Who’s a good dog?

This is for all the dog lovers. The human who got the animals to stay put should get some credit.

Have a great day! – h/t to Gary Patterson

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Non-Profit Provides Food Stamps for Pets

Pet Food Stamps, a New York-based nonprofit that will give qualifying pet owners throughout the U.S. (who must be receiving government assistance for themselves) funds to buy food for their animals from the website PetFoodDirect. Applications can be filled out here on the –> Pet Food Stamps website

WSJ: If you believe the economy is improving, you’ve likely never met someone who still can’t afford a can of cat food.

Marc Okon, who has worked as a stockbroker, entrepreneur and business consultant, has a friend from his old neighborhood in Bayside, Queens, N.Y. He’s known her since age 10. Her parents died. She fell on hard times. And the economy hasn’t come back for her yet.

"She told me she sometimes fed her cat before herself," Mr. Okon said in a telephone interview.

In February, as headlines raged about a strengthening economy, Mr. Okon started a privately funded nonprofit called Pet Food Stamps. People who are already on government assistance can apply for free pet food.

The group has been swamped with more applications than his staff of a dozen people can readily process. Most applicants send letters detailing how they lost their jobs to outsourcing, their homes to foreclosure or their health to disease or accident.

"I just heard from a lady in North Carolina who has an autistic son whose only companion is a Jack Russell Terrier," he said. "It’s cookie-cutter sadness. … Little details change but the gist of each story is the same."

Despite nominal improvements in the unemployment rate, the U.S. Department of Agriculture counts more than 47 million people in its food stamp program—nearly one out of every seven Americans.

Food stamps cannot be used to purchase pet food. But they can be used to buy Coca-Cola.

Last week, the National Center for Public Research complained at Coca-Cola’s annual shareholder meeting in Atlanta that the beverage maker lobbies heavily to keep soda on the list of wholesome things that food stamps can buy.

Taxpayers subsidize about $4 billion worth of soda sales each year, the group groused, even as the sugary drink contributes to an obesity epidemic that drives up government health-care costs.

But you know what they say? Food stamps go better with Coke.

Mr. Okon, 36 years old, said he spent his 20s chasing money, first as a stockbroker, then as the founder of a company that sold pay phones as cellphones displaced them. He also did consulting work that took him into the bowels of many other companies.

He said he briefly worked for a firm that sold dubious medical benefits to seniors in the South. "Their whole corporate philosophy was to manipulate seniors who didn’t have any type of insurance," he said. "I could only do that for about a week and half."

He is a man so disgusted with the lack of ethics he witnessed in private enterprise that he founded a nonprofit to hand out dog food.

"I’ve been around enough shady businesses and surrounded by salesmen-types who were always talking about the deal," he said.

Self-dealing helped destroy the economy—so focused on the bottom line and so unfocused on consequences for everyone else. Dogs and cats don’t know what hit them.

"Millions of pets are surrendered to shelters each year and euthanized because their owners can’t afford to feed them," Mr. Okun said.

And to top it all off, the people in charge of fixing the economy are the same ones who helped destroy it.

"The people in power were put there by fat cats, who have money and control," Mr. Okun said. "I see it getting worse and worse, decade after decade. I don’t know what’s going to change."

See CBS News Video: Non-Profit Provides Food Stamps for Pets

(CBS News) SALEM, Ore. – Tough economic times in recent years have led to heartbreaking decisions for many pet owners. But now, there may be more help on the way.

Marissa Jenkins’ 6-year-old Dachshund, Olivia, is more than a dog.

Marissa Jenkins is thankful for an organization that helps feed her dog.

"She’s been part of our family, she’s definitely not a dog," Jenkins said. "She’s a kid to us."

Recently, the Salem, Ore., family welcomed a new addition – and a new challenge.

"My husband lost his job in February and we just had a baby in December, and so all the costs of having a baby and a dog and a family is adding up," she said.

Now on food stamps, they turned to a non-profit for help to feed their dog because food stamps cannot be used for pet food.

Launched in February, Pet Food Stamps has received over to 160,000 applications from needy families across the country. Marc Okon is the charity’s founder.

"Hundreds of thousands of pets a year are put to sleep, simply because the owners can’t feed them," Okon said.

Okon says dog and cat owners on public assistance are eligible. He’s partnered with a company called Pet Flow to provide free delivery.

" It was a relief for us that we were able to get some help for our dog and because we couldn’t provide for her, somebody else could," Jenkins said, wiping away tears.

While Marissa is grateful for the free pet food, there’s an even more valuable benefit.

"We wanted our child to be able to grow up with animals and our dog is really great with her," she said.

Once back on their feet, the Jenkins say they will donate to the program to help other families in need.

Related:

Pet Food Stamps

Struggling families can now apply for nonprofit’s Pet Food Stamps

Homeless Shelters that Allow Pets

How to Help Pets of Homeless People

A Patchwork of Food Assistance for Pets

Help Feed Hungry Pets

Humane Society list of pet financial aid-related organizations

No-No Foods for Pets

Homeless With Pets – Choosing Pets Over Shelter

“One can understand a society by how it treats the weakest among them… the sick, the elderly, the children and the animals!”

**If you can donate or perhaps work with this program, Pet Food Stamps, to help all families in need feed their pets, please do so.

Technorati Tags: pet food stamps,WSJ,pet nutrition,JOMP,Just One More Pets,hungry pets,pet food,for the love of a pet,pets are family,animals are family members,Help Families Keep Their Pets

Dogs Welcome Home Soldiers

Dogs reunited with their soldier…

Video: Military Reunions with Man’s Best Friend: Dogs…

Cross-Posted at Ask Marion

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The Feeding Mistake Linked to the Cause of Most Disease – Are You Making It?

Story at-a-glance

• In part 1 of a 3-part series on raw food diets for pets, Dr. Becker begins the discussion by reviewing the ancestral origins of today’s dogs and cats.
• From a genetic standpoint, domesticated canines and felines are essentially the same as their wild counterparts, who are carnivores.
• Dogs and cats have not evolved from meat-eaters to vegetarians, but you wouldn’t know it from the ingredients used in the vast majority of commercial pet foods on the market.
• Fortunately, dogs and cats are adaptable, resilient animals. Otherwise, the biologically inappropriate convenience pet foods they’ve been fed for the last century would wreak even greater havoc on their health.
• High-carbohydrate, low-moisture commercial pet foods have created significant metabolic and physiologic stress in our pets and have become the root cause of most of the inflammatory processes and degenerative disease we see in veterinary medicine today.

Video:  Dr. Becker Discusses Raw Food Diet (Part 1)

By Dr. Becker

Today and over the next couple of weeks I’ll be discussing my favorite topic, raw food diets for pets. I want to talk about some of the myths and truths surrounding raw food diets, but before we get to the good stuff, it’s important to have a foundation of understanding about basic nutrition.

One point that no one argues is that for optimal health to occur, animals must consume the foods they were designed to eat. I call this a species-appropriate diet. So vegetarian animals must eat vegetation for optimal health. And carnivorous animals must eat fresh whole prey for optimal health.

Origins of Dogs and Cats

A good place to start a discussion of our carnivorous pets is to go back to the roots of the dog and the cat prior to domestication. The domestic dog, whose taxonomic name is Canis lupus familiaris, is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, which is a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora.

Most scientists believe dogs were domesticated from gray wolves about 15,000 years ago. But DNA analysis published in 1997 suggests that the transformation from wolves to domestic dogs occurred more like 130,000 years ago.

Data suggests dogs first diverged from wolves in East Asia, and these domesticated dogs quickly migrated throughout the world. Of course, humans began selectively breeding dogs to create animals that suited their needs and their likes.

The earliest evidence of cat domestication is a kitten that was found buried alongside a human approximately 9,500 years ago in Cyprus. Researchers have gained major insights through DNA testing into the evolution of cats by showing how they migrated to new continents and developed new species as the sea levels rose and fell.

A 2008 study revealed that lines of descent for all house cats, of the species Felis catus, probably came from self-domesticating African wild cats up to 10,000 years ago. And as happened with the domesticated dog, humans began breeding cats to suit their fancy. Today, over 80 breeds of cats are recognized by one registry or another.

Today’s Cats and Dogs are Carnivores Just Like Their Wild Ancestors

Despite humans’ desire to create certain physical characteristics in dogs and cats – this is called their phenotype or how animals look externally – their genetic makeup remains essentially the same as their wild ancestors, which should tell you something about the foods they should still be consuming.

Of course, all animals are biologically equipped to assimilate and digest foods they were designed to eat. For example, earthworms are naturally designed to process dirt. The entire GI tract of worms, from the mouth to the other end where waste is excreted, was designed for this purpose.

Cows are designed to eat grass, and their GI tracts are set up perfectly for this. They have big, round, flat teeth used to grind grasses and an unbelievable range of motion in their mandibles, allowing them to chew, chew, chew, and chew. Cows have a lot of range of motion laterally in their jaws.

Dogs and cats do not have this range of motion in their jaws. Their jaws move up and down only, like a trap door or a hinge, because dogs and cats are gulpers, not chewers. They don’t have chewing teeth. Dogs and cats have incredibly sharp interlocking teeth designed to rip and tear flesh.

They also have very short GI tracts compared to vegetarian animals that need to ferment foods, as carnivorous animals consume foods with potentially very heavy pathogen loads. The bodies of carnivores are designed to get foods in and back out very quickly.

The ancestral lifestyle of a carnivore includes lots of variety and seasonal variability, meaning certain prey was more prevalent at certain times of the year. They thrived consuming fresh, living, whole animals. But carnivorous animals do not eat clean foods. Dogs and cats did not evolve to consume sterile foods. They have digestive tracts that are designed to be resilient and handle the loads of naturally occurring bacteria that are present in the foods they eat. Their food in the wild was moisture-dense, meaning the prey they consumed was primarily water.

The carnivorous lifestyle required a tremendous amount of exercise and exertion. Food was not served to them, so they had to stealthily catch it. This provided intense stimulation of all the senses, plus nervous, skeletal, endocrine, and circulatory system involvement. Carnivorous animals had daily rigorous workouts in an attempt to catch enough food to stay alive.

Most Pet Food is Biologically Inappropriate for Dogs and Cats

What’s very important for pet owners to know is that “pet food” is a relatively new concept. So, “dog food” and “cat food” you buy from the supermarket has only been around a little over a hundred years.

However, animals have hunted prey or, in the case of dogs, scavenged — for millions of years. And although recent research suggests domesticated carnivores were able to adapt to some degree to starch in the diet as humans became planters and farmers of grains, dogs and cats have most definitely not evolved into vegetarians over time.

Over the last hundred years, major pet food companies have produced most of their products using a base of corn, wheat, rice, or potato. However, our carnivorous pets have not evolved to be able to process those foreign foods.

The good news is dogs and cats are adaptable and resilient unlike other species, for example, snakes. If we suddenly forced snakes to eat grains or consume vegetation, they would simply die, demonstrating rather visibly and quickly that they were not provided the correct food source.

Dogs and cats are among the most resilient animals on the planet. They are able to withstand really significant nutritional abuse, in my opinion, without dying. Degeneration does occur as the result of an inappropriate diet, but sudden death does not.

So one of the reasons we’ve been able to deceive ourselves into believing convenience pet foods are good for dogs and cats is because they don’t die immediately of acute starvation. For a hundred years our pets have been fed inappropriate diets that have kept them alive, but far from thriving like their wild relatives. Instead, we’ve created dozens of generations of nutritionally weakened animals that suffer from degenerative diseases linked to nutritional deficiencies – a link the traditional veterinary community has not acknowledged.

The Pottenger cat study is one example of how our current system of nourishing pets creates chronic disease.

The truth is that our pet population provides a place for recycling waste from the human food industry. Grains that fail inspection, uninspected pieces and parts of waste from the seafood industry, leftover restaurant grease, deceased livestock, and even roadkill is collected and disposed of through rendering — a process that converts all sorts of human food industry waste into raw materials for the pet food industry.

These raw materials are purchased by huge pet food manufacturers – makers of the big name brands your parents and friends have probably used for the last 50 years. These manufacturers blend the rendered fat and meat with a large amount of starch fillers. They add bulk vitamin and mineral supplements, and then they extrude the mix at high temperatures, creating all sorts of toxic reactions including advanced glycation end products and heterocyclic amines. They call this “pet food” and sell it to customers at an unbelievable profit.

Is the entire system flawed? Yes. But pet food industry giants are realizing that pet owners are becoming more educated about their flawed system, and they are trying to clean up their image. We are beginning to see words like “natural” and “no byproducts” on labels. We’re beginning to see “grain-free” and “naturally preserved” on labels as well. Manufacturers are hearing the grumbles of educated pet owners and are changing their marketing to try to regain lost customers.

Common Pet Food Myths Many People Actually Believe

I find it amazing that pet parents buy into marketing gimmicks that human parents would never fall for. For instance, how often have you heard a pediatrician say, “Never feed your baby anything but X brand of baby food, because feeding a homemade diet could be dangerous to your child’s health?” Never. But you do hear it often in the veterinary world.

Or how about this one: “Switching your brand of baby food could lead to GI problems, so feed only one brand or type of baby food to your children for the rest of their lives to avoid GI problems.” You would never hear this, either, from a competent pediatrician. And yet, you hear this type of advice all the time in the veterinary industry. It’s startling to me to know that entire generations of people actually believe pets must have “pet food” to be healthy.

And there’s a host of other myths you’ve probably heard. For example, pets can derive all the nutrients they need for vibrant health from a dry nugget that can be fed day after day, year after year. Or that if you don’t feed crunchy foods to your pet, his or her teeth won’t be clean. Or canned food is too rich, and raw food is just a recent trendy craze that could be risky.

A lot of people also believe their veterinarian wouldn’t recommend X brand of food if wasn’t good for their pet… that all cats should eat fish and drink milk… that veterinarians are the people to trust for the most up-to-date information pertaining to nutrition… or that disease, degeneration, and poor vitality have nothing to do with day to day nourishment. All myths.

So… What are the Facts?

Number one, carbohydrates are not a necessary component of a carnivore’s diet. Cats have no taste receptors for sweet flavors and have low rates of glucose uptake in the intestine. They should not be fed any type of grain that metabolizes into sugar.

Cats have no salivary amylase to break down starches, either, and dogs have very low amylase secretion.

Also, cats never hunted fish from the ocean – fish is not an evolutionary food source for them.

The intense heat used to process commercial pet foods diminishes or destroys the benefits of vitamins, minerals, and enzymes in food. Processed pet foods require supplementation to replace lost nutrients.

The heating process also significantly reduces the digestibility of amino acids in pet food.

And digestibility of meat-based protein is proven to be superior to plant-based protein – the type used in most inexpensive commercial pet foods — for dogs and cats.

So in a nutshell, for 99.99 percent of their time on earth, dogs and cats have consumed a natural diet. For .01 percent of the time, they have consumed an extruded, processed diet. Dogs and cats evolved to consume a low-carbohydrate diet. But for the last century, the majority of pet owners have fed pets a high-carbohydrate, low-moisture diet. This has created significant metabolic and physiologic stress, and convenience pet foods have become the root cause of most of the inflammatory processes and degenerative disease that plague today’s dogs and cats.

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Pet Food Stamps

Struggling families can now apply for nonprofit’s Pet Food Stamps

ALBUQUERQUE KRQE.com – h/t to TLA: Although the government has offered food stamps to struggling Americans for decades, there haven’t been any provisions for their four-legged family members. Until now. Marc Okon has launched Pet Food Stamps, a New York-based nonprofit that will give qualifying pet owners throughout the U.S. (who must be receiving government assistance for themselves) funds to buy food for their animals from the website PetFoodDirect.

In the program’s first two weeks, Okon says he has already fielded more than 12,000 applications. "It’s aimed at preventing people from having to choose between feeding themselves or their animals or having to surrender them to a high-kill shelter," Okon said.

ALBUQUERQUE KRQE.com: A new program to offer pet food stamps is getting a big response from New Mexicans.

The nonprofit Pet Food Stamps is not a government program but works just like human food stamps. Families who qualify for state assistance could qualify for assistance in feeding their pets as well.

Local animal shelters hope the assistance will ease their overpopulation problems.

"We distribute roughly 3,000 pounds of pet food each week in Albuquerque," said Dawn Glass, marketing director at Animal Humane New Mexico.

Animal Humane’s emergency food bank feeds about 400 families every month in Albuquerque, but the help is only for dire situations. There is no long-term help.

Now a new national group Pet Food Stamps is changing that.

"It’s aimed at preventing people from having to choose feeding themselves or their animals or having to surrender them to a high-kill shelter," explained founder Marc Okon.

Okon launched the New York based nonprofit two weeks ago, and It’s already seeing a huge response from New Mexicans.
"We’ve had tons of people that have submitted applications," Okon said. "I think about 300 to 400 people to be exact." And that’s in New Mexico alone. In just two weeks the program has had more than 12,000 requests for assistance.

To qualify families must prove they’re receiving state assistance. If approved they’ll get a monthly allotment to spend at national retailer PetFoodDirect..

Local shelters say they’re thrilled about the idea of long-term relief.

"If we can have an ongoing source for these families while they’re trying to get on their feet, that’s huge" Glass said.

Glass hopes it will also keep more families with their families instead of state and city facilities.

"When people are going through difficult situations, where they’ve lost their jobs or their home is foreclosed, the last thing they need to do is lose their very best friend," Glass added.

Applications can be filled out on the Pet Food Stamps website .

Because the organization is a nonprofit, it is also in need of monetary donations while they search for federal funds and grants.

*This is a long overdue program. With the federal food stamp program you can buy candy, soda, and junk food but you can’t buy pet food or a pre-cooked chicken or off the dollar menu at any fast food place. If you are truly homeless and living on the street or in your car being able to feed your pet, sometimes your only companion, or eat a warm meal when you have nowhere to cook, would be worth a lot. It is perhaps time to re-consider some of the restrictions and impose a few new ones.

**If you can donate or perhaps work with this program, Pet Food Stamps, to help all families in need feed their pets, please do so.

Related:

Homeless With Pets – Choosing Pets Over Shelter

The “ex”-Middle & Upper Class Homeless

Foreclosure Crisis Leads to More Homeless Pets to the Rescue!

Where there is a will…

Is Your Pet a Voiceless Victim of the Tanking Economy?

Unconditional Love

Can the U.S. Become a No Kill Nation?

Chinese City’s “One Dog” Policy Has Residents Howling

Homeless Shelters that Allow Pets

How to Help Pets of Homeless People

A Patchwork of Food Assistance for Pets

Help Feed Hungry Pets

Humane Society list of pet financial aid-related organizations

N.J. Pets Welcome at Hurricane Evacuation Shelters

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals … and its weakest members.” …Ghandi

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Acupuncture for Dogs (Pets)

Acupuncture (as well as other holistic treatments like acupressure, chiropractic care, Chinese herbs, natural stem cell enhancers, message, Reiki, and ACT allergy treatments) for dogs, cats and other pets are gaining popularity around the world as an alternative or complementary non-medicated treatment.

What is Acupuncture?

Picture Source: http://www.lhasaoms.com

Acupuncture is a non-drug treatment modality that was developed about 5,000 years ago by the Chinese. By inserting tiny metal needles into specific points (called "acupoints") in the body, these doctors in the early days discovered that they could cause physiological changes, control and suppress pain, and stimulate organs or body parts.

Acupoints are not random but run along "meridians", which connect the entire body and are the pathways through which the "Qi" (pronounced as "chee"), or life force energy, circulates. Although the meridians run deep in the body, they surface at certain points on the skin. These acupoints are where the meridians can be accessed in order to create change in the associated organs or structures. According to Chinese acupuncture literature, there are 12 major meridians and 365 acupoints in the body.

In Eastern medicine, it is theorized that disorders or diseases occur when the "Qi" is out of balance. Acupuncture is one treatment option that can be used to rebalance the body and create harmony of Qi.

Acupuncture forms part of an ancient Chinese method of diagnosis and treatment known as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). (Besides acupuncture, TCM includes the use of herbs, medical massage, food therapy, and other therapies to rebalance the "Qi".)

In acupuncture for dogs, the "acupoints" which veterinary acupuncturists use are sometimes called "transpositional points", the locations of which are transposed to canines from the human acupoints.

What Kind of Illnesses Can Be Treated by Acupuncture for Dogs?

Acupuncture is NOT appropriate for major acute diseases or emergencies (e.g. broken bones, overwhelming viral or bacterial infections).

Image Credit: CLINT EGBERT/XPRESS

However, it is a great alternative or complementary treatment for chronic diseases.

Acupuncture for dogs can be used to treat a variety of dog health conditions, mainly for pain relief (e.g. caused by osteoarthritis or injuries, etc.) and for treating dogs with neurological conditions, such as epilepsy. However, there are other dog health issues that can benefit from acupuncture as well.

You may want to consider canine acupuncture if your dog is suffering from any of the following problems:

• Musculoskeletal Problems: osteoarthritis, hip dysplasia, chronic degenerative joint disease, intervertebral disc disease, tendonitis, sprains and muscle spasms.
• Neurological Problems: epilepsy, stroke, deafness, coma, paralysis from disc disease.
• Urinary Disorders: incontinence, cystitis, urine retention.
• Gastrointestinal Problems: colitis, chronic idiopathic diarrhea or vomiting, gastroenteritis, rectal prolapse.
• Respiratory Disorders: sinusitis, rhinitis, asthma, chronic coughing, pneumonia.
• Systemic Inflammatory Conditions: chronic skin inflammation, allergies,lick granulomas.

In addition to the above, more and more veterinarians are now incorporating acupuncture as a part of canine cancer treatment protocol, either to lessen the side effects of chemotherapy, boost the immune system and improve quality of life, or to actually inhibit the growth of the cancerous tumor itself.

What Does an Acupuncture Treatment Involve?

Picture Source: http://www.fourpawsacupuncture.com

Each treatment is individualized to each dog patient. The acupoints selected, the number of needles, and the length of treatment all depend on the type and severity of the dog’s condition.

Acupuncture for dogs is usually performed with small, tiny metal needles.

Most dogs do not mind (and do not even feel) the needles being inserted. Most of them seem to feel relaxed and comfortable. Some go right to sleep during treatment!

Generally speaking, one treatment lasts for 10 to 20 minutes. Most cases are seen once or twice a week at first, after which the number of treatments can be reduced depending on progress.

Besides metal needles, there are some variations that are proving quite successful as well, including:

• Aquapuncture: This involves injecting the acupoints with a solution of vitamin B12 and saline. The solution puts pressure on and thus stimulates the point for a longer period of time and is a good technique to use if the dog does not want to stay still for 20 minutes.
• Electroacupuncture: This involves connecting electrodes from a small battery-operated unit to the needles in different acupoints. A very gentle current is passed through the points and down the meridians. This type of treatment encourages the flow of energy, blood and lymph along the meridians and speeds up healing.
• Laser Acupuncture. This involves the use of lasers rather than needles on acupoints and can be beneficial for dogs who absolutely don’t want anything to do with needles.
• Moxibustion: This is a very old Chinese treatment modality that involves heating the acupuncture needles with a dried herbal incense. It stimulates blood flow and can be an excellent treatment for older arthritic dogs with sore and stiff joints and tight muscles.

Safety and Effectiveness of Acupuncture for Dogs

Acupuncture for dogs is very safe IF the acupuncturist has received formal training, and most importantly, is licensed.

The effectiveness of canine acupuncture depends on a few factors, such as:

• The acupuncturist’s experience and technique.
• The condition of the dog, e.g. how long the dog has been sick, and how serious the health problem being treated is.
• The number, length and consistency of treatments.

Cat Getting Acupuncture – Image Credit: CLINT EGBERT/XPRESS

Occasionally a positive response may be seen after only one treatment, but more often than not, 4 to 6 treatments are needed. Sometimes it can take up to eight treatments before results can be seen.

According to Dr. Karen Becker (a holistic vet who also uses pet acupuncture in her practice), about 25% of patients have a very positive response to acupuncture, showing major improvement to the point of fully recovering from the condition. Another 50% of patients experience dramatic improvement but with some symptoms remaining; while 25% have no response at all.

If you look at these figures, it seems that acupuncture works quite well on a rather high percentage of patients. It is definitely worth giving this treatment modality a try.

(Our dogs have experienced acupuncture, acupressure, chiropractic care as well as having taken Chinese herbs and StemPets stem cell enhancers and Goji Juice. I have a cousin whose dog avoided back surgery because of acupuncture and both my husband and daughter have had successful experiences with acupuncture and other natural treatments.)

Where Can I Find Acupuncture Veterinary Professionals?

If you are interested in acupuncture for your dog, ask your holistic vet or access the websites of The American Academy of Veterinary Acupuncture or International Veterinary Acupuncture Society.

Here is an informative video in which Dr. Becker talks about pet acupuncture:

Give your pets a head start for a healthier, happier and longer life with StemPets and StemEquine – Stem Cell Enhancers for Pets

Related:

Alternative Dog Arthritis Treatment Series Part 1 – An Introduction

Dog and Cat Vaccines are Not Harmless Preventive Medicine

Laser Therapy is Good Medicine for Humans and Their Companion Animals… Any Animals

Natural Pet Remedies For Everyday Problems

Dog Massage? Isn’t Petting Enough?

Pet owners get the point of acupuncture

Technorati Tags: holistic pet treatments,acupuncture for dogs,Dr. Mercola,pets,dogs and cats,cats,dogs,homeopathic therapies for pets,StemPets,StemEquine,stem cell enhancers for pets,alternative medicine for pets

Pet Food Red Flags You Want to Avoid

Story at-a-glance

• A major pet food manufacturer has reformulated one of its lines of dog and cat foods to add more natural ingredients. The move comes in response to pet owners who are increasingly concerned about what ingredients go into the pet food they buy.
• The new formulas are advertised to include “quality” protein as the first ingredient, “natural” ingredients, no chicken by-product, and no artificial colors or flavors.
• The reformulated dry dog foods we checked do contain a named meat source as the first ingredient. Unfortunately, the next several ingredients on each list are grains, grains and more grains.
• The reformulated dry cat food fared no better, and one variety listed unacceptably non-specific “ocean fish” as the first ingredient.
• As more pet owners get educated about which pet food ingredients are appropriate and good quality, pet food manufacturers will try to answer consumer demands without hurting their bottom line. It’s important for pet owners to skip over all the marketing hype and advertising claims on pet food packages and go right to the ingredient list instead.

By Dr. Becker

A few months ago I read in an industry journal that a very large pet food manufacturer was in the process of reformulating one of its brands of dog and cat foods to add more natural ingredients. This company also makes veterinary formulas, but the changes involve its commercial line of products.

According to the article, the reformulation was in response to consumers who are “making product choices based primarily on a set criteria of ingredients, rather than the overall promise of nutrition and clinical research.” (Translation: today’s dog and cat owners are better informed about the quality and appropriateness of pet food ingredients, and are increasingly skeptical of pet food marketing and advertising claims.)

The new formulas promise to include “quality” protein as the first ingredient, “natural” ingredients, no chicken by-product, and no artificial colors or flavors.

Reformulated … but Still Loaded with Grains

Needless to say, I was very interested to see the ingredient lists for these newly formulated foods, and I was just recently able to find some information on them.

As promised, the first item on the reformulated ingredient lists for dry dog food was either a named animal protein (e.g., chicken) or a named protein meal (e.g., lamb meal). We must keep in mind, however, that pet food ingredients are listed by weight on the label, and before moisture is removed. Once the chicken or other animal protein source is depleted of its moisture – a necessary function in the manufacture of dry pet food — in most cases it can no longer maintain its position as the first ingredient on the list.

And in fact, it slides way down the list. “Meal” means the fresh meat has been dried and pulverized, so the heavy water has been removed. There are several different quality categories of meal, and pet food companies don’t have to disclose the quality of the meat they are using, so meals range from great quality to terrible. That’s why it’s important to check the first five or so ingredients on a dry pet food label — you’ll get a much better picture of the true nutritional value of the food.

A specific meat is what you want to see first on the label, but you want to see a specific meat or specific meat meal as the second and third ingredients as well. If the second and subsequent ingredients are grains, don’t be fooled into thinking you’re purchasing a primarily meat-based food. What you’re buying is a grain-based food for your meat-eating dog or cat.

Most of the reformulated dry dog foods I checked contained brewer’s rice as the second ingredient, followed by a long list of other grains like brown rice, cracked pearled barley, corn gluten meal, whole grain corn, whole grain wheat, whole grain sorghum and soybean meal.

These are clearly grain-based dry dog foods, so the significance of the first ingredient being a “quality” protein becomes much less important in terms of the real nutritional value of the food.

On To the Cat Food

A reformulated dry cat food label I checked contains “ocean fish” as the first ingredient, and that’s not specific enough as far as I’m concerned. There are countless varieties of ocean fish, and unfortunately, most are heavily contaminated with toxic metals, industrial chemicals and pesticides.

More often than not, a non-specific protein source like “ocean fish,” or “meat,” or “poultry” is an amalgam of revolting pieces-n-parts of various critters that fall into those general categories. That’s why you want specific named meat like beef, chicken, turkey, duck, etc. in the pet food you buy.

Another dry cat food formula contained the following ingredients at the top of the list: chicken, whole grain wheat, corn gluten meal, animal fat, powdered cellulose, pea bran meal, dried egg product, and wheat gluten.

So again, we’ve got chicken in the number one spot – before dehydration – followed by what I call filler ingredients. Both wheat and corn are grains linked to the huge and growing problem of allergic conditions in pets. In addition, this is a cat food we’re talking about, and cats’ bodies aren’t even designed to process grains.

I’ll Say it Again: Buyer Beware!

My purpose in bringing this information to you is not to implicate any particular pet food brand or manufacturer. Rather, my goal is to continually remind pet owners that marketing claims for pet food – no matter how benign they may seem – must be investigated if you want to insure you’re feeding the highest quality diet you can afford to your dog or cat.

For more information on how to become an expert at selecting the best commercial pet food for your dog or cat, these articles are a great place to start:

• Things You Never Want to See on Your Dog Food Label
• You Asked for It … The 3 Best Pet Foods You Can Buy
• 13 Pet Foods – Ranked From Great to Disastrous…
• Toxic Chicken Jerky Pet Treats Pulled from Store Shelves!

Dr. Becker’s Real Food for Healthy Dogs and Cats: Simple Homemade Food – Cookbook

Related:

Related:

The Dangers of Genetically Modified Ingredients in Pet Food

Pet Jerky Death Toll Update: 360 dogs, 1 Cat According to FDA

A Raw Food KIBBLE?

When Raw Food is NOT the Right Food for Your Pet

Surprise, Surprise… the Best Food for Dogs Is Homemade Food

Free Homemade Dog Food Recipes

The Importance of Bones in Your Pet’s Diet

The Nutrient Your Pet Needs More of As They Age: Protein

Pancreatitis in Dogs

Good Diet and Advice for Dogs with Pancreatitis

“Holidays Are Great and Fun To Share With Our Pets, As Long As We Avoid the No-No Foods”

Gourmet Doggie Biscuits and Some Holiday Snacking Tips

Beef Verses Bison for Dogs – Variety is critical for your pet to receive the full spectrum of amino acids, essential fatty acids, trace minerals, vitamins and antioxidants necessary to thrive.

Fatty Acids May Improve Mobility In Osteoarthritic Dogs

Pets and Toxic Plants

Natural Pet Remedies For Everyday Problems

Allergies and Springtime Ailments in Pets

Do Vaccinations Affect the Health of our Pets?

How the Pet Food Industry Has Helped Create "Carnivore Metabolic Syndrome"

Now dogs Have a Food Truck of Their Own With Bow-Wow Chow

Dysbiosis: The Root Cause of Many Other Pet Health Problems

Cancer and Your Pet: Two Things to Avoid

Now dogs Have a Food Truck of Their Own With Bow-Wow Chow

The Nutrient Your Dog Needs More of As They Age: Protein – And Expecting Your Pet to Get It from Rendered Pet Food Is the Worst of the Worst of the Worst Options!

Pupcakes

Gourmet Doggie Biscuits and Some Holiday Snacking Tips

Beef Verses Bison for Dogs – Variety is critical for your pet to receive the full spectrum of amino acids, essential fatty acids, trace minerals, vitamins and antioxidants necessary to thrive.

Chicken Jerky Recipe for dogs

WHAT HUMAN FOODS ARE UNSAFE FOR PETS? (the 12 worst)–> chocolate, sugarless gum & artificial sweeteners, alcohol, yeast dough, grapes & raisins, Macadamia nuts, onions (bad for dogs and cats… but poison for cats), garlic (for cats), caffeine, fat trimmings and bones (bad for cats and limited fat and the right bones for dogs), raw eggs (for cats, but must be careful for dogs and humans), and milk.

Some of the best human foods for dogs: peanut butter (although peanuts and peanut butter can contain mold so could be bad for humans and dogs), cheese including cottage cheese (some some dogs can be prone to be lactose intolerant like people), yogurt, watermelon, honeydew and cantaloupe, blueberries, salmon, green beans, sweet potatoes, fresh raw carrots, pumpkin, and lean meat… cooked or raw.

Did You Know There are Two Kinds of Raw Pet Food on the Market?

Megacolon: A Terrible Outcome for Constipated Pets

Resources:

Not Fit for a Dog!: The Truth About Manufactured Dog and Cat Food

See Spot Live Longer – How to help your dog live a longer and healthier life!

Raw and Natural Nutrition for Dogs: The Definitive Guide to Homemade Meals

Keep your pets healthy and help extend their lives with:

StemPet and StemEquine – Stem Cell Enhancers for Pets

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Marion’s Pet Sitting Services – Best in Temecula CA

Marion’s Pet Sitting and Dog Walkers are Your pets‘ best friend when work, play or other events force you to be absent from your precious loved ones. Whether you select a package or ala carte services, our numerous options we will ensure your pets get the care they deserve. A friend that your pet can count on:

• Trusted caretakers who are professional and reliable, all with available references and background checks.
• Communication is provided by daily diaries, text messaging, email and twitter updates.
• We provide peace of mind, knowing that your furry little ones are in a safe, homey environment and that they are loved.

Marion’s Pet Sitting and Dog Walkers has built our reputation one client and one pet at a time first in Southern California then in North Austin, Texas and now back in SoCal (Temecula and surrounding areas): one pet and animal event at a time, and one blog post at a time here at Just One More Pet. We are animal lovers and will treat your pets like family.

Check out our services, testimonials and services at: http://www.marionspetsitting.com/

By Gina and Paul S. – May 10, 2010 (Corona, CA)
Our boys (Lhasas), Snoop and Gizzie, as well as our son, have always loved Marion and were so excited to see her back.  She was great with them from when they were puppies and they were always better behaved with Marion than with us. We are so excited that she is back and now that we have moved to Corona, she is closer to pet (and maybe baby) sit for vacations and special occasions

If you need a sitter or are close enough to use her service as a walker, you couldn’t ask for a better walker, dog or house sitter!!

Jan 11, 2013 – Welcome home Marion… We missed you!  We will be calling you soon!!

Marion’s Pet Sitting and Dog Walkers also offers pet products that we use ourselves for our own pets to keep them healthy and fit. You will love them.

• View All
• StemEquine Advanced Formula
• StemEquine Single USA
• StemPets Advanced Formula
• StemPets: For Dogs Single

StemPets® is a natural stem cell enhancer for dogs and other house pets. It is the specially formulated pet equivalent of our patented stem cell enhancer (AFA Concentrate) for humans, documented to support the natural release of adult stem cells from bone marrow. Also see StemEquine.

“Within two weeks of using StemPets my German Shepherd’s hips were not as stiff and she started running like a puppy.” – Jan A., IN

Our little Chiweenie suffers from pancreatitis and whenever she has a flare-up, a double dose of StemPets: For Dogs Single helps her get back to her normal self better than anything we have found, prescription or natural. – Marion A., TX

In a clinical study, AFA Concentrate naturally increased the number of circulating stem cells in the body.

Available in tasty chewable tablets, this high-quality nutritional supplement has been designed to meet the needs of dogs and other house pets.

Also see StemEquine®, an all-natural stem cell enhancer for horses. The supplement is the specially formulated equine equivalent of our patented stem cell enhancer (AFA Concentrate) for humans, documented to support the natural release of adult stem cells from bone marrow.

A clinical study revealed that this extraordinary supplement increased the number of circulating adult stem cells by approximately 3-4 million. Simply add StemEquine granules to your horses feed.

Natural Renewal StemPets supports the natural release of adult stem cells from your pet’s bone marrow. Adult stem cells play a key role in the natural renewal process. Their primary role is to maintain and repair tissue. Scientific studies have shown that increasing the number of circulating adult stem cells in the body is an important aspect of maintaining optimal health.

Service Areas

• Temecula CA and surrounding areas

Contact Us At:

Marion’s Pet Sitting: 41911 Avenida Vista Ladera, Temecula, CA 92591-5336

Ph: 512.810.7888 or 7881 -  Email: JustOneMorePet@gmail.com

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Happy New Year 2013 From Just One More Pet

Wishing You All A Happy and Safe New Year!!

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A Social Entrepreneur Helps Homeless Dogs

A restaurateur develops a line of clothing to help control the pet population

You can hear in Shane O’Neill’s voice how much he loves dogs when he talks about the eight he has owned–especially the 10-year-old American bulldog he has now, who has cancer. So he was bothered by a statistic about the massive numbers of pets euthanized each year: between 3 million and 4 million, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

O’Neill, a partner in the Saddle Ranch Chop House (an 18,000-square-foot restaurant complete with mechanical bulls) at Universal Studios in Universal City, Calif., decided to use his entrepreneurial expertise to do something about it. In November, he launched Royal Bitch Couture, a clothing company based in Brentwood, Calif., to help homeless dogs by donating 50 percent of its profits to organizations around the country that spay and neuter animals.

Philanthropy was in O’Neill’s blood. He had helped expand his family’s Columbus, Ohio, market and catering company, Shane’s Gourmet Catering, which he says is one of the largest donors to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus.

Although he had never launched a clothing line, O’Neill envisioned creating a soft, casual collection of women’s clothing that was flattering and easy to wear. He worked with friends who are professional stylists to design the line of form-fitting cotton T-shirts, French loop terry hoodies, short shorts, low-rise sweat pants and casual dresses.

Number of independent animal shelters in the U.S.: About 5,000
Average number of litters a fertile dog produces: One per year
Average percentage of shelter animals that are spayed or neutered: 10

Each piece is manufactured in the United States (specifically, Los Angeles) and has a tag that reads, "Helping P.E.T.S," an acronym for "Prevent Euthanasia Through Spaying," to promote the cause.

According to O’Neill, two Brentwood boutiques snapped up the clothes within weeks, and there has been steady demand from other retailers who want to see the line. Royal Bitch also launched a website in December.

Those stylist friends who helped design the line have plans to get the clothing onto celebrity bodies–a great form of promo for any brand. Emma Baker, Miss California Teen 2010, did a photo shoot to promote the line last year.

Based on initial sales and his projections, O’Neill expects that he will donate nearly $50,000 to various shelters and spay and neuter organizations this year.

"That will depend on how well the line rolls out, but we’ve got everything in place and are working hard to make a difference," he says. "People are attracted to the clothing line and to the cause. It’s a great combination."

This article was originally published in the March 2011 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Going to the Dogs.

Man and Best Friend: Shane O’Neill and Tugnutt – Photo © Jeff Clark

Technorati Tags: Nonprofits,Dogs,Pets,Philanthropy,pet population,Royal Bitch Couture,entrepreneurship,social entrepreneurship,entrepreneurship gone to the dogs