Johnson: Pet health product of knowledge, effort

The rattling of the bag, the scraping of a scoop and the repetitive dinging of those dried kibble pellets filling the bowl are sounds that — not including the doorbell – tend to activate pooches faster than anything else.

They know the drill and often even before their humans make it to the bag to get the goods, ears perk, eyes pop open, sleepy chins rise from atop

In search of ponies

relaxed forelegs and before you know it, all four are on the floor and they’re truckin’ it toward the food dish.

Food is that critical part of most dogs’ days that doubles as an event of epic proportions – it’s worthy of tricks, begging, circle-spins, bunny hops, hind-leg dancing and plenty of tail wagging.

The infamous food enthusiasm dogs have can be the path to their hearts and many a trusting and loving relationship has been forged with man’s best friend thanks to food.

Going back thousands of years, food has been a cornerstone of the relationship between humans and dogs, but it wasn’t until the late 1850's that an American electrician witnessed sailors tossing their “hard tack” biscuits to dogs on a shipping dock and had an epiphany.

Prepackaged dog biscuits were the result of that epiphany, and thus the commercial pet food industry was born.

More than 160 years later, pet products and services are a fast growing, multi-billion dollar commercial industry.

In 2015, US pet owners alone spent $60 billion on their critters, nearly half of which – $23 billion, with an anticipated growth to $24 billion in 2016 – went to pet food, according to the American Pet Products Association.

Given such a large consumer investment, it’s no small thing that Thursday, the FTC announced pet food giant Mars Petcare has agreed to settle on charges they falsely advertised the benefits of their flagship dog food Eukanuba.

While it’s possible the well-known kibble is worth the $14-$58 a bag fetches, the FTC found there is no scientific evidence it prolongs the life of a dog by 30% as the company claimed in a 2015 advertising campaign, and, to the contrary, scientific testing has indicated Eukanuba-fed dogs have the same average lifespan as dogs fed other foods.

“Two-thirds of all Americans have pets at home, and they spend billions of dollars to ensure that their pets are healthy and well-fed,” said Jessica Rich, the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection director in a press release.

“Pet owners count on ads to be truthful and not to misrepresent health-related benefits. In this case, Mars Petcare simply did not have the evidence to back up the life-extending claims it made about its Eukanuba dog food.”

Under the terms of the settlement, Mars is prohibited from making future such claims and is subject to compliance and monitoring to ensure it doesn’t misrepresent its products going forward.

Misrepresenting products is wrong and US citizens can find comfort in knowing when such cases are discovered, companies face consequences for false advertising.

At the same time, relying on for-profit industries to inform and prescribe health through their products is at best misguided and at worst, negligent on the part of consumers.

In this case, pet owners may have been deceived into spending more than they might have for the promise of a couple extra years, but thankfully they do still have an average lifespan to look forward to with their best friends.

It's also a reminder that magic answers are rare-to-nonexistent and more importantly, our health and the health of our pets aren’t necessarily dictated by products purchased at the store, but rather are the products of our knowledge and efforts.

Sharna Johnson is a writer who is always searching for ponies. You can reach her at:

[email protected]