An Average Dog's Lifespan Should Be 25-30 Years Mostly Disease-Free, Here's How
By Rick London
By now, many of you who have followed my writings know that I am The Dog Man Of Hot Springs (I also love cats), but I tend to adopt stray dogs. I would adopt the cats but most are feral and remain untouchable so I leave food out for them.
You may (or may not) have heard about my twenty year old dog “Thor” and how he became to stay so healthy so long. If not, I will not go into detail here as I don't want to be repetitive, but will simply say he nearly died several times along the way, I now know after talking to numerous holistic vets, due to processed dog food. This was many years before “the scare”.
For the past eight years he has been on the b.a.r.f diet (bones and raw foods) and again, I won't go into the details of that diet (except that it is all raw human-grade meat, bones fruits and veggies (and herbal tinctures). For more information on it, simply google the b.a.r.f diet. It works great for dogs and cats as well. Thor, is finally reaching the age where he is experiencing a few health issues (at an age when most dogs do who eat processed foods at about age six-to-ten.
I am angry that more nutrition is not taught in vet schools. But I have read from several vet journals and was not surprised to see, for instance, that there is no minimal nutritional requirements for grains of any kinds for dogs or cats. But look at the processed foods. It is loaded with them; even the more “socially acceptable expensive quality foods” even if meat or meat by-products are the main staple.
One vet told me, “But dogs will choke on the bones...some dogs have died.”
That is true.
But hundreds of thousands of less dogs (even given percentages of which dog is fed what) have died from choking on raw bones than processed kibble. Never give a dog a cooked bone, not chicken, not beef, not ribs. Cooking changes the molecular structure making the bones brittle. Thor has eaten raw bones of all types from chicken to rabbit for ten years without one problem.
Let's face it. Seventy years ago, there was no such thing as “dog food”. People fed their pets what was left from the table, raw foods from the gardens, etc. The catastrophic diseases we see today, began at the same time processed dog food was introduced to the market.
A few months ago I was flying to Charlotte, N.C on business and to see friends. I was talking to a young woman before takeoff, sitting next to me who had two yellow labs. They were both constantly sick. I told her about the b.a.r.f diet and how most vets don't know about it, because they are educated by the dog food industry salespersons.
A woman in front of us turned around abruptly and said, “Sorry to interrupt. I am a vet in Sterling, Va, an alopathic one. But I know as much as anyone about the b.a.r.f diet and I would never recommend feeding a dog or cat processed food.”
I was in shock. I asked, “How do you make a living, then with so few sick animals?” She said she works on word of mouth, volume patients. They usually only come in every few years and that is mainly for accidents. I smiled and was instantly educated. There are some very good honest vets out there who really do care about their patients, I thought to myself.
Rick London is a writer, cartoonist, e-entrepreneur and pet lover in the Ouchata Mountains of Arkansas. He was the founder of Londons Times Cartoons in 1997 which remains one of the most visited sites on the Internet. Recently he launched Londons Times Tees http://www.londonstimestees.com which features a section of hilarious cartoon tees, totes, aprons, coasters, etc with dog and cat cartoons. His main website has received about 7 million visitors since 2005 http://www.londonstimes.us
I recommend Dr. Ian Billinghurst's “Give Your Dog A Bone” book and for a great website resource, Shirley's Wellness Cafe.
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