Summer is in full swing, and so are pet food recalls, lawsuits, and warm-weather safety concerns. In this month's edition of Zoomies, Dr. Stephanie Clark and Jordan Tyler round up the latest headlines that every pet parent should know. From the internet's latest obsession with "boy kibble" to expanding pet food recalls and the growing concern surrounding the New World Screwworm, this episode blends industry insight and practical advice with plenty of laughs along the way. Our hosts also share important reminders about fireworks safety, parasite prevention, and why staying informed about recalls can help protect your pets.

Helpful Links

🚫 Learn more about the Ridglan Farms shutdown: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/16/wisconsin-beagle-research-facility-shut-down

💪 Find out what “boy kibble” is all about: https://fortune.com/2026/03/01/what-is-boy-kibble-tiktok-trend-beef-rice-rfk-jr/

💬 Get the scoop on some of our previous DCM discussions:

• BSM Partners’ research: https://bsmpartners.net/research/dcm
• Our DCM episode: https://bsmpartners.net/barking-mad-podcast/the-billion-dollar-deception-of-dcm-inside-ketonaturals-class-action-lawsuit

📋 Get more info on the latest recalls:

• GO Raw LLC: https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/go-raw-llc-expands-voluntary-recall-include-one-lot-steves-real-food-freeze-dried-chicken-recipe-due
• Revival Animal Health: https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/revival-animal-health-llc-voluntarily-recalls-canine-and-gm-milk-replacers-due-low-or-elevated
• Vitamin D article from one of our experts: https://bsmpartners.net/insights/too-much-too-little-too-late-why-pet-food-recalls-continue-for-vitamin-d/

🪰 Read more about the New World Screwworm here:

• AP News: https://apnews.com/article/screwworm-flesh-eating-parasite-cattle-texas-a7459200cef00d658d877755ad761f41
• USDA response: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animals/animal-health/livestock-and-poultry-disease/stop-screwworm
• Thought leadership from our veterinary expert: https://bsmpartners.net/insights/a-fly-of-a-different-color/

🔊 Take a listen to our episode on noise phobia: https://bsmpartners.net/barking-mad-podcast/keep-calm-a-pet-parents-guide-to-managing-noise-phobias-in-dogs

🎧 Tune in to past episodes of Zoomies here:

• May 2026: https://bsmpartners.net/barking-mad-podcast/may-zoomies-growing-meat-recalls-and-pet-food-goes-to-court
• April 2026: https://bsmpartners.net/barking-mad-podcast/april-zoomies-headlines-from-the-world-of-pet

Show Notes

00:00 – Introducing the Barking Mad Facebook page!

01:13 – Animal Welfare Protestors Shut Down Ridglan Farms

02:11 – Amazon Pet Day Sales

05:13 – We’re Feeding Men Kibble Now?

11:03 – More DCM Drama

14:22 – Recent Pet Food Recalls

18:03 – Watch Out for the New World Screwworm

21:39 – Preparing Your Pets for Fireworks Season

22:41 – Final Thoughts & See You Next Time!

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Hey, besties. As the summer is heating up across the US and especially here in the Midwest, so is Barking Mad’s social media presence.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

If you haven't seen the latest and the greatest, well, congratulations. You're cordially invited to Barking Mad’s Facebook!

Jordan Tyler

Yeah, we see you.

Jordan Tyler

Boomers. Millennials. We're not just for Gen Z, baby. We got you. We're on Facebook now. We… Cady Wolf, she's back. She had a baby.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Woo hoo! It's so cute.

Jordan Tyler

She's really, really cute. But she is now full swing running that thing and all of our other social media channels. We mentioned last zoomies that we are also on LinkedIn as well.

Jordan Tyler

So, lots of places that you can connect with us. And we're really excited to be on Facebook now. So, go check us out there.

Jordan Tyler

Welcome to Barking Mad, a podcast Powered by BSM Partners.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

We're your house doctor, Stephanie Clark—

Jordan Tyler

—and I'm Jordan Tyler.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Let's talk about some cute stuff before we get into maybe a not so cute stuff.

Jordan Tyler

Yeah, I agree. Okay, so quick—quick update on something that we talked about, was this April zoomies? I think it was…

Jordan Tyler

On Ridglan Farms, a research facility that's based out of Wisconsin, had been besieged by animal welfare protesters. You know, we talked about people storming the facility and like, breaking down gates and like, storming everything. It was crazy. Basically, the protesters won. Right? This research facility is now permanently closing in. All remaining dogs are being transferred to Big Dog Ranch Rescue based in Florida.

Jordan Tyler

So, no more dogs in that facility. No more beagle research at that facility. One of those cases where the protesters actually made a big difference. So just wanted to close the loop on that.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Yeah. Voices heard. So, if you're looking for a cute little beagle, you know where to

Dr. Stephanie Clark

On onto some other cool stuff. And if you live in a box like I do… a sales box… because I had no idea. Last month Amazon had their “Pet Day” sale. Again, no idea this happened until this report came

Dr. Stephanie Clark

out that $400 million generated in sales. Absolutely ridiculous. I can't even fathom that number. Oh, great. But guess what?

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Amazon said, hey, you don't have to be a Prime member to get these cool deals. We're going to give them to everybody. So of course, people went bananas. And dog products made up for about 60% of the sales generated, and cat products actually did 28.8% in sales, which is a 10% increase than last year. So, I know we've been harping that cat is hot, cat is hot.

Jordan Tyler

Big time, big time. Yeah, I didn't know that this was a thing either. I knew that like the Amazon Day or like Cyber Monday or whatever around Thanksgiving is a big deal.

Jordan Tyler

I guess it's funny. Like, maybe we're like two in the weeds. Maybe we need to, like, zoom out a little bit and, like, cosplay regular consumers every once in a while, so that we can benefit from pet day sales.

Jordan Tyler

You know what I mean?

Dr. Stephanie Clark

I think my ads just know I'm too frugal.

Jordan Tyler

So, they're like, you're not going to go.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

You're not, you're not. I mean, I'll get pet food ads all day long, but like, no Amazon sales. No nothing. Like, yeah, this girl isn't clicking.

Jordan Tyler

I do think it's cool though, that they allowed anybody just can make an Amazon account and benefit from this discount, right?

Jordan Tyler

We all know that pet products are getting more expensive. The economy's tough. We're like, we're having to make tradeoffs, you know, based on what we feed our pets, what we feed ourselves and what we do for fun and paying the mortgage and all of that. Yeah. So, I think it's cool that they did it that way. And I also thought it was interesting how you mentioned we were talking through like some of the, you know, the top sales and a lot of it was like tick prevention and stuff that's like timely to like being, you know, the summer season, but also stuff that's, you know, that stuff's not cheap, you know, so waiting for

Jordan Tyler

the discount is maybe the way to go.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

I do wonder again, not trying to ugly or cute right now, but how or where are those things made? Because a lot of these ectoparasites preventions are prescription based. So, is Amazon now getting into the prescription market? Do you have to go through your vet to get a prescription to then show Amazon, or are these just coming from some random distributor?

Dr. Stephanie Clark

So, I do wonder about that. It'll be interesting to see if we get any follow up stories about neuro issues happening, but… TBD on that.

Jordan Tyler

Yeah, yeah.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

I'm not going to ugly your cute. So, we'll just end at that.

Jordan Tyler

It's okay. You know it's all it's all about balance. Nutrition is all about balance. You know there's ugly in the cute, there's cute in the ugly.

Jordan Tyler

You know?

Jordan Tyler

Okay, well, I coerced Dr. Steph today into the next conversation that we're going to have because I was really excited about it.

Jordan Tyler

I can't really explain why I was so excited about it, other than I just think it's hilarious. But we're going to talk about boy kibble.

Jordan Tyler

What is it? Why is it? I don't know, but we're about to find out together.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Why? Just… just, why?

Jordan Tyler

Okay, so boy, kibble. According to some, it's like it's like a protein, a grain and a vegetable, right? It's supposed to be quick and dirty. Super easy. All about convenience, all about nutrition, right? We want it to be balanced so that we can, like, nourish our bodies. But it also needs to be simple, easy and, like, kind of mindless, right?

Jordan Tyler

Basically, the concept of your a man in the kitchen and you just want to make spontaneous decisions instead of actually put a meal together, which is fine. That's what I do. To be totally fair, we're not far off from girl dinner here.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

I was going to say, or mom meal prep, right? Like, when we were talking about this, I'm like, wait, that's what my Sunday evening is.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

It's meal prepping. We get a protein, you get a carb, and you get some sort of vegetable and you freeze it for the week. Really?

Jordan Tyler

Literally somebody on Reddit goes, bodybuilders have been doing this for decades and no one batted an eye. And it's like, yeah, what? Like, how have you guys been eating before? Just have a cute phrase to go with it.

Jordan Tyler

But now it's trendy. So, boy kibble. You know, I was thinking like, okay, chicken rice and broccoli. That's like pretty colorful. There's a color somewhere in there.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Pop of color.

Jordan Tyler

Yeah. Pop color. We love a pop of color. But then, okay, so then turn that on to think about, like, ground beef, like rice and like potatoes… like, that…

Jordan Tyler

That looks like dog food, for sure. It's brown. It's probably a little round. It might smell a little bit extra, I don't know. But essentially what the—

Dr. Stephanie Clark

—A light, meaty aroma.

Jordan Tyler

Yeah. Like when we put when we put because we have to “marinate” Lenny's food the digestive enzymes on top so that he can digest it. We call it kibble soup.

Jordan Tyler

So, I kind of imagine this as like kibble soup. Yeah. But boy, kibble soup. And it's really, it's whatever you want to whatever you want to make it. But the point I guess, of boy kibble is it's not… It's not about what it looks like. Right? It's about the fact that we're nourishing our bodies, and we're doing so in a way that works for our lifestyles.

Jordan Tyler

It, you know, we make a taste how we want it to taste. It tastes good. We know it'll be good for our bodies.

Jordan Tyler

I just think it's all very ironic, you know, like, we like, point at kibble, you know, for being brown and round and ultra processed and ugly and unappealing and monotonous and all of this, and it's like…

Jordan Tyler

…boy kibble? Question mark?

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Good boy.

Jordan Tyler

Are you a good boy? Exactly. It's just kind of funny. It's like, so there is room in the market for simplicity and convenience and, you know, just an option that reflects your lifestyles and your values. You don't have to be, you know, feeding fresh to be a good dog owner. You don't have to be feeding free stride to be a good dog owner.

Jordan Tyler

You know, you don't need to do anything to be a good dog owner. You have all the tools that you already need. You just need to decide what's going to work best for you and your dog. And so, I just thought that was very, very ironic of like, “Oh, haha, boy kibble, that's so funny.” But then it's like, wait a minute,

Jordan Tyler

It is kind of like kibble. And it's actually it's—it encompasses all the beautiful things about kibble. Right? It's like probably a lot more consistent than anything you would cook in the kitchen.

Jordan Tyler

Actually, no, you probably would do really well. I'm not very consistent. So like it's probably formulated—dog food, that is, or pet food—more consistently than boy kibble. It's probably by and large regulated more tightly.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Yeah, tested more.

Jordan Tyler

Probably tested more. Yeah. Could be safer. I just think it's interesting.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

What I think is interesting before we come full circle here, is we want to feed our pets like children, but we want to feed our boyfriends like dogs.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

And that's fine. I'm just over here like, okay?

Jordan Tyler

Who's who, you know?

Jordan Tyler

Like, we cannot keep up with this.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

I mean, I do like my dog sometimes more than I like my husband. Sorry, Jonathan. It's not like he's going to watch this anyway.

Jordan Tyler

She's not sorry.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

But, when you start looking at it like that, you're like, are we degrading humans? And are canines going to be the superior mammals?

Jordan Tyler

You know, we talk about humanization. This is like one of those rare cases where humanization is actually swinging the other way. And it's like asking some really important questions. I think, you know, it's a very silly topic, but like, there's something here.

Jordan Tyler

Do you think also it's probably around the same price per pound?

Dr. Stephanie Clark

It's probably cheaper.

Jordan Tyler

You think so, boy kibble’s cheaper?

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Probably because kibbles really like pet food is really expensive. Yeah, it really really is. Well, and I say that I heard the price of beef is really expensive.

Jordan Tyler

Well yeah there's. Yeah. And like, animal disease like can mess up supply chains and there's a lot of that going on around going around right now.

Jordan Tyler

So, it's not all just because dog food is more expensive. It's ingredients.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

But I'm sure on a cost per pound, probably similar.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

We got to talk about the recalls. We have got to talk about the lawsuits. Because you know me and unhinged. Let's get to it.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

So, Costco with their Kirkland signature, nature's domain, their grain free dog food—surprise, not surprise—is on a class action lawsuit.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

For what, you may ask? Oh, again, DCM, you know, wake me up when it's over. I would like to say we're on to something new, to something different, but same story. They're claiming that they promoted that it was healthy and safe and complete and balance, and it's got grain free

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Let me know when it's all done. Because I like science.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Yeah, I'm a science girl. And science says, hey, this is not a thing right now. So, and I may eat those words, but the science isn't telling me to eat those words yet.

Jordan Tyler

Yeah, and we would know we did that. Science.

Jordan Tyler

And it was during Covid. So a very, very trying time.

Jordan Tyler

Dr. Stephanie Clark

2020. Yeah. Because I was I was pregnant. Oh my God. Literally like they couldn't be gotten any chopper for you. But we did the research

Jordan Tyler

we studied the food, we studied the dogs, we rehomed all the dogs after the study.

Jordan Tyler

There's an episode on that. And we found that there's no causal link between grade and free dog food and dilated cardiomyopathy or increased rates of developing the disease. And it's just bizarre that companies are still being sued, that consumers are still misled, and that the industry is still operating under the assumption that grain free is some, you know, wolf in sheep's clothing

Jordan Tyler

when it never really was.

Jordan Tyler

The data to make that assumption in the first place wasn't reliable. So it's like, how many times do we have to watch this movie before somebody's going to be like, oh, actually that's propaganda.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Yeah, there's no plot twist here. There is no, the storyline is unfortunately. Yeah. And we have we have done episodes on this before and we'll link them in the show notes for today if you'd like to check that out.

Jordan Tyler

But let us know. Let us know what you want to hear about DCM, about the the scandal, about the issue. Front, front to end, beginning to end. It hasn't ended yet. So nose to tail who? Even just a good one. Hang it, I should. Yeah, we don't even know. It's obviously not. Not over. So we're going to keep talking about it.

Jordan Tyler

But you know I think it is important to keep talking about because otherwise people are just going to keep carrying this empty narrative around.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Dr. Stephanie Clark

More to say about it,

Dr. Stephanie Clark

probably not. I would not be surprised if you hear us next month talking about it again. But on to recalls. So, expansion there's Go Raw LLC has expanded their recall. So last month they had a recall due to low thiamine levels which thiamine is B1. It's an essential vitamin that we need, our pets need, and we actually formulated in pet food and it needs to be at a specific amount.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

And if not, it can lead to things such as like fatigue and low appetite, even vomiting. And in severe cases when they're very deficient, even neurological issues. So I mean,

Dr. Stephanie Clark

yeah, it's just a little B vitamin here and there, but it actually does a lot to the body. So, they've expanded this recall to one lot of Steve's real food chicken recipe freeze dried.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

The original recall included three

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Quest cat food formulas. And now to chicken. So, we'll link this in our show notes below. So you know, they also have expanded to, I believe 20 states now that it's in.

Jordan Tyler

Oh boy

Dr. Stephanie Clark

I think so. We need to check that.

Jordan Tyler

Yeah yeah. Just a good idea to stay current.

Jordan Tyler

A lot of times recalls will be expanded because the company or the FDA will continue to test product and find additional products that maybe need to be included in the recall. So it's best if you see something that might apply to you, keep an eye on it for like a couple of weeks because it very well might be expanded.

Jordan Tyler

there was another expansion, a recall expansion from something that we talked about in the April episode. It was a milk milk product for Pet, I think a milk replacer like Freezing Kittens. And it's by Breeders Choice, slash Shelters choice and the manufacturers revival Animal Health.

Jordan Tyler

But this recall started in April. April 17th was when it was first issued, and it's still going on right now.

Jordan Tyler

They recently added just a several days ago, goat milk products. And this whole recall is wrapped up in either too low or too high levels of vitamin D, which

Jordan Tyler

would say, womp womp.

Jordan Tyler

Yeah, not great. We recently wrote an article about vitamin D, recalls why they happen, why they're so serious, and we'll stick that in the show notes for you guys for sure.

Jordan Tyler

But essentially it comes down to manufacturers of pet food really collaborating with their ingredient suppliers and making sure that they know what's in the product that they that they know what they expect in the product is actually in there at the levels that they expect it to be in.

Jordan Tyler

And then it's also on the manufacturer to test for those micronutrients at the end. Right. Once the product is all packaged up in shiny, glossy, rip that bag open, you got to test it. And it can be expensive to test for micronutrients, sure, but it really is the responsibility of every brand. And so this is not the only vitamin.

Jordan Tyler

D recall that we've seen, it won't be the last. Just kind of a PSA. You know I think it's important that we hold manufacturers accountable for testing their products because otherwise, I mean, we say it all the time, they're kind of using our pets as guinea pigs. And that's so cool.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Those are our recalls.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

And in the meantime, before our next Zoomies, you can always go on the FDA's website and look at any recalls between now and then. But when in doubt, we'll do another one. I'm sure we'll have more.

Jordan Tyler

And before we leave you today, I have an extra terrible thing to share.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Get your coffees out. You don't want to eat, drink and all of this, Jordan tells you.

Jordan Tyler

Yeah, you actually might want to just pause and find, like, a quiet room and like a space to, like, dissociate for a while. Maybe a challenge, maybe a trash can.

Jordan Tyler

It's not that bad. It's really not that bad. This comes back to some of the animal disease we were talking about. Right. So something is happening. Something is happening. Something is happening in this world with a species of fly. It's called the New World screw worm.

Jordan Tyler

Despite its name, it is a fly, I promise. But they call it a screw worm because its larvae are like in like a screw shape, and they can actually burrow into open wounds of animals

Jordan Tyler

Yeah. Actually, I'll just read this headline. Flesh eating cattle parasite spreads beyond Texas and beyond cattle. Yeah. So apparently there's been a few cases. There's been three additional cases confirmed recently. That brings the total to five cases in the United States, including the first case involving a dog in New Mexico.

Jordan Tyler

really the risk is, you know, you have an open wound, you get a maggot that burrows inside of it. They eat the flesh. They further open the wound, increasing the risk of deadly bacterial infections. Like it's just not good. Cattle are particularly prone to this.

Jordan Tyler

But if you are living in Texas, if you're in the South, if you're in an area where the New World screw worm is growing in its presence,

Jordan Tyler

just be mindful. If you have pets that are frequently outdoors, that might have an open wound, or might be prone to developing some kind of open wound, like think even like a hotspot or something like that.

Jordan Tyler

Just be mindful, be watchful and vigilant, and just protect those wounds as best you can

Dr. Stephanie Clark

And even if your dogs or cats are not outside, and this is what I always tell people when talking about like heartworm prevention,

Dr. Stephanie Clark

flies and parasites and bugs, they don't they don't care. They don't have to be invited in. Right. So like even keeping like the door open or the windows open, a fly can come in.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

And so just wound management. Yeah.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Get on top of it.

Jordan Tyler

Wound management. That was the words I was looking for.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Manage them wounds.

Jordan Tyler

You better manage those wounds. Yeah. It also just points out, you know, veterinarians play a really important role in surveilling this as it develops. And as it remains a risk, especially for beef supply and cattle in the US and in Mexico.

Jordan Tyler

But yeah, if you have any concerns, definitely reach out to your veterinarian. They'll be able to steer you in the right direction, or help relieve you of any worries that you might have.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

So on that note, are you hungry? No. Just kidding.

Jordan Tyler

Yeah. No, I can't really say I am.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

It doesn't bother me. I think I'm just so immune to it by now.

Jordan Tyler

Well, yeah. You've done you've like on top seed animals like you, you have more experience with that kind of like viscera of it. I can look at pictures that if I start to think about it too hard.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

You know, when our team was getting informed by our veterinarian on this topic and everyone was super squeamish, I was like, is there something wrong with me?

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Like, I'm not squeamish.

Jordan Tyler

You're perfect. Don't change.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Just not grossed out. But don't you dare…

Jordan Tyler

She's got it. She's got she's tough skin. She's got thick skin.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

But I'm a sympathy pucker. So I'm not grossed out by screw worm. But don't puke next to me, okay? Heard, heard. No, I guess we all have our weird things.

Jordan Tyler

And before we go, don't forget it is fireworks season as they call it.

Jordan Tyler

We've got the 4th of July coming up tomorrow. If you're listening to this episode right as it comes out, we also have Labor Day coming up. And it's summer. You know, we like to blow stuff

Jordan Tyler

If you have a pet that gets squeamish around loud noises. Ducks are careful around this season. Make sure they're indoors. Make sure that you have a proper way to calm them down, or make sure that they can have a safe space if they're going to get stressed out during loud noises.

Jordan Tyler

What did I forget?

Dr. Stephanie Clark

No. And when in doubt, talk to your veterinarian. Talk to them ahead of time so they can order you any medication before these fireworks start happening. And they'll be able to tell you when and where to give them. Yeah. So when in doubt, talk to your vet.

Jordan Tyler

Yeah. We also will link a previous episode that we did about noise phobia.

Jordan Tyler

Might be a little too late for you to operationalize that knowledge for the 4th of July. But you know, we got you for New Year's, so go check that out as well.

Jordan Tyler

I think that wraps it up for for our June zoomies. Be sure to catch us back in July and stay tuned as we continue to bring you important episodes and conversations from the world of pet.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Go zoomies on that like button.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Thank you for tuning in to the Barking Mad podcast. If you'd like to learn more about BSM, please visit us at www.bsmpartners.net.

Jordan Tyler

Don't forget to follow us on your favorite leading podcast platform. And if you found today's episode useful, share it with a friend.

Jordan Tyler

We'd like to thank our dedicated podcast team: Jacob Parker, Cady Wolf, Neeley Bowden Lewis, Ada-Miette Thomas, and Anna Guilfoyle. A special shout out to David Perez for the original music. See you next time.