Although I was happy to discuss purebred cats with Martha Stewart, who had just gotten a Persian cat herself, being on her show was important to me so that everyone would know that kitty came from a rescue and was not purchased.

HALO is terrific in their support of shelters and rescues across the country and they share my plea to everyone to always try to adopt, no matter what breed of cat (or dog) you want. Over 30% of the animals in shelters are purebred, so with a little detective work and patience, you can find the pet of your dreams by adopting, not buying.

HALO shows their support of shelters and the animals in them by donating thousands of meals to those pets through Freekibble.com (which I play every day and am learning lots of fun facts at the same time!).

Watch this video clip:

Tracie Hotchner, author of The Dog Bible and The Cat Bible, guest blogs here every Thursday on healthy, natural choices for pets.

Summer traveling with your pets can be overwhelming, but I have some great ideas that will make it as smooth as possible- and introduces you to a 4-legged friend looking for a new home!

Whenever I travel around the country, people want to know what I feed my own dogs. I feel wonderful telling them that of all the kibble out there, I have chosen HALO. If they are interested in why, I tell them because of the integrity of the company – both in the ingredients they choose to put into their foods, but also in their dedication to the less-fortunate dogs and cats and all the wonderful work they do supporting local and national rescues and shelters.

Plus, there’s that marvelous Ellen DeGeneres who owns part of the company and is so darned adorable and funny when she goes on QVC with Halo that it just makes me want to buy more!

Watch this video clip from CBS KOIN:

Tracie Hotchner, author of The Dog Bible and The Cat Bible, guest blogs here every Thursday on healthy, natural choices for pets.

The second most important thing you need to do after choosing your puppy is choosing a great food for him. You want a dog food made from fine ingredients that will help him grow big (but not too big!) strong and happy.

You also want a food made by a company dedicated to the wellness of all dogs, even those who aren’t lucky and windup in shelters instead of being chosen and cherished. The reason I recommend Halo Spot’s Stew kibble for Puppies is because it is made from truly good ingredients and the company gives back to pets in shelters without devoted pet parents to make the best nutrition decisions for them.

Watch this video clip:

Tracie Hotchner, author of The Dog Bible and The Cat Bible, guest blogs here every Thursday on healthy, natural choices for pets.

HALO is completely different from other commercial dry foods. The biggest difference is the fact that it is made with only real chicken, real beef, real salmon, or real lamb. They don’t use any rendered products like chicken meal (which is unfit for human consumption) to achieve their protein content.

… I hope you’ll also take to heart the fundamentals of my “nutrition seminar,” which is that an all-kibble diet is not balanced or healthy because even the finest kibble (which I believe HALO to be, based on the source of their ingredients) is still highly processed carbohydrates and Holly needs quality protein and fresh vegetables and even some fruits. So if you can balance out her kibble with an equal amount of protein from your own table like meat, chicken, eggs, cottage cheese and of course fish (which has to be easy when you’re sailing!) you’ll be giving her the optimal diet.

Click over to my original blog on “Halo Is Way Different Than Other Kibble! (Update)” for the whole story!

Tracie Hotchner, author of The Dog Bible and The Cat Bible, guest blogs here every Thursday on healthy, natural choices for pets.

Click over to my original blog on “Worlds Oldest Dog Eats Halo! Same Good Stuff Mine Do” for the whole story!

Tracie Hotchner, author of The Dog Bible and The Cat Bible, guest blogs here every Thursday on healthy, natural choices for pets.

It is an absolute favorite in our house where all three of my gigantic dogs gets a bath at least twice a month and truly no shampoo comes close to Halo’s for easy rinse-ability, soft skin, and cleaning without being harsh.

Maybe one of the nicer hotel chains like the Four Seasons – which puts out bowls and beds and leashes for their traveling dog guests – could also pop some Cloud Nine Herbal Shampoo in there and people could take advantage of the nice low edges on hotel bathtubs to give their travelling four-leggeds a little bubble bath?

Here’s me, sent to Sacramento by Petco to chat about pet travel issues. You can see it’s pretty fun! Sacramento & Company TV Appearance.

Tracie Hotchner, author of The Dog Bible and The Cat Bible, guest blogs here every Thursday on healthy, natural choices for pets.

House-training a puppy means house-training you, too. If you follow my simple rules, you’ll have your puppy going where he’s supposed to, and not on the carpet, in no time.

Tracie Hotchner, author of The Dog Bible and The Cat Bible, guest blogs here every Thursday on healthy, natural choices for pets.

Watch my video hand selected by the Vodpod community.

I’m really excited to tell you that Freekibble has now donated over 3.5 million meals to shelters, rescues and food banks! Everyday, over 55,000 people are going to www.freekibble.com and www.freekibblekat.com, to play the trivia… and we are generating kibble to feed many thousands of homeless animals everyday.

This week we launched a promotion called Letters for Pets. It’s a campaign that asks people to email a pre-written letter to The President asking for an official Proclamation for April 30th to be National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day! It’s a chance to get a whole day for adopting and celebrating shelter animals. AND, with every email letter sent, Halo Pets is donating a nutritious meal to Freekibble to help feed shelter dogs and cats – up to 50,000 meals! There are so many shelter dogs and cats in need of good, nutritious, food and this is another fun way to help feed them!

We’re partnering with Tails Magazine and Halo, Purely for Pets to get the proclamation and I’m the Spokesperson for the campaign. People can send the letter every day and we’re trying to get 100,000 letters emailed to the White House, but we’re hoping that we can get more than that – we’ve already had 28,000 letters emailed in the first 2 days! It’s great because we are raising awareness and kibble.

We’re very excited about getting a Proclamation and have kicked it off with a full week of Presidential Pets Trivia on both sites, as a way to get people excited about sending the letter to the President… and Adopt a Shelter Pet Day!

To help us get a Proclamation and feed more dogs & cats, click on www.freekibble.com/lettersforpets and e-mail the letter to the President.

If we can all work together to get a National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day, I truly think it could help homeless animals for years to come.

MIMI

Dear Toni: I am trying to recover from my dismay at this veterinarian spouting his own misinformed version of true garbage …

There is no dispute in nutrition for either people or pets that we “are what we eat” and REAL meat or other wholesome protein ingredients and other healthy components of a pet food are key to the wellness of our beloved pets. HALO is completely different from other commercial dry foods. …

Click over to my original blog on “Halo is WAY Different than Other Kibble! (Update)” for the whole story!

Tracie Hotchner, author of The Dog Bible and The Cat Bible, guest blogs here every Thursday on healthy, natural choices for pets.

It’s certainly true that lower quality dog foods can cause adverse skin reactions in dogs, but it isn’t just about an allergy to wheat (which is actually pretty rare in dogs). It’s more likely a reaction to the artificial colors, flavors, chemical preservatives, and generally dubious quality even of the protein source in the food. So you want to switch to a truly natural food free of all that artificial stuff and with the word of the named protein source as the first ingredient (chicken, beef, salmon).

While there are many premium dog foods, I have chosen HALO Purely for Pets kibble for the dry portion of my own dogs’ meals. I have confidence in the integrity of the company and Halo’s commitment to using the highest quality protein sources for their kibble, while avoiding all the cheap fillers and nasty additives present in so many dog foods. .

Click over to my original blog on “Better Quality Dog Food but Flea Prevention, Too” for the whole story!

Tracie Hotchner, author of The Dog Bible and The Cat Bible, guest blogs here every Thursday on healthy, natural choices for pets.