Thank you very much for this comprehensive explanation.

Indeed, I agree that refusal to supply information when requested to do so, and then later altering the ingredients to include the calcium which your study found was lacking, and then stating it was an ingredient all along is, if correct, quite worrying in that it appears to indicate a lack of accountability, or willingness to be held to account.

I am pleased to see that the change in formulation has met, to some extent, with your approval, although I note the continuing concern in relation to Vitamin D.

I will be making appropriate alterations to my list of the best dog foods that I recommend to my readers in view of this. I am disappointed for the need to take this action.

Thanks again.

Regards,
Brigitte Smith

When the puppy was critically ill in our hospital, we strongly suspected that metabolic bone disease from calcium deficiency was to blame. While waiting for the results of specialized metabolic testing, we attempted to confirm our hypothesis by contacting Sojourner Farms, so that we might be certain how best to treat the puppy as soon as possible. To our surprise, Sojos refused to provide us with nutritional content information, and insisted that there could not be anything wrong with their product.

We did perform independent laboratory analysis of the diet (Sojourner Farms European Style Dog Food Mix), and both the lab's contact information as well as the detailed data were listed in our published report.

Anyone who has a basic understanding of nutrition is familiar with the importance of a balanced calcium/phosphorous content in the diet. A quick review of Sojo's ingredient list for the European Style Dog Food Mix showed that, in the 2006 formula, there were no ingredients which contain significant calcium. Worse, meat is high in phosphorous and contains little to no calcium. When mixed, the diet contained several sources of phosphorous and no significant source of calcium. The result was an 88% calcium deficiency when fed as per the instructions.

While most people feeding BARF and other raw-food diets are aware of the need to add bone meal, whole bones, or another high-calcium ingredient to offset this imbalance, Sojos made no such recommendations. I was able to find postings in multiple raw-diet discussion forums by individual pet owners pointing out the need to add calcium to Sojos food.

Sometime in the year following our phone calls to Sojourner Farms, the ingredient lists for their dog food mixes quietly changed, with a single ingredient added: calcium carbonate. Mr. Johnson has been very quick to point out the balanced calcium content of his new diets, which is now possible due to the addition of this additive. What he fails to mention is that this change was made several months after we brought the imbalance to the attention of his company.

Mr. Johnson is quick to dismiss our careful work by suggesting that "powders, like calcium carbonate settle to the bottom of the bag". Unfortunately, there never was any calcium carbonate in this puppy's food bag, nor in any other bag, until we discovered this problem and until after Sojourner Farms presumably quietly confirmed our findings with their own tests.

I have devoted my career and my life to advancing the health and well-being of animals. We decided to publish this report not only to share information about this puppy's disease (there is nothing at all new about rickets or metabolic bone disease!), but more importantly, to illustrate the dangers of feeding diets which have not been tested to ensure their nutritional balance. This was not an attempt to discredit natural, organic, or raw foods – we made no such points – but rather to use this error as an example to educate the veterinary community and the public about a growing risk. Whether you choose to cook your pet's food, buy organic, or otherwise, the nutrient balance is critical. This is why we have independent organizations that test and certify the ingredients in our food and the food that our pets eat.

Any food company can make a mistake – commercial operations like Sojourner Farms and other commercial pet food manufacturers are not perfect. The measure of a company's integrity is what they choose to do once a mistake has been brought to light – do they fix it with transparency and honesty, or with denial and a "sweep it under the carpet" attitude? How can consumers trust a company's claim to have a "perfect track record" when the same company denies clear proof that their product has caused an illness? How many other complaints have been ignored over the years? I am glad to have been able to help motivate the reformulation of Sojourner Farms' products to reduce the chances of another pet falling ill.

I will also note that the other imbalances in Sojo's previous European Style diet, most importantly a serious vitamin D deficiency, do not appear to have been corrected. I urge Mr. Johnson to submit his products for validation by AAFCO (the oversight group which protects pets and consumers by testing animal food to be sure it meets minimum nutritional content standards) so that further illnesses might be avoided. There are many reasons why healthy adult dogs may not fall ill eating these diets; as pointed out on the Sojos website, they are remarkably versatile at accommodating malnutrition when forced to. Puppies, geriatric dogs, and dogs already suffering from malnutrition or illness are at highest risk.

Our response to Mr. Johnson's above letter, which was published alongside it in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association last month, follows:

We appreciate the comments provided by Ward Johnson, President of Sojourner Farms. Our report was not an attempt to denigrate the quality of his product. Rather, our intent was to illustrate the importance of feeding a balanced diet. Our data demonstrating the nutritional imbalances of the
Sojos European Style diet refer to the premix as formulated in 2006, when the puppy of our report became ill. We are pleased to now note Mr. Johnson’s assurance and Sojourner Farms’ advertising that the current premix formulation is supplemented to achieve a more appropriate calcium-to-phosphorus ratio. However, we reiterate our concern that when the premix is mixed with meat, as the product label instructs, the calcium-to-phosphorus
ratio becomes substantially inverted. In addition, vitamin D, another nutrient whose deficiency contributed to the disease in our puppy, was not and still does not appear to be supplemented in the premix.

Sincerely,

David A. Geiger, DVM

I hardly think that's why Bob would have discontinued his site!?! Bob's site was not only about Sojos food!

As for the study on Sojos food, I was very surprised to see that myself, and emailed Ward Johnson, the developer of Sojos food.

Here is his response:

"Hello Brigitte

The article you mention was very confusing for us. First off, it refers to our food as a "muesli" and "organic" so it was our assumption that Monzies Organic Muesli was the product in question. Later they said that it was "Sojos European Style Dog and Cat Food Mix" which was also confusing because we don't have a food that is for cats AND dogs. We attempted to get the specific numbers of the nutritional analysis that they said in the article was independently collected. The authors responded that they never did such a test and that the numbers were given to them by us. When we expressed that the numbers in the article don't match our numbers that we would have sent out, they responded that they indeed did have an independent test done, but they would not send us a copy of the results. With all of this in mind, we were very skeptical of the article, and we submitted a letter to the editor, which was published in the following issue of the JAVMA journal:

Regarding the article ”Diffuse osteopenia and myelopathy in a puppy fed a diet composed of an organic premix and raw ground beef“, we would like the opportunity to defend our reputation, based on 25 years of exemplary results..

Ward Johnson, President, Sojourner Farms "

Thanks for your comments.

I actually always provide links to the sites of other authors – including the link to your site that you have included in your comment.

There may also be some internal linking within the article if there is other related information on this site, or links out to useful products, etc.

With Bill Willhite, the above author, I have not included a link to his site, because unfortunately he does not seem to have a site any longer. He used to have a very interesting site, called InBliss, and he and I exchanged emails occasionally.

But Bill's site has been taken down, and my several attempts to contact him after I noticed this, went unanswered. I also searched for him in Google to see whether I could locate him, but I couldn't. I didn't try the American Association of Drugless Practitioners, of which he is/was a member – perhaps they would be able to give you some contact details.

Regards,
Brigitte

I really appreciate the great info you share, and your perspective on dog health. I'm glad you're getting this out there — more people need to understand this stuff.

A suggestion: when you publish a guest article on your blog, please include a link to their site. There is no reason to protect yourself from people leaving your site to learn more about a subject or another person's work. You would be providing a much-needed service to your readers. I find it frustrating that you bring it all back to you at the end of the article — with your affiliate links, etc. This isn't about you. It's about the dogs and your readers.

You introduce Bob Wilhite as "one of your readers," and mention that he has a website, but don't provide a link. This is just plain irritating and doesn't fit in with the values of the Web 2.0 content-sharing community. If you would easily let us visit his site, it would lend credibility to the article, and to your relationship with him.

I'm trying to find Bob online, but he isn't popping up in the searches. Could you please provide a link to his site?

Thanks.

Liz