My Pet Carnivore provides a nutritious selection of raw foods for a healthy carnivore diet. But did you know that how you feed your pet is just as important as what you feed them? That’s why we’re excited to share insights from Dr. Carol Smeja, the creator of the Original mine Pet Platter. The Pet Platter is scientifically designed to promote healthy eating based on studying the instinctive feeding behaviors of our pet’s ancestors (wolves & wildcats). And we’re happy to share our learnings with you for your own dogs and cats!
Our Story
-The inspiration for the Original mine Pet Platter came from the owners’ (Bob & Carol) experience with their own raw fed dog, Pip! One day Carol was making chicken breasts and her daughter said, “Don’t throw away the scraps & juices--give them to Pip!” She placed the cutting board on the floor and was amazed that Pip, who usually inhaled her food in less than a minute and would let out a huge, loud belch, was sniffing, licking and moving around the board for about 15 minutes. Carol told her husband, a product designer, about the event, and he said, “Eureka!” This began a 3-year journey to understand and develop a natural feeder designed from a pet’s perspective.
-Carol, who holds a Ph.D. in psychology and sociology, had experience in studying human eating behaviors while working with U.S. and global food companies through research and marketing initiatives as well as U.S. government agencies to improve public health and nutrition. She applied these research and diagnostic skills to pioneer the “science of feeding pets” through the ancestral research of wolves and wildcats focusing on their physiology alongside natural behaviors and instinctive feeding habits. (Her work includes valuable insights from animal observational studies in zoos, sanctuaries and wildlife habitats, interviews with wildlife specialists and extensive reviews of professional research.) Her findings were translated into the design of the Pet Platter by Carol’s husband, Bob, to elicit natural eating behaviors—to allow pets to eat the way nature intended!
-Dr. Carol Smeja-Gailen enjoys sharing her ‘science of feeding’ with Pet Parents through speaking engagements at professional conferences, podcasts and radio to improve the health and wellbeing of pets everywhere. This is also a ‘legacy of love’ given her husband unexpectedly passed away shortly after the Pet Platter was introduced.
The Bowl
While feeding from a bowl is convenient for Pet Parents, it is counterproductive to healthy eating. You’re asking your pet to stick their head into a dark hole which blocks their peripheral vision and heightens their anxiety because they can’t see if anyone sneaks up to steal their meal. The food is piled high and held hostage so they can’t smell the contents very well which forces them to gulp large quantities of food at a fast pace. This leads to uncomfortable digestion since they are not equipped to handle large volumes of food in their short digestive tracts. Unfortunately, their meal is inhaled in seconds with little enjoyment and no mental stimulation.
The Original mine Pet Platter
Since our pets have inherited an extraordinary sensory circuit from their ancestor’s survival instinct, the Pet Platter accommodates these senses to create a non-threatening & supportive eating environment (see diagram):
-The Pet Platter is shaped and sized so your pet has 360-degree views and movement. This allows them to instinctively engage in ‘circling behavior’ which permits them to control and protect their feeding territory. This creates a relaxed and natural eating environment.
-The Pet Platter has no sides which can block their peripheral vision given their eyes are set at a 20-degree angle to perceive inbound predators. Likewise, given our pets can hear upwards of a mile away and hear at much higher frequencies than we do, visibility is critical to establish there is no threat.
-The Pet Platter offers a surface territory where the My Pet Carnivore food can be spread representing a carcass-like feeding. This is important given that your pet’s nose is their strongest sense. Did you know that they have over 100 million scent sites in their nasal cavity (vs. our 6 million) and dogs can even smell a half teaspoon of sugar in an Olympic size pool? So, your pet can identify the foods on this surface area and select the ones they choose to eat in any order. But there’s more! Did you know that pets taste food through their sense of smell since dogs and cats have a mere 1,700 and 470 taste buds, respectively (vs. our 9,000)? Allowing your pet to engage with their meal provides mental stimulation as well as taste satisfaction!
-The Pet Platter has scoops and ridges on the surface representing the ends of bones and ribs of the carcass, respectively. The scoops promote positive licking that releases positive endorphins in the brain which are both relaxing and rewarding to your pet. The ridges promote exploration where food can be compressed for retrieval. Altogether the surface territory combined with the scoops and ridges naturally slows both the pace and amount eaten for healthy digestion and increased nutrient absorption.
-The Pet Platter has different colors that pets can see and differentiate between. They have a different color spectrum than we do because they have more rods than cones in their retina which allows them to see yellows, blues and reds. (This is why Pet Platters come in the colors of goldenrod, teal and red.) The color your pet is first served on is the color they adopt as their own, and they respect the color of the other pet’s platter which reduces/eliminates food aggression and food stealing.
-The Pet Platter is called “mine” because pets adopt it as their own personal feeding territory and treat it as a friend that they will visit during the day and even nap/sleep by. It becomes a part of their world that they can control and own for the most important time of their day—mealtime with My Pet Carnivore! And it is great for their raw meals because it is food safe, nontoxic, nonporous, dishwasher safe and 100% USA sourced and manufactured.
If you would like to get an Original mine Pet Platter for your carnivores, Carol was nice enough to give us a discount. Go to minepetplatter.com and get a 10% discount by including the code: MPC10