Category Archive
The following is a list of all entries from the dog category.
Nutro Recalls Puppy Food
Every time a story like this comes out I’m happy that we switched our pets off commercial food. If you want to learn about the pet and human food supply chain in the US Pet Food Politics by Marion Nestle is an informative, if terrifying, read.
Nutro recalls pet food that may contain melted plastic
By Christie Keith
September 29, 2009
It started out as a rumor, but one of Nutro’s “Ambassadors” just confirmed it on her Twitter feed: Nutro is “voluntarily withdrawing” — or, in plain English, recalling — some puppy food sold through PetSmart and Petco stores:
EdnaAtNutro @cvec Hi! I’m with Nutro. Re: plastic-During a maint. shutdown, a bump cap inadvertently made its way into our mfg. process equipment….
EdnaAtNutro @cvec Nutro audited 3000 bags of potentially affected finished product that never left our mfg site.
EdnaAtNutro @cvec Out of abundance of caution, Nutro voluntarily retrieved pot. affected product in a small number of PS/PC stores.
EdnaAtNutro @cvec Consumers who have purchased pot. affected product should return it to their retailer or contact Nutro’s Consumer Care @ 800- 833-5330
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Waring Pro meat grinder & SCB order
Waring Pro 300w Meat Grinder
I have finally decided, after a few years of feeding raw, it was time to invest in a meat grinder. It’s not something I’ve been gung-ho about, but something I’ve kept my eyes open for a good deal on. I recently stumbled across one on amazon.com for the above pictured Waring Pro Meat Grinder. It is “remanufactured”, so was considerably cheaper than it otherwise would have been, and had excellent user ratings on amazon. I used it tonight to grind up boneless meat and organs, and it works very quickly and easily through them; for 5Lbs of turkey hearts it took a little less than 1 minute per pound. Assembly, disassembly, and cleaning was easy as could be, and in use it’s actually quieter than my blender. I know I geek out of kitchen gadgets and raw feeding, but it’s so freakin’ cool to use! It was like christmas morning 
So I few new items from this distribution:
Instincts Ground Chicken Necks: I have purchased the ground duck necks before, and really liked them, and these are no different. A good size grind (I’d say “medium”), no skin, and conveniently packaged in 2/5Lb chubs.
Beef Kidney: I won’t lie; I got this because it’s cheap, and nutritious. I generally detest the smell of kidneys, but when they’re fairly well frozen you don’t notice it as much. I kind of panicked when I got the box home and it was labeled as “50Lbs”, but after weighing everything out it was indeed the 30Lbs I order, just mis-labeled or something. I gave each of the kittens a teeny-tiny 1/4tsp size piece of this each and then went nuts for it. I was a little worried that these would be frozen together in a solid block, and a nightmare to break apart, but there was enough room between them that they weren’t frozen together too badly.
Beef Hearts: these on the other hand were, and still are, frozen together in a solid block. Like the kidneys I got these because they were cheap, and can replace some striated muscle meat in the diet. The dogs like beef heart, and eventually I’ll (hopefully) be giving the cats some as well.
Turkey Hearts: I had been considering ordering the 40Lb box of these for some time, but always held off, until I was able to purchase them in a smaller quantity to try them, and found that they’re wonderful! This time around I will be grinding them up and using them in place ground turkey from the grocery store for the dogs. It will be considerably cheaper; the hearts cost 60c/Lb as opposed to $1+/Lb for ground turkey. The kittens and Riley both really like these too. If I haven’t mentioned it before, these are perfect “pill pockets”; I made sure to take about a pound out of the box and froze them individually just in case I need to give the dogs anything.
Though I have purchased their products since joining SCB, GreenTripe.com has started using new packaging, and I would be remise if I didn’t say it’s really very cute. Instead of the simple clear bag, it’s now white with green cow spots. Hopefully they stick with it, because it’s very eye catching.
Kittens and a raw diet
I have brought our two new kittens (Hiro & Simca) home as of a few weeks ago. I had intended to put them on a 50/50 raw/kibble diet until out SCB order a week from today, but have had to keep them to kibble only, which I detest; there is nothing worse than kibble poop!
Shortly after bringing them home I gave them some pre-made duck raw food, which they loved, and agreed with their tummies. After I used that up I gave them pre-made lamb; Hiro handled it just fine, but poor little Simca puked it all up. In a way it’s actually a good thing I don’t have any more pre-made because now I will actually use up the 5Lb bag of Felidae.
But I did learn they they like raw. In fact they LOVE raw food, and don’t seem to be at all picky (very unlike Riley), which gives me hope for feeding them a homemade raw diet instead of having to stick to premade (again, unlike Riley). So for the last few weeks I have been obsessing their future homemade diet. I have only one book dealing exclusively with feeding cats raw food (“whole health for happy cats” – highly recommended), but there are many informative websites out there you can find with a simple google search.
I have a few contraints going forward; 1.) I must be able to buy the ingredients for a good price, 2.) I would like to use the same foods I use when feeding the dogs, 3.) it must not upset Simca’s tummy, and 4.) it must not be overly complicated. Thanks to the Holisticat website (run by the author of the book previously mentioned), and a few others I have come up with what will hopefully be a healthy diet for them. As they get older I will change things up, but for now it will contain the following:
5Lbs ground chicken necks
3Lbs ground turkey (boneless)
1Lb + 8oz beef heart
8oz beef kidney
2.5oz turkey liver
4 egg yolks
- 2tbls salmon oil
- 1tsp taurine
- 1/2tsp dulse
- 9000IU Vit. E
- 5000IU Vit. D
- 5000mg Vit. C
- 4 cap’s Jarrow Multi-B
To me the amounts of the last 4 supplements seemed excessive, but it’s enough food for the both of them for 40 days at 2oz/ea (10% current body weight). I’m shooting for a bone content of around 20%, but you could go lower or higher depending on preference by reducing or increasing the amount of chicken necks. I added in the taurine because it will be frozen for some time, and I’m hedging my bets (you can’t really give too much anyway).
I will be preparing it for the first time next weekend, and I’m really looking forward to it I will update when I’ve done it.
Picking the Bones of the Raw Diet Debate
An excellent article from Christie Keith. SCB recently had her as a lecturer and had it not been held at CSU Dominguez Hills I would have attended.
Picking the Bones of the Raw Diet Debate
Linguist George Lakoff rose to national prominence during the 2004 presidential campaign for pointing out that conservatives have done a much better job than progressives at framing political debate, and for encouraging the left to stop shooting itself in the foot with the words it uses. While no doubt the good professor would be surprised to hear it, his ideas also shed some light on a very canine subject: the war of words being waged over raw diets for dogs.
Pro-raw feeding extremists tend to be bombastic and refuse to admit any variation among individual animals, nor the needs, wants or desires of the owners of these animals as regards diet. Any problem can be solved by diet, and if problems persist after switching to a raw diet, then the diet needs to be further refined and tweaked. They tend to be anti-veterinarian, anti-commercial foods, anti-cooked food, anti-grain and often anti-supplement.
If your dog fell down the stairs and sprained his shoulder, diet caused it and a diet change will fix it. Raw meaty bones are the universal prescription.
Anti-raw feeding extremists tend to be bombastic and refuse to admit any possible benefits of a raw or homemade diet. They lump all homemade diets together as unbalanced and dangerous. All raw meat, from contaminated ground meats labeled unfit for human consumption to a $19-a-pound grass-fed steak, are considered equally dangerous.
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New Additions :)
Though we haven’t brought them home yet, I thought I’d share some pictures of our soon-to-be felines, and their siblings and mother. She’s a stray who adopted our barn as a home and had a litter. She will be getting spayed soon! Anyway, it will probably be a couple of weeks before we bring them home because they’re still nursing a bit (but mostly solid food at this point).
This is the Mommy Cat - My neighbor has dubbed her "Sasha"
This is one of the kittens I'll be bringing home - I've named him "Zero"
we will also be bringing home the white one w/ black markings, but I haven't decided on a name yet.
Borage Oil For Allergies?
borage flowers
So a few weeks ago I decided to try adding borage oil to the dogs food. I will occasionally try out certain supplements just to see if they make a difference, and usually they’re not at all useful. However, Abby has been struggling with airborne allergies all summer, but only receiving minimal relief from OTC medication like Benadryl and Allevert. I didn’t want to have to put her on shots and everything from the vet unless absolutely necessary, so we tried borage oil.
Before I get to the results, some info:
The main interest of GLA lies in the fact that it orientates the metabolism of fatty acids towards the synthesis of hormones whose anti-inflammatory effects are well-known. This production is done at the expense of other hormones that promote inflammatory mechanisms. Then, GLA supplementation allows to limit these inflammatory phenomenons in animals that suffer from allergic diseases, or various cutaneous problems. In older animals, GLA has got a positive effect on the hair sheen, the suppleness of the skin.
The only ones oils that bring an interesting quantity of GLA are: borage oil, evening primrose oil, and black current oil. Among them, borage oil is the only one that contains more than 20 % of GLA.
Therapeutic using of borage oil
Positive effects are especially obvious in dogs or cats that present an hypersensitivity predisposition. In the majority of these cases, a regression of most of the cutaneous irritation symptoms can be observed a few weeks after the beginning of the dietary supplementation. Only itching seems more difficult to control. Results are also promising concerning problems due to hyper-secretion of sebum by the skin (seborrhea).
When chronic cutaneous diseases make compulsory a medical treatment, borage oil supplementation can make possible to reduce the necessary doses of the drugs. Consequently, it limits the risk of undesirable secondary effects due to the medical treatment.
So I have been giving it to Abby for about 2 weeks now, and only on days when she doesn’t get raw eggs since they are excellent sources of omega-6 fatty acids by themselves. I wasn’t expecting immediate results, but that is what I got! Within 3 days of being on borage oil her itching subsided considerably. Now after a few weeks I have taken her off the OTC allergy medication entirely, and she’s not itching at all, and the small hotspot she developed under her arm is almost completely healed. I wasn’t expecting any positive results this soon, or at all really, so it’s been quite a pleasant surprise.
Though higher doses are indicated in some of the information I found regarding borage oil I have seen results with 125mg daily. I don’t think this is a substitute for a good diet though, and the first line of treatment should always be that. Since my dogs get plenty of animal fat in their diet (fatty cuts of lamb and duck 3x a week, raw eggs 3x a week, raw fish 2x a month, and a high quality fish oil daily) I am confident in their diet. Of course not all dogs need supplements and unless your pet is having allergy or other skin issues in light of a healthy diet only then should additional supplements be introduced in my opinion.
A Word About Dr. Lonsdale
Dr. Tom Lonsdale - Author of Raw Meaty Bones Promote Health
So I have just finished reading Dr. Lonsdale’s book “Raw Meaty Bones Promote Health”; overall it was a thoroughly interesting read, and I particularly enjoyed chapters 2 – 8 (chapter 9 and on was totally superfluous). Someone on Amazon described this book as “the martyrdom of dr. lonsdale” (or close to that), and the preface certainly is, but you can just as easily skip that part. As with all books on raw feeding that I have read I do have some points of contention with the diet outlined, but I think that’s as much a testament to the diversity of the diet, as it is a criticism of the one laid out by anyone who writes a book about it. In the overall picture those points of contention are mostly insignificant.
So having read the book I decided to take a closer look at Dr. Lonsdale’s website, and his newsletter archive. To say I was dumbstruck by some of his claims would be an understatement. In the book that I read (copyright 2001) Dr. Lonsdale was nothing but complimentary towards Dr. Billinghurst; I came away with the impression that though they may differ slightly on the details they both adhered to the principle of raw meaty bones being the bedrock of a healthy diet. I got a very different impression on reading Dr. Lonsdale’s newsletters, which prompted considerable thought on the subject. Why would Dr. Lonsdale go from being complimentary to spewing vitriol in a few short years? I finally came to the conclusion that it had something to do with Dr. Billinghurst’s success and renoun due to the promotion of a B.A.R.F. diet. I do not think I was far off the mark in this regard; Dr. Lonsdale’s website includes a copy (at least in part) of a letter from Dr. Billinghurst to Dr. Lonsdale removing himself from the “raw meaty bones lobby”. It states:
Worldwide my credibility is rising … I am here to educate whoever will listen. Pet owners, vets and even pet food companies — if they are interested. It is not necessary; in fact it is counterproductive for me to participate in the politics of this debate.
If I am to be of use I need to be seen as outside the political arena. Someone who has the respect of the profession, whilst retaining strong views and unequivocal beliefs — supported of course by good evidence. My aim is to make a positive difference in this debate, and continue to make a living.
If you have ever read anything that Dr. Lonsdale has written this is not surprising, and given his treatment of Dr. Billinghurst in light of this I think it’s totally understandable. While Dr. Lonsdale’s book keeps sensationalism and, shall we say stretching the truth to the breaking point, to a minimum his website (and newsletters) do not. Granted these are examples purely from his comments on Dr. Billinghurst, but you can find similar sensationalism in regards to anyone and anything that does not fall strictly into his method of feeding.
Unfortunately for many pets and their owners in the USA and UK, Dr Billinghurst used his ‘credibility’ to falsely persuade them that dogs are omnivores! He ‘continued to make a living’ telling pet owners that dogs, besides needing raw meaty bones, should be fed copious amounts of vegetables, fruit, milk products, high priced bottled supplements and grain. Dr Billinghurst’s followers developed a near religious devotion and began referring to themselves as Born Again Raw Feeders. When contracted that becomes ‘BARF’, a colloquial term for vomit and now widely used as a name for minced diet concoctions.
There are many inaccuracies contained here. For one thing Dr. Billinghurst does not say dogs are omnivores, he says they are “omnivores with a carnivorous backgrounds”. That may seem like an insignificant distinction, but it is not. Dogs (wild or domesticated) do eat things other than other animals at least on a simi-regular basis. This is what I have come to describe as “opportunistic omnivorism”; i.e. dogs will eat what they can their paws on. They may eat over-ripe fruit that has fallen from trees, table scraps (or trash can scraps), etc. This is exactly what Dr. Billinghurst and Dr. Lonsdale say in their respective books. Dr. Lonsdale goes on to say that Dr. Billinghurst encourage feeding of “copious” amounts vegetables, fruits, dairy products, and supplements. This is soley based on what you would consder “copious”, and indeed Dr. Lonsdale does not give us a solid numerical figure, just “copious”. Even so Dr. Billinghurst suggest that dogs get 15% crushed vegetables and 5% ripe to over-ripe fruit, though the fruit is optional (the entire vegetable/fruit content is “optional” for cats who Billinghurst describes as “obligate carnivores”). This is fed to mimic the intestinal content that wild canids consume when eating whole prey. To my mind those numbers do not seem “copious”. This gets even more muddied when we move onto dairy products and supplements; Dr. Billinghurst suggests that dairy products (i.e. cottage cheese, yogurt/kefir) be fed occasionally to also mimic stomach/intestinal contents of prey. The same can be said of the addition of kelp and/or alfalfa powder to the diet to mimic the trace minerals gained by A.) eating stomach/intestinal contents, and B.) eating food off dirt/grass in the wild. Before anyone gets their knickers in a twist over the whole “wolves don’t eat stomach contents” thing I would like to point out that while wolves may not eat the stomach contents of large prey, they do when they eat smaller “whole prey” such as rabbits (again, something both Billinghurst and Lonsdale are in agreement about). It should also be noted that Dr. Lonsdale promotes feeding 30% of a dogs diet in “healthy tablescraps”, but does not preclude feeding vegetables and fruits as a part of that.
But as with so many diet fads the vulnerable followers had been duped. Dr Billinghurst is on the record as saying:
Fruit and vegetables are an essential part of a dog’s diet. An essential part, not an optional part. Meat is optional, fruit and vegetables are not. (Canine Nutrition—A Point of View 1988)
Dr Billinghurst recommended that fruit and vegetables
should comprise 30 to 60% of a dog’s diet. His diet sheet recommended:Midday: A Carbohydrate Meal
Rolled oats soaked in hot water until like porridge. Alternatively Weet
Bix or muesli or vegetables. Add to this such things as dates, sultanas,
prunes, raisins, grated apple or carrot. Add honey.
As you will notice this information is from 1988; over 20 years ago. I do not think it is too far out of the realm of possibility that Dr. Billinghurst’s diet went through several versions in that time before it became what we know as B.A.R.F. This appears to be the case as Dr. Lonsdale states:
After reading Raw Meaty Bones information, Billinghurst saw the elegant
simplicity of nature’s teachings and applied to join the RMB Lobby. We
freely supplied him with our research findings and he availed himself of
those findings. So much so that he used RMB information as foundation for
his first book.
So why use what you know to be out-dated information to create a case for labeling B.A.R.F. as “natural junk food”? Dr. Lonsdale goes further and states:
In the mid-nineties barf (vomit) mania swept across North
America and much of Europe too. Pet owners were conned into believing
that dogs are omnivores, not carnivores, and need lashings of vegetables
and bottled supplements. Here in Australia barfmania has not taken hold
to the same extent. But where ever it spreads it does harm. If we want to
take decisive action against the junk cooked pet-food alliance I believe
we first need to tackle the barfmaniacs and their junk raw pet-food scam.
Though this does not provide any more information than before (i.e. B.A.R.F. is bad because…) it is a good example of the sensationalism that I beleive is the cause for Dr. Billinghurst wanting to “stay out of the politics”. Yes, he was getting more fame, and clearly his diet philosophy is in no small debt to Dr. Lonsdale, but he was right to say that “If I am to be of use I need to be seen as outside the political arena. Someone who has the respect of the profession, whilst retaining strong views and unequivocal beliefs — supported of course by good evidence.” While sensationalism may be useful to get attention in the short term, if you ever want anyone to take your cause, beleifs, etc. seriously you must dispense with it and stick to reasoned arguements and hard facts, something that Dr. Lonsdale finds impossible. His sensationalism, and distortions of the truth do not start and end with the Dr. billinghurst, or even the sections I’ve copied here, and as someone who beleives in a raw food diet (both with and without vegetales, fruits, dairy products, supplements, etc.) I am embaressed by it because it allows people to dismiss raw feeding as a “fad” diet, and disparage and condescend to those who feed and promote it.
So while I may agree with almost everything, save a few minor points, in his book “Raw Meaty Bones Promote Health”, and I would certainly recommend it to anyone interested in a feeding a raw diet, I simply cannot take anything he says on his website seriously. I have to wonder if he had a very good editor for his books, or just feels that he can get away with distortions, sensationalism, and half truths more easily on the web.
For further reading please take a look at Raw vs. BARF at the Newcastle Boxer’s website.
Raw Feeding Survey Results!
A while ago I posted a link to a survey for raw feeders from Raw Fit Pet; today we’ve found out the results! Just click the following link to see them!
Dog Food Contaminated With Levels of Fluoride Above EPA’s Legal Limit for Humans
I am never surprised by stuff like this anymore.
Fri Jun 26 08:18:05 2009 Pacific Time
Dog Food Contaminated With Levels of Fluoride Above EPA’s Legal Limit for Humans; Fluoride Linked to Hormone Disruption, Thyroid Problems, Bone Cancer
WASHINGTON, June 26 (AScribe Newswire) — Eight of 10 dog food brands tested by an independent laboratory commissioned by Environmental Working Group (EWG) contain fluoride in amounts up to 2.5 times higher than the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) national drinking water standard.
Study: http://www.ewg.org/pethealth/report/fluoride-in-dog-food
The eight dog foods, all of them major national brands, were found to contain significantly more fluoride than levels implicated by a 2006 Harvard study in bone cancer in young boys.
In all eight cases, the likely sources of excess fluoride were bone meal and animal byproducts.
“Due to a failed regulatory system and suspect practices by some in the pet food industry, countless dogs may be ingesting excessive fluoride that could put them at risk,” Olga Naidenko, Ph.D, lead researcher of the EWG-sponsored study, said.
Moreover, Naidenko said, the fact so many popular national pet food brands contain previously undetected health hazards is one more symptom of the federal food safety system’s overall laxity.
“Our findings point to the need for basic health protections that require companies to prove their products are safe before they are sold,” Naidenko said. “Bringing public health laws in line with the newest scientific research is a critical step in protecting the health of all members of American households, whether they walk on two legs or four.”
The eight high-fluoride brands disclosed contents including chicken by-product meal, poultry by-product meal, chicken meal, beef and bone meal. Any ingredient described as “animal meal” is basically ground bones, cooked with steam, dried, and mashed to make a cheap dog food filler. A small fraction of fluoride in dog food comes from fluoridated tap water added to solid ingredients at pet food plants.
Fluoride occurs naturally in some water supplies. But two-thirds of Americans — and their pets and livestock– drink water that has been artificially fluoridated on grounds it improves dental health.
Fluoride is also found in certain foods, those from plants grown in high-fluoride soils or those to which the chemical is introduced during processing. Once ingested with food or water, fluoride accumulates in the bones.
An average dog who drinks an adequate amount water daily would be exposed to 0.05 to 0.1 milligrams of fluoride per kilogram of body weight, depending on the dog’s weight and water consumption. But those dogs who eat food high in fluoride, day in and day out, may be exposed to unsafe levels of fluoride.
For example, a 10-pound puppy that eats about a cup of dog food a day would consume 0.25 milligrams of fluoride per kilogram of body weight per day, an amount five times higher than the “safe” level set by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Pet food should be held to the same health and safety standards as human food and should be free of contaminants that may endanger pets’ health. Yet, the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has little authority and few resources to ensure that products produced for pets are safe.
The bottom line: When it comes to dubious food additives, chemical pollutants or untested ingredients in pet food, pets and their owners are mostly on their own.
NOTE: If your dog’s food contains bone meal and other meat by-products, EWG recommends switching to brands free of these ingredients in order to minimize your dog’s exposure to harmful pollutants, including fluoride.
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CONTACT: EWG Public Affairs, 202-667-6982
ABOUT EWG: EWG is a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, DC that uses the power of information to protect human health and the environment. http://www.ewg.org
