Let’s think about this for a minute: God did not design our animals to eat pre-packaged, kibble or pellet-like food. In the wild, dogs don’t tell each other, “Hey, I’m hungry, let’s go to the pet food store and grab us some lunch.” As if!

No, together, they go out and hunt down their food, then dig right in while it’s still warm. Sorry about the graphic image, but well, that’s nature for you! They also do not stoke up a campfire and sit around singing Kum Bi Ya while the meat gets cooked. Nope they just have at it in the natural raw form.

Now you might be thinking, “Yeah but that’s wild animals, not our sweet kitties and dogs.” Think again. They are and will always be carnivores. They need raw meat and bones to be healthy with a fully supported immune system. Also the raw, non-weight bearing bones such as the shoulders and backs give dogs and cats strong, clean white teeth eliminating the need for dentals done under anesthesia at a veterinarian’s office, something that is not only much riskier but much more expensive than feeding your dogs and cats what they were designed to eat: meat.

Your other pets such as horses, guinea pigs, birds and rabbits also need natural raw food in order to thrive. They do not forage for pellets, let me tell you. Many birds are omnivorous so they’ll eat fruits, veggies and meat. While our other furry and feathered friends need to eat fresh fruits and vegetables.

Kim Christopher states, “Proper diet is among the more important considerations in the health maintenance of your pet and essential in the management of many diseases. To feed correctly, a knowledge of dietary nutrients and their availability is important.”

And Dr. Russell Swift,”Carbohydrates are not needed by dogs(or cats). Carnivores cannot maintain long term production of the quantity of amylase enzyme necessary to properly digest and utilize the carbohydrates. In addition, the proteins in grains are less digestive than animal proteins. As a result, the immune system becomes irritated and weakened by the invasion of foreign, non-nutritive protein and carbohydrate particles.”

So just what do you think most packaged pet foods commonly know as premium kibble contain? Grains. Byproducts. Toxic preservatives.

The question would then arise, if pet food manufacturers know this (they must because they’re in business to know) why are these things added to our pet food and why are we told that these packaged foods are so good? Even our mainstream veterinarians are selling these foods to us.

Good questions. Part of the reason is because it’s cheaper to use grains and byproducts. Byproducts can be anything we’d normally throw out such as beaks, feathers, feet/hooves, euthanized animals, road kill, you name it. It all gets rendered and added into our packaged pet foods.

Oh but it gets better. These foods are then baked. Here is what Dr. Betty Lewis stated on her website, “What’s wrong with commercial foods? The number one item which makes commercial foods inappropriate for pets is that these foods are cooked. No one has ever reported seeing wild animals routinely barbecuing their meals! Raising the temperature of food above 118

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Posted on July 4th, 2008 by itbsuperrich
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Have you noticed that doctors are now being much more reluctant to give you a prescription for antibiotics unless it’s proven that you are indeed suffering from a bacterial infection? Well, I wish I could say better late than never, but in the case of antibiotics, we’re far too late.

Antibiotics were once touted as a modern miracle and they did indeed save lives, once upon a time. The problem has been that they have been so widely overused and not just for bacterial infections, but for every single thing doctors didn’t know how to treat. In fact, even if the illness was viral, we were routinely given a prescription for antibiotics so we would happily go home and feel as though the doctor helped us get well.

The truth is, we would’ve been far better off NOT getting those antibiotics for every single illness we encountered. Our immune systems would’ve been much more helped if we’d stayed home and rested, drank lots of fluids, and boosted our immune system with natural herbal and homeopathic remedies and whole food supplements.

The reason is, since antibiotics have been so widely overused, superbugs have emerged that are leaving us vulnerable with no recourse - UNLESS your immune system is strong because you and your pets have been eating natural diets, using whole food and natural supplements, and exercising, so that your body is protected naturally.

By relying so heavily upon antibiotics to be our cure-all, along with steroids (a subsequent article will elaborate on this horrible drug) we’ve compromised our and our pets immune systems and left them wide open and susceptible to these superbugs that are continuing to emerge all the time.

“Our society has been conditioned with quick-fix and band-aid medicine. We know from experience that this, often times, only gives temporary relief and in fact can generate a rebound effect of symptoms or undesirable side effects. Complimentary medicine, in particular Homeopathy and Herbs, can play a very large part in the successful rearing of our animals. Homeopathy and Herbs are essentially, natural healing processes, providing remedies to assist the patient to regain health by stimulating the body’s natural forces of recovery. They concentrate on treating the patient, rather than the disease.” Marina Zacharias, author of Healthy Breeding with Herbs and Homeopathy. http://www.naturalrearing.com

The good news is there are alternatives we can use that will give us healthy, strong pets that can resist these superbugs. First, by using a homeopathic or holistic veterinarian, you can talk to them about what your options are for helping keep your pet at their optimal health. Each animal is as different as each of us. If you care for your pets in a holistic way, meaning for the entire animal rather than waiting to treat a specific ailment, you will already be ahead of the game.

By feeding food natural to your pet’s species, such as a raw food diet for cats and dogs, and incorporating whole food supplements, prebiotics and probiotics, you won’t need to concern yourselves about antibiotics and their detrimental side effects.

Something that is also happening is not just superbugs that can be transmitted from animals to humans, but one I know of that can only be transmitted from HUMANS to ANIMALS, and this superbug is called MRSA. While it isn’t as evident in the USA, it is rapidly becoming a problem in the UK. It is a superbug, bacterial infection that has developed as a result of overusing antibiotics. I have a dear new friend who lost her companion and friend, Bella, a beautiful Samoyed dog, to this dreaded bacteria. http://thebellamossfoundation.com

Jesse Dallas, author of Are Antibiotics Making Your Pet Sick? writes “The body should have 80% friendly bacteria and about 20% bad bacteria inside the intestinal tract. After the use of antibiotics, the body will have no more than 20% friendly bacteria and 80% bad bacteria if not more.

-Most illness, disease and problems begin in the intestinal tract. Thus, antibiotics create the potential for serious illness to begin.

-You may not be giving your pet antibiotics, but if it has ever eaten foods with preservatives, you have been giving your pet what I call ‘hidden antibiotics’. The job of preservatives is to control bacteria and once your pet eats food with preservatives, it will ultimately have an effect inside the intestinal tract too and kill the friendly bacteria.

-You should expect it will take at the least 1 year to recolonize the intestinal tract with friendly bacteria after the use of antibiotics.

-Recolonize the intestinal tract with friendly bacteria by using supplements and feeding natural foods.” http://www.pet-grub.com

Now is the time to be proactive and change this. By not remaining apathetic, but by taking action in your life and the lives of your pets, we can and will make a difference.

One more thing that is giving us much hope and one that has me jumping for joy are therapeutic grade essential oils. In 1985 Dr. Jean Claude Lapraz, MD did a study using the therapeutic grade essential oils Oregano and Cinnamon in testing their “antibiotic” like qualities. What he found was that not one single bacteria or virus can live in the presence of these oils!

That is the direction I’ve taken for myself, family and pets and I hope you’ll consider doing the same.

About the Author:

Kim Bloomer is a natural pet care consultant who helps pet owners learn to care for their pets using natural methods, products, essential oils, and natural feeding before your pets become ill. Visit her website Aspenbloom Pet Care for more on natural pet care and her dog’s blog Bark ‘N’ Blog

Originally published for the Holistic Pet Care Topic on Suite101.com

DISCLAIMER: The only oils we use and refer to in ALL articles are Young Living Essential Oils. We DO NOT use any other brands and would not state what we do about using essential oils in our articles about any other brands.

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Posted on June 15th, 2008 by itbsuperrich
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What does doing natural preventative care mean? I thought vaccinating, prevention medicines, and premium kibble was natural preventative care. Hardly.

Unfortunately the pharmaceutical companies and the pet food industry have really pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes -but the wool is coming off! People are frustrated with the way traditional care has let them down and are seeking alternatives to help them not only give their pets more quality of life but longer lives. It seems as though we barely get our pets to a “settled” place in our lives before they’re gone. It doesn’t have to be like this.

Please don’t misunderstand, mainstream care does have its place but it should not be the only choice people and their pets have. In fact, I think it’s the imbalanced lean towards allopathic medicine rather than including homeopathic and naturopathic and alternative therapies that is a big part of the problem. At some point where do we stop and say, what happened to “first do no harm”?

Okay, so let’s start with what preventative, natural, holistic care means with a definition of the words holistic, preventative and natural which I obtained from my American Heritage Dictionary: 1. Holistic: 2) emphasizing the importance of the whole and the interdependence of its parts. 2. Natural: 1) present in or produced by nature; not artificial or man-made; 3) pertaining to or produced solely by nature or the expected order of things 3. Preventive: 1) designed or used to prevent or hinder; acting as an obstacle; precautionary. 2) Thwarting or warding off illness or disease. When we put all these definitions together: the whole of the parts working interdependently, without artificial ingredients or synthetics, in the natural order of things you will then ward off illness or disease! Now that we have the definition of natural pet care in place, let’s go deeper into the how to do this and thereby lowering the costs of your pet care and increase the longevity of your pets lives.

The first place to always start is with nutrition and that starts with what you are feeding your pets. My initial answer will be as species specific as you can get in a domestic setting. For dogs and cats that means that meat needs to be the primary ingredient of their food. Not kibble. Kibble isn’t fit for anything or anyone to eat. There a couple I will recommend in the light of a very reluctant pet owner not being able to stomach the idea of feeding raw meat to their dog or cat, but I will say that as long as you adhere to kibble your pets will experience the problems associated with food that their bodies weren’t designed to digest.

There are many different forms of feeding natural for example in dogs you can choose a B.A.R.F. diet which translates to Biologically Appropriate Raw Food and can also stand for Bones and Raw Food. This diet consists of all raw meats, veggies, dairy products, and nuts. Some adhere to strictly feeding raw meat. Some to a cooked diet of meat and vegetables. I think that you’ve got to decide what will work in your household and do that and any of these, including the cooked diet is far better than any form of a kibble diet. Think of animals in the wild - they do not get kibble or pellets. Our domestic pets don’t need those things either!

I feed my dog a cooked meat diet along with a natural whole food liquid supplement. I also use essential oils to thwart parasites and help with the pain in his forelegs. He came to us as a very abused, starved, neglected nearly 5 month old puppy. Through trial and error we’ve found what keeps him healthy, strong and happy and he is completely natural. We do homeopathic for heartworm prevention. He actually runs with me and traditionally his breed is not a running breed - or so it’s thought! So you also need to include some precautionary nutrition along with natural feeding. For horses you always need to be concerned with worms but there are natural ways like using food grade (ONLY use food grade) diatomaceous earth -this also works well in cats, dogs and other warm-blooded animals but I prefer to use essential oils in my dog.

Next I would consider why vaccinating seems to be so important to your pets health. Let me give you just a few examples of why that could be the very thing that is harming your pets rather than helping them (information from www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com):

“Routine” vaccination has adverse side-effects, either short or long term. With vaccines that are repeated year after year, the frequency and severity of these side-effects in our pets has increased dramatically. Most of the problems involve the immune system. After all, the immune system is what vaccines are designed to stimulate. But they do so in a very unnatural way that can overwhelm and confuse the immune system.” Donna Starita Mehan DVM. I believe that Dr. Mehan is saying here that while vaccinations stimulate the immune system and that is supposed to rev it up, the vaccine actually not only does this unnaturally as Dr. Mehan stated but it also causes so much confusion in the immune system that much more harm than good is done by vaccinating.

Dr. Ronald D. Schultz, Ph.D..- “Annual revaccination provides no benefit and may increase the risk for adverse reactions. The percentage of vaccinated animals (those vaccinated only as puppies) protected from clinical disease after challenge with canine distemper virus, canine parvovirus and canine adenovirus in the study was greater than 95%.” Current and Future Canine and Feline Vaccination Programs. Dr. Ronald Schultz is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Pathobiological Sciences at the School of Veterinary Medicine, UW-Madison. Schultz, R.D. - Current & Future Canine & Feline Vaccination Programs. Vet Med 3: No. 3, 233-254, 1998 more. A chart provided in the report shows immunity levels for all vaccines currently given to dogs lasting a minimum of 5 years with most lasting 7-15 years! Don Hamilton, DVM -Yearly “boosters” are unnecessary, provide no benefit if given (will not increase immunity). Thus boosters are either a legal issue (Rabies) or a manipulation issue (inducing clients to come in for examination rather than directly suggesting an examination). Charles E Loops DVM - “Homeopathic veterinarians and other holistic practitioners have maintained for some time that vaccinations do more harm than they provide benefits. Vaccinations represent a major assault on the body’s immune system…. Vaccine induced chronic diseases range from life-threatening conditions such as auto-immune crises to conditions destroying the quality of life of an animal as in chronic skin allergies.”

These are just a few examples with veterinarians leading the way in sharing this information which I find interesting since vaccinations and surgeries are their bread and butter. A few of the holistic/homeopathic vets I know started in mainstream medicine and became frustrated and moved into the holistic arena so they could do their patients the most good. Feed correctly with proper back up supplementation and your pets will have natural immunities that protect them naturally from disease.

Another thing to do is to keep your pets stimulated mentally through exercise, play and training. Animals love to have a job and they love to be useful. The key to a good interaction here is training according to the natural interaction of the animal you own. What does that mean? For a dog it means approaching him or her using the “pack” mentality. For the horse it means approaching the horse the way another horse would. It all makes common sense really. Good practical common sense, do away with all these synthetics, using the natural order of things, and all the parts working together means you don’t treat an illness, you treat the pet. I like what I saw Dr. Shawn Messonnier write recently to one of the groups I belong to, “I don’t treat crystals in the urine, I treat the pet”. That’s what holistic means: all the parts working together interdependently. So not treating the symptoms but caring for the entire animal is the answer to lowering your veterinarian costs and increasing the longevity of your pets lives.

Article originally published on and for http://www.Suite101.com under the Holistic Pet Care topic.

Kim Bloomer is a preventative pet care consultant. She offers natural products and a business opportunity. She is partnered with a dog breeder and internationally known master dog trainer in their online audio pet care classes, All God’s Creatures. Visit her website for details Aspenbloom Pet Care and her dog’s blog Bark ‘n’ Blog

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Posted on April 1st, 2008 by itbsuperrich
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