Halo doesn’t advertise much – between the power of Ellen, our ground-breaking ingredients story, and our corporate philanthropy, we seem to be in the news every week. But we’re still glad that our rare upcoming full-page ad is being mentioned so often in the media, including the Wall Street Journal and dozens of blogs.

Click here to read more (and to find a sneak-preview of the ad).

If you haven’t joined the conversation yet on Twitter, you’re missing a lot of fun – and some great information distributed in easy-to-digest form via text message or online.

Here’s a recent conversation I really enjoyed.

Nightline — yes, the TV show — asked its Twitter followers, “What is the craziest thing you’ve seen for sale on QVC?”

Juaus4me (a woman named Jennifer Ann who follows Nightline on Twitter) responded, “craziest thing on QVC Ellen D selling Halo food and her co host was eating it ….OH YUMMIE.”

If you didn’t catch that on QVC, it made for great television! You can see a clip of QVC host Carolyn Gracie eating Halo here. This was a bit controversial when it happened – until QVC watchers started defending Carolyn because, in fact, she didn’t eat anything they wouldn’t eat!

I couldn’t help but join the conversation. So my Tweet was, “Hey @juaus4me and @Nightline – eating Halo’s not all that crazy; Read the ingredients (vs. human soup) http://www.halopets.com/soupwars.”

Next, Zissy4PetTalez sent my message to her 848 followers (know as a “re-Tweet” or “RT”).

FurandFeathers, an animal lover named Sue Giannosa, chimed in saying, “Crazy, no way. My dogs love that food. They lick the spoon when I put the Dream coat on their food also. Ingred. Are all natural.”

Rachelle Caruso, Twitter ID rlcaruso, responded, “my dogs LOVE Halo! I think they eat better than Me! Halo stew is way better than anything in the human aisle based on ingredients.”

If you’re reading this, you probably sacrifice to make sure your pet is well taken care of, and know where Rachelle is coming from!

Ellen DeGeneres, an owner of Halo, lays out a buffet of different foods for her cats at every meal so they don’t get bored, the animal lover tells TV Guide.

Also, her pets play favorite: their poodle Mable loves Portia, their other dog, Wolf, loves them both, and one of the cats loves Ellen best. Or at least she likes to think that, Ellen says.

Check out the interivew.

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.

Want to reward Fido for learning to sit and stay? Does Fluffy deserve a little something special just for being so cute today? It’s always nice to keep some natural pet treats on hand for just such occasions, but there are also a few foods right in your kitchen that can be used to brighten your furry friend’s day. In her book, The Whole Pet Diet, Andi Brown recommends the following as foods that can occasionally be used in small amounts as dog or cat treats:

- Cantaloupe balls
- Cottage cheese
- Yogurt mixed with a few blueberries
- Sardines
- Organic cheese on a salt-free cracker

If you’d like to make some treats with a few more ingredients, be sure to check out the recipe for Voyko’s Paw-Lickin’ Liver Treats, along with all the other homemade pet food recipes at HaloPets.com!

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