I stumbled on this video on YouTube that shows nicely how well a turkey neck can help to clean a dog’s teeth. I also think it’s a good idea to hold them like this to make sure the dog’s getting the teeth cleaning value (just watch your fingers as they will feel the same to a dog’s mouth!). Stop on by and pick up a pack of turkey necks today!
PS: it’s always a good idea to make your dogs earn their treats – this guys does a good job of that
Today I’d like to discuss the reason why dogs and cats can, and should, eat raw meat.
This is one of the most frequent conversations I have with startled visitors to my home who say, ‘My gosh! You feed your pets raw meat?’ … as well as clients at my Natural Pet animal clinic who already feed or would like to feed their pets raw, but are getting an argument from their own veterinarians about raw food diets for dogs and cats.
The whole debate about raw food doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Dogs and cats have consumed living, raw meats for thousands of years.
To this day barn cats catch and kill mice, and no one calls poison control. Farmers also don’t call poison control when their dog finds a litter of baby bunnies and pops them in their mouth like little Tootsie Rolls. In these cases, no one thinks to induce vomiting or say, ‘Oh my gosh! My pet just ate raw meat!’
The truth is both cats and dogs are designed specifically to consume raw meat. Their bodies are adapted to process raw, living foods.
The first bags of commercial pet food entered the market about a hundred years ago. From a historical perspective, processed dog and cat food is a relatively new phenomenon.
However, your pet’s GI tract has not evolved in those hundred years to make good use of an entirely kibble-based diet – and it never will.
Fortunately, the bodies of dogs and cats are amazingly resilient and therefore capable of handling foods that aren’t biologically appropriate, like most dry pet foods. Unfortunately, this adaptability has led to a situation of ‘dietary abuse’ among the veterinary community.
Commercial pet foods – especially dry bagged foods – are so convenient the majority of vets recommend them to all their patients. Processed dog and cat food is convenient, inexpensive, and there’s no preparation or cleanup required. You stash the bag in the pantry, scoop out a portion at meal time, drop it into your pet’s food dish and you’re done.
Because commercial pet food has been so successfully marketed (dog and cat food products are a multimillion dollar industry, after all), and because pets’ bodies are resilient and can survive, if not thrive on the stuff, we have been lulled into a sense of complacency about the food we feed our precious four-legged companions.
Most veterinary students don’t learn about species-appropriate pet diets in vet school. The only food discussed is processed, commercial pet formulas.
This is an excellent article from Dr. Karen Becker on the dangers of over-vaccination in cats. It’s very relevant for dog owners as well. I’ve copied in in full below. There are excellent recommendations towards the end of the article.
In a vaccine-related study of almost 32,000 cats, 73 developed inflammatory reactions after being vaccinated, and two developed vaccine site-associated sarcomas.
Study results also showed that:
* Polyvalent vaccines (vaccines for multiple pathogens contained in a single immunization) caused more reactions that monovalent vaccines (single-pathogen vaccines).
* Adjuvanted vaccines (vaccines with additives to boost immune response) cause more reactions than vaccines without adjuvants.
According to W. Mark Cousins, DVM, DABVP, a cookie-cutter approach to vaccinating cats should be avoided:
“Recognize that each patient has a unique level of risk of exposure to pathogens and that risk levels, even for the same patient, can vary with time. Thus, varying types and levels of protection are needed. Avoid using the same vaccination protocol for all cats. Evaluate each patient as an individual at each visit, and vaccinate accordingly.’
Because this type of tumor can recur very quickly if not handled properly, Dr. Cousins recommends all suspected vaccine site-associated sarcomas be managed as follows:
* Step One: A fine-needle aspiration and cytologic examination should be performed to check for malignancy.
* Step Two: Biopsy should follow step one if markedly abnormal cells suggesting malignancy are discovered.
* Step Three: If biopsy confirms vaccine site-associated sarcoma, obtain surgical margins or refer to a specialist for complete removal of the tumor.
Dr. Cousins also advocates use of the ‘3-2-1’ rule, which is to perform a wedge biopsy on any vaccination-site lump that meets at least one of the following criteria:
* Present in any form three months after vaccination
* Greater than or equal to 2 cm across at presentation
* Present for one month after vaccination and is fast-growing.
Sources:
* dvm360 December 1, 2010
* dvm360 October 1, 2009
Dr. Becker’s Comments:
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A sarcoma is a type of cancer caused by changes in connective tissue cells. Feline vaccine-associated sarcoma (VAS) is a malignant tumor that is primarily associated with two vaccines:
* Rabies vaccine
* Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) vaccine
