Good old MARs Inc., the behemoth that monopolizes the vet industry from kibble manufacturing, ownership of thousands of animal chain hospitals throughout the USA and even more overseas, sponsors of vet school programs and partner with animal vaccine company, has appointed Alex Cedeno to senior vice president of research and development for MARs Pet Nutrition North America.
He is responsible for improving "the pet nutrition business through disruption and innovation, while supporting the company's stated mission: 'a better world for pets.'"You can read the full article here.
The pet nutrition biz certainly needs disruption and innovation, is this dude really qualified to actually do this? He has had some big roles as the Vice President of Pet Food Research & Development at J.M. Smucker Company, Vice President of Research and Development at Big Heart Pet Brands and had many other roles not in the pet biz previously. You can check out his Linkedin profile here.
These are big roles and big titles, but is improving pet nutrition really a priority? At this point, it's a hard no.
Here's why: For example, take Smuckers, his last company and take a look at the pet food brands they own: Milk Bone, Rachel Ray Nutrish, Canine Carryouts, Kibbles N Bits, MeowMix, Milo's Kitchen, Nature's Recipe, Pup-Peroni and Snausages. These brands and their products are basically crap. It is the equivalent of feeding your dog McDonald's every single day.
Let's look at milkbones. When I was a kid, we gave our shih tzu, Murray, milkbones everyday because, well, we just didn't know any better. The first ingredients are "ground whole wheat, wheat flour, meat and bone meal followed by a bunch of hard-to-pronounce ingredients. See below.
First of all, dogs are not meant to eat whole wheat, ground or not. Meat and bone meal is a gigantic mystery because the type and of meat and bone used in this concoction are often very poor quality and should not be eaten. These products are cheap, shelf-life stable, easy to manufacture, but not at all designed to optimize the health of our animals. I could go through each of the food brands listed above and dissect every ingredient, but that would be redundant.
So, this dude, Alex Cedeno, the same dude that co-signed products like MilkBone is going to be responsible for disruption and innovation?
So, my recommendation is to stay far far way from anything produced by any kibble company and feed real whole food ingredients. You and your dog will be way better off.