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About the Author

Hi there! Thanks for checking out my blog!

My name is Spencer Smith and I am a current student working on my M.S. in Grain Science. My research focuses on the production and nutrition behind pet food. Most people are pretty surprised when they hear this is an actual major! So how did I get here? For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a veterinarian. I have always had a passion for animals of all shapes and sizes, and have worked with species from dogs and cats to snakes and opossums. However, when I took my first animal nutrition class, I found a new passion, and set out to learn everything I could about the pet food industry. What I learned is, that aside from the people working in the pet food industry, not very many people really know what their pet should be eating!

The goal for this blog is not to assert my opinions or promote any certain brands, but to educate you and let you make decisions for yourself! I hope you are able to learn something from this page. Please comment on posts or email me if you have specific subjects you would like me to cover or questions about the articles!

-Spencer

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Grain on the Brain

In today’s culture, pets have become so much more to us than well… a pet.   With phrases like dog mom, fur baby, and even child being used to refer to dogs and cats, it has become extremely apparent that our pets are considered as much of a family member as our own brother or sister. This change of view is not only reflected in our attitude towards our furry friends, but also in how we take care of them. Today’s “pet-parents” are seeking out foods that are more reflective of their own dinner plates, seeking brands that claim “whole chicken breast first ingredient” or “certified organic” when shopping for pet foods. This trend has been labeled as “humanization,” and has been a driving force behind product development in the pet food industry over the last few years. So, when we see growing momentum behind trends such as gluten-free and low-carb diets in the human food systems, is it really a surprise that there has been an aversion to grain-based diets for our pets? Befo
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Homemade with Love? Exploring the trends of homemade and raw pet foods

Today more than ever, pet owners consider their pets to be members of the family. But are they so much a part of our families that we should be preparing their dinner plate side by side with our own? In recent years, personal stories have begun to circulate through the media over the advantages of feeding homemade diets. But do we, as pet owners, truly know how to balance our pets diets? To start, let's think about our own diets. How well do we keep track of our own nutrient intake throughout the day? Let's look at my meals for today: Breakfast: Coffee with sugar free creamer Vanilla unsweetened almond milk Special K protein cereal Lunch: 2 Ground turkey tacos with fat free cheese and low carb, high fiber tortillas Corn and black beans Snack: Grapes Dinner Chicken and green pepper kabob Green beans On first glance, this looks like a pretty well-balanced, healthy day. To really evaluate my meals, I plugged the my personal data as well as my meals in
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What's In A Name? Decoding Pet Food Labels

All natural! Real beef first ingredient! Delicious gravy dinner with chicken!  As pet owners are drawn towards pet foods with flashy claims and pictures of dinners they themselves would like to eat, how many can say they truly know how to dissect the package? Many consumers don't know how to break down their own nutrition labels, let alone their pet's. Just as in the human food systems, pet food comes with its own set of rules and regulations. Knowledge of these can help you to clearly break down the options on the shelf to pick the best food for your pet. Who makes the rules?  Guidelines for pet food labels are dictated by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). However, AAFCO has no legal jurisdiction over pet food companies, leaving the responsibility to enforce these guidelines to the government at both a federal and state level. Pet food must comply with the FDA, USDA, and FTC. Any drugs or therapeutic claims, such as in medicated diets for
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