What a pleasure to have sponsored Dr Mike Davies Specialist in Small Animal Nutrition's PROVET NUTRITION COURSE this year alongside Hills - wow! (see the Just Be Kind logo below!!)
In February 2024 Hills looked at using innovative precision fermentation protein by joining forces with Bond Pet Food, but we are yet to see any foods available using this highly sustainable protein source! Being a huge corporate with share holders to satisfy, any innovation is met with disapproval as it is high risk and requires more education.
Hills seem more intent on promoting all their meat-based foods rather than focussing on sustainability which would possibly mean a decrease in their profits as they compete with all the other large corporates for their share of the market and the heavily subsidised byproducts of the meat and fish-based industry are much cheaper to buy and easy to sell!
Hills have spoken of reducing emissions by 90% in 2040 in this article, but we see no options to achieve this with their current range.
They are only corporate to bring out a dog food that contains insect-based protein (more expensive and not as popular (the 'ik factor of feeding insects and maggots!')
The Hills rep attended the Provet Nutrition course along with Just Be Kind and mentioned this insect-based food (only available in the US), and we applaud them for trying to be more sustainable, but they add a type of fish called pollock which they say is a wild caught Alaskan fish!
This is very concerning as an addition to the food, as we badly need to protect our oceans when there are perfect plant-based and algal alternatives which Mike Davies also spoke of in the course! (and we have available to buy on our Just Be Kind site, and for vets to see such as Hannah Capon in the image below who runs CAM or Canine Arthritis Management in the UK and works with thousands of owners treating arthritis in dogs. She was very interested in our Omega 3 daily rich in EPA for dogs' joints!)
Dr Mike Davies also spoke of increasing interest and development in plant-based cat foods with a Hills study as shown in the slide below that shows how adding plant-proteins to a cat food actually INCREASES the digestibility of the proteins!
Mike Davies is the one who made me aware of how dangerous it is to the health of cats to feed them fish-based products and fish oils with studies showing these concerns in cats fed high fish-based diets -
Almost all of the Hills products for cats contain fish or fish oils, whereas at Just Be Kind, we have products that provide the solution - Omega 3 straight from where fish get it - the Microalgae without the heavy metal contamination as shown in this post.
It was such a pleasure to meet and spend time on the Provet Nutrition Course with hugely inspiring Maria who as a very passionate vegan veterinary nurse; has started her own business OmPets that will stock and sell THE VERY FIRST wet tinned plant-based cat food - hurrah for innovation and independent small businesses leading the way!! (We will definitely be stocking it as soon as it is available!)
Mike Davies also spoke of another very exciting new plant-based product LeanPaws available in 2026 which leads the way with weight loss in our dogs. Please read this post about weight loss supplements - Ozempic or Mounjaro for Dogs.
“Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.”
