If you are a dog or cat owner, these are scary times. Nearly every day, it seems we hear about another pet food that is being recalled for dangerous contamination.

If you are Scott Hild, retired K-9 officer from Lyndhurst, it is a good time to be selling an alternative pet food. Hild’s K-9 HP company (www.k9hp.com) distributes raw dog food to pet stores across the state.

We caught up with Scott at Mike’s Feed Farm (www.mikesfeedfarm.com) in Riverdale, where he was giving out free sample patties to the pooches (and owners) who happened by.

How can you not like a company with the slogan All Natural, Less Crap?

It has a double meaning. Scott says he designed the food so dogs who go raw do their business fewer times a day, in, shall we say, a more contained manner. What dog owner could resist? Especially on those mornings when you just can’t get out of bed!

Mike’s Feed sells raw pet food from Scott and several other producers. There is a huge freezer full of raw bones, raw beef and poultry. For humans, the sight of so many body parts may be a bit unsettling. Our Lab would do cartwheels.

Why should you consider switching to raw pet food? A vet we know says it’s just better for your animals, regardless of the dry food contamination. As for fears about e-coli, or salmonella, the vet points out that dogs eat their own…hey, let’s not go there again.

Suffice to say your pet’s stomach can handle raw food. The question is, can you?