Deadly Disease Outbreak: Is Your Dog Safe?

Recently there has been an outbreak of Canine Distemper Virus at the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society in Pittsburgh. Distemper is a highly contagious viral infection that can affect the dog’s nervous system, respiratory system, or gastrointestinal tract. It can cause a range of symptoms including coughing, sneezing, nasal discharge, fever, loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhea, […]

Three Ways Your Vet May Be Led Astray

There is currently a trend in veterinary medicine toward what is called Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM). The idea is that we veterinarians should only treat pets with scientifically proven therapies. This process is intended to eliminate the doctor’s personal bias and therapies that are ineffective or possibly harmful. With EBM there is a hierarchy of evidence […]

Lessons from the “War on Fat”

A recent Time Magazine cover story about America’s “War on Fat” is very instructive about both human and pet nutrition. The title of the article, “Don’t Blame the Fat” says it all. In the late 1970’s it was determined that dietary fat and cholesterol were responsible for the high incidence of heart disease in America. […]

Would you eat your pet’s food for a month?

  Recently, a pet food retailer in Richland, Washington made headlines when she decided to eat nothing but pet food for a month. The idea came to Dorothy Hunter when she worked up an appetite at her store and was unable to run out for food. She picked up a bag of dog treats and […]

Lying Labels – Part II

In last week’s blog post, we explored some of the many ways pet food companies misguide us with their labels. This week I have the rest of the story. Questionable Quality Hopefully there is meat listed somewhere on the ingredient list. Unfortunately, you cannot easily tell the quality of that meat from the label. Here’s […]