Evolution-based nutrition in other words, what pets were meant to eat.

The Natural/Holistic Pet Food Myth

Most pet foods that claim to be “natural” or “holistic” are indeed not! All you need to do is look at the official definitions of these terms to understand what I’m saying. The standards for pet food labels are set by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). AAFCO’s definition of natural is: “a […]

The Body’s Wisdom is Smarter than Nutritionists

Nutritional reductionists believe that they can formulate complete and balanced diets for dogs and cats. They create pet foods from ingredients that the ancestors of our dogs and cats did not have access to. The conditions under which the animal body was finely tuned over millions of years can give us insight into what is […]

Your Vet’s Pet Food Misunderstanding

As explained in last week’s blog, determinism is the belief that any subject can be best understood by understanding its parts. When determinism is applied to nutrition you get the kind of silly statements that veterinary nutritionists and pet food manufacturers make all the time. These experts will tell you that it is not the […]

Side Effects from Raw Food

As a holistic practitioner, I treat the whole pet. Animals often come to me because they have a specific problem. The Western medicine way of dealing with such difficulties is to only focus on the issue at hand. In veterinary school we really learn more about disease care than we do about health care. The […]

Research from 1979 Refutes Current Dog Food Pyramid

There is a common notion that dogs are omnivores. And, the bottom line is that they are omnivores. Of course that’s because they have no choice but to eat what we feed them. This is typically processed kibble containing at least 30% carbohydrates. Think about this; if we captured all the polar bears in the […]

The “Highly Digestible Pet Food” Myth

Digestibility is a measure of how easily a pet food ingredient is broken down by the digestive system and absorbed into the body. The more digestible the food, the quicker the nutrients enter the pet’s bloodstream.  Pet food companies sometimes brag about their food’s digestibility. On the surface, this sounds like a good thing. Who […]

5 Steps to a Healthy Pet

I would like to start 2016 by keeping it simple. Over the years I’ve written about research and my own experience that informs my views on pet health care. I’ve been working in the veterinary field for over 30 years with more than 20 years of holistic/integrative practice. I would like to sum it up […]

Damning Report on Pet Foods

A sustainable foods-oriented, consumer advocacy organization, The Cornucopia Institute, recently released a scathing report on commercial pet foods. Of course, most of what they found will not be shocking to the readers of this blog. It is interesting to have such a group back up many of my concerns and come up with a few […]

Carrageenan: A Nasty Pet Food Toxin

Carrageenan is an ingredient of canned pet diets used to thicken, stabilize, and emulsify the food. It is used in many canned pet foods basically to improve the appearance and texture. There is absolutely no nutritional value to this ingredient. Carrageenan is actually a group of compounds extracted from various species of red seaweed. As […]

Incredible! Research on Raw Cat Food

When I lecture to veterinarians (and especially veterinary students) about raw food for pets I often get the question, “Where’s the research?” The push for “Evidence-Based Medicine” strongly resonates with many veterinarians, especially those with little real-world experience. They tend to think that unless there is a validating study, the idea must be wrong. The […]