Seeing a lot of ads for Open Farm so let's take a look at the website and the cat food, compared to Wellness brand and Science Diet cat food. Just how healthy is it?
Thank you Glenn for doing this review on Open Farm. This is a Canadian based company located in Ontario which manufactures their food in the USA. I used to give Open Farm to my Cocker Spaniel as I thought, being Canadian myself, that it was the best food in the world! My dog loved it of course but I noticed overtime that he was developing yellow eye stains on the white part of his face, and as he was licking his white paws, he was developing yellow stains on his white paws as well. Since I have switched him to Hill's SD, thanks to your great videos, well, surprise, surprise, the yellow stains under his eyes and on his paws disappeared completely and he is now as white as one can be! I think that the protein and nutrient levels were perhaps too high for him or maybe an enzyme that did not agree with my dog??? Anyway, I am no expert but switching him to SD has solved the situation and he seems very happy with his food. On the other hand, my cat Rosalie, didn't want to touch Open Farm cat food, no matter which kind I tried to give her. Now, she is also a happy-go-lucky girl with her SD!!! Very interestinig as always! Thanks!😻🐕
They should be paying me! lol! I was a veterinary rep, trained by some of the best board certified vet nutritionists, including Dr. Mark Morris Jr himself . My job was training vets and their teams on therapeutic diets and healthy diets for well pets. Since no one is paying or sponsoring me I can say anything I want. You’ll find I compare many diets and show which ones are better than others.
The problem I have with Hills is it has powdered wood (which actually caused one of my cats to start losing hair), gums and soy ... The long term effects of those ingredients no matter how good the nutrients panel looks are not good for cats. If they took those out they'd be ok.
Marilyn, I'm assuming the powdered wood you're referring to is powdered cellulose. I often see or read comments that it is literally wood shavings swept up off the floor! the folks that tell you that either heard it from someone else and repeat it, like you did, or they know better, but have no problem lying to you.Dietary fiber (prebiotics) help gut motility and stool quality and also nourish the microbiome in the gut. That's what powdered cellulose, beet pulp, peanut hulls, citrus core, etc do in the diet.It's basically the wood portion. That's not wood shavings on the floor! LOL! I worked as a cabinet maker before I joined Hills. My boss would have loved to sell our wood shavings to a pet food company! the people telling you such things are just repeating what they heard, like you, or know better but have no problem lying to you. and soy mixed with meat gives you a better combination of amino acids than meat alone, while reducing minerals to help reduce the risk of urinary stones or kidney disease. in real nutrition there's a propose for every ingredient, not just attractive ingredients to sell expensive foods!
What’s your take on fresh food diets sold by companies. Also if kibble is so good, why does it take months/years to expire ? I don’t think that can be good can it ?
well, the ones I've reviewed like Ollie, Farmer's Dog, Nom Nom all had excessive protein and minerals. it is the trend to focus on freshness and attractive ingredients, but ignoring what nutrition is...the delivery of optimal nutrients. One could argue preservatives in the past were questionable, like BHA and BHT. Ethoxyquin got a bad rap for awhile but studies proved it was safe, but popular demand forced companies to stop using it.the mixed tocopherols now are a very healthy alternative so I have no problem with it. To be honest, I raised a few dogs on expired Hills food that came back to the warehouse!
That’s a great question! The simple answer is I use protein and minerals because the excesses of those has a direct influence on health. Carbs and fat don’t, if the food is fed right. The whole discussion of carbs is due to fear mongering by folks selling food or a book. But you’re right! I need to do a video Carbs and Cats to discuss carbs. Thanks god the video idea!
@@PetFoodPuzzleGuy it looks like your at the subscriber threshold were you can start going live. Maybe you could host some live pet food discussions with panel members from opposing nutritional view points. Sounds like you have some pretty deep ties on the "big pet food" side and the other side is chomping at the bit for something like that. "Friday Night Pet Food Fights" 🤪
I noticed that not many brands include antioxidants in the clinically effective levels, do the nutritionists at those brands not care about that? Oh wait, there aren't any nutritionists hired at most of these brands!
Thank you, sir, for being so attentive and considerate to your subscribers. You do know how much we all love our four-legged family members. As soon as I heard you read the openers/questions from the Open Farm package and their website, I quickly became suspicious of their product. But I WILL wait for your dog food review of the company before final judgement.
Thanks!! I've been feeling a big sales pitch from these smaller expensive companies. One big guilt trip regarding sourcing and protein content. All brands are selling something.
Another commercial food I would not use. Your reviews of most dry cat food only reinforce my decision not to feed it. Thank you for the entertaining video! LOL The inorganic Ca and P of Open Farm and Wellness are both way too high. A 10 lb. cat should get about 150 IUs of Vitamin E per day. So OF and Hill's are too high. Here are two foods: #1 Chicken By-Product Meal, Ground Yellow Corn, Corn Gluten Meal, Whole Grain Wheat, Rice, Soy Flour, Salt. Food #2 Corn Meal, Whole Grain Corn, Sugar, Corn Starch, Salt. Any guesses as to what they are?
@@PetFoodPuzzleGuy "Cornivores" That just gets funnier every time you say it. (rolls eyes) : ) Since you don't want to play my game, Food #1 is Purina Cat Chow Complete Chicken. Food #2 is Corn Chex cereal. As Carnac the Magnificent would say, "Not much difference, oh certified nutritionist one." LOL
Open Farm is not good. For about seven months it was okay for my cat. The last two cases of pate were smelly and made my cat have diarrhea, and she was very sick. The best thing is to cook your food for your pet. Open Farm is all hype and about selling food on a selling point, all about marketing.
What about ash content? I don't see any stats on that. Many years have passed since I was told by my parents that a low ash percentage was important. I was wondering what your thoughts would be.
Yes, the term was very popular a few decades ago, especially with cats. Foods that were higher in ash were linked to urinary stones in cats. What is ash? The food is burned in a lab setting. The ash left is all mineral content. So instead of saying low mineral you could say low ash. There were cat foods that listed low ash on their bags and cans. Must lie ash meant all the minerals so it wasn’t very accurate. So when I say restricted minerals, specifically the ones that promote urinary issues and kidney disease, I could say low ash. It’s just an outdated term now. Funny how if the term got popular again most cat foods couldn’t say low ash! I may have to do a video on that fact!!!!
@@PetFoodPuzzleGuy I saw someone saying they avoided pet foods with ash in it, like they thought it was something actually in the food. Definitely would be a good video topic.
Thank you for reviewing Open Farm, which led me to your channel during the research, and I wish I found you earlier. For the past three months I have been feeding my cats OF Rustic blend and freeze dried raw. My cats seemed like them and doing OK but my guts told me I need to dive deeper, as the long term harm can not be seen immediately - cats can do well until they don't. Their rustic blend is just way too much veggies which is red flag for me - what's your thought on that? Also thanks for reviewing Smalls in another video. Smalls gave my cat constipation and cost me $750 emergency visit. I have since canceled it.
How much protein should an adukt cat have. I feed her Hills adult 1-6 (shes 6 yrs 4 mos), a little chubby, but as a treat i feed her Tiki carnavore 42% protein. Only feed her a tablespoo .
I was watching videos on TH-cam when I saw your channel. I really like your video content. But as a TH-cam expert, I noticed one thing: your video views are getting fewer and fewer. Later I researched your channel and I saw your video SEO score is (27.8 out of 100). Your video found that SEO optimization is not done in your videos due to which your videos are not going to your targeted people, your videos are getting fewer views and channel subscribers are getting less. and don't have video thumbnails setup I can say as a TH-cam expert if you can do channel and video SEO-friendly things like tag, hashtag, description, and keyword research then your TH-cam channel and video will grow fast. I think your TH-cam channel will make your dream come true.
I think the reason they tried to tie sustainably-sourced meat to nutrition is because they are with the school of thought that believes meat from grass-fed beef, free-range chicken, wild-caught fish, etc. is nutritionally superior to conventionally-raised/farmed meat. The philosophy is that they eat more natural diets so therefore their meat is more nutritious. Apparently grass-fed beef has more omega-3’s than grain-fed beef. Buuut whether that makes a difference nutritionally in a complete and balanced pet food that is anyone’s best guess (unless there’s a study out there??). Seems like it’s just human food marketing leaking into the pet food industry again. Anyway, thanks for the cat video!
I only eat grass fed beef. Why would I want genetically modified soybeans and corn in my body. Covered with glysophate? Same as for my animal companions. Science also says take the roll up the sleever poison biowe@pon. It is safe and effective. Though over 17 million have been unalived by it according to excess mortality reports.
@@MatthewBaliko no reason to be lost. Of course ingredients matter. They deliver the nutrients. But pet food marketers get you to look at ingredients instead of nutrients. That allows them to promote attractive looking and sounding ingredients and demonize other ingredients, like corn, ignoring the nutrients it provides. I call them Ingredientists, not nutritionists. You can look at ingredients all day, and you’ll never know the nutritional value. And the j did try has done a great job of creating vague definitions of ingredients so again, you don’t know what you’re really getting. I hope that clarifies things ! Welcome to the channel!
@@PetFoodPuzzleGuy Good point to make 👍 Guess it’s all fair game in marketing. Since Large corporations have infiltrated their regulators and made lying and deception legal. Big corporations lost the trust of the people, for very good reason. All the skepticism around big brands is justified. They created it by deceiving their own customers. Can’t even trust what a word means anymore. Definitions of words are literally under attack with the intent to mislead people. Can’t blame people for wanting higher quality ingredients for their beloved pets/family members. The ingredients are mostly all trash. Sure they get the nutrient numbers to line up with what their own research says, but they use cheap ingredients to get there.
I'm not too thrilled with what you are saying here. Same as, You're not too thrilled about what you are reading here. Please 🙄 do not expect me to believe for one second that Corn is good for cats. Wth
@@b_o-q5085 well I appreciate your position. I did a video comparing Ingredientists to Nutritionists. You might like it. You are not looking at the nutrients certain ingredients provide. Animals have a requirement for nutrients, not ingredients. As you said, yes, cats need meat. They need taurine found only in meat. Dogs and people can produce it. Cats can’t even store it. But corn can provide certain amino acids in a cat food, especially if you are restricting certain minerals found in meat, to manage kidney disease or urinary stones. That’s how board certified vet nutritionists do it.
![[TH] JFT vs RLF - VCT Ascension Pacific - Day 2](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/PuIH7w_jO6c/mqdefault.jpg)
Thank you Glenn for doing this review on Open Farm. This is a Canadian based company located in Ontario which manufactures their food in the USA. I used to give Open Farm to my Cocker Spaniel as I thought, being Canadian myself, that it was the best food in the world! My dog loved it of course but I noticed overtime that he was developing yellow eye stains on the white part of his face, and as he was licking his white paws, he was developing yellow stains on his white paws as well. Since I have switched him to Hill's SD, thanks to your great videos, well, surprise, surprise, the yellow stains under his eyes and on his paws disappeared completely and he is now as white as one can be! I think that the protein and nutrient levels were perhaps too high for him or maybe an enzyme that did not agree with my dog??? Anyway, I am no expert but switching him to SD has solved the situation and he seems very happy with his food. On the other hand, my cat Rosalie, didn't want to touch Open Farm cat food, no matter which kind I tried to give her. Now, she is also a happy-go-lucky girl with her SD!!! Very interestinig as always! Thanks!😻🐕
thank you!
We’re you a Hills pet food rep ? With veterinarians? Are you now being funded by Hills to promote their products?
They should be paying me! lol! I was a veterinary rep, trained by some of the best board certified vet nutritionists, including Dr. Mark Morris Jr himself . My job was training vets and their teams on therapeutic diets and healthy diets for well pets. Since no one is paying or sponsoring me I can say anything I want. You’ll find I compare many diets and show which ones are better than others.
The problem I have with Hills is it has powdered wood (which actually caused one of my cats to start losing hair), gums and soy ... The long term effects of those ingredients no matter how good the nutrients panel looks are not good for cats. If they took those out they'd be ok.
Marilyn, I'm assuming the powdered wood you're referring to is powdered cellulose. I often see or read comments that it is literally wood shavings swept up off the floor! the folks that tell you that either heard it from someone else and repeat it, like you did, or they know better, but have no problem lying to you.Dietary fiber (prebiotics) help gut motility and stool quality and also nourish the microbiome in the gut. That's what powdered cellulose, beet pulp, peanut hulls, citrus core, etc do in the diet.It's basically the wood portion. That's not wood shavings on the floor! LOL! I worked as a cabinet maker before I joined Hills. My boss would have loved to sell our wood shavings to a pet food company! the people telling you such things are just repeating what they heard, like you, or know better but have no problem lying to you. and soy mixed with meat gives you a better combination of amino acids than meat alone, while reducing minerals to help reduce the risk of urinary stones or kidney disease. in real nutrition there's a propose for every ingredient, not just attractive ingredients to sell expensive foods!
Corn gluten meal. An ingredient in weed killer.
And in Hills pet food
Chicken, Whole Grain Wheat, Corn Gluten Meal, Powdered Cellulose, Chicken Fat, Wheat Gluten, Chicken Meal, Chicken Liver Flavor, Dried Beet Pulp, Soybean Oil, Calcium Sulfate, Lactic Acid, Fish Oil, Potassium Chloride, Iodized Salt,
What’s your take on fresh food diets sold by companies. Also if kibble is so good, why does it take months/years to expire ? I don’t think that can be good can it ?
well, the ones I've reviewed like Ollie, Farmer's Dog, Nom Nom all had excessive protein and minerals. it is the trend to focus on freshness and attractive ingredients, but ignoring what nutrition is...the delivery of optimal nutrients. One could argue preservatives in the past were questionable, like BHA and BHT. Ethoxyquin got a bad rap for awhile but studies proved it was safe, but popular demand forced companies to stop using it.the mixed tocopherols now are a very healthy alternative so I have no problem with it. To be honest, I raised a few dogs on expired Hills food that came back to the warehouse!
@The Pet Food Puzzle Guy - why do you never discuss carbohydrate % of foods, especially in regards to cats?
That’s a great question! The simple answer is I use protein and minerals because the excesses of those has a direct influence on health. Carbs and fat don’t, if the food is fed right. The whole discussion of carbs is due to fear mongering by folks selling food or a book. But you’re right! I need to do a video Carbs and Cats to discuss carbs. Thanks god the video idea!
@@PetFoodPuzzleGuy it looks like your at the subscriber threshold were you can start going live. Maybe you could host some live pet food discussions with panel members from opposing nutritional view points. Sounds like you have some pretty deep ties on the "big pet food" side and the other side is chomping at the bit for something like that. "Friday Night Pet Food Fights" 🤪
I noticed that not many brands include antioxidants in the clinically effective levels, do the nutritionists at those brands not care about that? Oh wait, there aren't any nutritionists hired at most of these brands!
that's funny George.....and true!
Thank you, sir, for being so attentive and considerate to your subscribers. You do know how much we all love our four-legged family members. As soon as I heard you read the openers/questions from the Open Farm package and their website, I quickly became suspicious of their product. But I WILL wait for your dog food review of the company before final judgement.
coming soon! thanks!
Thanks!! I've been feeling a big sales pitch from these smaller expensive companies. One big guilt trip regarding sourcing and protein content. All brands are selling something.
@@carltonblackburn2746 it’s constant now! If you’re not feeding their food you’re killing your dog.
Another commercial food I would not use. Your reviews of most dry cat food only reinforce my decision not to feed it. Thank you for the entertaining video! LOL The inorganic Ca and P of Open Farm and Wellness are both way too high. A 10 lb. cat should get about 150 IUs of Vitamin E per day. So OF and Hill's are too high. Here are two foods: #1 Chicken By-Product Meal, Ground Yellow Corn, Corn Gluten Meal, Whole Grain Wheat, Rice, Soy Flour, Salt. Food #2 Corn Meal, Whole Grain Corn, Sugar, Corn Starch, Salt. Any guesses as to what they are?
that's why you get a shout out with every cat video! remember, cats are Cornivores! that would make a great video!
@@PetFoodPuzzleGuy "Cornivores" That just gets funnier every time you say it. (rolls eyes) : ) Since you don't want to play my game, Food #1 is Purina Cat Chow Complete Chicken. Food #2 is Corn Chex cereal. As Carnac the Magnificent would say, "Not much difference, oh certified nutritionist one." LOL
Open Farm is not good. For about seven months it was okay for my cat. The last two cases of pate were smelly and made my cat have diarrhea, and she was very sick. The best thing is to cook your food for your pet. Open Farm is all hype and about selling food on a selling point, all about marketing.
It's fit for human consumption, is that important?
What about ash content? I don't see any stats on that. Many years have passed since I was told by my parents that a low ash percentage was important. I was wondering what your thoughts would be.
Yes, the term was very popular a few decades ago, especially with cats. Foods that were higher in ash were linked to urinary stones in cats. What is ash? The food is burned in a lab setting. The ash left is all mineral content. So instead of saying low mineral you could say low ash. There were cat foods that listed low ash on their bags and cans. Must lie ash meant all the minerals so it wasn’t very accurate. So when I say restricted minerals, specifically the ones that promote urinary issues and kidney disease, I could say low ash. It’s just an outdated term now. Funny how if the term got popular again most cat foods couldn’t say low ash! I may have to do a video on that fact!!!!
@@PetFoodPuzzleGuy I saw someone saying they avoided pet foods with ash in it, like they thought it was something actually in the food. Definitely would be a good video topic.
@@Perpetual-Waffle yeah, an easy one! Thanks!
Thank you for reviewing Open Farm, which led me to your channel during the research, and I wish I found you earlier. For the past three months I have been feeding my cats OF Rustic blend and freeze dried raw. My cats seemed like them and doing OK but my guts told me I need to dive deeper, as the long term harm can not be seen immediately - cats can do well until they don't. Their rustic blend is just way too much veggies which is red flag for me - what's your thought on that?
Also thanks for reviewing Smalls in another video. Smalls gave my cat constipation and cost me $750 emergency visit. I have since canceled it.
I’m glad I could help. Welcome to the Nutrition Mission!
Can you do a review on Kirkland Maintenance Cat food?
I will add it to my list. Thanks!
Not sure if there’s a video on this, but what are your thoughts on the company Balance-it for dogs?
Haven’t looked into that yet. Thanks!
Cats do not need corn. Fact.
How much protein should an adukt cat have. I feed her Hills adult 1-6 (shes 6 yrs 4 mos), a little chubby, but as a treat i feed her Tiki carnavore 42% protein. Only feed her a tablespoo .
That 42 % is fine but the calcium and phosphorus would be more important.
@@PetFoodPuzzleGuy Thank you!
Nice video
Good idea!
I was watching videos on TH-cam when I saw your channel. I really like your video content. But as a TH-cam expert,
I noticed one thing: your video views are getting fewer and fewer. Later I researched your channel and I saw your video SEO score is (27.8 out of 100).
Your video found that SEO optimization is not done in your videos due to which your videos are not going to your targeted people,
your videos are getting fewer views and channel subscribers are getting less. and don't have video thumbnails setup
I can say as a TH-cam expert if you can do channel and video SEO-friendly things like tag, hashtag, description,
and keyword research then your TH-cam channel and video will grow fast. I think your TH-cam channel will make your dream come true.
Can you do a review on Smalls Cat Food?
I think the reason they tried to tie sustainably-sourced meat to nutrition is because they are with the school of thought that believes meat from grass-fed beef, free-range chicken, wild-caught fish, etc. is nutritionally superior to conventionally-raised/farmed meat. The philosophy is that they eat more natural diets so therefore their meat is more nutritious. Apparently grass-fed beef has more omega-3’s than grain-fed beef. Buuut whether that makes a difference nutritionally in a complete and balanced pet food that is anyone’s best guess (unless there’s a study out there??). Seems like it’s just human food marketing leaking into the pet food industry again.
Anyway, thanks for the cat video!
cant help but agree!
I only eat grass fed beef. Why would I want genetically modified soybeans and corn in my body. Covered with glysophate? Same as for my animal companions. Science also says take the roll up the sleever poison biowe@pon. It is safe and effective. Though over 17 million have been unalived by it according to excess mortality reports.
You make valid points but to say ingredients don’t matter, you lost me on that one
@@MatthewBaliko no reason to be lost. Of course ingredients matter. They deliver the nutrients. But pet food marketers get you to look at ingredients instead of nutrients. That allows them to promote attractive looking and sounding ingredients and demonize other ingredients, like corn, ignoring the nutrients it provides. I call them Ingredientists, not nutritionists. You can look at ingredients all day, and you’ll never know the nutritional value. And the j did try has done a great job of creating vague definitions of ingredients so again, you don’t know what you’re really getting. I hope that clarifies things ! Welcome to the channel!
@@PetFoodPuzzleGuy Good point to make 👍
Guess it’s all fair game in marketing. Since Large corporations have infiltrated their regulators and made lying and deception legal.
Big corporations lost the trust of the people, for very good reason. All the skepticism around big brands is justified. They created it by deceiving their own customers. Can’t even trust what a word means anymore. Definitions of words are literally under attack with the intent to mislead people. Can’t blame people for wanting higher quality ingredients for their beloved pets/family members. The ingredients are mostly all trash. Sure they get the nutrient numbers to line up with what their own research says, but they use cheap ingredients to get there.
I'm not too thrilled with what you are saying here. Same as,
You're not too thrilled about what you are reading here.
Please 🙄 do not expect me to believe for one second that Corn is good for cats. Wth
@@b_o-q5085 well I appreciate your position. I did a video comparing Ingredientists to Nutritionists. You might like it. You are not looking at the nutrients certain ingredients provide. Animals have a requirement for nutrients, not ingredients. As you said, yes, cats need meat. They need taurine found only in meat. Dogs and people can produce it. Cats can’t even store it. But corn can provide certain amino acids in a cat food, especially if you are restricting certain minerals found in meat, to manage kidney disease or urinary stones. That’s how board certified vet nutritionists do it.
😊yes but are they listing specifically which byproducts
I don’t seem to be resonating with this video
@@maggiemcjannet9988 however they choose to list or describe their ingredients, the only thing that matters is the balance of the nutrients delivered.
@@maggiemcjannet9988 well I am trying to help you resonate.