Recently a friend of mine sadly lost her puppy. The reason for the puppy’s death were ‘unknown’ but what the vet said had me thinking. They didn’t do a tox screen to see if she was poisoned due to the cost, but my guess was it was a toxin, just not one from a meddling neighbor. It was her food. Her belly was very hard and bloated suggesting to me some kind of impaction from poor digestion. My friend’s dog was put on a ‘leading brand’ dog food recommended by the vet. One that I’m totally against and will preach openly about(at my shop). In a matter of months of being on this food the puppy died. If people are being told by a vet to go on a food that will do more harm than good, who are we to trust?

I’ve worked at vet offices both in Ireland and in America and I can say there is no difference in what they are being taught about nutrition. Zilch! One book I read several years ago, Dr Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats, stated specifically that when he was attending veterinary college there was only one class on pet nutrition and the rest were about drugs and surgery. Can you see the bias towards medicines even in animals? The incentives for vets to carry certain brands of pet foods are why we’re being told to buy them. Human doctors have the same amount of education on the matter as veterinarians and given incentives to push drugs as well, so it’s no wonder people are dying of drug toxicities and malnutrition. Instead of being told “eat this apple” they hear “take this pill”. Humans and pets need the same array of vitamins, minerals, fats, fiber, and proteins. Pets portions may be different to ours but the base nutrition is exactly the same.

If you look at the digestive tract of a dog it’s almost identical to ours. Their stomach acid is 4X stronger so they can digest raw bones and egg shells for calcium. We need ours from plant sources. The bottom line is we BOTH need calcium. We don’t eat cereal for every meal so why should animals. Dry nuts (kibble) are supposed to be a complete meal for a dog? Would you want to eat a dry bland over processed cereal everyday? I can understand for ease of feeding and lack of freezer space using a dry nut, but at least put some raw meat on top to give them what they desperately need for proper digestion. Real food raw like they would get in nature. And please do your research on the brands you come across. There are so many well-known brands that have indigestible ingredients in them that only do more harm than good.

Brands I recommend:

Nature’s Menu-Raw Food

Prize Choice-Raw Food

Luath’s-Holistic Dry Food