What flower are you?

Evidently I'm a daffodil. This was fun. I'd like to find a way to get it to be like a gadget on my blog page and not an entry. will see what i can do.

I am a Daffodil What Flower Are You?

More Reasons to Feed Homemade

As if there were not enough reasons already to feed home prepared food to our animals, here are some more:

This article identifies human illness (Salmonella infections) linked to feeding contaminated dry dog and cat food. It's published in the journal PEDIATRICS.

Now I wonder what The Delta Society will do? Ban all dogs fed dry food and raw food from being visiting Therapy Dogs?

Until the next recall - no wait, there will probably be 10 more recalls before I can write more - so until next time,
Infinite blessings to you and your little ones,
Poodle

Can one person make a difference?

In a recent conversation I had with another veterinarian, we were talking about the humane slaughter of animals. My friend was arguing that she can help ensure that meat animals are slaughtered humanely by purchasing meat only from butchers who assure her that the meat they sell is only from animals that were slaughtered humanely. I was highly suspect of her method.

My argument was that by refusing to eat meat, I'm making sure no animals were killed in order for me to eat. But she said that there will never come a time when everyone stops eating meat; that it's wishful thinking on my part, so my approach doesn't really have any force of impact.

Why I disagree. One of my past jobs was as a government regulator of food safety. In fact, I completed the USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service's (FSIS) Public Health Veterinarian training. All meat inspection, by federal law, has to be performed by a veterinarian who has completed this training. As a result I've been to a lot of slaughter plants. I have first hand knowledge of our meat and poultry industries in the US. I can tell you that all animals (poultry are not considered animals under this law, by the way, so they have even less protection) are required by federal law to be slaughtered humanely. So you see, every butcher can tell you that all the meat they sell is only from animals that were humanely slaughtered.

I'm sure it's no surprise to you that what's required by law, and what actually happens are not one and the same. (Here's a link to a gruesome video of what initiated the largest meat recall in this nation's history - an undercover video taping of inhumane treatment of cows at slaughter. The meat of those cows, over 140 million pounds, entered our food supply.) Have these butchers been to the slaughter plants where the cows', sheep, and goats' meat comes from that they sell? Doubtful.

We both wonder about the other's method for affecting change in how animals are slaughtered. But hey, we're both trying. Can either one of us make a difference?

According to President Kennedy: "One person can make a difference. And every person should try." Keep trying girlfriend, and I will too!

Wondering Why

I just read two letters to the editor in one of my veterinary medical journals that upset me. Both of them were belly-aching about clients who love their pets like children, one even went so far as to make fun of a client who had a profound attachment to his cat. I found myself wondering why these two vets even bothered with all the hard work of vet school? What kind of service do they provide their clients? More importantly, what kind of care are they providing their patients? Why are they even vets?

I love my clients who love their pets. It's only because of dedicated, loving animal guardians that I can do my life's work. I love people who love animals. I would never make light, or worse, make fun of them. If you want a vet to care about your animals the way you do, be selective in who you take your business to. Is it a big, slick corporate type place where innumerable vaccines are pushed and homemade diets are advised against?

I'll answer those questions for you here. Yes, I make homemade meals for my animals. No, I don't feed them the same food day in and day out. No, I don't vaccinate my dog or cats every year. It really isn't necessary. Unless, of course, they're in it for the money.

Free dog pictures from freefoto.com

what do you think?

Delta Society and Raw Dog Food in the news

Anyone familiar with therapy dogs? These dogs and their handlers visit patients in hospitals and nursing homes. The Delta Society is one of the groups that certifies therapy dogs for these patient visits.

The reason they are in the news of the animal world is that they recently adopted a policy of banning all dogs fed raw food diets from being therapy dogs.

Curious that a woman who works with the Delta Society also works for Nestle Purina - a manufacturer of commercial pet food. How much you wanna bet Purina does not make any raw pet foods?!?!

Bad policy. Shame on you Delta Society.

Disappointing

Pet Food and Supplements Recalled

The following are from the FDA's recall website. It's amazing and disappointing the number of recalls.

All the more reason to feed your pets homemade food! Who can keep track of all these recalls!

From June 22, 2010 it began with a limited recall: United Pet Group Voluntarily Recalls Pro-Pet Adult Daily Vitamin Supplement for Dogs Because of Possible Salmonella Health Risk

and was expanded to include a whole heck of a lot more supplements on July 2nd, 2010.

And that was only the supplements. Now for the foods recalled, note that both raw and processed foods/treats were also recalled.

Merrick dog treats and Feline's Pride raw cat food

And that's just pet products. You should check out all the human food and supplements that have been recalled within the last two weeks alone. It's scarey, unacceptable and a disgrace to our country. This is a problem.