Have you ever had a conversation with your veterinarian about your pet’s nutrition? I bet it wasn’t long, or informative. Most veterinarians are not very interested in pet nutrition. Twenty years ago, that was me too.
Like most veterinarians, my education in animal nutrition consisted of one undergraduate course covering dogs, cats, horses, cows, sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, pet birds and pocket pets. It wasn’t exactly comprehensive.
Most veterinarians don’t really care about nutrition. Our education, training and experience has made us problem solvers who try to solve the problem as quickly as possible. We love getting the phone call in a few days that informs us the pet is back to normal. We pat ourselves on the back and move on to the next problem, or pet. Preventative measures like proper nutrition are like reading the phone book.
One of my old partners used to say, “It really doesn’t matter, all of the pet food is basically the same.” Ouch.
Do wolves do this? No! They pretty much gobble up the carcass no matter how old they are. And you know what? The genetic makeup of your dog’s gastrointestinal (GI) tract is exactly the same as the wolf.
Let’s start with the basics. When I give talks the first thing I ask is, “Imagine what your health would be like if all you ate was processed, refined food.” That’s when they start shaking their heads. Client after client that tells me how much time and effort they put into feeding themselves a healthy, wholesome diet and never consider that the same holds true for their pet.
Feed your pet a balanced diet using wholesome, non-processed, and preferably raw food. Research has indicated that heat-processed pet food is most likely the underlying cause for most chronic illness in dogs and cats. Diseases like allergies, arthritis, kidney disease, heart disease, immune-meditated disease and cancer have all been linked to feeding these diets.
Then, why are veterinarians still recommending these diets? They don’t know and they don’t care to know.
When I hear a client tell me that handling raw food is dangerous, I ask them if they handle raw meat for themselves? You bet. Feeding raw meat to the pet is pretty much the same: clean countertop, clean the utensils, clean the pet bowls after they eat and wash your hands.
Then there is the conditioned response, “But then my dog will eat the meat raw!” Yep, Just like the wolf. The dog’s stomach is made for this. Its high acid content will kill most bacteria in the raw diet. Some vets will tell clients that raw food shouldn’t be fed to old or immune-compromised pets. The irony here is that the immune system was mostly compromised from poor gut function caused by improper diet.
Like I mentioned in the previous blog, everything is energy, and food is no exception. When you pluck a ripe, organic apple off a tree (like in my Travolta quote) and eat it, you not only gain the healthy nutrients from the apple, but you acquire its vital essence as well. The apple’s energetic makeup becomes part of you, affecting your health.
Anything that affects the vital energy of a food component in a negative way will negatively affect your health if you eat it. The negative vital energy will compromise your energetic makeup and stay with you. If it continues, over and over, the harmful negative energy will contribute to physical disease in your body.
Energy has its own consistent laws. If you prepare food and you are in a negative state of mind then that emotional energy will become a component of the food that you fix. Do you remember how good the food was that your Mom made for you? If your Mom’s state of mind was one of gratitude for the opportunity to fix your food, it enhanced the quality of the food and you were aware of that manifesting itself.
Keep this in mind when feeding your pet. As an empowered caretaker, you want to provide a healthy diet that will allow your pet to thrive and prepare it for your pet in a state of mind that reflects your gratitude for your pet being in your life. You might even throw in a little focused intention and bless the food as you serve it by saying “I bless this food for the perfect health and wellbeing for my beloved pet.”
Your pet will reflect that intent.
What about you? Have you switched to a more holistic diet? How did your pet respond? What is holding you back? I would love to hear from you.
Until next time….
