Aphrodite, Inc.
Freelance Writing, Editing, and Design
Freelance Writing, Editing, and Design
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Site Design Copyright 2008 Aphrodite, Inc.
Aphrodite, Inc.
Freelance Writing, Editing, and Design
Freelance Writing, Editing, and Design
You Are What You Eat, And So Is Your Dog
The old saying, “you are what you eat”, is not only applicable to humans. Dogs require a healthful diet tailored
to their particular digestive systems. The most successful diets mimic what the animal’s ancestors ate in the wild,
whether through food combination by the pet owner – as is common with raw food diets – or through
manufacture, as we see with dry and canned pet foods.
In the wake of various recent pet food recalls, there has been a rising interest in healthy, species-appropriate
diets for pets. As more and more dog owners are discovering, commercial pet food not only has little to no
actual nutritional value, it may actually be harmful to pets. Grains like wheat and corn, present in nearly all
commercial foods, are indigestible by dogs, who are carnivorous by nature. Also, grains are at risk for
contamination by dangerous bacteria like Aflatoxin, the culprit behind the recent poisonings of hundreds of dogs
and the subsequent recall of Diamond brand dog foods. Commercial dog foods utilizing ‘meat meal’ and ‘meat
byproducts’ are particularly unsavory: these mixtures usually consist of the parts of slaughtered animals not
deemed fit for human consumption, including feet, brains, lungs, spleens, blood, and tendons. Investigations
have also uncovered the ongoing use of road kill, zoo animals, euthanized animals, and diseased livestock by
pet food companies as ingredients in their ‘meat meal’ – and while extensive cooking kills most harmful
bacteria, sodium pentobarbital (the chemical used in the euthanizing process) can and often does survive the
cooking process. In short, dogs who are regularly fed conventional foods are not only ingesting unhealthy, over-
processed meat products, they’re being slowly euthanized.
Fortunately, there are a number of healthier food options available for concerned dog owners. Organic dry dog
foods contain no toxic animal by-products, and are usually free of grain fillers. Raw food diets are regarded by
many as the epitome of canine nutrition, and allow the dog owner to combine a variety of foods for each meal –
including raw meats, raw eggs, bone, green foods and grasses, milk, and even flaxseeds – in a proportion which
accommodates the individual nutritional needs of their pet. Organic and natural diet options have helped owners
alleviate any number of health complaints in their dogs, and have in many cases increased the dog’s expected
healthy lifespan.
Sadly, many people discover the benefits of a natural diet only after their dogs experience debilitating health
problems. For example, my good friend Maria experienced a marked change in the health of her eight-year-old
Pit Bull, Stella, when she switched her to a raw food diet.
“We couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her,” Maria says. “She was scratching her face off! She’d rubbed her
whole cheek raw, and was bleeding around her eyes. Also, she was snappish and irritable, and her energy was
really low.”
After numerous visits to the veterinary office, Stella was diagnosed with ‘general allergies’. When Maria pressed
the veterinarian for more information, she was told that the trigger could be environmental, or possibly food-
related, but that there was no way to tell for sure. Stella was prescribed the steroid Prednisone, and sent home.
“The Prednisone helped,” Maria says, “but as soon as we stopped the steroids the lesions came back. It wasn’t a
solution. It wasn’t addressing the underlying problem.” Maria was also concerned about the possible side effects
of prolonged steroid use, which include diabetes, unpredictable behavior, and muscle degeneration.
Frustrated, Maria began doing her own research, and what she discovered was both revealing and unnerving. It
was possible, she learned, that the very food she’d been feeding Stella to keep her fit and healthy was
contributing to her terrible allergies. “It’s horrible to think that companies are allowed to push these toxic
products on pet owners,” she tells me. “You see the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, or the AVMA seal, and
you think that the food is held to the same standards as food intended for human consumption. Someone’s
saying that this food is healthy for your dog, that it’s balanced and nutritious, and you believe them.”
Maria was also amazed at the lengths she had to go to in order to find the information she was looking for. “The
amount of research I had to do just to find out if my food brand was using 4-D animals (dead, diseased,
disabled, dying) was astounding. The information was so buried.”
After yet another round of Prednisone and weeks of further misery for Stella, Maria decided to try a raw food
diet. “It was a little intimidating at first,” she admits. “I’m a vegetarian, and the thought of all that raw meat in
my refrigerator was a little unnerving. I was afraid I would do something wrong, that I would poison Stella, or
that I would somehow contaminate the food my husband and I were eating. But Stella was so miserable; we had
to try something.”
It took a few weeks for Maria to see the changes in Stella. “There was definitely a detox period,” she says. “I
think she was purging all the toxins in her system from her old food.” But a month after starting the diet, Stella
had stopped scratching her face. Her eyes were clear, and her coat had a new sheen. Best of all, her disposition
had returned to normal.
Not long after Stella’s recovery, Maria began working at a dog grooming salon on the weekends. There, she had
a chance to share her story with other pet owners. “I saw so many sick pets,” she says. “And I knew that many
of them were sick because of the food they were eating. I remember one dog, a beautiful albino Mastiff, whose
skin was covered with bloody sores. It was painful even to brush him. The owner was going through exactly what
I’d been through with Stella: all the visits to veterinarians, only to hear that there was nothing they could do.”
Maria shared her own experience, and encouraged the dog’s owner to try a raw food diet. A short time later, the
Mastiff’s sores had disappeared. His ailment was later deemed a gluten allergy, triggered by the wheat and
grain fillers in his conventional pet food.
While organic and/or raw pet foods are by no means the answer to every ailment, the experiences of pet owners
like Maria prove that they can and do alleviate a host of health problems associated with the consumption of
conventional pet foods. “You prepare wholesome, nutritious meals for your spouse and children,” Maria says.
“Why wouldn’t you do the same for your dog?”
to their particular digestive systems. The most successful diets mimic what the animal’s ancestors ate in the wild,
whether through food combination by the pet owner – as is common with raw food diets – or through
manufacture, as we see with dry and canned pet foods.
In the wake of various recent pet food recalls, there has been a rising interest in healthy, species-appropriate
diets for pets. As more and more dog owners are discovering, commercial pet food not only has little to no
actual nutritional value, it may actually be harmful to pets. Grains like wheat and corn, present in nearly all
commercial foods, are indigestible by dogs, who are carnivorous by nature. Also, grains are at risk for
contamination by dangerous bacteria like Aflatoxin, the culprit behind the recent poisonings of hundreds of dogs
and the subsequent recall of Diamond brand dog foods. Commercial dog foods utilizing ‘meat meal’ and ‘meat
byproducts’ are particularly unsavory: these mixtures usually consist of the parts of slaughtered animals not
deemed fit for human consumption, including feet, brains, lungs, spleens, blood, and tendons. Investigations
have also uncovered the ongoing use of road kill, zoo animals, euthanized animals, and diseased livestock by
pet food companies as ingredients in their ‘meat meal’ – and while extensive cooking kills most harmful
bacteria, sodium pentobarbital (the chemical used in the euthanizing process) can and often does survive the
cooking process. In short, dogs who are regularly fed conventional foods are not only ingesting unhealthy, over-
processed meat products, they’re being slowly euthanized.
Fortunately, there are a number of healthier food options available for concerned dog owners. Organic dry dog
foods contain no toxic animal by-products, and are usually free of grain fillers. Raw food diets are regarded by
many as the epitome of canine nutrition, and allow the dog owner to combine a variety of foods for each meal –
including raw meats, raw eggs, bone, green foods and grasses, milk, and even flaxseeds – in a proportion which
accommodates the individual nutritional needs of their pet. Organic and natural diet options have helped owners
alleviate any number of health complaints in their dogs, and have in many cases increased the dog’s expected
healthy lifespan.
Sadly, many people discover the benefits of a natural diet only after their dogs experience debilitating health
problems. For example, my good friend Maria experienced a marked change in the health of her eight-year-old
Pit Bull, Stella, when she switched her to a raw food diet.
“We couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her,” Maria says. “She was scratching her face off! She’d rubbed her
whole cheek raw, and was bleeding around her eyes. Also, she was snappish and irritable, and her energy was
really low.”
After numerous visits to the veterinary office, Stella was diagnosed with ‘general allergies’. When Maria pressed
the veterinarian for more information, she was told that the trigger could be environmental, or possibly food-
related, but that there was no way to tell for sure. Stella was prescribed the steroid Prednisone, and sent home.
“The Prednisone helped,” Maria says, “but as soon as we stopped the steroids the lesions came back. It wasn’t a
solution. It wasn’t addressing the underlying problem.” Maria was also concerned about the possible side effects
of prolonged steroid use, which include diabetes, unpredictable behavior, and muscle degeneration.
Frustrated, Maria began doing her own research, and what she discovered was both revealing and unnerving. It
was possible, she learned, that the very food she’d been feeding Stella to keep her fit and healthy was
contributing to her terrible allergies. “It’s horrible to think that companies are allowed to push these toxic
products on pet owners,” she tells me. “You see the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, or the AVMA seal, and
you think that the food is held to the same standards as food intended for human consumption. Someone’s
saying that this food is healthy for your dog, that it’s balanced and nutritious, and you believe them.”
Maria was also amazed at the lengths she had to go to in order to find the information she was looking for. “The
amount of research I had to do just to find out if my food brand was using 4-D animals (dead, diseased,
disabled, dying) was astounding. The information was so buried.”
After yet another round of Prednisone and weeks of further misery for Stella, Maria decided to try a raw food
diet. “It was a little intimidating at first,” she admits. “I’m a vegetarian, and the thought of all that raw meat in
my refrigerator was a little unnerving. I was afraid I would do something wrong, that I would poison Stella, or
that I would somehow contaminate the food my husband and I were eating. But Stella was so miserable; we had
to try something.”
It took a few weeks for Maria to see the changes in Stella. “There was definitely a detox period,” she says. “I
think she was purging all the toxins in her system from her old food.” But a month after starting the diet, Stella
had stopped scratching her face. Her eyes were clear, and her coat had a new sheen. Best of all, her disposition
had returned to normal.
Not long after Stella’s recovery, Maria began working at a dog grooming salon on the weekends. There, she had
a chance to share her story with other pet owners. “I saw so many sick pets,” she says. “And I knew that many
of them were sick because of the food they were eating. I remember one dog, a beautiful albino Mastiff, whose
skin was covered with bloody sores. It was painful even to brush him. The owner was going through exactly what
I’d been through with Stella: all the visits to veterinarians, only to hear that there was nothing they could do.”
Maria shared her own experience, and encouraged the dog’s owner to try a raw food diet. A short time later, the
Mastiff’s sores had disappeared. His ailment was later deemed a gluten allergy, triggered by the wheat and
grain fillers in his conventional pet food.
While organic and/or raw pet foods are by no means the answer to every ailment, the experiences of pet owners
like Maria prove that they can and do alleviate a host of health problems associated with the consumption of
conventional pet foods. “You prepare wholesome, nutritious meals for your spouse and children,” Maria says.
“Why wouldn’t you do the same for your dog?”