Dog Food ReviewsAdvisory Board
How you feed your dog is a critical part of creating robust health. So we chose the best qualified experts out there to join our Advisory Board. Each of our Advisory Board members has a unique perspective on pet nutrition, with decades of experience providing an in-depth, science-based understanding of how your dog’s diet affects his wellbeing. So you can be confident that the Evaluation Criteria used to analyze your dog’s food were developed and reviewed by true specialists in the field.
Jean Hofve
Dr Jean Hofve is a holistic veterinarian with more than 20 years of experience in integrative veterinary medicine. She has exclusively studied and researched pet nutrition and the pet food industry since the 1990s. Dr Hofve earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at Colorado State University in Fort Collins in 1994. She is an accredited veterinarian, licensed in Colorado.
Most notably, she is an official liaison to AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) the organization that sets pet food production standards. She takes the role of representing consumers in the AAFCO meetings, advocating within the Ingredients Definition Committee and the Pet Food Committee.
Her first book, The Complete Guide to Holistic Cat Care: An Illustrated Handbook, co-authored with nutritionist Dr Celeste Yarnall, won a 2010 Certificate of Excellence as well as the 2010 Muse Medallion Award for best book from the Cat Writers’ Association. She has also co-authored the book Paleo Dog: Give Your Best Friend a Long Life, Healthy Weight, and Freedom from Illness by Nurturing His Inner Wolf.
Dr Hofve is also the former Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association, and the former Companion Animal Program Coordinator for the Animal Protection Institute.
Marion (Meg) Smart
Meg Smart DVM PhD received her DVM from the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph, Canada, in 1968; she earned her PhD in trace mineral metabolism and the effect of water quality in beef cattle at University of Saskatchewan, Canada. In 1984, ten thousand liver biopsies later, and with her thesis completed, she returned to her faculty position.
Dr Smart is co-author (with Elizabeth Hodgkins DVM and Michael Fox DVM PhD) of the book Not Fit For A Dog: The Truth About Manufactured Cat And Dog Food. She appeared as a nutrition expert in the Canadian Broadcasting Cooperation documentary on Pet Food A Dog’s Breakfast.
Online, Dr Smart has written two blogs: The Amazing Goat Blog and Fit For A Dog: Pet Nutrition by Smart. She has given nutrition workshops and rounds by invitation on the Veterinary Information Network
She has taught Veterinary Pathology, Clinical Pathology, and Large Animal Medicine, with each path she took always leading her back to nutrition and its critical role in wellness. Her teaching philosophy is to make the students think critically about nutrition and to encourage them to make informed decisions about nutrition, not founded on the cheap wallpaper that the pet food industry puts up, but on the knowledge and wonder of evolution and nature and of what their interactions have produced.
Richard Patton
Dr Patton has spent more than 40 years as an animal nutritionist. He has worked in 28 countries and formulated diets for nearly every kind of animal.
He received his BS in Animal Science from Pennsylvania State University, his MS from Purdue University in Reproductive Physiology and his PhD in Ruminant Nutrition from Virginia Polytechnic. He was an adjunct professor of Pennsylvania State University from 1992 to 2007.
Dr Patton is a vocal advocate for proper animal nutrition. He is the Author of Ruined by Excess, Perfected by Lack, The Paradox of Pet Nutrition. He is published in numerous scientific publications and you can find him quoted in many press articles.
Online you can find his published blog posts How Is Dog Food Made – And Why It Matters, Dog Obesity:The Truth About Starch, and the most popular, Why Feed Raw?.
Dr Patton has consulted for agriculture enterprises, zoos, foreign governments, Fortune 500 companies, local and regional feed mills and pet food companies.
Randy Kidd
Dr Randy Kidd is a holistic veterinarian, retired from active practice. After graduating from Ohio State Veterinary College (his class was the last one to use dinosaurs for their anatomy studies), Kidd practiced in small and mixed animal practices from Ohio to California. He returned to school (Kansas State) to earn a PhD in veterinary pathology, and during his time there, learned many of the holistic/alternative medical modalities.
For 30-some years his practice was 99% holistic – herbal remedies, acupuncture, chiropractic, homeopathy, natural foods/supplements, shamanism, etc. Over the years, Kidd has written two books (Dr. Kidd’s Herbal Care for Dogs and Cats, Storey Pub.) and hundreds of articles, columns and book chapters. He has spoken for dozens of groups – from professional to common folk, and has taught several classes on herbal care, chiropractic, backyard livestock, natural aging, and other topics.
He is now writing, speaking and teaching on the BIG TOPIC of “Reuniting the Human Spirit with the Soul of Nature”. A major pillar of this endeavor is helping folks see how they can use natural medicines and foods to enhance the health of their pets as well as their own health.
Dr Kidd and his wife have recently downsized from their farm near Lawrence, Kansas. He is kept busy watching his grandkids play college basketball, volleyball, and rugby … and misses watching his wife work the vegetable and herb gardens.
