Chronically Ill Dogs Offered Free Food; Steve's Real Food of Eugene, OR Says Alternative Diet Can Help.

Lifestyle Editors/Business Editors

Western Veterinary Conference

EUGENE, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 14, 2003

Steve's Real Food for Pets, a specialty pet food manufacturer in Eugene, Oregon, is offering dog owners all over the country some free relief from chronic canine ailments.

The program, called "Give us your Worst Dog" is being introduced to veterinarians at the Western Veterinary Conference opening this week in Las Vegas. The four-year-old company produces a special raw meat-based diet which it claims can eliminate common canine ailments such as allergies, arthritis, hot spots and other skin and coat problems. The company states that today's high-carbohydrate dog foods do not provide the full range of nutrients upon which dogs evolved. Proper raw meat-based diets provide these nutrients

Steve Brown, the company's founder and president says the program is a way to take the anecdotal evidence of the health benefits of raw feeding and put it into a more controlled situation which veterinarians can monitor and study. "Dog owners rely on their vets for health care and we want those vets to know that this alternative method is a viable treatment for dogs who have not responded to traditional methods. Offering to feed the dogs for free is our way of gaining their attention," said Brown.

Various home-made raw meat recipes have been available for a number of years but Brown's product is the first commercial raw diet which meets all the nutritional regulatory standards for the pet food industry as well as being approved by the USDA and the FDA. Accomplishing this required Brown to use only human-edible food and more than four years of research and testing to achieve the optimal blend of meat, fruits, vegetables and fats which make up the diet. More information is available at stevesrealfood.com.