About Nutrition

FOOD NOT FIT FOR A PET
by Dr Wendell O. Belfield, D.V.M.

The most frequently asked question in my practice is, "Which commercial pet food do you recommend?" My standard answer is "None." I am certain that pet-owners notice changes in their animals after using different batches of the same brand of pet food. Their pets may have diarrhea, increased flatulence, a dull hair coat, intermittent vomiting or prolonged scratching. These are common symptoms associated with commercial pet foods.

In 1981, as Martin Zucker and I wrote How to Have a Healthier Dog, we discovered the full extent of negative effects that commercial pet food has on animals. In February 1990, San Francisco Chronicle staff writer John Eckhouse went even further with an exposé entitled "How Dogs and Cats Get Recycled into Pet Food".

Eckhouse wrote: "Each year, millions of dead American dogs and cats are processed along with billions of pounds of other animal materials by companies known as renderers. The finished product...tallow and meat meal...serve as raw materials for thousands of items that include cosmetics and pet food."

Pet food company executives made the usual denials. But federal and state agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, and medical groups, such as the American Veterinary Medical Association and the California Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA), confirm that pets, on a routine basis, are rendered after they die in animal shelters or are disposed of by health authorities and the end product frequently finds its way into pet food.

Government health officials, scientists and pet food executives argue that such open criticism of commercial pet food is unfounded. James Morris, a professor at the School of Veterinary Medicine at Davis, California, has said, "Any products not fit for human consumption are very well sterilized, so nothing can be transmitted to the animal." Individuals who make such statements know nothing of the meat and rendering business.

For seven years I was a veterinary meat inspector for the US Department of Agriculture and the State of California. I waded through blood, water, pus and fecal material, inhaled the fetid stench from the killing floor and listened to the death cries of slaughtered animals.

Prior to World War II, most slaughterhouses were all-inclusive; that is, livestock was slaughtered and processed in one location. There was a section for smoking meats, a section for processing meats into sausages, and a section for rendering. After World War II, the meat industry became more specialized. A slaughterhouse dressed the carcasses, while a separate facility made the sausages. The rendering of slaughter waste also became a separate specialty; no longer within the jurisdiction of federal meat inspectors and out of the public eye.

To prevent condemned meat from being rerouted and used for human consumption, government regulations require that meat be "denatured" before removal from the slaughterhouse and shipment to rendering facilities. In my time as a veterinary meat inspector, we denatured with carbolic acid (a potentially corrosive disinfectant) and/or creosote (used for wood-preservation or as a disinfectant). Both substances are highly toxic. According to federal meat inspection regulations, fuel oil, kerosene, crude carbolic acid and citronella (an insect repellent made from lemon grass) are all approved denaturing materials.

Condemned livestock carcasses treated with these chemicals can become meat and bone meal for the pet food industry. Because rendering facilities are not government-controlled, any animal carcasses can be rendered; even dogs and cats. As Eileen Layne of the CVMA told the Chronicle, "When you read pet food labels, and it says "meat and bone meal", that's what it is: cooked and converted animals, including some dogs and cats."

Some of these dead pets- those euthanized by veterinarians- already contain pentobarbital before treatment with the denaturing process. According to University of Minnesota researchers, the sodium pentobarbital used to euthanise pets "survives rendering without undergoing degradation". Fat stabilizers are introduced into the finished rendered product to prevent rancidity. Common chemical stabilizers include BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) both known to cause liver and kidney dysfunction, and ethoxyquin, a suspected carcinogen. Many semi-moist dog foods contain propylene glycol, first cousin to the anti-freeze agent, ethylene glycol, that destroys red blood-cells. Lead frequently shows up in pet foods, even those made from livestock meat and bone meal. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology study, titled "Lead in Animal Foods", found that a nine-pound cat fed on commercial pet food ingests more lead than the amount considered potentially toxic for children.

I have been practicing small-animal medicine for more than 25 years. Every day I see the casualties of pet industry propaganda. But the professors in the teaching institutions of veterinary medicine generally support an industry that has little regard for the quality of health in our companion animals.

One last word of caution: meat and bone meal from sources not fit for human consumption have found their way into poultry feed. This means that animal products rendered under questionable conditions are fed to birds that may wind up on your table. Remember this when you are eating your next piece of chicken or turkey.

(Dr Belfield is a graduate of Tuskegee Institute of Veterinary Medicine and is now in private practice in San Jose, California. Dr Belfield established the first orthomolecular veterinary hospital in the US. He is co-author of The Very Healthy Cat Book and How to Have a Healthier Dog. This article first appeared in Let's Live Magazine, May 1992.)


Guidelines for Health - Important - Must Read

Feed the best whole, raw diet, which is as close to the animal's natural diet as possible (no canned, processed or pellet feeds)
Vaccinate as little as possible, if at all (Some states and international quarantine laws require proof of vaccination)
Provide the best possible environment for each particular animal
Build up the overall health of the animal throughout its lifetime, rather than treating individual symptoms or diseases
Understand the outcome of treatment and learn to take greater responsibility for the health of your animals, rather than surrendering all your power to your veterinarian

There is a growing trend toward feeding natural or home made diets. There are many resources (i.e. books, breeders, pet owners, email lists, videos, etc) available to help you learn about this alternative to processed dog foods. There are diets that advocate grains and dairy and those that oppose it; diets that advocate raw and those who insist you cook the food. As with anything, not everyone will agree. However, do some reading and research to find out which diet will be best for you and your dog. Some great books to start with are listed below. They are available at www.amazon.com.

* Give Your Dog A Bone - Dr. Ian Billinghurst
* Grow Your Pup With Bones - Dr. Ian Billinghurst
* The Ultimate Diet - Kymythy Schultz
* The Complete Herbal Handbook for the Dog and Cat - Juliette de Bairacli Levy


About Vaccines

All we ask is that you be an informed pet owner. Do not allow your vet to dictate things that you are uncomfortable with. It has long been proven that dogs do not need annual vaccines, and there is NO law that says otherwise. The only vaccine mandated by law is the rabies vaccine, and in most states, this is a 3-year protocol.

Important Information you need to know about [not] vaccinating your pets annually. Please read this carefully. If you don't have time now, bookmark this page and come back later to finish your reading and to explore the links at the bottom of the page. It is imperative that anyone who owns a puppy from Kinetic Dobermans or Unity Weimaraners understands the implications of too many vaccines (or the wrong kind).

Of annual revaccination, Tom Phillips and Ron Schultz, "Canine and Feline Vaccines," in Current Veterinary Therapy XI, ed. R. Kirk and J. Bonagura (Philadelphia: Saunders, 1992) say, "A practice that was started many years ago and that lacks scientific validity or verification is annual revaccinations. Almost without exception there is no immunologic requirements for annual revaccination. Immunity to viruses persists for years or for the life of the animal. Successful vaccination to most bacterial pathogens produces an immunologic memory that remains for years, allowing an animal to develop a protective anamnestic (secondary) response when exposed to virulent organisms... Furthermore, revaccination with most viral vaccines fails to stimulate an anamnestic (secondary) response as a result of interference by existing antibody... The practice of annual vaccination in our opinion should be considered of questionable efficacy unless it is used as a mechanism to provide an annual physical examination or it is required by law (i.e. certain states require annual revaccinations for rabies)."

The Weimaraner Club of America policy on Vaccinations (updated 2005 & current)
Immune Mediated Problems and Vaccination in Weimaraners

A small percentage of Weimaraner puppies manifest an autoimmune reaction following vaccination. When the immune system of susceptible individuals is challenged by multiple antigens it becomes hyper-reactive and responds in the same way it would respond to fight off an infection; fever, elevated WBC and inflammatory reaction of tissues and joints.

Although many puppies can be vaccinated with no adverse reactions, there is no way at the present time to determine which puppies may react. Past research has documented reactions occurring between 8-16 weeks of age with the greatest number of reactions seen in puppies 12-16 week age.

Several of the vaccine manufacturers assure that immunity in puppies can be achieved with only two vaccines providing the second vaccine is given at 12 weeks of age. Therefore the Board of Directors of the Weimaraner Club of America recommends the following vaccine schedule:

8 weeks: Distemper, Adeno2, Parainfluenza and Parvo
12 weeks: Distemper, Adeno2, Parainfluenza and Parvo

The use of Corona, Lepto, Bordatella (kennel cough) and Lyme vaccine is not recommended unless these diseases are prevalent in the area. The recombinant DNA vaccines available for Distemper and Lyme have shown a significantly lower incidence of reactions.


PLEASE read this article on how vaccines work.
Websites to visit for more information on this VERY IMPORTANT topic:

* Natural Rearing
* Puppy Shots: Vaccination Issues for Breeders
* Revaccination - by Christie Keith
* The Vaccine Controversy - T. R. Phillips DVM PhD & R.D. Shultz PhD
* Vaccine Information and Choice Network
* Cyberpet on Vaccinosis - Dr. Richard Pitcairn DVM
* Vaccination News - a newsletter with both sides of the story
* It's For The Animals - Dr. Jean Dodds, including a vaccine release form
* Vaccine Website