E337- What Makes Dog Food Safe… or Dangerous With Susan Thixton
No Bad Dogs Podcast
Tom Davis
4.8 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 22 January 2026
⏱️ 107 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Susan Thixton is one of the most respected voices in the pet food world and a leading advocate for transparency in the pet food industry. She is the founder of TruthaboutPetFood.com, where she investigates pet food labeling, ingredient sourcing, recalls, and regulatory loopholes—helping dog owners make more informed decisions about what they’re feeding their pets.
Susan works closely with veterinarians, inspectors, and industry insiders to expose misleading marketing and push for higher safety standards. Her work has made her a trusted resource for pet parents who want real answers—not hype—about commercial dog food, raw diets, and everything in between.
In this episode, we dive into what’s really happening behind the scenes of the pet food industry, how to read labels the right way, and what dog owners should actually be paying attention to when choosing food for their dogs.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | All right. So, well, thank you for coming on the No Bad Dogs podcast. I appreciate it. |
| 0:05.4 | A couple people had mentioned you over the years of my dog life, if you will. |
| 0:12.5 | So you got to check out her yearly list of all the great things that she reviews and does a lot of research on. |
| 0:19.0 | So if you don't mind, Susan, if you could give us an intro to the people listening |
| 0:23.2 | and watching about who you are and what you're passionate about. |
| 0:29.8 | Well, I'm a dog food and cat food consumer advocate. |
| 0:36.6 | And what that means is, is I argue with regulatory authorities because of what they allow in pet food. |
| 0:51.6 | I'm not a lawyer, but I've researched the laws regulating pet food extensively. |
| 1:00.1 | And the FDA and state authorities, each state department of agriculture, they openly |
| 1:08.3 | allow pet food to violate federal law with no disclosure to the consumer. |
| 1:16.8 | And so it hinders people from being able to make informed decisions. |
| 1:24.6 | You know, everybody has that right to choose whatever kind of pet food they want. But if the |
| 1:32.0 | information about that product is being intentionally with help, that's a whole different |
| 1:38.8 | ballgame, you know. So I argue with them on that. I got started on this path because of pet food killed my dog. |
| 1:49.5 | Wow. |
| 1:50.4 | And this was many years ago. |
| 1:54.0 | My vet back then knew more about pet food than most vets do today. |
| 2:00.6 | And I noticed a lump on this dog's pelvic bone. |
| 2:05.0 | I was a dog trainer at the time, actually. |
| 2:08.2 | And this dog was my teacher dog. |
| 2:12.7 | You know, I would teach obedience classes, and she was my example dog. And I noticed, so she was my example dog and I noticed so she was my business partner |
| 2:21.8 | and I noticed a lump on her pelvic bone and took her to the vet and he said it's bone |
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