Let food be thy medicine, thy medicine shall be thy food. We are happy to have our newsletter forwarded to friends and associates who may not yet be subscribers.
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When I was a kid, our neighborhood dogs all lived to be about 16 years old. There were no cancers, no cruciate ligament failures, no surgeries unless they got "fixed" or hit by a car. Sometimes they had to be put to sleep because they bit someone's little brother or because they had a terrible case of mange, which was incurable at that time. Sometimes they were put to sleep because they were in their late teens and just got too feeble to get around anymore. If anyone's dog had something so rare as a visible tumor, you all went over to that kid's house to have a look at it, while the owner of the dog proudly stood by his strange prize. We saw an occasional case of distemper, one belonging to a sweet, yellow dog that found its way into our hallway one cold night while we slept. By morning his running nose was stuck to the floor. We were three little girls, Christmas was around the corner and as far as we were concerned angels had sent us our very own dog. My father said he was going straight to the pound. We cried and Dad was defenseless against our tears. One trip to the vet and one bottle of pills later, Sandy was our dog. He lived a healthy happy life with our family for many years. He was never sick again until the end of his long life and I cried like a baby when he died. In the nineteen fifties this is about as complicated as the business of owning a pet was. There was only one kind of dog food at the local grocery store. It came in big 16 oz cans that were full of large cubed chunks of horsemeat that looked like stew beef. We had no leash laws. Dogs and kids ran around outdoors all day and came home tired when the streetlights were lit. If you played cowboys and Indians your dog played too. When you were too tired to drag your sled up the hill one more time, you tied it to your dog who was happy to make a game of pulling it up for you. Where we ran they ran. When we fell asleep they fell asleep. Different times, they say, call for different measures. (read more...) Great Tips for a Pet Safe Holiday Season! Firstly, let's remember that the combination of amazing cooking smells and the arrival of excited guests are all very stimulating to your pets. The very safest thing you can do for your pets during a big meal with lots of people in your home is to put them away, at least during the time when food is everywhere. Feeding them early is also a good idea and will make them at least a little less interested in what you are eating. Prepare a quiet place for them away from the festivities. Don't banish them to spend the day there, but have it ready for those time outs that might be helpful... like when they just can’t seem to help begging, counter surfing and chasing the kids indoors! (Get more great tips for a Pet Safe Holiday...)
How many times has each of us bought something that looked great on the outside yet contained little or nothing that it promised on the inside, all because the packaging was so convincing? A glaring example of this that caught my attention is a popular dog kibble sold in supermarkets. The maker boasts juicy red meats and colorful fresh vegetables splashed boldly across a glossy white bag. It has great visual appeal and is an attractive package in the pet food aisle. Well, I have opened that bag and I have looked inside... and I am here to report that I have seen nothing in the bag that remotely resembles the pictures on the bag! The irony is that there is no mistaking the message there, even from the pet food manufacturer... the word is out that real food is what our pets need to maintain optimal health. We have to rely on our own good sense in other areas too. Although a handful of dedicated veterinarians throughout the nation are now encouraging their clients to consider 'natural' alternatives to commercial pet food, the majority still hold onto their old beliefs that most commercial pet foods are perfectly fine for your pets and theirs. I do not believe there is anything underhanded going on here. These are their true beliefs, though outdated and based in ignorance. I'm going to blunt here; ignorance can no longer claim to be bliss. I don't go to my doctor for information about nutrition because I know he has little training in it (he told me himself that he had about ten hours of nutritional training throughout his entire medical career). Following the same trend, until very recently even the best veterinary schools didn't regard pet nutrition as worth teaching. Consequently, almost everything the average veterinarian has learned about feeding pets has come from the reps who supply the pet foods that he or she in turn sells to you. To my mind, the regurgitated praises of pet food companies for their own products is not what I'm hoping for in the way of guidance from my pet's health care providers. So, with all due respect, as with my own doctor, I do not look to my veterinarian for the nutritional health of my pets. (read more...)
Ann Martin carefully and methodically reveals in great detail the serious problems with the ingredients present in commercial pet food. Even more amazing is that this is a multi-billion dollar industry that is almost completely unregulated. Her book rips the curtain off one of the most suppressed news stories of the decade and it took courage and amazing persistence to write it. If the pet food recall of 2007 scared and shocked you and you have considered feeding your pets a healthier diet, you want to read this book! Foods Pets Die For by Ann N. Martin is available at your local bookstore and www.Amazon.com |
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"Foods Pets Die For" - By Ann N. Martin