Latest / UNCHAINEDTV'S Truth Files with Jane Velez-Mitchell / The Dog Food Revolution You're Not Supposed to Know

Transcript

The Dog Food Revolution You're Not Supposed to Know · UNCHAINEDTV'S Truth Files with Jane Velez-Mitchell

0:06
This is so easy, I love how you
0:10
can just cut this open, lickety-split, boom,
0:16
there you have it.
0:19
This is their fave, like I said, these
0:24
fish have 100% plant-based.
0:28
There's my sundae, eating a virtuous vittles, she
0:31
just loves it, check that out.
0:34
Here's sundae on the right, and Wednesday on
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the left, chowing down on their virtuous vittles,
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they just love it.
0:43
You can see, they are just, mmm, just
0:46
look at them eating away.
0:48
Here's my Wednesday, she is eating, loving, there
0:54
she is gobbling down her virtuous vittles.
1:06
And here is one of your biggest fans,
1:09
Wednesday Velez Mitchell, who loves virtuous vittles, and
1:14
I have to tell you, my other dog,
1:16
as you saw, does as well.
1:18
So we're gonna be talking virtuous vittles today,
1:22
I stumbled upon this product at an event
1:25
where somebody, one of these fabulous co-founders,
1:28
handed me a box, and I went home
1:30
without much of any expectation, put it in
1:34
a bowl, and oh my God, my dogs
1:36
went crazy.
1:38
They, I believe, they think it's meat, but
1:41
it's not, it's 100% plant-based.
1:43
So we've got the co-founders here today,
1:46
we're so excited, let's start with Brianna Schweitzer.
1:50
Wow, what makes this product so meaty, and
1:54
makes the dogs dive in thinking that they're
1:57
actually consuming meat when it's 100% vegan?
2:00
Yeah, well, so we do actually, we're the
2:03
first and only on the market with a
2:05
meaty morsels and gravy.
2:06
So we make a plant-based meat, and
2:09
we chop it up, and we put it
2:10
in a delicious, hearty gravy with also a
2:14
bunch of fresh vegetables.
2:16
And it was developed over the course of
2:19
collaborating with one of, with my, with Ziggy,
2:23
my little one, we really like looked at
2:26
what Ziggy loved to eat.
2:28
I watched him carefully with all sorts of
2:31
different ingredients.
2:32
We also built it foundationally from whole foods,
2:35
looking at the nutrients in each ingredient and
2:37
how they would contribute to what he really
2:39
needed.
2:40
And so I think all of those things
2:42
together just really make it irresistible to them.
2:46
You know, dogs can taste quality.
2:48
Yes, and over the course of the show,
2:51
we are going to actually open a case
2:53
and show you the little nuggets inside.
2:56
I believe they are made from seitan, which
3:00
is also known as wheat meat, Brianna, but
3:02
correct me if I'm wrong.
3:04
Yes, it's a, it's a, it's a version
3:06
of, so vital wheat gluten, which is 90
3:09
% protein and a very, has a really
3:12
great amino acid profile, very similar to meat.
3:17
We mix that with some pea protein and
3:19
with yeast proteins in order to get a
3:22
balanced blend.
3:24
So it's like seitan, it's very close, but
3:27
a little bit different.
3:28
Wow.
3:29
This is so exciting.
3:30
Now, how did you two powerhouse women come
3:34
together?
3:35
I know you're longtime friends and you have
3:38
somebody who's really good in the kitchen, Brianna,
3:40
and then you're an attorney and a startup
3:43
expert.
3:44
Wow.
3:44
My head's exploding.
3:45
Tell me all about it, Elizabeth.
3:49
So Brianna and I have known each other
3:51
for over 20 years, like almost 25 years.
3:55
And we talk to each other constantly on
3:58
the phone and she had been working on
4:00
this for some time and it was so
4:02
exciting.
4:03
She, you know, she just had come up
4:04
with a formulation and we just started getting
4:06
together and said, you know, we need to
4:08
get this out.
4:08
So this was like several years ago.
4:10
So we, she actually went and got a
4:13
canning because we, we figured out what is
4:15
the most sustainable way we can market this
4:18
and put into a packaging.
4:20
We didn't want to do fresh frozen because,
4:22
you know, all of the environmental aspects of
4:24
having to keep it cold and frozen and
4:27
all of that.
4:28
We wanted something that was shelf stable, that
4:30
was, you know, that was whole foods that
4:32
could seal in all of the delicious nutrients
4:36
without having to do a lot of processing.
4:38
And so she actually went and got a
4:41
canning machine and tried it at home.
4:44
And then we sent it out to friends
4:45
to make sure that that wouldn't affect the
4:46
taste of what, what she'd already come up
4:48
with.
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And then we were like, let's do this.
4:50
And it took us so long to find
4:51
a co-manufacturer that had, could do it
4:54
human grade.
4:55
They could do it with a whole food
5:00
ingredients that could handle the texture of the
5:03
meat and then still also be able to
5:05
scale up as we grew.
5:07
So we were, it was a hard work,
5:09
it's a passion project and we're so excited
5:10
we've gotten here and we just launched.
5:12
All right.
5:13
Well, I gotta tell you, you've got some
5:15
fans in this audience.
5:17
There it is.
5:17
You can see that it looks meaty and
5:20
I'm going to also show you one of
5:22
the number one fans.
5:25
This is my dog, Sunday, my incredible rescue.
5:29
She's very smart, but she's also quite finicky.
5:33
Wednesday, she's just, you know, put it in
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front of me, but this one is a
5:37
discerning connoisseur and she loves virtuous fiddles.
5:43
Don't you, my dear.
5:44
Okay.
5:44
I'm going to let you run along.
5:46
Now, what I really like about it also
5:48
is look at this packaging.
5:50
You have sustainability in mind and tell us
5:54
a little bit about the connection between climate
5:58
change and the consumption of meat by dogs.
6:02
I have heard wild statistics, like if dogs
6:06
were their own country, they'd be the fifth
6:08
largest meat eating country in the world.
6:10
I don't have independent confirmation, but I know
6:12
Lisbeth and Brianna.
6:14
Brianna, you have some hard stats on that.
6:17
I think it's very important because people, if
6:19
you're vegan and you're feeding your dog a
6:23
human's worth amount of meat, you're kind of
6:26
undercutting yourself and self-sabotaging.
6:28
That's right.
6:29
Yeah.
6:30
So a stat that I didn't even know
6:32
when we first started is that 25%
6:34
of the meat proteins in this country are
6:36
consumed by our cats and dogs, which is
6:38
just a mind-blowing number.
6:41
You're totally right.
6:42
The stat is that a 50-pound dog
6:45
eats about the same amount of meat per
6:47
year as the average American, and we all
6:49
know that Americans are extremely heavy meat eaters
6:52
on average.
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So it's really a striking amount of savings
6:58
that you can get just from switching.
7:00
Going vegan is, aside from not having children,
7:05
which is actually the number one thing you
7:06
can do to affect climate change, but which
7:08
obviously changes one's lives quite a lot.
7:11
The second largest thing you can do is
7:13
changing from a meat-based diet to a
7:15
plant-based diet, and that goes same for
7:17
humans as for dogs.
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So it's really, really impactful.
7:22
Just a huge, huge savings.
7:24
I calculated that switching my 10-pound chihuahua,
7:27
Ziggy, who's also quite picky and was inspiration
7:30
for this, to a plant-based diet from
7:33
a conventional canned meat-based diet saves basically
7:37
an equivalent of flying around the world per
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year in CO2 emissions.
7:43
So it's really, really striking.
7:45
Yeah, and I want to say that I've
7:48
been looking into this.
7:49
It's a fascinating story.
7:50
You can learn all about it by going
7:52
to virtuousvittles.com.
7:55
Their story, which we're going to dive into
7:57
more, is on there.
7:59
Also, they've got this bountiful land for dogs
8:02
sampler pack for $20.
8:05
Now, this is a perfect way to introduce
8:08
yourself and your dog to this because you're
8:11
investing 20 bucks.
8:13
I got to tell you, I was handed
8:15
these two packets at a party, and I
8:18
went home, like I said, and I didn't
8:20
have any expectation, and my dogs gobbled it
8:23
up, and I was like, whoa, and it
8:26
really is the chunks that are in there
8:28
plus the sauce.
8:30
It has a meaty flavor.
8:32
I'm joking sort of when I say, don't
8:35
tell your dogs it's not meat.
8:37
They don't know it's not meat.
8:40
So tell us about, I want to go
8:43
way back to when you first started this.
8:46
You're a vegan.
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You love animals.
8:49
You're cooking in the kitchen, but you're struggling
8:52
to get your dog, Ziggy, to eat the
8:57
vegan dog food.
8:59
Pick up the story from there.
9:00
Yes, so I've been plant-based since I
9:04
was 12, and I one day decided I
9:06
didn't want to eat animals, kill them anymore.
9:08
Within a year, I read Animal Liberation and
9:10
became vegan.
9:13
So I've even had vegan cats for three
9:16
years, quite a long time ago.
9:18
It's a very intensive process to do that,
9:21
and you have to really pay attention to
9:25
what you're feeding them when you home cook
9:26
their meals.
9:27
So anyway, life got busy.
9:30
We've gone back to conventional food in the
9:31
house, and then I got my first dog
9:34
about 10 years ago, and I would buy
9:39
conventional food when I was too busy to
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cook for him.
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And so about four or five years ago,
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I just said, okay, this is enough.
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Let's go with a purely plant-based diet,
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never use the conventional food, and we tried
9:54
everything on the market.
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And he is admittedly a picky chihuahua, very
9:59
opinionated, and I just struggled with the canned
10:02
foods that were on the market.
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But I would cook an Impossible or a
10:08
Beyond burger, and he would be all over
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me, or I'd make a delicious homemade meal
10:12
for him, and he'd be all over it.
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So it wasn't about plant-based.
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It was really that we just thought that
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it wasn't for his taste buds, at least.
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So that was the genesis, and that's how
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we started our collaboration with him.
10:25
I don't know if you got the actual
10:28
package open.
10:29
I'd like to show people.
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I want to show people what's in there,
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because what happened to me was when I
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saw it, can you open it?
10:40
Yeah, yep.
10:40
Open it, because when I saw it, and
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I was like, what makes this different?
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And then I really started looking, and there
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were these little chunks.
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That's what they want, those little chunks.
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Now, there is incredible nutrition.
10:58
I'm going to play a clip from a
11:01
doctor.
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While you get that ready, I'm going to
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play a clip from a doctor, Dr. Sarah
11:06
Dodd, who is an expert in plant-based
11:08
nutrition for dogs.
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She's written numerous published papers on this subject.
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Let's hear what she has to say.
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We actually see there's a number of therapeutic
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diets that are plant-based that are intended
11:20
to manage a number of conditions.
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So a lot of people recognize skin allergies
11:26
and some dietary sensitivities that can be resolved
11:30
with switching to a plant-based product or
11:33
a therapeutic product.
11:35
We also see, for example, conditions like liver
11:38
disease and in some cases kidney disease that
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can benefit as well from particularly the plant
11:43
-based proteins and the different kind of fatty
11:46
acid profiles that are available in plant-based
11:49
diets.
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One of the mantras is nutrients matter, not
11:54
meat.
11:54
Explain.
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Exactly.
11:56
It's very different when we talk about feeding
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companion animals.
12:00
In the USA, there is an organization called
12:04
the Association of American Feed Control Officials, and
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they set the standard for the industry on
12:09
what sort of nutrient profile we want to
12:13
look for.
12:13
When we're feeding a plant-based diet to
12:16
dogs, it's really no different from the essential
12:20
nutrient perspective than it is feeding an animal
12:23
-based diet.
12:24
In fact, if you go and look at
12:25
the ingredient list on a number of products
12:27
out there, you'll see a lot of the
12:28
nutrients are already coming from plant-based ingredients
12:31
or non-animal ingredients.
12:33
Feeding a plant-based diet that meets that
12:35
same essential nutrient profile really doesn't have much
12:39
of a difference.
12:40
The ingredients are different, but the nutrients aren't
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different.
12:42
It's really focusing on providing that essential nutrition
12:46
regardless of where the ingredients are coming from.
12:49
Wow.
12:50
That was a great explanation.
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We really don't have to be afraid of
12:55
this.
12:57
It's just like the general public.
13:00
We're not getting the information about the value
13:03
of plant-based foods, human or animal, because
13:05
mainstream media is controlled by its advertisers.
13:08
Who are the advertisers?
13:09
Big meat, big dairy, big pharma.
13:12
All the positive advantages of plant-based are
13:17
simply ignored.
13:18
That's why we started Unchained TV.
13:20
I was in the mainstream media for 35
13:22
years.
13:23
I've been behind the curtain.
13:24
I know what it's like.
13:26
That's why we really try to show people
13:30
that plant-based nutrition is a completely valid
13:35
thing.
13:36
Don't listen to all the hysteria because there's
13:39
a lot of false information out there, what
13:41
I call alternative facts.
13:43
Take it away.
13:43
Show us, Brianna, the actual chunks that make
13:48
this so salivating for dogs.
13:50
There we go.
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I put some out on a plate.
13:55
There's chunks of veggies in here too, but
13:57
I'll pull out a little meaty chunk.
13:59
Stick it right in the camera so people
14:01
can see.
14:02
Let's see if I can see.
14:03
Yeah, that's okay.
14:05
You realize it's a little sloppy, but this
14:07
is what it is.
14:09
There it is.
14:10
That's the little chunk.
14:12
That is the chunk that the dogs, right?
14:17
What you were saying, and it's human grade.
14:20
I see you- Yeah, it's human graded.
14:22
It's pretty good.
14:23
I mean, it's made for a dog's taste
14:27
buds and flavor profile.
14:29
It's not very salty.
14:30
It's not very spicy, but it really has
14:32
a rich umami flavor and it's totally safe
14:35
for you to eat.
14:35
It's human grade, made in a human grade
14:37
facility with human grade ingredients.
14:39
So- Yeah.
14:40
And so I'm just wondering how you hit
14:44
on this jackpot because I know so many
14:47
people have been trying it.
14:48
And you know, listen, I love all the
14:52
vegan dog food products.
14:54
Like I'm friends with V-Dog and their
14:57
kibble and their treats.
14:58
My dogs gobble them up.
15:00
And ditto for Wild Earth is incredible.
15:03
Incredible kibble.
15:05
But this is a unique product.
15:06
It's not an either or.
15:07
It's an and.
15:09
Absolutely.
15:09
Okay.
15:09
And that's how I approach it because I
15:12
feed my dogs V-Dog and I feed
15:13
them Wild Earth and I feed them a
15:15
Halo and all sorts of other plant-based
15:18
treats.
15:19
I mean- They're spoiled.
15:20
Okay.
15:21
I'm a helicopter dog parent.
15:23
But this is a unique product that is
15:26
different than every other product on the market
15:29
because it's like taking your dogs to the
15:32
Four Seasons cuisine wise.
15:36
Thank you.
15:36
We've heard that.
15:37
We've heard that it's elevated dog food.
15:40
So that's a direct quote from one of
15:42
our customers.
15:45
And yeah, we are like, we are all
15:46
about variety.
15:47
We're so glad that there's a good number
15:49
of people in the market already.
15:53
It's, you know, dogs just like us.
15:55
They want variety and to be able to
15:58
have different textures and flavors in their lives.
16:00
So we love, you know, we're just, we're
16:03
joining a community and we're happy to be
16:05
here.
16:05
Yeah.
16:06
And I want to go to some of
16:08
the comments.
16:09
Now, Nilo Far Asgarian says, I have 400
16:11
pounds of rescued dogs distributed in four rescue
16:15
dogs.
16:15
So she's got four rescues.
16:17
I use natural balance, vegan formula.
16:20
Is your product affordable?
16:23
So let's talk about affordability for a second.
16:26
Yeah.
16:27
Who wants to hit that?
16:29
We could probably add on to it a
16:31
little bit.
16:31
I can start.
16:32
So we worked hard to try and make
16:35
this as affordable as possible, but I mean,
16:38
we are going up against 20 subsidized, 25
16:41
cents a pound chicken that's on the market.
16:46
And so, you know, we, and we wanted
16:48
to have a human grade.
16:49
We wanted to have healthy.
16:50
I mean, in the more, I mean, we've
16:53
gotten as many organic ingredients as we could
16:55
from a price perspective, as many GMO ingredients
16:58
that we could.
17:00
So we, you know, one box is $7.
17:04
If you get a subscription, you can get
17:07
that down.
17:07
And then we also have 20% off
17:10
of the first shipment and all the shipping
17:13
is free.
17:14
So you've got to keep that in mind.
17:15
We don't add that to your order.
17:17
And then you can also use it for
17:21
a topper.
17:22
You know, if you don't want to use
17:23
just all Bert's Bittles or just all wet
17:26
foods, you can use this as a topper
17:27
on kibble.
17:29
And we think it's a really healthy alternative.
17:31
And anything that you can do to reduce
17:33
your meat consumption, anything you can do to
17:35
give your dog more wet food and whole
17:38
food ingredients is going to be a plus.
17:41
I want to jump in.
17:42
We got a comment from Melissa Cromwell and
17:45
we welcome all comments.
17:46
This is not a judgment against your comment,
17:48
but this is what I would call misinformation.
17:51
She says, I thought dogs and cats were
17:53
meat eaters.
17:54
This diet couldn't be healthy for them.
17:55
Not natural way of thing.
17:59
Now, we had, we just had the vet
18:02
on a veterinarian talking about how it's the
18:07
nutrients.
18:08
It's not the meat.
18:10
It's the nutrients.
18:11
And here's what we're talking about there.
18:16
More than 90% of food allergies in
18:19
dogs, Melissa.
18:20
And, you know, we appreciate you coming on
18:22
and asking questions and challenging us, but more
18:26
than 90% of food allergies in dogs
18:28
are caused by animal-based proteins like beef,
18:30
dairy, and chicken, not plant ingredients.
18:32
Brianna, do you want to expand on that?
18:35
I'd love to.
18:37
Yeah.
18:37
I mean, it's such a common misconception.
18:40
So dogs are in fact, nutritional omnivores.
18:45
Wolves are also nutritional omnivores, although their diet
18:49
consists of more meat than the average, than
18:52
dogs certainly need or is good for them.
18:56
So dogs have co-evolved, our domesticated dogs
18:59
have co-evolved with us for 40,000
19:01
years.
19:02
And we definitely know that plant-based diets
19:04
are more healthy for humans.
19:08
Because they've co-evolved with us, their genetics
19:11
have actually evolved alongside ours.
19:14
So where wolves have two points on their
19:16
genetic, on their two alleles is what they're
19:20
called in their genetics that are used to
19:23
direct starch digestion.
19:26
Humans have 22 and domesticated dogs have, I
19:30
forget the exact numbers, but it's like 14
19:32
to 22.
19:33
So they're really much more like us.
19:35
They can digest starches and plant-based materials
19:40
quite easily.
19:42
But moreover, it's really that it is about
19:46
the nutrients, not where the specific ingredients are
19:50
coming from, whether they're animal-based or plant
19:52
-based.
19:53
Plant-based nutrients are just as bioavailable.
19:56
And they also come with a lot of
20:00
benefits that meat-based ingredients don't have.
20:04
For instance, a lot of the antibiotics and
20:07
stuff that goes into our meat production is
20:10
not found in a clean plant-based protein.
20:13
All right.
20:14
And we're going to go back to the
20:16
doctor, Dr. Sarah Dodd.
20:18
Again, a very well-known, renowned veterinarian who's
20:22
written numerous papers on dog food in general
20:25
and plant-based dog food specifically.
20:28
Here she is talking about nutrients.
20:30
Now, I also wanted to ask you about
20:32
the ingredients and the nutrients in virtuous vittles.
20:36
Let's take a look and give us a
20:39
breakdown on this.
20:40
Sure.
20:41
So virtuous vittles contains plant-based protein exclusively.
20:45
So there is no animal protein in it.
20:47
And yet we're still meeting the same essential
20:50
amino acid requirements and the total protein requirements.
20:53
Not only meeting, but greatly exceeding those that
20:56
are required by dogs.
20:58
And yet it is entirely plant-based.
21:01
And we can see that there's other kind
21:03
of beneficial aspects.
21:04
So the fatty acid profile, for example, we
21:07
have our balanced omega-6 and omega-3
21:09
fatty acids.
21:10
We have naturally sourced vitamins that are coming
21:13
from our plant-based ingredients.
21:15
So they're highly bioavailable and readily absorbed and
21:19
useful for the system.
21:20
Same with the minerals.
21:21
We have like a seaweed-derived calcium as
21:24
opposed to synthetic calciums being added.
21:28
And so we can see that there's great
21:30
benefits from providing these natural plant-based nutrients.
21:34
For our pets.
21:36
And the proof is in the pudding.
21:38
This is Sunday and she's been on a
21:41
plant-based diet for more than two years.
21:43
And let me tell you something.
21:44
This is one bundle of energy.
21:47
We run and walk a mile and a
21:50
half every day.
21:51
You chase balls, you fetch.
21:53
And she's as healthy as they come.
21:56
And she goes to the vet regularly and
21:58
they confirm that.
21:59
So here she is living proof, just like
22:02
with humans.
22:03
And one of the things that I want
22:06
to mention is that there is this whole
22:08
myth about the caveman.
22:12
You mentioned that domestication of dogs is one
22:14
of the hallmarks of human civilization.
22:17
And that the dog packs would follow the
22:21
human nomadic tribes and eat the scraps.
22:24
And contrary to popular myth, the early humans
22:30
who were nomadic were not eating steak and
22:34
burgers, cheeseburgers and ribs.
22:37
There's no factory farming.
22:39
It wasn't that easy to find animals.
22:42
And now the later research, the new research
22:45
of literally what's between their teeth in the
22:49
fossils has uncovered that they were primarily almost
22:52
exclusively plant-based.
22:54
Occasionally, they might grab a bison or something,
22:57
but basically they were eating a lot of
22:58
plants.
22:59
Any thoughts on that, Lisbeth?
23:02
Yeah.
23:03
So, I mean, we mentioned earlier the alleles,
23:06
but I mean, actually even wolves were, if
23:08
you look back at the history, they were
23:10
omnivores.
23:11
They weren't meat eaters exclusively.
23:14
And when you have a complete and balanced
23:17
diet that meets all the nutrients, then there's
23:21
no reason that you shouldn't have a plant
23:24
-based diet.
23:25
And one of Dr. Sarah Dodd's studies actually
23:27
looked at over 2,000 individuals who were
23:33
feeding their dogs plant-based.
23:35
And it showed, she just determined that it
23:37
was statistically significant that there were, if you
23:40
feed a dog a plant-based diet for
23:43
at least three years, that you can have
23:45
an average life expectancy increase in by as
23:48
much as a year and a half on
23:50
your dogs, which is a lot for a
23:51
dog.
23:53
Oh yeah.
23:53
Because that's seven years in human terms, right?
23:57
So you're adding 10 years to your dog's
24:00
life in human terms.
24:02
And we know, us dog lovers, that every
24:04
second with our dogs counts.
24:06
I mean, I've had dogs my whole life
24:10
and they bring me so much joy.
24:13
But when they do get to that end
24:14
of life, it is the most crushing experience
24:18
that I can personally tell you about in
24:22
my life.
24:23
I think it's interesting because people say we
24:25
grieve more for our dogs because we have
24:27
no conflicted feelings.
24:29
With any human being, there's a little up
24:31
and down, a little conflict.
24:33
So the grief is tempered by, remember when
24:36
they did that?
24:37
But with dogs and cats and other companion
24:41
animals and animals in general, there's none of
24:44
that because there's unconditional love and that's it.
24:49
So we have some great stories on that
24:51
really quick, Jane.
24:54
So we've been doing taste tests that are
24:56
one ball taste tests for our dog food.
24:59
And I have these two great stories with
25:01
senior dogs that were not eating, they were
25:04
conventional diets, meat diets, were not eating their
25:08
kibble.
25:08
One of the dogs was deaf and blind,
25:11
14 years old.
25:13
And I could see the ribs on the
25:15
dog.
25:16
I opened up this, our virtuous vittles, soon
25:19
as our package was open, this dog came
25:22
flopping over.
25:23
I filled up her bowl and she just
25:25
gobbled off the package, went, did these little
25:29
wigglies on the couch and then on her
25:31
chair and her bed.
25:32
I put some more in there.
25:33
She came back, she went through two packages.
25:35
And then when we would mix the virtuous
25:37
vittles with the kibble, she was eating.
25:40
And so my friend was just so gracious.
25:42
She's like, oh my gosh, my dog is
25:44
so old and hasn't been eating.
25:47
And now we can just have this extra
25:49
joyful time with our dog because of your
25:51
food.
25:51
It was really touching.
25:53
Yeah.
25:53
So that shows you that these dogs crave
25:57
this food.
25:57
And let me ask you about the transition
26:02
because first of all, you know, we always
26:05
say this is educational only consult your veterinarian.
26:10
But when you're transitioning a dog from a
26:14
meat diet, primarily meat to a plant-based
26:18
diet, what are some of the instructions that
26:21
you would give somebody who's making that transition?
26:24
Yeah, that's such a great question.
26:26
And it really depends a lot on your
26:28
dog.
26:28
So if your dog...
26:30
So we designed virtuous vittles really to be
26:33
like delicious from first sniff, you know, from
26:36
sniff to snarf right away.
26:38
So there's no need from that perspective, you
26:41
know, from a taste perspective to give them
26:43
any transitionary period.
26:45
But it depends.
26:46
If your dog has a really sensitive stomach
26:48
or is used to eating one type of
26:51
food consistently, we find it's better to do
26:53
a gentle introduction.
26:54
So, you know, start with a quarter virtuous
26:57
vittles, three quarters the food and kind of
26:59
do, you know, transition over a week to
27:01
10 days just to make sure that their
27:03
gut biome has a chance to catch up.
27:07
But other than that, there's really no, you
27:09
know, need.
27:10
There's the difference as Dr. Saradon was saying,
27:14
the difference, there isn't really a difference in
27:17
the amino acid profile and in all the
27:19
essential nutrients between traditional dog foods and virtuous
27:23
vittles.
27:23
So there's no, you know, there's no biological
27:26
need for a transitionary time.
27:28
It's kind of a tummy need, perhaps just
27:31
a biome need if your dog is not
27:34
used to eating a variety of foods.
27:37
But if your dog's used to eating a
27:38
variety of foods, just you can just feed
27:40
them a meal of virtuous vittles and they'll
27:43
probably snarf it up right away.
27:46
Now, we always talk about here at Unchained
27:49
TV, you know, environmentalism and plant-based.
27:53
The New York Times reported on an Oxford
27:56
University study that showed that heavy meat eaters,
27:58
which is most, many if not most Americans
28:02
can reduce their greenhouse gas emissions footprint by
28:05
75% by switching to a plant-based
28:08
diet.
28:09
So let's dive in a little bit because
28:11
I think there is a disconnect.
28:13
I think a lot of people think, well,
28:15
these dogs have to eat meat.
28:17
Therefore, even if I'm a quote unquote environmentalist,
28:20
even if I'm plant forward, which a lot
28:23
of people say, and I applaud that, we
28:24
accept people wherever they are in the journey,
28:27
my dogs have to eat meat.
28:29
A, you've talked about why that's just not
28:32
true, but B, let's talk about the environmental
28:34
impact a little bit.
28:36
Yeah, as you just put up on the
28:38
screen, it's really shocking.
28:40
25 to 30% of the meat consumed
28:42
in the US goes to feed our companion
28:44
animals.
28:45
And that's just, I mean, when I heard
28:47
that number, I thought it was astounding, but
28:51
it's verified.
28:55
And as I said, with Ziggy at 10
28:58
pounds, saving enough CO2 that you could fly
29:03
around the world the whole time.
29:05
I'd rather take a vacation around the world
29:06
than feed my dog meat food if the
29:11
environmental or the CO2 savings are the same.
29:14
So it's really an impactful way that if
29:18
you're looking to just reduce or mitigate or
29:21
be plant forward and reduce the overall impact
29:25
of your whole family with regards to CO2
29:31
emissions is a big one, but it's also
29:35
land use, water use, species, the species of
29:42
the world.
29:43
Extinction, yeah, thank you.
29:45
Yeah, I mean, it's 80% of the
29:47
Amazon.
29:48
One of the things that we see going
29:49
on...
29:50
Oh, sorry.
29:51
Go ahead.
29:53
Go.
29:54
Okay.
29:55
Go ahead.
29:55
I'm sorry, Breanna.
29:56
I thought it was a little bad, so
29:59
I thought you were finished.
30:00
But one thing that's been happening, and we
30:03
were talking to Dr. Sherrodot about this, as
30:05
guardians are starting to try and get healthier
30:12
foods for their companions, they're turning away from
30:16
what was originally in the meat industry.
30:18
The meat industry for pet food started out
30:22
as being just the worst of the worst,
30:24
and just the extras that were not being
30:27
used for human consumption.
30:28
But as guardians are turning to healthier alternatives
30:31
for their companions, then that's exasperating the impact
30:36
on the climate, because now we have our
30:39
dogs and our cats eating human-grade food
30:43
and competing with that.
30:44
And so instead of using the extras of
30:48
the meat industry, and so that even has
30:50
a bigger impact on the climate.
30:52
So turning to plant-based is really a
30:54
really great alternative to address that issue as
30:57
well.
30:58
And we've got one more thing.
31:00
I got five dogs in my immediate family,
31:02
and they all eat a plant-based diet.
31:04
Yeah, I mean, look, there are thousands, hundreds
31:08
of thousands of examples.
31:10
Because as vegans grow as a percentage of
31:13
the population, and they become hip to this
31:16
possibility that you don't have to...
31:19
Listen, I've been vegan 30 years.
31:21
I didn't know this when I started.
31:23
I didn't know that dogs could survive on
31:26
a plant-based diet.
31:28
So I've had dogs that weren't plant-based,
31:31
but I'm so thrilled, personally, as a person
31:34
who is plant-based to not have...
31:38
I've got a sign that says, welcome to
31:39
my plant-based kitchen.
31:40
I don't want to have meat in my
31:41
house.
31:42
Exactly.
31:43
I don't want people bringing meat into my
31:44
house.
31:44
I don't like to go to dinner with
31:46
people who are eating animals.
31:47
So why would I want to serve it
31:49
to my dogs?
31:50
I want to read...
31:53
Or you can, the ingredients here.
31:55
Because I think that people are interested.
31:58
And so I'm going to just quickly run
32:00
through it.
32:01
It's long, but I think it's worth it.
32:02
We're talking vegetable broth, potatoes, sweet potato, apple,
32:06
coconut oil, wheat gluten, coconut aminos, carrots, pumpkin,
32:09
spinach, olive oil, pea protein, green peas, yeast,
32:12
beet power, chickpea flour, calcium from red algae,
32:17
amino acids, taurine, agar, apple cider vinegar, choline
32:23
chloride, dried kelp, fruit and vegetable blend, carrot,
32:27
apple, tomato, shiitake, broccoli, orange, cranberry, pumpkin, beet,
32:30
tart, cherry, strawberry, blueberry, green, algae, minerals, phosphate,
32:36
selenium, yeast.
32:37
So, oh my God.
32:39
That's a lot of work.
32:41
When you said that this was a home
32:43
recipe.
32:45
Wow.
32:46
It was really key.
32:47
And everybody's saying this is exciting.
32:49
Yes.
32:49
I think it's a breakthrough.
32:51
How did you come up with this combination?
32:54
Yeah.
32:54
So, well, we started with a very, very
32:57
complex spreadsheet, to be honest.
32:59
I took all of the ingredients I was
33:02
working with and went to the FDA website,
33:06
got all of the micronutrients into a spreadsheet
33:09
and literally just like worked it and worked
33:11
it and worked it because it was really
33:12
critical for us that we didn't just have
33:15
a base and then throw a bunch of
33:17
synthetic vitamins and minerals on top of it
33:21
in order to kind of make it a
33:23
complete meal, which is really common in the
33:26
pet food industry at large.
33:29
So, what we did instead is really build
33:31
foundationally from the nutrients found in every one
33:34
of these ingredients and put them together so
33:37
that they formed a complete and balanced meal.
33:39
And, of course, we brought in Dr. Sarah
33:41
Dodd, who massaged and helped and brought it
33:45
to fruition with her much more sophisticated knowledge
33:48
and software.
33:52
I want to ask you about the taurine
33:53
because people are always talking about taurine, taurine,
33:56
taurine, and they equate it with animal products.
34:00
And I've even had people say, well, you
34:02
know, dogs need taurine.
34:03
Well, you've got taurine here.
34:04
How did you get the plant-based taurine?
34:06
Yeah, so taurine is actually one of only
34:09
two synthetic ingredients.
34:11
It is available from plants.
34:13
It is extremely expensive from plants.
34:16
So, that was one area where, you know,
34:19
in conversation with Dr. Dodd, this was a
34:23
decision that was a perfectly healthy and strong
34:26
decision to be made.
34:27
We add it in our dog food.
34:29
It's a nutrient that dogs do synthesize on
34:35
their own, like humans do.
34:36
Like, humans don't actually have a taurine requirement.
34:39
Cats do.
34:39
Cats don't synthesize it on their own.
34:41
But dogs and humans do.
34:44
Even so, we added some because it's just
34:47
basically a good, you know, a healthy.
34:49
We designed this food for long-term health.
34:52
We also designed it for urinary health, which
34:55
is another thing that makes it completely different
34:58
than anything else on the market currently in
35:00
the plant-based space.
35:02
We found that, you know, so dog urinary
35:07
issues are very common.
35:09
They're not actually commonly diet-related, but once
35:12
your dog does have a urinary issue, it
35:14
can be assisted with diet.
35:16
And that's a diet that has a balanced
35:19
mineral content and a high moisture content.
35:24
So we designed, we formulated with Dr. Dodd
35:28
for urinary health.
35:32
And yeah, just kind of every choice that
35:38
we put into this food was for health.
35:42
Okay.
35:43
So Ruta is saying, I can't wait for
35:45
Virtuous Vittles cat food to come out.
35:47
But guess what, Ruta?
35:50
It's coming.
35:50
We have a surprise for you.
35:52
Tell us about that.
35:53
We focused on the dog food, but tell
35:56
us about, and there it is.
35:57
There's the chunky, beefy, they don't know it's
36:00
not me.
36:01
Tell us about the cat food.
36:02
It's coming.
36:03
It's coming.
36:04
Cats are like so much pickier.
36:06
So we have some formulas.
36:09
We're in the final stages of kind of
36:11
getting them just perfected.
36:14
I mean, so like with our dog food,
36:16
this is a little known fact that in
36:19
order to call, in order to use the
36:21
word delicious when marketing a dog food or
36:23
a pet food, one has to, for dogs,
36:27
it's achieve 80 out of a hundred dogs
36:30
snarfing up the food within 15 minutes.
36:33
And there's a bunch of like little requirements.
36:34
It's a real test that the FCC requires.
36:38
So for cats, that's a little bit lower
36:40
of a number for dogs.
36:41
So we actually have a 95% delicious
36:45
rate with our dog food.
36:47
And for cats, we are like, we're just,
36:51
we're striving for the, for the same.
36:53
So, so we're doing final micro tweaks each
36:56
time where, you know, making a test batch,
36:58
sending it out to a bunch of cats.
36:59
We know getting feedback and tweaking the recipe
37:03
a little bit more.
37:03
We're very, very close.
37:04
And we are thinking that we'll have one
37:06
come out hopefully in just about four or
37:09
five months from now.
37:11
Wow.
37:12
Well, this is so exciting.
37:13
Everybody.
37:14
I just want to say bravo to creating
37:18
this.
37:19
These are the co-founders go to Virtuous
37:22
Vittles.
37:23
And there is a great little, what would
37:27
you call it?
37:28
Special offer.
37:29
You can get the packet for $20.
37:32
You can test it out, get tails wagging
37:34
with a generous trial pack that includes two
37:37
full size 12.5 ounce cartons of this
37:41
incredible Virtuous Vittles product.
37:45
I just think you guys are fantastic.
37:48
Congratulations.
37:49
My dogs are loving it.
37:51
As you saw at the top of the
37:52
show, and I just want everybody to share
37:56
this out so that we can be part
37:59
of the solution and live in a world
38:01
where our animals are happy.
38:03
We are happy.
38:04
And look what Tina Walker says.
38:08
Can't wait for that because my Lucky is
38:09
getting off his food.
38:11
Okay.
38:11
There you go.
38:13
Cat food as well.
38:14
Yay.
38:15
Everybody's moving on that.
38:16
See you next time.
38:19
Share this out, people.
38:21
Let's solve this climate problem with delicious, delicious
38:26
Virtuous Vittles dog food.
38:30
So it's a vegan Netflix.
38:32
Okay.
38:32
That's the craziest thing I've ever heard.
38:34
I love Unchained TV.
38:35
Unchained.
38:36
Unchained TV.
38:37
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38:38
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38:40
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everybody.
38:43
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38:50
Unchained TV is my go-to.
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