I am a strong believer in self help. I believe in taking responsibility for our health, and taking control over our lives. The thing about health and medicine, is that there is no doctor in the world that has more concern over your health than you do. You have your own best interest. And I want to give you the tools to empower that self interest. Because the fact is, that in the US medical doctors/dentists/chiropractors/veterinarians must fund their own education. The difference between medical doctors and veterinary doctors however is that an MD earns twice as much and often times even more than twice the amount of income compared to a vet. The catch though, is that their education expenses are similar with regards to the amount of debt new graduates come out of school with. And regardless of how much you earn, you are expected to pay that debt back. For those veterinarians that own their own practice they have the additional pressure of meeting overhead costs, paying their employees, insurance, and hundreds of additional expenses. It’s a broken system. Health and well being should never be a for-profit business, unfortunately in the US though it is. Regardless of the ethical oaths sworn to treating patients, these veterinarians still feel the weight of their debts on their shoulders. This pressure to escape debt and sometimes just to survive with overhead costs to run a veterinary practice has resulted in the backwards, band-aid approach to healthcare we receive today for our pets. This is where I believe medicine went wrong.
Unfortunately, the for-profit model is not only applied to health care for our pets, but to every aspect of our lives, most notably for the purposes of this discussion is pet food/kibble which ties in closely with health and the subsequent reliance on medicine and the expertise of veterinarians. Pet food companies exist to make money- the most amount of money for the least amount of input. The sad reality of pet food that we must realize is that companies will use the cheapest ingredients and best marketing strategy to trick us consumers into believing we are doing our animals a favor by feeding a certain brand. This is the farthest from the truth. Commercially prepared dog food has only been available for the last several decades. Before highly processed kibble became available domesticated canines were fed primarily left-overs that had been prepared for the family i.e. human food and unwanted parts from animals such as green tripe, hooves, and various organs. Prior to that canines fed themselves in the wild with a raw meat prey diet, i.e. they caught animals in the wild and ate them fur, guts and all. The diet that dogs are most adapted to eating is a prey style raw meat that their ancestors ate for thousands of years. Take it from someone that has two degrees in a relevant field, it takes hundreds of thousands of years to evolution to occur- and one hundred years of eating kibble has not been enough time for dogs to evolve to actually digest kibble. This means that dogs cannot digest kibble well enough to make it an appropriate source of nutrition.
There are five major factors that make digestion of kibble and processed foods inefficient and even detrimental to their health. First, dogs have much stronger stomach acid. This stomach acid is designed to destroy the microorganisms that would make people sick (like e. coli and salmonella) whereas these are actually normal bacteria to be found in the intestines of a canine (in small amounts) and it doesn’t cause sickness in them. Second, dogs also have much shorter intestines compared to humans, meaning their food goes through the process of digestion much more quickly and less time is available for the growth of bacteria. Third, dogs have teeth designed specifically for ripping off pieces of flesh to swallow, and they do not have to the teeth that are needed for grinding plants down into digestible (small enough) particles. Fourth, dogs secrete different kinds and amounts of digestive enzymes to help break down their food for absorption compared to animals that are designed to eat grains/legumes/high volumes of plant matter. Finally, dogs have a completely different balance of bacteria in their intestines which aid in digestion and immune health compared to animals that have evolved to eat plant matter. Dog are designed in every way to eat raw meat, and thrive!
Now don’t get me wrong. Dogs are incredibly resistant organisms and can survive on a kibble diet. However, they will not thrive on a kibble diet. To bring more context to this idea I can compare with humans again. We as humans are also very resilient to attacks from the environment. We can also survive on a fast food and processed diet. However, we have had enough studies done to know with certainty that we will die from this diet. I recently read a book called How Not to Die by Dr. Micheal McGreggor that explained how people diagnosed with heart disease, hypertension, breast cancer, colon cancer and many other diseases can reverse their disease by changing their lifestyle (diet and exercise). While backing up every single claim with evidence based research. This is not an opinion, its fact! These diseases are life-style diseases, not just a genetic predisposition. We know that a processed diet causes cancer in people, and we also know that dogs fed a kibble diet have a 1.6/2 chance of dying from cancer. That’s more than half of all dogs dying from cancer. Unfortunately we don’t have similar studies in dogs with regards to food and its effects on the lifespan and disease process besides those studies sponsored by mega companions like Hills Science and Purina in which there is an obvious conflict of interest. This is because its too expensive to fund research that will take millions of dollars and decades to complete, unless ofcourse you’re a dog food company and can spend millions of dollars on manipulated research designed specifically to make your brand look better than others and make more sales.
I swear I could write a book on these topics, and how passionate I am about proper diet and lifestyle for radiant health.
One more piece of information to consider is a few examples of the many sad stories to be seen in veterinary medicine. A dear friend of mine owns a mastiff with severe allergies that was treated with conventional methods offered by her vet. This included immune suppressing drugs (the cytopoint shot) that where incredibly expensive, needed to be administered every 4-6 weeks (so not a permanent solution but rather a band aid over the real problem) and over time this immune suppression cause her dog to begin developing tumors on his ears- a side effect to the drug. Not only had conventional medicine failed her dog, it caused more health problems that could have been avoided. My friend knew that she could do better and this was not a life for her dog. So she found a new vet that practices holistic medicine. Her holistic vet encouraged her to try a raw meat diet. Within a few months not only did she stop using the drugs that were prescribed for allergies, the allergy itself completely disappeared! He was healed! She exclaimed that her mastiffs coat became full and soft again, his bowel movements became smaller and less smelly, flatulence had disappeared, and he had more energy than ever.
I understand that maybe just one story is not enough to convince you of the healing power the body possesses. We have amazing bodies that will actually heal itself, if you just let it! Take this simple example, you hit your leg into the corner of your furniture, the result is damage to your body. Your body shows this damage through pain, inflammation, swelling, and bruising. However, over the course of a few days that spot becomes less painful to touch and the bruise disappears- the body heals itself ta-da! But imagine you hit that same spot on your leg every single day… three times a day- with each meal. Your body simply wouldn’t be able to keep up with the amount of damage done. It’s the same concept with diet related disease processes. For example, heart disease (a diet related, lifestyle disease) can be reversed with proper diet. However people continue eating saturated fats, processed foods, and junk foods that our bodies cannot keep up with the damage that is being done through poor diet. The damage I am referring to is the work that the body must do trying to absorb and eliminate chemical preservatives, trans-fats, pesticides, artificial colors, and many other chemical additives that make processed food taste good and keep it from shelf stable. Our bodies do not have to ability to efficiently remove these chemicals, so they build up in the body and cause disease, hormone disbalance, and cancer. Short terms effects are seen directly in the colon, where these processed foods change the bacterial population. A change in the colon microbiome has so many deleterious effects I cannot even begin to explain in a simple-to-understand language how exactly the wrong population of bacteria can cause sugar cravings, depression, colitis, and suppressed immune system. In fact, our immune system is in our gut. Poor gut health = poor immune system. Furthermore, we control our gut microbiome through the foods that we allow to enter our digestive systems. This exactly is the key point to understand about healthy/species appropriate diet and healthy immune system. Just like dogs are not evolved to eat kibble, humans are not evolved to eat processed junk food- the result in both cases is disease and eventually death.
The same exact thing is happening to our dogs. So here is my first-hand experience with one of my own dogs. Now over five years ago I purchased a dog a breeder across the US, a beautiful tiny blue French Bulldog and I lovingly named her Mira. After about one year of raising and loving her she began to develop rashes on her belly. I too, with good intentions went to my vet who prescribed topical sprays, creams, pills, allergy testing and even shots. After months of trying I realized that I couldn’t have Mira part of my breeding program due to her condition. I had a friend that earned her veterinary degree in a different country and she offered to take Mira because she wanted to try a diet change that she believed in so I trusted her, I was willing to do anything and everything for Mira to get better even if that meant letting her go to someone else’s care to make that happen. She immediately took her off of all medications and put her on a raw beef diet from cows she raised on her own farm (no antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, stress) just organic grass fed premium human grade quality raw beef. Within one month Mira was like a completely different dog. Her coat regained its shine, fullness and softness. Her rashes completely disappeared, and she was energetic and full of life.
I know what you might be thinking, well raw meat is more expensive than kibble. But just consider how much money you will save if you didn’t have veterinary bills. Its actually cheaper to feed your dog premium human grade food than it is to feed your dog highly processed kibble and then pay the consequences with vet bills. Not only will you save money in the long run, you will improve the quality of life in your dog and potentially increase the number of years that they will live. Maybe even after all of this you might think that I am simply not qualified to give advice, and you are right I am not. I am not a veterinarian, and please don’t take anything I say as medical advice. I am only sharing my own and my friends experiences, along with what I have researched myself about diet and health for years. But here is the advice of a licensed veterinarian that recommends this lifestyle and has cured countless dogs that other veterinarians could not, Dr. Karen Becker. Dr. Becker has a YouTube channel, as well as a recipe book for making your own balanced and complete dog food at home.
Here are YouTube videos showing examples of how to make a balanced raw diet at home which is cheaper than purchasing it premade, this one is completely balanced for an adult dog, here is a simplified recipe that I have made for my own dogs are home, here is a Facebook community with thousands of other pet lovers just doing the best they can to help their companions and eager to help. I also highly recommend watching the documentary, “Pet Fooled” which discloses the sad and disgusting reality of the dog food industry. This blog is where I got my first inspiration to look deeper into raw feeding in the first place.
I love my dogs like I love myself. If I was sick, I would do everything in my power to get better, and I believe that most of us dog owners would do the same for their pets, because our pets are our family. Unfortunately however, if you speak with a veterinarian, these medical professionals with years of experience will tell you the nutritional information taught in vet school is extremely limited and only considers a kibble based or processed canned food diet. This is because many vet schools are sponsored by dog food companies. And through sponsorship (lobbying) the dog food companies have a say in the veterinary schools curriculum, i.e. kibble and pharmaceutical companies “donate” money to those individuals in charge of curriculum and in return they get to decide what is taught to the students. I will confirm as a BSN that I too received zero information about nutrition in nursing school which is a shame given that one of the nurses most important roles is patient education yet we ourselves are not educated in one of the most important topics. You see, everything is about money. Medicine in the US is a for profit business and its about making money off of our sicknesses. A dog with allergies is guaranteed to come back every month for rechecks, more shots, and more pills- they have a customer for life. The more drugs, the more profit. The problem is that veterinarians cannot sell you practical advice- such as a complete diet change, giving more baths, and changing behaviors to reduce symptoms- they can only sell you kibble, drugs, and recheck exams. The sad part is that we as consumers as also not informed about our options, specifically the option to say no to medication and allow our bodies to heal naturally through proper diet. Obviously not every single disease can be treated with diet, but allergies, hypertension, heart disease, and many other diseases can be stopped from progressing and even reversed without prescription medication.
Please understand I am not against vets. Modern medicine is amazing at saving lives through sophisticated procedures and surgeries- it’s just not very good at helping chronic disease that are caused by lifestyle choices- because the solution is to change the lifestyle- not a surgery.
I would also like to quickly mention a point about various animal proteins. Chicken is typically the protein that you should avoid as this is the most inflammation causing protein. Commercially available chickens go from hatching to your dinner in less than two months, whereas heritage breeds take twice as long to mature and gain enough weight to be a proper table bird when foraging on a natural diet of insects and plants. Factory farmed chickens are fed antibiotics in order to make them gain weight more quickly. They are kept under extremely stressful, over-crowded, and filthy environments for their entire life. An animal living under extreme stress has enormous levels of adrenalin and cortisol (stress hormones) in their bodies. Cortisol is the hormone that also lowers the immune system. So when you eat this meat you are not doing your body a favor. The best type of protein to feed is one that is sourced locally, pasture raised, free of antibiotics and hormones, eating natural forage that has never been sprayed with pesticides, and raised/slaughtered/processed under humane conditions. I understand that every dog is different but my personal experience is that organic grass-fed beef is the excellent choice of protein that can be readily purchased at any supermarket. For those seriously sick, the most hypo-allergenic proteins would be rabbit, quail, turkey and deer. For those wondering, dogs with allergies to proteins are usually allergic to chicken, beef, pork, and lamb. So the next most accessible and affordable option would likely be turkey.
Veterinarians, doctors, dog food companies, and pharmaceutical companions are not the only problems here, WE are also a problem. I believe we have adopted a culture of laziness. We don’t want to change our diet because its cheaper, easier, and more delicious to eat junk food. Instead we want the doctor to fix our problems with a pill. After all, its much easier to swallow a pill than it is to completely change our way of living. But that is exactly what it will take to get better. We never even question that the doctor is only putting a band aid over our problem and not getting to the root problem of the disease. It seems we as a society would rather keep paying the doctor for pills and continue living obese, diseased and miserable rather than take control of our own lives. But you have the power to stop the suffering. Put the responsibility of health into our own hands and put in the actual work and research into changing our live and our pets lives. Yes making raw food for your dog is more work. Yes its more expensive than kibble. But if you have already tired everything else under the sun and it hasn’t help why wouldn’t you try?
On a final note, please, if your dog is suffering from rashes, itching, diarrhea, bad breath, rotting teeth, shaggy coat and low immune system consider adopting the diet that is biologically appropriate and watch your dogs body begin to heal itself. Allow it to heal itself by fostering an environment of healing through lifestyle. Because ultimately, the health of your dog is your responsibility and is completely in your control- you control where your dog lives, what he/she does, eats, how much exercise, medications, love and attention they receive. So do the right thing for the companion that would give anything for you.
Hello from Pillow and I.
Wishing everyone radiant health and happy, wagging tails. Sending our love and our hugs from NW Frenchies.