Eleven-year-old Brandon Williams didn’t give it a second thought.

With a neighbor’s house on fire one night in late January, Brandon bee-lined it to their backyard, where four puppies and their mother lived. “It shocked me, he was gone so fast,” says Brandon’s mother Kandy. “We were worried about people inside and he was worried about the dogs. He said, ‘What about the puppies?’ and he was gone.” In seconds, Brandon emerged with four puppies in his arms, and then retrieved their mother, Bell, a Rottweiler. “I am so very proud of him,” says Kandy. “I have always been proud of him, but this grabbed my heart.”

The home’s owner, Junior Lynch, was also touched. He gave Brandon, of Sylacauga, Alabama, one of the puppies, a rottweiler-lab mix named Bruno. And when Halo co-owner Ellen DeGeneres got wind of Brandon’s feat, she flew him and his mother to Los Angeles to appear on her January 30 show. Ellen told Brandon,“I have a pet food company called Halo, and it’s great food, it’s good for animals and I’m going to give you a year’s supply for your puppy.” Then she presented Brandon with a $10,000 scholarship for college, and a five-day trip to Disney World, where he and his family will be honored. “She was fun,” says Brandon of Ellen. “She jokes during the show.”

Brandon’s lifelong love of animals propelled him to action that day. He’s wanted to be a veterinarian for as long as he can remember, and Ellen arranged for him to follow a veterinarian; already, says Brandon, he’s watched vets do surgeries. “When I was little I had stuffed animals, rabbits and bears and when we went outside I liked to look at the squirrels,” he says. “I had fish, birds, rabbits, iguanas and a snake.” Now, his only pet is Bruno.

The trip to Los Angeles was Brandon’s first time on a plane. “It wasn’t scary,” says the sixth grader. “It was like a ride at the carnival.”

Saving the puppy and receiving Ellen’s recognition, says Kandy, “has been a turnaround for him. He’s more of a pet person than a people person, now he’s more positive about everything, about school. More motivated.”

Here’s an inside view of what really goes into the making of pet food. Warning: Not for the faint of heart! (And NOT the way Halo makes its food for cats and dogs!!)

By Dr. Donna Spector
What is really in pet food? The pictures presented on cans and bags of pet food conjure up images of a chef cooking divine meals of wholesome cuts of meat and vegetables for our beloved pets. Although this is a lovely idea, it is rarely the case. When animals are slaughtered for food production, the lean muscle is cut off for human consumption.

The remaining carcass (bones, some organs, beaks, feathers, etc) is what goes into pet food, commonly known as “by-products”, “meat meal”, “bone meal”, or the like.

Read on if you are not faint of heart.

“Leftovers” from the human food industry (restaurant grease, out-of-date supermarket meat, etc) also makes its way into pet food through a process called rendering. Rendering involves placing these carcasses and “leftovers” into huge vats, grinding it up and cooking it at very high temperatures for about an hour to kill off harmful bacteria.

Once cool, the grease is skimmed off the top and this is called “animal fat” that goes into pet food (for example, chicken fat, beef fat, etc). The rest is pressed and dried to make either meat meal or bone meal. Read on for your pet’s sake.

The following post comes from Diane Herbst, a freelance writer who is passionate about animals, and has written many articles involving dogs and cats for People magazine. Diane’s two dogs, Rudi and Smokey, love their Spots Stew — which her three cats savor, too.

Chocolate and flowers are cherished gifts on Valentine’s day. But they can also poison your pets.

The ASPCA’s poison control experts warn that the lillies in your Valentine’s bouquet are toxic to cats. And in the week prior to Valentine’s day last year, there was a 74 percent increase in cases of pets ingesting chocolate, another pet poison.

Dana Fabman, an ASPCA pet poison prevention expert, said in a recent article : “We do see an increase in calls regarding traditional holiday gifts, particularly in the few days leading up to and after Valentine’s day — right when those bouquests and lovely boxes of chocolate arrive.”

Lillies and chocolate are not the only toxic substances, warns the ASPCA, which has created a list of Valentines Day safety tips . And remember, that romantic glass of wine can turn toxic if sipped by your pet, possibly causing vomiting, lack of coordination, even coma.

If you suspect your pet has ingested a toxic substance, contact your veterinarian or the APCC’s 24-hour hotline at (888) 426-4435.