In our complex, fast paced lives today, keeping ourselves and our pets healthy and happy has become yet another challenge. Keeping track of scheduled visits for regular veterinary care along with all the different medications that we are told to give them along with grooming appointments, researching new foods to replace those that were put on recall, complicates the already precious time that we have. Most of our clients are looking to simplify this process and keep their precious pets well.
Pet care doesn’t have to be that complicated and we can simplify. In over forty years of experience in the animal health industry, we have witnessed dynamic innovation in products to make our pets’ lives better. Fancy beds, eye protection, safer grooming products and tools, stylish collars and functional leads, clumping cat litter and more enhance our experience with our animals. There is nothing cuter than a well-groomed, clean smelling, fancy dressed puppy or kitty.
We have also witnessed other innovation that actually creates more complex and stressful lives for our pets. The advent of preventive medications which are technically all poisons, full of numerous side effects that create stress and new health challenges. The development of food additives to enhance flavor has fooled our pets into eating unnatural, highly processed foods with preservatives, artificial colors. This leaves very little nutritional content and actually adds to compromising their immune systems.
In a natural world, we see all kinds of animals and wildlife living naturally healthy lives as they have throughout time. Parrots are known to live a hundred years, elephants for sixty and wolves twenty-five or more without the aid of doctors or dentists. These animals know which foods to eat without being subjected to processed foods, formal government programs or marketing propaganda. They grow, breed, give birth and raise their offspring without a manual.
Our recipe for a healthy pet and yes, also a healthier you is to go back to nature. The basic physiology and pathology of our domestication has not changed from our wild cousins and ancestors. The whole body is dependent on the fuel we ingest to keep all living creatures healthy. What are the foods our pets would consume if they were in the wild? How or do they prepare their meals? How do they rid themselves of parasites and pests? What about their hydration?
If we follow that model by feeding our pets a fresh, varied, natural, unprocessed species appropriate diet, we will be fueling the body with the dynamic balance that nature has designed. Our dogs and cats are carnivores that require an animal based diet. This is not an all protein diet in that meat is a complex product with carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids and more, all in the most bioavailable form. Our birds need a variety of seeds, grasses, fruits, vegetables, insects and more. Cows, horses, sheep and other grazing animals need a variety of fresh and dried toxic free forage.
We must also avoid synthetic, highly processed medications and chemicals that bring on toxic side effects. A highly immune body will resist disease and have no need for so-called “preventives.” When medication is necessary, we need to limit it to immediate treatment and work to eliminate the causes, thereby creating a happier, healthier pet.
