Washington state woman has vowed to eat pet food for a whole month

For lunch today I had leftover homemade lasagna and a zucchini salad. Dorothy Hunter, CEO of Paws Natural Pet Emporium in Richland and Kennewick, Washington, had cat food.

“For lunch today I am doing the Wellness Cubed Cat Chicken Food,” Dorothy said in a video on Facebook, while eating from a can of cat food. “It’s a little entree. Chicken broth, eggs, spinach, ground flax seed…”

Since June 19, Dorothy has eaten almost nothing but dog and cat food.

“I’ll have a popsicle and I am still having some yogurt. I’m still having my coffee because all of my employees would quit if I didn’t.”

She’ll continue with her feline feasts and dog dinners until July 19. So why oh why, oh why is this woman doing this? Dorothy said she wants to encourage people to read the labels on their pet’s food, and only feed them real foods and quality ingredients.

“The reason I was doing this is there are thousands of pet food companies out there that use USDA human grade ingredients and they’re not allowed to use that label on their products after their food goes into the pet plants to manufacture the food. So they’re no longer allowed to call it human grade food. They use USDA product, organics. They have very high standards and I truly believe that some of the food they’re making is better than that of human food. I do believe that a lot of pets are eating better than people.”

But does it taste good to people?

“I have learned that not only do I not like human pâté, I don’t like pet food pâté products either. Everything-being-ground-up texture, to me, is totally nasty. But the ones that are actually chunks, some of the foods that are stews, they really do taste like military meals, Ready To Eat. They lack seasoning. But that’s a human consensus there because Fromm dog food? I hate it, my dogs absolutely love it.”

I wondered if Dorothy takes the time to put the pet food on a plate, complete with silverware and napkin.

“Oh, most of the time I’m acting like a bachelorette. I’m definitely eating it right out of the can!”

Dorothy said she did the math and found she needed to eat four cups of pet food a day to be healthy. The pet food diet is much different than her usual diet of fresh veggies and fish.

“Eating all this meat has definitely been interesting. I don’t feel like my hair is falling out as much as it used to. So I have to say, my coat is better,” she laughs.

For the record, Dorothy thinks dog food is tastier than cat food. Her favorite so far?

“Scout & Zoe’s chicken dog jerky treats, they’re made in the USA. They’re 100% hand cut, grade A, boneless, skinless chicken. They are delicious, I mean, I’m pretty sure I ate a whole package yesterday.”

No matter how strange her experiment seems and how gross it may seem to eat cat food, I think Dorothy is a pretty normal lady.

“It’s for the fun of it. It wasn’t supposed to be a diet, I’m not encouraging people to go out and eat pet food. The biggest thing I’m wanting to do is make this about ingredient awareness. Anything you feed yourself or the ones you love, whether it’s your pet or your children, read the package.”