Multifunction Artificial Martian Food? No. Just NO.
Food as Medicine. Not far fetched at all, as those of you know who feed balanced raw diets.
But there’s a flip side, which you’ve probably seen before, unless you’ve actually been away on Mars. It’s a pervasive idea in main stream veterinary pet food marketing:
Premise: “You couldn’t possibly know enough to feed your pet homemade food! So, don’t even try!”
Solution: “We’ll sell you food that’ll even fix your sick dog or cat. Developed by real scientists!”
Oh, my head. How far we’ve departed from Nature’s laws.
But, we humans are smart! We’ll design the fix for the consequences of that departure. And sell it to you in paper bags!
Cha-ching!
Where the Unnatural Path Has Brought Us
Main stream medicine is starting to get it. Sort of. They are seeing that animals are now getting sicker than they used to get. They now have multiple illnesses, stacked together in the same animal.
When we discovered that many cats and dogs suffer from more than one health condition, we created four different highly palatable and digestible multifunction formulas to address their multiple health needs.” –Royal Canin, a division of Mars, Inc.
(Royal Canin is from Mars. Remember life on Mars? The candy maker who turned multibillion dollar pet food maker?)
What point are they missing on Mars?
Hmmm, how about a glaring one:
Main stream “prevention” is the cause of these multiple illnesses!
I mean, think about it for a moment. Use Nature as your reference point. (That’s always a good practice, by the way; take man largely out of the picture, and see what the wild cousins are experiencing.)
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Are lions plagued by lower urinary tract disease (LUTD)? [Think crystals, bladder stones, plugged up urethras, catheters, and cutting off penises here.]
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How about obesity in ocelots? Or hyenas, or cheetahs, or wolves? Seen any?
But, we’re seeing both in domestic cats and dogs, certainly. And to market comes, ta daaaaa:
“A MAGNIFICENT COMBINATION”
“Urinary + Satiety”
Thanks, Royal Canin. So, let me get this straight. I can buy, from my vet only, a special food for my obese cat who is plagued with repeated bladder inflammation and a chronically plugged up urethra?
That’d be so cool, because we’ve been to the ER multiple times with the poor guy to get him to be able to pee again.
And man, he’s got a lot to love at 16 pounds! Everybody thinks he’s so cute!
But What About My Anxiety-ridden Urinary Troubled Cat?
Royal Canin’s got you covered there, too.
Wait. Anxiety? Are we seeing anxious lynx with bladder troubles, worrying themselves sick?
Umm, no, I don’t think so. At least I haven’t seen them on the Nature Channel.
Never fear, the fix is here! New Royal Canin “Urinary + Calm” will help your hot-bladdered, anxious cat.
With a list of 70-odd ingredients, your first take on this might be,
Wow! Isn’t science wonderful?? I can feed this prescription diet and take care of his bladder and anxiety right in the food dish!”
Subconsciously, if you haven’t yet started making homemade raw food for your cat, your mind will also be reinforcing this thought, that keeps companies like Royal Canin and Science Diet assured of always making a profit:
No way could I ever make food for my cat or dog! Damn, where would I get all these ingredients, many of which I’ve never heard of and can’t pronounce or spell in the spelling bee? I guess I’ll let them do it for me.”
Labels Cut Both Ways
But let’s take a closer look at some of those 70-odd ingredients that you probably couldn’t buy if you wanted to. (Though you wouldn’t want to buy several of them, if you’ve been reading about what’s wrong with commercial pet foods nowadays).
The top 5–10 ingredients are usually plenty to tell you you need to put that bag back on the shelf and back slowly away… This food as medicine will be a bitter pill bringing a host of bad outcomes.
Byproducts: This could mean fine ingredients we humans don’t care to eat so much. Maybe some chicken feet or spleens or heads. No biggies. But it can also include the “4D meats” which should cause you concern.
4D Meats?
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Dead
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Diseased
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Dying or
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Disabled animals from slaughter houses
Some of those Dead have included euthanized animals, as evidence by pentobarbital residues showing up in pet food.
Sweets: Corn gluten meal (2nd ingredient on the dry version) is the stuff corn syrup is made of. Where do you suppose all these diabetic cats are coming from today?
Again, for reference, the big cats in the wild don’t get diabetes. It’s entirely a man-made disease.
Brewers rice comes in at #3. This is white rice, further depleted by being used first in brewing. It also adds to the sweet carb intake for our carnivore dogs and especially cats. Empty calories that a carnivore has no means to deal with.
Sawdust: Seriously??
One of my favorites, seen in so many commercial “scientific foods,” is powdered cellulose, aka sawdust. Indigestible fiber from the lumber mills. I’m not seeing anyone who’s home feeding stocking up on this one, for some reason.
The Way Out
So, bravo, Royal Canin. You brought us chicken feather based dog food earlier and now you’re right there in the trenches with our pets who “suffer from more than one health condition.”
Now, if you don’t see yourself buying expensive junk food to treat man-made multiple chronic diseases in your furry family members, you likely will take what’s behind Door #3:
A healthier approach to preventing this whole mess in the first place!
That starts early in life, but it’s never too late to make changes, even for those middle aged or older dogs and cats who laze about most of the time and are starting to show wear around the edges. You’ll likely be happily surprised at the renewed vitality you can create for them by making some simple changes in their world.
Let’s hit the main points of your exit strategy:
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Stop vaccinating the already vaccinated. Just stop. It’s unwarranted, ineffective, and unsafe. Yearly vaccines? Fire that vet!
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Start making balanced raw food diets for your little carnivores. Here’s a great site for you mini-lion owners, and there’s a Raw Roundup poster just below for you domestic wolf owners. (Yes, I’m still talking to you, owners of the Bichons, Maltese, and Chihuahuas! Aww-ooooo!)
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Or buy it ready made. Your choices are now more than ever, some in your local stores. Here’s one of the first to make a fine raw food, long before the competitors came. Still great diets today, easily delivered to your door.
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Stop the poisons! - Against fleas - Against heartworms
Pardon me if this seems too obvious, but how will you raise a healthy, Vital Animal while you poison them monthly?
My History Helps You
Years ago, when I first hung out my holistic shingle, I had little to offer besides making home prepared diets. No acupuncture training, no homeopathy training yet, just sound nutritional principles.
And I often saw dramatic results in my patients. Adding in vaccine cessation strategies and non-toxic pest avoidance added to that happy drama.
The rest is history.
Let us know in the comments what you’ve seen since you left the Big Pet Food Circus and started on a more Natural Path. Your story of food as medicine can spread encouragement to the folks who are new here.
