What Your Vet Won’t Tell You …

brushing teeth ?!

that's only necessary for people feeding their carnivore pets only a dry diet consisting mostly of carbohydrates.

I refer to the book  Raw Meaty Bones.

Please, feed you dog ( & mostly certainly your cat, an OBLIGATE carnivore) a raw diet.

So I don't want to over-vaccinate my dogs. How often do they need DHPP? They frequent public parks. Thanks, Stephanie

I have a 19 year old Himalayan cat.  He has only been to the vet twice in his life...once for a broken leg and once for a swollen leg, which turned out to be a harmless fluid filled cyst. I attribute his long healthy life to NO VACCINES and NO PESTICIDES. I hope he lives for years to come!

I love my boxer boys!! As a fairly new pet owner (a little over 2 years now for my first dogs) I look back and wonder what took me so long. I was ill informed, and didn't know the joy they would bring to my life. They are a lot of work but they pay you back tenfold with their love and companionship.

We now do a lot of volunteer work for a rescue organization, and all we can say is PLEASE consider fostering a dog -- if you don't know if you are 100% committed to having a dog permanently, at least donate a few months to fostering. Most rescues work very closely with you so you aren't left in the dark. If you are in MN, please consider http://www.mnboxerrescue.org or MARS or Secondhand Hounds... THANKS!!

Regarding the vaccinations?  How do you get around the ones that States require by law?

While I realize that this article is not about indoor cats versus outdoor cats, in my situation that distinction seems very relevant.

For many years now, I've had cats in my home (note: all have been spayed or neutered) - usually two cats, but sometimes one or three. All females have easily maintained normal weights, and also all indoor/outdoor males. Right now, I have an eleven-year-old female who is an indoor/outdoor cat, and two 18-month indoor-only siblings, a male and a female. Both females are a healthy weight, but the male, although active, is definitely obese.

Several years ago, I had a healthy normal-weight indoor/outdoor male cat who I transitioned to indoor only. He was twice his previous adult weight within 18 months, and died just after his 5th birthday. In my experience, the only healthy male cats are indoor/outdoor cats.

So it seems to me that feeding is not everything - letting the guy out seems to be the best weight-control method. And I have a problem with food controls for helping him lose weight. He will shove the other two away from their food when he finishes his bowlful, and eats anything he can find, including wrapped human food or ingredients, and fresh cat throw-up from the others. When he wants to eat, he eats.

So shouldn't I perhaps change my decision, and just let him go outside?

Jenisam

My 10 year old German Shorthair needed her teeth cleaned (we got her 3 years ago) and when I called my vet was informed it would be $3-400!!!  I took a big raw knuckle bone out of the garage freezer and let her knaw on that and her teeth are now sparkly white and fresh breath, no more bleeding gums.  There is also a product called Tooth Soap, they make it for dogs, too.  Google it.  I use it instead of paste, have not tried it on my dog as it will be a big fight w/ her at her age.  I'll just continue the knuckle bone treatment.

Our vet gives an option of 3 year vaccines, I do give them to her since we are at the dog park/public on our walks.  I would not forgo the rabies vaccine as there are skunks and raccoons w/ it in our area.  Plus you cannot license your pet w/o out it here.  Would rather risk the vaccine than lose her altogether if she got out.

Thanks for the videos on dog and cat teeth brushing!  Very helpful.

Dr. Becker,

What would you recommend as a good dog toothpaste? I wouldn't think commercially sold dog toothpastes would be any better for dogs than the human ones for people.

My new dog is definitely prone to tartar build up. I was thinking of using the same thing Dr. Mercola has recommended--a 50/50 mixture of sea salt and baking soda. Would this be a good choice for dogs?

I've had numerous cats throughout my life and the one that lived the longest, 21 years only had his kitten shots and was never sick throughout his life! I assume Vets send out vaccination booster shot mailing notices to make extra money from the vulnerable, gullible clients only. I would tear these mailing notices up, glad my intuition paid off for my pocketbook and my cats health and emotional sanity.

My Dog Boomer, who is an otherwise Healthy 92 lb, 7 year old Yellow Lab.

1st in office test was negative but the Vet then diagnosed him with Heartworm anyway in a rather hectic office with a rushed explanation for a tiny blue smear “doesn’t look good” kind of deal on his hand held devise.

They took more blood, ‘To send out”… then never called as promised the next day, so kept calling to finally get all the bad news a few days later.

I prefer the holistic approach, however, they are telling me if he does have these worms he’s going to just drop dead one of these days anyhow

[ nice huh; some crateside manor ]and that conventional Veterinary mindset prefers to rid dogs of these nasty worms with these horrific shots that hurt the dogs muscle where injected for hours on end to the point that they want to bite; and for a couple of times in a few months with 8 weeks of limited movement… in air conditioning... watch for bloody lung discharge and of course the treatment can kill him also.

Long story why he has been off prevention last 3 years but he's hanging outside again so figured to get him tested then start prevention again.

Dr. Becker, he's such a gentle soul, I can’t stand the thought of harming him to try to save him; any ideas you may have would be greatly appreciated.

Ed Corliss

edcorliss@optonline.net

7/21/2010

I was guilty of having two fat cats.  Getting cats to slim down is a

l.o.n.g. process because if done too quickly, organ damage can occur & that's way more harmful than them being fat.

Yes, well another thing they won't be telling you is that many veterinarians are subsidized by HILL and often have something of a gag rule not to do anything to harm their relationship with a large and egregious corporation! They sell Hill Corp. Food in their offices under market-worthy names that seduce us into buying the garbage.

As a matter of fact, during the outbreak of the tainted food issue a few years ago, there were many lies being perpetuated by veterinarians that continued to sell brands of food that were affected. (This is not to say that all vets went along with this.) One renowned veterinarian from Ohio, whose name I will not mention, actually went on NPR telling people not to worry about the outbreak of tainted food when, in all actually, many of the Hill brands were in fact recalled. I took issue with him (because my dog died due to renal failure from poisoned food) and also joined a class action lawsuit. Another issue came up even though it was unrelated to the cause of this batch of tainted food. This veterinarian began to be concerned when I proved that another person - in this class action group - was informed about a pet food rendering plant in South Carolina (this person happened to have a brother who had worked at the plant. The vet was concerned because there was direct evidence) that they used euthanized animals in their food thus causing pentobarbitol poisoning aside from the disgusting act of usually dead and diseased carcasses of horses, cows, dogs and cats in pet food. Now there was proof. You can choose not to believe such things could happen, but many unconscionable things are done over money. Veterinarians often do not know the extent of it, but many of them will do whatever they can to generate business in their offices. And some of the corporations are unethical. Buy from those that promise ethical standards and research it before blindly buying the cheapest thing at Petco or from your veterinarian's office!!

I know regular table salt is not good for humans. I use sea salt. Would it be OK to put a little in my cat's canned food?