Originally written for and printed in Dr. Al Sear’s newsletter, Health Confidential:
Many people come to me and they ask me about the health of their pets. I have some strong views about it. Many of the problems that pets have are the same ones we have, because we’re all living in this altered environment. But I’m not a pet care specialist. So we have an animal naturopath colleague of mine, Dr. Kim Bloomer, who’s going to write to you today about some of the problems pets have in the modern world. ~Al Sears, MD
By Dr. Kim Bloomer
Pets are not living longer, healthier lives. Surprised? It’s true. Our pets are simply taking longer to die from chronic disease and poor health. And for many animals that process starts very early in life.
The reasons are simple. Part of the reason is that we believe the blatant lie that processed pet food equals good nutrition, and we load our pets up with toxins. The result is the chronic diseases we see today in increasingly younger animals.
Illness starts with signs we mistake as “seasonal” or normal. Maybe your pet gets “hot spots” and rashes during the summer. Or has chronically smelly ears and runny eyes. Or has teeth covered in tarter and breath that could stop an elephant in its tracks. These are not signs of good health!
When you understand what good health really is and how to achieve it, your pet will live longer and have quality of life. You will also save a ton of money and heartache in the process!
Deep Pockets Influence the Pet Health System
You may be shocked to learn the two key players contributing to the ill health of our pets: the pet food industry and the pharmaceutical industry. These powerhouses fund almost every veterinary school in the United States.1,2,3 They have a lot of weight to throw around, so what vets learn in school is tainted by their self-interest. It’s not about our pets’ health; it’s about the profit of these two powerhouses.
| “Do you know what is in most meal, the major constituent of dry dog food? Urine, faecal matter, hair, pus, meat from animals afflicted with cancer, TB, etc.”
-Wendell O. Belfield, DVM |
Vets spend very little time learning about nutrition. What they do learn comes straight from pet food companies. Industry reps teach veterinarians how to sell and “prescribe” their processed foods, not how to keep animals healthy using good nutrition. Unfortunately, processed pet food is little better than the garbage you tote to the curb each week.
The pet food industry is the perfect way to dispose of the leftover foods that aren’t “good enough” for human consumption. But it gets worse. The pet food industry uses “4-D” animals: dead, diseased, dying, disabled. And those “wholesome grains” we hear about are basically poor quality chaff. Add food dyes and toxic preservatives, top the mess off with sprayed synthetic vitamins, and it’s called a “complete and balanced” meal.
Because vets spend so little time learning to keep pets healthy through good nutrition, their only real option for helping your sick pet is to dole out pharmaceuticals in the form of:
- Drugs. Antibiotics, steroids, and a multitude of other pharmaceuticals mask symptoms of poor health.
- Pesticides. Highly toxic flea, tick, and heartworm prevention products are used to “protect” pets from parasites.
- Vaccinations. Many vets continue with the deadly practice of booster vaccinations despite enormous evidence proving it isn’t necessary.
Most veterinarians never warn pet owners of the dangerous side effects of vaccinating, drugs, and toxic pesticides. Does your vet make sure you have enough information to provide an “informed consent” before treating your pet with drugs, vaccines, or surgery?
Once our pets are toxic, they enter a state of “dis-ease“. And where do we go when our pets are sick? Right back to the veterinarian’s office for more toxins! Your vet may not connect the dots between processed food, pharmaceuticals, and your sick pet. Trust me, the connection is there.
Natural Health Is Achieved From the Inside Out
Conventional veterinary medicine treats symptoms. It never gets to the root cause of disease. While a prescription of antibiotics or steroids makes your pet feel better quickly, its symptoms usually return. Unfortunately they often come back even worse than before. Over time this tamping down of symptoms leads to more serious illness.
Natural health views those same symptoms in a completely different way. Symptoms are the road map leading to the root cause of disease. Because nothing heals disease. The body heals itself. It can only do that when we support it in a whole picture synergy of mind, body, and spirit.
As a veterinary naturopath focusing on dogs and cats, I work with pet owners all over the country. Most of my clients are making the shift from using conventional medicine to natural health care. They are frustrated with the disastrous side effects and serious limitations of conventional medicine and turn to an animal naturopath because we:
- Do not diagnose disease. We perform health or lifestyle assessments focusing on the whole animal, not their symptoms.
- Do not treat disease. We promote health and help you achieve optimal health for your pet.
- Do not prescribe medications. We educate you on removing toxins from the body, nutrition, species appropriate diet, supplements, herbs, aromatherapy, homeopathy, and other natural healing modalities.
- Do not perform surgery or any type of invasive procedure.
An animal naturopath helps you create and maintain your pet’s good health. We empower you by giving you the knowledge to care for your pets naturally so they thrive!
You Can Start Creating Good Health in Your Pet
Three simple steps will help you focus on promoting health instead of preventing illness in your pets:
#1: Feed the right food.
Stop feeding pet food purchased in a bag or can. Switch to a species-appropriate raw diet. A species-appropriate diet is what your pet’s ancestors ate to survive and thrive. For example, cats are obligate carnivores. They must eat fresh, raw meat and bones to stay healthy. Dogs are facultativecarnivores. Dogs need raw meaty bones to thrive. But dogs can eat whatever is available to survive. People sometimes think dogs are omnivores because of this, but I assure you they are not! Teeth tell the tale. Dogs and cats have sharp, pointy teeth for ripping, shredding, and tearing meat and crushing bone. They do not have molars or jaws that move sideways so they can grind food like people do. They have a hinged jaw so they can grab hold of prey and rip it apart for quick eating.4
| “Of all the things that you can do to prevent disease in your pet, diet is the most important.”
-Dr. Andrew Jones, DVM |
A species-appropriate diet for dogs is basically raw, meaty bones. Yes, raw. You can also feed raw egg, organ meat, and fish body oil a couple times a week. It’s really that simple! Add enzymes and probiotics when your dog or cat starts a raw diet. This helps get their bodies in shape to better digest raw food. Once their carnivore ability really kicks in, you won’t need to do this unless your pet is sick or old. Feed two to three percent of your pet’s body weight daily (once per day) of roughly equal parts bone and meat (really you need more meat than bone so if you are unsure please obtain a consultation or take my course that will give you ALL you need to know how to do this. The raw bone with the meat keeps the natural calcium/phosphorus balance.
Try to relax as you make this change. Remember that a “complete and balanced” meal is a great marketing tactic that does not exist in reality.5 Balance happens over time by feeding your pet a variety of the good food it needs to thrive.
#2: Stop vaccinating.
| “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)”.
-Don Hamilton, DVM |
Vaccinations do more harm than good. Vaccination is an assault on your pet’s immune system. Some animals have bad reactions and get sick or die immediately. Other pets develop lifelong health problems. Chances are, your vet will never tell you what caused these illnesses.
Injecting a vaccine completely bypasses the body’s first lines of defense. Once inside, vaccines flood the body with millions of organisms or viral particles. This stress causes immune system irregularities. The result? Chronic diseases ranging from life-threatening autoimmune conditions to chronic skin allergies that destroy quality of life.
Make no mistake. The only thing vaccines create is more disease. The only people benefiting from vaccines are the pharmaceutical companies selling them and the vets injecting them. These vets get the added bonus of treating the chronically ill pets they created.6
#3: Stop using toxins.
Did your vet warn you about the side effects of your pet’s flea and tick product? Have you wondered why the directions tell you not to let it touch your skin but it’s ok to smear it on your pet?
Flea, tick, and mosquito products include neurotoxins and cancer-causing ingredients. The side effects are so severe that some pets die just days after being treated with these deadly chemicals. For example, the friponil in Frontline caused aggressive behavior, damaged kidneys, and drastic alterations in thyroid function in lab test animals.7
| “Popular flea collars often contain powerful nerve gases. They can kill some fleas. They can also kill some pets, and can do damage to children and adults handling the pet wearing the poisonous flea collar.” -Michael W. Lemmon, DVM |
So what can you do to combat these tiny pests without using toxins?
Natural prevention comes in the form of good health. A healthy animal is NOT an attractive host to any parasite. Like all living things, parasites want to survive. They find weak hosts whose immune system can’t kill their offspring. Getting your pet healthy is the first step in controlling parasites. If you live in a high-risk area for heartworms, fleas, and ticks, you can also use aromatherapy, herbal, or nosode support. These help your pet repel pests and improve health at the same time!
You will be amazed at the difference in your pet when you start following these three simple steps. Clean teeth, healthy skin, and a lot more energy are only the beginning. Get started today and join the thousands of people who have taken back control of their pets’ health!
| About the Author:
Copyright © August 2010 Dr. Kim Bloomer. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the Author. This article is for educational purposes only. The decision to use, or not to use, any information is the sole responsibility of the reader. Dr. Kim Bloomer is a certified animal naturopath, and the creator and host of the DOGgone Truth Podcast. Dr. Kim co-authored the book Whole Health for Happy Dogs and authored the book Animals Taught Me That, and Essential Oils in Animal Care: A Naturopathic Approach. Dr. Kim’s articles have been featured in various publications such as Animal Wellness Magazine, Natural Horse Magazine, and Dogs Naturally Magazine. Dr. Kim lives with her husband of many years and they are owned by a rescued Neapolitan Mastiff named Shadrach. Visit her website at http://www.AspenbloomPetCare.com |
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1 Patrick, J. S. (2006). Deconstructing the regulatory facade: Why confused consumers feed their pets ring dings and krispy kremes. Abstract. LEDA, Harvard Law School. http://leda.law.harvard.edu/leda/data/784/Patrick06.html
2 Fiala, J. (2010). Scrutiny emerges concerning conflicts of interest in veterinary literature. VIN News Service. http://news.vin.com/VINNews.aspx?articleId=14908
3 Petkewich, R. Big pharma chases dogs and cats. June 25, 2007 Volume 85, Number 26 (pp. 31-34). http://pubs.acs.org/cen/business/85/8526bus2.html
4 Those huge impressive teeth (or tiny needle sharp teeth) are designed for grabbing, ripping, tearing, shredding, and shearing meat (Feldhamer, G.A. 1999. Mammology: Adaptation, Diversity, and Ecology. McGraw-Hill. pg 258).
5 MacMillan, F. These research papers link all pet food with the illness or death of the cat or dog taking part in the research. http://www.mousabilities.com/nutrition/research.html
6 Jordan, P. DVM. (2009). Mark of the Beast: Hidden in plain sight. NC: Create Space.
7 Cox, C. (2005). Insecticide Factsheet: Fipronil. Journal of Pesticide Reform/ SPRING 2005 – VOL. 25, NO. 1. http://www.pesticide.org/fipronil.pdf
DISCLAIMER: THE CONTENT AND INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS E-NEWSLETTER ARE FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. IT MAY NOT BE CONSTRUED AS MEDICAL ADVICE, AND WE DO NOT INTEND FOR THIS INFORMATION TO BE USED TO DIAGNOSE OR PRESCRIBE FORMS OF TREATMENT.
Kim Bloomer, V.N.D., N.D. is an animal naturopath as well as being certified in small animal nutrition, with years of experience in animal wellness. Dr. Kim is a published author, writer, and blogger. Subscribe to her DOGgone Newsletter for updates or to her blog via email. Copyright ©2005-2024 Aspenbloom Pet Care, Dr. Kim Bloomer, All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the Author/Publisher. This article is intended to be educational. However, it is not intended to be a substitute for diagnosis or treatment from a qualified animal health professional. Dr. Kim Bloomer and Aspenbloom Pet Care, do not assume any legal responsibility for misuse of the products discussed in this article. The only essential oils referenced on this website are Young Living.
