Thanks to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The authors are the owners of a pet food kitchen that uses only human grade ingredients. They go into great detail about how kibble is made, even expensive kibble, with absolute garbage ingredients and how big kibble manufacturers get away with this practice, even listing wholesome sounding ingredients on the bag even though there is little more than a trace of recognizable food in the kibble.

I have just apologized to my 3 dogs, whom I adore and who are my kids, for the $70 a bag crap I have been feeding them. I thought spending more money would get them better food but I guess not. They all look a lot better than when they were adopted, shinier coat, more fit, but I guess that is thanks to exercise and feeling safe rather than good food. I am sort of inclined to try the recipes in the book because buying pre cooked human grade food for 3 big active dogs would probably bankrupt me and they won't be able to tell me what a horrible cook I am like humans can. Though I think of my last 3 dogs who lived to 16, 14, and 12 on slightly cheaper kibble than what my current dogs get and I am not sure of how big of a factor the food is but after reading what goes into the food I am totally grossed out. I knew it wasn't good but didn't know how bad. Ugh.

Having 4 dogs and buying a lot of dog food, was looking forward to reading this. Before getting my dogs I'd research the food i would be feeding them in order to make sure that I gave them quality food. thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was eye opening for me! I am a pet parent to 2 dogs and I strive to give them the best. I had no idea how big and unregulated the dog food industry was and how pet food was manufactured until I read this book. A must read for pet parents!

I received an eARC of Big Kibble by Shawn Buckley; Dr. Oscar Chavez from St. Martin's Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

5-stars! I'm so glad I read this book... What an eye-opener! This is a must-read for all pet owners!

If you love your pups this is a must read. The book does a great job of shedding light on a pretty dark industry,

After reading about the pet food industry, I have made definitive changes in how and what I feed my dogs.
I have really started to examine the ingredients listing and have incorporated more fresh vegetables and meat into their diets.

Big Kibble really explains how LAX the regulations are around the manufacturing of pet food and honestly, it's really scary. In America, I think pet owners take for granted that the pet food supply is as safe as the human food supply and in truth it's really not. The material, because I can't call it food, that is allowed to be made into pet foods is appalling.

Read this book! And seek out manufacturers who are committed to healthy food practices or try to make it yourself.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Well-written and eye opening. This book points out issues with what goes into pet food. There are a lot of questionable items that are in pet food that the average person may not be aware of.

Thank you St Martin’s Press, Shawn Buckley, Dr. Oscar Chavez, and Netgalley for this book in exchange for an honest review. I am so glad I’ve read this. I so definitely be doing more research on the brands of dog food for my future dog. 🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating from me.

If you're an attentive dog parent, you probably already know a lot of this information. There are many unscrupulous purveyors of dog food out there, including often deadly ingredients.

Because I write the golden retriever mystery series, I have learned a great deal about what to feed my dogs, both fictional and real, and I highly recommend this book if you love your canine companions and want to keep them healthy.

Thank you to the publisher for my copy - all opinions are my own.

I must say that I found Big Kibble to be a highly disappointing trip down the road of obvious, if not borderline obnoxious , self promotion with a clear agenda by the writers to redirect pet lovers to buy their own product.

While, if you had the patience to dig through an absolute ton of fear-mongering, there is some good and truthful information about some of the more questionable practices of pet food manufacturing by some of the bigger names in the industry, there was also just paragraph after paragraph of exhausting and misleading, agenda-driven drivel around kibble as a whole.

I believe that pet owners SHOULD be doing their homework on what is in the bag of food they are feeding their animals. However the idea that all kibble is bad, over processed and unhealthy food for dogs and cats is just complete and utter nonsense. There are many incredible companies that DO make legitimately top of the line products, with high quality ingredients that are not only safe, but extremely healthy for your pet to eat. To suggest that you are putting your pets health at risk by feeding kibble is ridiculous.

This was clearly just a few hundred pages of an advertising initiative by a company. I would take this book with a grain of salt and be sure to do your own research before buying into the one sided narrative these two business owners are trying to spin.

This was a hard book to review. There's LOTS of good information about the best and worst ways to feed your pets. I'm sure I'll be quoting tidbits of it for sometime. But it was long, very long, and repetitive.

As I read, I kept wishing that it had been filmed as a documentary (I, who consistently prefer the book to the movie!) -- and then I realized it was because the material simply needed to be condensed the way it is when adapted to screen.

Perhaps the thing I like least about the book is that the two named authors are partners in a whole-food-for-dogs business -- and if it had been filmed, it would be one long infomercial. The third author as cited in the book ("ghostwriter") made some factual errors that made me question the accuracy of the other data that were new to me.

Two examples: 1) The iconic TV pooch Lassie was identified as a border collie rather than a rough collie. They are quite different, in appearance and temperament; and 2) In the section on making your own dog food, readers are advised to "Make sure to choose potatoes that are fully ripe -- no green spots." It's fairly common knowledge that green spots on potatoes have nothing to do with ripeness -- they indicate that exposure to light has caused a toxin called solanine to form. Unhealthy for people, too.

Thanks to NetGalley and St.Martin's Press for an advance review copy.

I found out about this title through a Webinar I attended. I knew that kibble had ingredients that were not the freshest, but I did not know so many of the things discussed in this book. I think the authors do a good job of covering the roles and the importance of dogs in our lives, and especially the incredible abilities and personalities dogs have. It is easy to forget to really see our dogs, to see how much feeling and loyalty they have, how happy they are and how freely they give us their love. The second part of the book really is a wake up call. You don't ever think about your pet's food so much, but this title will make sure you don't forget to think about the ingredients and how kibble is made. Very well-researched, and very important for pet owners. Hopefully this will help our dogs live longer, healthier lives.

I’m one of those dog moms who obsessively reads labels and won’t feed my dogs anything with byproducts or fillers. So I was looking forward to learning more about what’s best for my dogs’ health.

This book starts with an interesting look at the history of dog food companies and the types of food sold. As dogs moved from outside into our homes, from pets to family members, the dog food industry grew and, of course, became a big money-making business. The authors compare the industry to the negative aspects of Big Tobacco and Big Pharma, hence the title “Big Kibble.”

Then we’re given information on how dog food is currently made, as far as most mainstream brands are concerned. It’s disconcerting to know what’s allowed in their “food,” and how much of a dog’s health problems can be traced to diet, but this information is not new. Also, the authors lump all dog food into this Big Kibble category, except, of course, their own and a few other nameless human-grade brands.

The content is repetitive, with the same information included in multiple sections.

The content also tends to feel self-serving, too much like an infomercial. The authors own a human-grade dog food company, which they mention quite frequently throughout. Their food is extremely expensive, making it impractical for most dog owners.

They discuss homemade food as an option, which is great, and they include a few recipes at the end of the book. The problem here is that they don’t give readers a clue as to the amount per serving. This is vital information. Recipes are useless if you have no idea how much to give your dog. When I went on their website to use the “Feeding Calculator” they talked about, I found that I have to provide my email address so they can send me the information. This, to me, feels like a bait and trap. There are sites that provide free weight feeding charts without snagging your email address, and this information absolutely should’ve been included in the book.

Despite my grumbling, there’s some good information for people unfamiliar with the perils of certain dog food, and the history of dogs as pets with the coinciding emergence of dog food companies is interesting.

As an owner of four dogs, I was completely shocked and taken aback by what I read in this book. This is a must-read for all pet owners!!!

We love dogs and they love us humans. Sometimes dogs feel like one of the family. So how should they be fed and taken care of? The authors explore the big business of pet food, a 30+ billion dollar industry.

The first part of the book is about dogs and their relationship to humans. I was surprised to find about the increase in dog friendly coffee shops, for example, as the importance of pets is more widely recognized. That is followed by an exploration of the history of commercial dog food, the contents, and the corporate practices. Lastly, the authors identify what dogs really need to eat for optimum health, human grade food, and include some of their own recipes.

There is disturbing information included in this book, such as what the FDA really regulates and what “Made in the USA” really means (sourcing from China). The stories of dogs suffering and dying from toxic ingredients are heart breaking. The influence of corporations on veterinarians and vet schools is disturbing. And some of the descriptions of “meat” sourcing, I have to admit I skipped reading. It is for those with strong stomachs.

The authors did not write this book to make money. All royalties go to rescue organizations. They did not write this book to sell their own dog food products. They offer food recipes in the book and others readers can download for free at their JustFoodForDogs website.

If you love your dog, this book is worth reading.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

We humans have an interesting and questionable capacity for turning a blind eye regarding what we eat as well as what we feed our cherished pets. We turn a blind eye toward how our food makes its way to us as, and we do the same for our pets. It’s easier that way. And most of us do like to do the easy thing, even if it’s at a cost.

As many of you know, at the beginning of the summer I lost my beloved Scout. The cause of death was an aggressive form of cancer that he hid from me until a week before he died. In the subsequent months I’ve done a lot of thinking about dogs (and cats) and cancer. Oddly, I have lost every single one of my pets to cancer–except for one. Cha developed acute kidney failure at 11. She was literally at death’s door, my vet said. She wouldn’t eat the renal kibble food (to me it smelled rancid so I didn’t blame her) and I was at wit’s end. I found an online support group who provided recipes and discussed supplements and other necessities for combatting renal failure. From that day on, I home-cooked her meals. She left me five and a half years later due to complications of degenerative myelopathy (a hereditary disease). Home cooking her meals had given her many years that she wouldn’t have had otherwise, without a doubt.

Is it coincidence that the only dog I cooked for never got cancer? I frankly don’t think so, and after having read Big Kibble by Shawn Buckley and Dr. Oscar Chavez, I feel even more fervently that it’s no coincidence at all.

First, I want to tell you that Buckley and Chavez formed a company that makes real, human-grade food for dogs. The cynical amongst us would suggest that they are promoting this book to garner sales. And, perhaps that’s true. However, the information provided in this book is information that is available to anyone wanting to do the research.

The authors provide case after case, many of them infamous, about how pet feed (not a typo) is not regulated. I remember very well the incidents with melamine in pet feed that killed thousands of dogs and cats in the late naughts. I counted myself extremely lucky that my three dogs and cat survived that time when so many others didn’t. And then recently there was the case of pentobarbital, a drug that is used in animal euthanasia, killing several dogs who ate particular dog foods.

All of us believe that the same regulations that are imposed on human food are also imposed on the feed we give our pets, but we would be wrong. Big Kibble provides eye opening details about how companies get away with suggesting that a pet food is totally made in the USA when in actuality ingredients have been sourced from China.

I do believe that the authors want consumers to be aware of how kibble is made and are not just out for themselves. They point toward other companies that are making whole, human-grade food for dogs as well as offer several recipes for home-feeding your dog–which I very much appreciate. They also inform the reader that there are veterinary resources for doing home-cooked meals for your dog. They don’t pretend to be the end all for creating healthy meals.

I just needed a slight nudge to stop feeding Sophie kibble. What I received what a great big old shove and I am thankful.

Big Kibble is necessary reading for any dog owner. Period.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When the publisher contacted me about reviewing this, my first reaction was "No" as I don't do much non-fiction. But then I thought about it some more. I'm owned by a cat and not a dog but I have been thinking recently about what I feed my cat, so I said yes. While the book's focus is on dogs and their nutritional needs, much of the history of pet feed and its ingredients, applies to cats too. I am definitely reading the labels on Claude's food more closely and reconsidering what I can feed him. The beast is not much for fresh human food; he turns up his nose at turkey, chicken, and tuna but loves cheese.

If I owned a dog, I would be changing his food ASAP. While Chavez and Buckley don't use scare tactics, they don't really need to. The facts they present are scary enough. Animal poop is allowed to be used in dog food. There's no federal oversight of pet food. The "governing" body
is an association that works with feed companies, not to improve them, but to help with sales. Heavy levels of certain metals are allowed in dog feed. The nutritional levels you see posted on labels? Not accurate. They are calculated before the food is processed, but processing, even simple cooking, changes nutrient value. Feed can contain as little as 3% beef, calculated pre-processing, so the final value may actually be 1 or 2% beef. yet that package can legally be labeled as containing beef.

Chavez, Buckley, and Paris have an easy to read, conversational style. There are a few dry patches and some repetition, the book is heavily researched and annotated, but mostly it was an easy read. Easy in style, if not always in content, and thought-provoking for sure. I was appalled at what is allowed to go into pet food, and just how processed it actually is. The difference between pet food and pet feed was eye opening also. And all those boutique, high-cost brands? Many of them are no different from the cheap feed, just marketed differently. The authors break down what is known about canine nutrition and the methods manufacturers use to meet a bare minimum. A bare minimum calculated before processing. Much of the taste and nutritional value that are lost in processing are added back in via spray-on flavor and generic vitamin mixes. But those mixes aren't regulated like human vitamins are and the minerals and vitamins may not be from optimal sources. But one problem is that not enough is known about canine nutrition. Most veterinarian programs don't even offer courses in animal nutrition. And sponsorship of scholarships and conferences is often hosted by pet feed manufacturers. A common practice in many fields to be sure, but it effects vet students and full-fledged vets opinions of dog food and nutrition.

And of course, as we know from human medicine, diet affects health. Why wouldn't that be true for dogs? The authors give anecdotal evidence but there is apparently a dearth of research on canine diet and health, a fact they lament. They have done some studies of their own and hope that more people will do similar studies.

Buckley and Chavez have a business making fresh food for dogs and they talk about their path to that event but they don't push their product or business, though they do toot their own horn re work they have done "disrupting" big kibble. But they also acknowledge and praise other businesses, their competitors, making fresh, healthy food for dogs. There are even some recipes included for people who want to try making their own dog food.

If you have a dog or work in a dog related field, this book is a must. Agree or disagree with it, it will make you think.

Quotes:

"People assume we have a massive amount of data on companion animal nutrition that has been supported by their tax dollars, and that is incorrect. We are 50 years behind human food and livestock feed in terms of nutrition information. There are not federal grants for pet food research. Today, the library of animal nutrition could fill a cardboard box." (location 2673 in my Kindle ARC)

Big Kibble can legally use not only moldy grains and second-rate vegetables and vegetable scraps but also spray-on flavor and outsourced, premade, feed-grade, vitamin mixes-one batch of which recently proved deadly. (location 2460 in my Kindle ARC)

..., the FDA lacks resources and even authority to do everything it should. It has historically lacked the power to impose recalls and punishments and has been lax about following its own recall protocols.*note 28 They have enforcement discretion, which means they pursue and enforce some situations, but certainly not all. (location 1824 in my Kindle ARC)

Waste products, just to be clear, are not good sources of calories for dogs, and can actually be harmful-a truth about waste-as-food in general (even if your dog has been known to eat rabbit poop while walking through a park.) (location 1753 in my Kindle ARC)

This book had AMAZING Insight into what I am giving my pups! I loved how raw and authentic the writing was. It explained everything in an easy-to-understand message, but added evidence to support. Thank you for an enlightening read!

BOOK PREVIEW: Big Kibble by Shawn Buckley & Dr. Oscar Chavez

Let’s see what is in store for us…

STORY... Big Kibble is big business: $75 billion globally. A handful of multi-national corporations dominate the industry and together own as many as 80% of all brands. The guidelines―or lack thereof―for pet food allow producers to include ever-cheaper ingredients and create ever-larger earnings.

A big, inside look at the shocking lack of regulation within the pet food industry, and how readers can dramatically improve the quality of their dogs’ lives through diet to offer a brighter path forward for you and your pet.

WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT WITH THIS BOOK?.... Shawn Buckley and Dr. Oscar Chavez have not only written this book but started a company, Just Food For Dogs, that offers 100% human grade meals for dogs.

I am definitely all in and ready to learn… And to read… ✨😎✨

Big Kibble by Shawn Buckley & Dr. Oscar Chavez
2020 New Book Releases | December

Animals and Pets | New Book Releases Nonfiction

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All my reviews can be seen at This Is My Everybody | Books & DIY Home Ideas | Denise Wilbanks at www.thisismyeverybody.com ... Including my video tutorials for DIY home ideas inspired by recommended books to support you in bringing your favorite books to life in your life and home.

You can see all my December Book Previews & additional features for Big Kibble by Shawn Buckley & Dr. Oscar Chavez at https://www.thisismyeverybody.com/books/books-coming-out-in-2020-december


✨😎✨A big thank you to Shawn Buckley & Dr. Oscar Chavez, St. Martin’s Press, Sara Beth Haring (with St. Martin’s Press) and NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in my review are my own.

Princess Fuzzypants here: This is not an easy book to read. It is not because it is poorly researched or written but because it is a scary eye-opener of what goes on behind the scenes of the pet food industry. While it deals with dog food, there is no doubt you can extrapolate the stories to include all domestic pets as well as other animals. The authors, right up front, confess to having skin in the game as the producers of a different and more wholesome food but their connection in no way lessens the impact of what they say.

They talk about the evolution of us pets from simply being domesticated animals to becoming members of the family, worthy of the same care and attention as any other member. It appears vets as well as owners realized the shift but the entire pet food industry, that still spoke about what we eat as “feed” and not food, did not get the memo. Moreover, because of shoddy or non-existent oversight from the groups that were supposed to protect us, dangerous additives and ingredients poisoned us. Only when there was a large and egregious mass murder did it seem to get their attention. And then, it was more about public relations than health.

As pets, we expect our humans to feed us nutritious and tasty noms. As our humans, our pet parents, need to be feel confident that they are serving us the same. I don’t think anyone reading this book will ever make that assumption again. Shame on the perpetrators. Shame on the regulatory bodies. Shame.

Five purrs and two disturbed paws up.