t had a change to do it because I been doing work and interning, and then homework in my “spare time,” and then sleep in my spare-spare time. Taking two online express 12 week courses at the same time was not one of my better ideas @.@

However, I will tell you the meeting was about their prescription diets, something I’m not very familiar with, but some things came up that I know about (like their new HA diet, and the use of soy as the protein source, which I find absolutely disgusting– though the rep uses for her and loves the results it gives). The rep was too nice to stir anything up with her, but we all got a kick out the lawsuit with Diamond, and I was surprised to see that even the vet knew about how bad they were (how much he knows about them, I don’t know, but he does know they are total joke at least).

Anyways, I’ll get my notes to you guys as soon as I can. Its not much, but I find them pretty interesting :p

[Dog_Obsessed]

I just went on the purina Facebook page, and it was HILARIOUS how they replied to comments. They are citing nothing but their own website.

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