Hi, my name is Dan Stevenson. I am getting worried! My brother and I have been in the pet industry over twenty-five years and in that time I have seen an increase in fat pets getting sick. Just like us humans, dogs and cats are eating too much of the wrong foods and like me, and my gym avoiding friends, our pets are often not getting enough exercise. This leads not only to overweight issues but also to an increase in diabetes. In the past few years we have seen diabetes diagnoses in pets increase over 30% in dogs and over 15% in cats.

In the media these days are many stories about going back to basics in diet, cutting out a lot of high sugar foods and breads while eating more vegetables and meat. The media are calling these types of people diets “Paleo” in reference to early man and some call these diets “Grain-Free”. The idea is eating as our ancient ancestors ate, which sadly (for me) means cutting back on sweets and avoiding a number of foods from modern agriculture.

In pet food I believe the same issue is true, that we need to get back to a more basic diet and remove the ingredients that are leading to high blood sugar levels and spiking the diabetes issue. Scientists can measure how some foods cause a short-term rise in blood sugars, and these foods are typically labeled high in “Glycemic index”. Corn is much picked on as a grain that we all eat and has been a main ingredient in pet food. Grains like corn and wheat are part of the issue when trying to eat more “Paleo” as corn and wheat products often cause spikes in blood sugars. By choosing low GI foods for our pet foods we can slow down your pets digestion, keep your pet fuller longer and help us all move a step away from Fat Dogs (and Cats).

So here is what we did. Ten years ago we produced our first pet food. First, we took out all the high sugar, high GI carbs. That meant no corn, no wheat and just to be safe we said no grain. Next, we leaned on peas and beans as major carb sources. We control the quality with Canadian grown products and we like the low GI scores. Finally we went to single meat proteins in almost all our foods, perfecting the formulations found in Boréal today.

At Boréal we are trying to help you and your pets get back to basic nutrition!