| The Challenge Becomes The Dream |
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Entrepreneur overcomes challenges to keep dream alive By Debbie Evert
Some people settle for good enough. Sissy Harrington-McGill is not one of those.
Sissy went to Germany in 1974 to buy the fawn son of the 1974 World Champion Great Dane and the brindle nephew of the 1973 World Champion Great Dane. She has raised Danes since 1958.
While there, Sissy noticed a disturbing fact: German Danes lived nine to 13 years, while she knew American Danes lived only seven to nine years. She wondered why. What she discovered changed her life.
She secured as many bags of German dog food as possible and brought them back to the U.S. in hopes of getting it produced locally. Sissy had it analyzed for ingredients. She then developed the Solid Gold Hund-n-Flocken (which means “dog food flakes” in German). Thus began Gold Food Health Products for Pets.
“I called 19 different (pet food) mills, but no one was interested,” Sissy reflected. “I prayed. Finally, one of the mills called and said they would make it if I bought the ingredients.”
One very big problem: their minimum run was 25 tons.
At this point, the entrepreneur was operating out of her house. “Where would she put 25 tons of dog food?” she thought. “And if she could find a place to store the food, how would she sell it? And, the supplier required payment before delivery.”
Sissy began to network with dog show owners and handlers of large breed dogs that agreed to back the product financially. With a scoop, brown paper bags, and handmade labels, she filled her car with small bags of food and headed out to a dog show.
She sold out at the show and knew she had struck gold.
Dog owners and handlers were not the only ones who noticed the popularity of Solid Gold Health Products for Pets.
The Food and Drug Administration also watched. Their investigation began in the late 1970s. The FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine received a complaint and in January 1979, the administration sent Sissy a letter warning her to stop making health claims for two of her products. She removed the claims from product labels, but the claims later appeared in the company’s promotional literature.
“Any product that makes drug claims essentially has to go through the FDA licensing process,” said Paul Beckhart, assistant U.S. attorney, who helped represent the FDA in the 1988 civil case against Sissy.
“A federal judge in San Diego said I broke the Health Claims Law, that vitamins, minerals, herbs, are drugs and can only be sold by a veterinarian,” Sissy reflected. “After days of deliberation, I was found guilty of breaking the law. Ironically, it wasn’t a law; it was working in the Senate.”
The Health Claims “Law” never became a law.
Complaints, letters, claims, and discourse followed until the investigation formally ended in a three-day trial in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, July 12, 1990.
According to a FDA Consumer article by Judy Folkenberg, Richard Nelson, Sharon Snider, December 1990, in his summary statement, presiding Judge Gordon Thompson Jr. said that “Sissy Harrington-McGill, president and owner of Solid Gold Health Products for Pets, doing business as Solid Gold Holistic Animal-Equine Nutrition Center, had never really intended to comply with the terms of the injunction, but instead had continued to market her products over the last two years with the same prohibited therapeutic claims and product names.”
But the sole owner of this growing company wasn’t discouraged even after spending six months in prison, having a life-threatening stroke, and experiencing a severe financial drain of her company from products pulled by the FDA.
From the beginning, Sissy viewed her product line as a holistic part in a dog’s care. With this concept as the premise for her growing company, no product would have ingredients that could be harmful in any way. They would be natural, without chemical additives.
The concept behind holistic health care is that the body is viewed as a whole and not regarded as a collection of parts. Any imbalance in one area can disrupt the body in another area.
“For example, a dog that suffers from chronic skin irritation, ear infections, or chews incessantly at his feet, should not just be treated with steroids, antibiotics, or topical applications,” Sissy said. “The cause should be determined and addressed. Foot-chewing and chronic ear infections are classic signs of food allergies in dogs. Often, a simple change in diet combined with support for the immune system may help the problem within days.”
According to the current catalog, many of the U.S. dog food manufacturers use wheat, corn, and/or soy in their products. These ingredients are three of “the top causes of allergies in dogs and can contribute to chronic ear infections, itchy skin, and chewing at the feet or base of the tail.”
“All our dry and canned dog and cat foods are wheat, corn, and soy free,” Sissy said proudly. “We use healthy oils packed with omega fatty acids such as canola oil and salmon oil.”
Salt, sugar beet pulp, fillers, by-products, artificial flavors, colors, nor chemical preservatives are added to any of the food formulations. These ingredients can be found in many dog foods available at the local supermarket.
The products in the Gold Health line use natural antioxidants to protect foods against spoiling and foul odors.
With three exceptions, all ingredients are from domestic sources. Lamb comes from New Zealand, tuna is caught and canned offshore, and the potato protein in the Barking at the Moon high performance food comes from Europe.
The products “have no wheat gluten, nor rice protein concentrate,” according to www.thepetfoodlist.com, and “use only whole unprocessed grains or bran, not gluten.”
Even the packaging is safe to the environment and the pet.
Solid Gold is also an industry leader in the use of revolutionary foil barrier packaging for “all our dry food products, which means we don't have to use chemical preservatives or flavor enhancers,” the catalog continues. “Barrier packaging keeps food fresher longer, maintains palatability, and helps to sustain the potency of valuable vitamins and other nutrients, which may deplete over time with conventional paper bags.”
The Solid Gold Health Products for Pets product line includes food, supplements, treats, and skin/coat care.
The food includes dry and canned of a wide variety, especially for puppies, small and large breeds, adults, those with sensitive stomachs, and overweight dogs.
Supplements range from SeaMeal with flaxseed, MSM (methylsulfonylmethane), pre-biotics, English Rescue Brewers Yeast, and S.E.P. (Stop Eating Poop). Most come in pill form.
When you decide to make the switch to a healthier dog food, introduce it gradually. It might take two to three weeks to phase in a new food, especially if the new food is drastically different from the previous diet.
Solid Gold recommends feeding twice a day. Two smaller meals help to prevent bloat and gastric torsion. For the first 3-4 days, mix 1/3 Solid Gold food and 2/3 old food for each meal. You could add Solid Gold’s SeaMeal to provide extra trace minerals, essential fatty acids, and digestive enzymes to assist in digestion.
For the next 3-4 days, mix Solid Gold food and the old food half and half. Gradually adjust the ratio until your pet is fully on Solid Gold food. Allow up to three months to see an improvement in potential allergies.
“We also recommend Solid Gold Green Cow tripe to smooth transition to a new food,” the catalog said. “It is the fourth stomach of the cow, where the digestive enzymes are located. It stinks, but dogs and cats love stinky things.”
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A true friend is the best possession -Benjamin Franklin
