Why puppies should always be fed cooked chicken

Have you been reading about the pet food scare in North America? Turns out that a kind of rat poison—something very nasty called aminopterin—has been found in stuff made by Menu Foods, a company in Ontario, and sold throughout Canada and United States under more than 90 brandnames, including some of the posh ones like Hill’s Science Diet, Natural Choice and Eukanuba. Menu Foods has so far recalled at least 60 million cans and sachets of wet food—you know the sort of thing, ‘prime meaty chunks in thick gravy’; yeah, sure!—and that’s because 14 puppies and kittens who ate this junk have died of kidney failure, and many, many more got really sick.

I’m not making this up. If you don’t believe me, check out the latest information from the New York Times, no less, at Scary story in the NYT

Now, this grim news happens to coincide with my campaign to get my mum and dad to feed me cooked chicken for my supper—because I really love chicken, even if it’s not gumbo fried. As my dad has pointed out, I have some obstacles to overcome, obviously:

My Dad: You don’t live in North America, Josie.
Moi: Okay, but the threat could spread to Europe, couldn’t it? Like bird flu?

My Dad: You’re not fed wet food, Josie, you get kibble.
Moi: So? If they put rat poison in wet food by mistake, why couldn’t they put it in kibble?

My Dad: Josie, you eat your kibble very quickly, which suggests that you may actually like it.
Moi: The allegation that I eat my kibble very quickly only tells you that I’m hungry; doesn’t mean I really like it, does it?

My Dad: A kibble diet is nutritionally balanced, and good for your teeth.
Moi: So kibble is good for me? Fine, give me chicken and kibble. I’m prepared to make the sacrifice.

My Dad: Cooking chicken for a puppy is a chore.
Moi: A chore? Surely, you mean an act of love? What are puppies for?

How’s my campaign going? Well, so far, I only get kibble for my breakfast and, for my supper, I get a little bit of chicken with lots of kibble (sigh!) every other evening. So, so-so.

Early days…