As a very passionate and highly sensitive vet, it came as a such a shock to be contacted by the very powerful corporate meat-based pet food companies to remove this post immediately from my Just be Kind website where I highlighted my concerns (all my own opinion) with the use of pork fat and pork byproducts in dog and cat foods (I have not removed it completely, just modified it with the information below and removed any reference to the companies involved and images of products made by Hills, Nestle Purina and Royal Canin).
Was I scared and intimidated to be contacted by the large meat-based corporates to remove any mention of their names or they would take action? Absolutely yes. Sadly they are so financially powerful with a 1 billion dollar marketing budget (!) coming off the sales of their 99.9% animal and fish-based dog and cat food products, and the fear of what they could do to my Just Be Kind business as such a tiny player in this market is enough to keep me awake at night as it means that I would not be able to carry on and be there for your dogs and cats.
Is this proof that we as individuals can bring about change? Absolutely yes! I have never ever seen myself as a disruptor - always the 'people pleaser' and the one who was so intent on following the rules (which I have done all my life). For 25 years of my working vet life, I was the one recommending all these diets as most vets do. I now know of a MUCH better dog and cat food in my opinion, and I plan to speak out more to show that it can be done and you CAN make an impact and ruffle the feathers of some very large corporates to hopefully bring about change as an individual!!
Here is the article and information revised below so as not to mention any specific diets, but just still be able to share my concerns -
As a deeply passionate vegan vet who is so inspired by your stories of incredible changes in your dogs when they transition to plant-based diet, I have to question one very common addition to ALL meat-based dog foods and even medications and that is the use of pork fat or pork livers in dog and cat foods. This article will hopefully explain why in my opinion I feel it shouldn't be used AT ALL in dog and cat food!
Firstly there is the overwhelming animal welfare issue. Please read this article published by a vet in the Vet Record that highlights the abhorrent conditions in intensive pig farms and how the veterinary industry MUST condemn intensive pig farming and NOT encourage it as we have when we add it to dog or cat food!
I spoke at the London Vet Show in 2023 to educate as many vets there as I could about the huge health benefits of a plant-based diet in our dogs. Very sadly, the symbol for the London Vet Show in 2023 was a pig (as shown in the image above), and how ironic as one of the sections of my talk on the day was explaining about this published article -
Toxic element levels in ingredients and commercial pet foods
Quote from the article - “The highest toxic concentrations, in general, in animal-based ingredients than plant-based ingredients could be attributed to the potential for the accumulation of these elements in the animal organism. Some elements can accumulate in animal tissues, such as bone tissue, skeletal muscle, liver, kidneys, and spleen, as well as in animal products such as milk, reaching critical concentrations that may imply adverse effects on the health of human beings or pets who consumes these products.” - published in Scientific reports October 2021. Read full study here
What the published article highlights, is the process of BIOACCUMULATION that occurs where small ocean caught fish full of heavy metals are ground up and fed to chickens to encourage growth for their slaughter at 6 weeks. The chicken livers will have the accumulated fish toxins as these are the bird's excretory organs, and these livers are then crushed up and used to feed to pigs who are omnivores and also need to grow rapidly for slaughter at an early age for their bodyparts.
Yet again, the toxins will bioaccumulate in the pork fat, and in the liver/kidneys (byproducts and excretory organs of the animal). Read more about bioaccumulation in our article about cancer and a dog's diet in this Blog post.
The article I highlighted at the London Vet Show exposes some very worrying statistics. Here is a section from the article -
The published article states that "The highest toxin concentrations, in general, in animal-based ingredients than plant-based ingredients could be attributed to the potential for the accumulation of these elements in the animal organism."
IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING THAT A PLANT-BASED DIET SUCH AS ANY OF THOSE WE SELL IN OUR JUST BE KIND SHOP WILL CONTAIN NONE OF THESE ANIMAL BY-PRODUCT CONCERNS!
This can be one of the most important factors as to why vegan dog foods were shown to lengthen the lifespan of a dog by up to 18 months as there is no risk of bioaccumulation!! (See published research on Dogs Go Plant-Based website)
Did you know that there is no word for 'welfare' in Chinese and why is this significant?
What a sad fact that I was only made aware of recently, that the word 'welfare' does not exist in the chinese language. The image below is a 26 storey pig farm skyscraper. Yes you read that right and the image came off a video showing the inside of one of these skyscrapers in China with thousands upon thousands of pigs being reared for the meat industry on a truly industrial scale.
The stress these sentient animals must experience being born into such a facility must be overwhelming which obviously affects their immune system as they undergo castrations (to avoid a 'pungent' flavour of pork), teeth trimming and tail amputations as they are in such close proximity with each other and cannot interact normally. The amount of antibiotics and anti parasitics that they must have pumped into them to keep the entire facility viable must be enormous as it would be too financially risky to have an outbreak of a disease.
It is a welfare issue beyond any imagineable in the UK, where dedicated teams are trying their hardest to expose our grossly misrespresented RSPCA welfare scheme that we have in place in the UK. This is on another scale of cruelty.
The worst bit is imagining how these pigs are killed once they reach their growth rate at 6 weeks. Surely the vast numbers that are produced in such a building would not allow for them to be transported and killed individually (as I so harrowingly had to witness as a young veterinary student visiting an abbattoir in the late 80's!)
Surely these millions of animals are gassed in one section of the skyscraper - maybe an entire room or section of the skyscraper dedicated to this?! Now I want you to imagine what is needed to kill a pig - a lot and a lot of very toxic gas that must fill the room and enter their lungs to ensure that they are dead enough to not be able to move when moved to a different section of this skyscraper to be butchered?
Now continue to imagine where this toxic gas (as potent as euthatal) ends up in the body of the pig as it floods into their lungs and into their blood stream to stop their hearts - the kidneys, liver and fat of course, which is where the antibiotics they have had pumped into them end up too!!
If you know nothing about plant-based nutrition in humans, then please reconsider the next time you bite into a bacon butty or sausage roll. You too are consuming these grade 1 carcinogens with every bite that you take of pork meat!!! If your health and not animal welfare is your pain point, then please consider moving yourself to a kind and healthy vegan diet - there is nothing easier and I have not met a single vegan who does not absolutely love their food (dogs included here) 👍
Pork is known to be a type 1 carcinogen in people and in my opinion should NOT be fed to dogs or cats – especially in medication and food and especially the pig's liver or kidneys which is where all toxins that need to be excreted in a pig’s body concentrate!
What good change is happening with the large corporates? It is slow, but it is happening! In February 2024 Hills looked at using hugely sustainable and vegan precision fermentation protein by joining forces with Bond Pet Food. Thankfully it is the small passionate independents who have already made this a reality with the production of Microbell truly novel protein dog food in February 2025!
Just this month again (February 2025), we have news that Mars Petcare is teaming up with MiAlgae in Scotland that makes Omega 3 DHA from algae instead of using fish as an addition to cat and dog foods. This can only be applauded as fish should not be used AT ALL in dog or cat foods as there isn't enough for us in our oceans, so there absolutely isn't enough for our land mammal dogs and cats!! Yet again, the small independents such as Just Be Kind are way ahead with the production of an Algae oil rich in Omega 3s for dogs and for cats!!
I was pleased to read this headline recently that Nestle Purina has worked on a dog food containing faba bean protein and millet....but then they STILL add in pig's liver and chicken byproducts to this food as shown in this article. Just be Kind uses faba bean protein as a highly palatable pure source of protein in Give A Dog A Bean tinned food without the addition of animal byproducts.
What other huge disappointment have I received from the veterinary world as a passionate vegan vet?
"Focusing on your fears gives them power. Focus on your courage, and the law of attraction will bring confidence"
I published this post in a Veterinary Sustainability Forum and received an email from them saying that my posts were banned from their forum as I was just trying to advertise my products!! I was shocked and you can read the full post here.
The post that was banned - click on image below.
Who else contacted us to remove information we had blogged about on our site?
Fresh dog food supplier Butternut Box also emailed us recently to remove sections of this post as we highlighted how they had removed their only sustainable plant-based dog food from their range and we questioned their claims on sustainability when ALL their foods now used human grade animal products in plastic packaging!
Yet again we were amazed to even be noticed by this fresh dog food giant who received an eye watering amount of £280 million in investment in 2023 to expand into Europe. That enormous budget is so sadly being put towards the slaughter of millions more duck, lambs, pigs, salmon, turkeys, chickens when the solution is to invest in MORE plant-based options and not remove them from their portfolio!
Sadly as a company they are following the profit margins. We have offered to help with a new tasty plant-based fresh food as we have with our recipes and using our Just Be Kind Supplement. We are yet to hear back from them with this perfectly sustainable option!!!
I do remain an eternal optimist. It is individuals such as you who are going to drive the change by choosing plant-based for your dog and being the change we want others to see. Only individuals can drive that change and that gives us all hope.
“First, they ignore you. Then, they laugh at you. Then, they fight you. Then, you win”
– Mahatma Ghandi
