As another Thanksgiving rolls around, I always think of wonderful experience I had when I was the PETCO spokesperson in 2010 for their natural foods section. They flew me down to San Diego and I had a chance to prepare my very own version of Halo Spot’s Stew for the cameras, encouraging dog and owners to make a festive meal for their pets with the recipe for the actual Spot’s Stew in a can!
There was a professional food preparer who brought out a big tray of lovely little glass bowls each with a different diced up ingredient and she set it next to me at the stove that was waiting — with a big soup pot where rolled oats and pasta were already simmering in chicken broth. I felt just like one of those cooking professionals on television, who has invisible helpers who have chopped and measured everything into little glass bowls and all they have to do is tip things into the pan.
The bowls held chunks of cooked turkey breast, small pieces of cooked chicken, and diced up raw carrots, celery, green beans, green peas, zucchini, yellow squash, each in its own dish — and even little dish of kelp (dried seaweed — just like at the sushi bar, so healthy!) I was amazed to learn that this recipe was literally right from the good folks at Halo Purely for Pets and was what went into every can of Spot’s Stew- along with a lot of vitamins and minerals to make it a fully balanced meal.
They even had a nice Golden Retriever there in the kitchen so I could serve my finished stew to an appreciative audience, and just like on TV, there was a full pot of the Thanksgiving Stew already fully cooked beside the one I had gotten started so that I could serve my guest!
The experience made me truly appreciate the thought and care that goes into the Spot’s Stew recipes. I realized that while we can have the fun and satisfaction of home cooking for our dogs from time to time, it’s great to know we can give them that same home-cooked quality every day: all we have to do is reach for a can of Spot’s Stew. Now that is something to give thanks for!
Make sure you check out Dr. Donna tips on how to keep your pets safe from the dangers of the human holiday dinner table: “Holiday Food Alert”
–Tracie Hotchner
