Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats (19 page)

Mix ingredients well and warm to body temperature. Using a pet nurser or doll’s bottle, feed enough to slightly enlarge the abdomen but not distend it. (Amount varies according to age and breed size. If in doubt, consult recommendations for the commercial formula.) Feed on the same schedule described for kittens. Clean each puppy after the feeding, as described for kittens. When the puppies are 2 to 3 weeks old, introduce solids (mixed with formula to make a gruel) and ground liver; wean them from the bottle at 4 to 5 weeks.

Feeding large litters can require a great
deal of time, and some find it easier to tube-feed puppies when they are very small and need feeding every 2 hours. There are some excellent books on care of newborn puppies that can guide you with this technique.

O
RPHAN
P
ROBLEMS

The biggest challenge to health in young kittens and puppies is diarrhea that results from inappropriate formulas or overfeeding. Be especially cautious about giving too much milk formula until you gain some experience. If diarrhea does develop, stop feeding the formula until it stops and instead give electrolyte fluid, such as Rebound to replenish lost fluid.

Here’s a very useful herbal formula for treating diarrhea in the very young. Prepare a chamomile “tea” by adding 1 pint boiling water to 2 teaspoons of dried chamomile herb. Let steep for 10 minutes, pour off liquid through a sieve or cheesecloth and add ½ teaspoon of sea salt for each pint of recovered liquid. You can use this as a temporary remedy to stop many diarrheas. Give a “dose” (a couple of minutes of nursing) three times a day. In between, administer electrolyte solution by mouth (or injection if your veterinarian is helping you). Consult the
Quick Reference Section
for further advice on treating persistent diarrhea.

The other major problem is constipation. This can be a result of not enough formula or perhaps inadequate stimulation to produce a bowel movement after nursing (your job). Puppies or kittens will have rounded bellies (like they are full), but become listless. (Such behavior, or if a puppy crawls away from its nest and feels cold to the touch, is a sign of illness.) The easiest thing to do is to give an enema with warm water (see chapter 15 for instructions). For kittens, use an eye dropper; for puppies that are larger, you might need a plastic syringe.

If this is not sufficient, the remedy Nux
vomica
6C or 30C given once will usually suffice. With such little mouths, it is easiest administered by dissolving the pellet in some pure water and dripping a few drops into the mouth. (See the discussion of homeopathy in chapter 14.)

THE VEGETARIAN DIET: CAN WE CUT MEAT USE FOR PETS?

Now let’s consider a special diet for normal, healthy dogs and cats whose vegetarian owners have qualms about feeding meat to their pets. Even if this is not a direct concern for you, I urge you to read this section because it raises important issues that affect everyone. The possibility of no-meat diets for dogs and cats doesn’t even occur to most of us because we have all been deeply conditioned by our culture to think that even we humans
must
eat meat.

Actually, that concept is relatively new in our country, and it results from an era of prosperity. In 2002, for example, Americans each consumed 23 pounds more meat than
they did in 1970. Poultry consumption alone increased by 37 pounds in that same period. Meanwhile, grain and potato consumption fell. Furthermore, about half of us keep predators as pets, far more than the number nature would support in the wild. These cultural patterns are taken for granted, and most of us live our lives without realizing what this high level of meat consumption actually means.

So let’s discuss some reasons why more and more people are cutting down on meat and perhaps dairy products in their own diets and why they are interested in feeding their dogs or cats in the same way. The first group of reasons stems from health concerns, the second from global, ethical, and environmental issues.

V
EGETARIANS
A
RE
H
EALTHIER

Many of the people throughout history who chose a vegetarian diet did so because they believed it was a healthier way to eat. Now there is a body of scientific research that supports their views. Consider these facts, compiled by John Robbins, author of
Diet for a
New America
.

• Women who eat eggs or meat daily face a breast cancer risk that averages more than three times higher than those who eat these foods once a week. Consuming butter and cheese just two to four times a week multiplies the risk by the same degree.
  
• Fatal ovarian cancer risk is three times higher for women who eat eggs frequently (three or more times a week, rather than once or less).
  
• Men who eat meat, dairy products, and eggs daily triple their risk of fatal prostate cancer over those who eat these foods sparingly.
  
• While the average American man has a 50 percent chance of dying from a heart attack, that risk is only 15 percent for those who consume no meat and just 4 percent for men who eat no animal products at all.
  
• Americans who drop consumption of meat, dairy products, and eggs by half reduce their heart attack risk by 45 percent.
  
• At age 65, the average measurable bone loss of female vegetarians is only about half that of female meat-eaters.
  
• Diseases that can be prevented, relieved, and sometimes even cured by a low-fat diet that is free of animal products include: strokes, hypertension, diabetes, asthma, gallstones, osteoporosis, irritable colon syndrome, and prostate, breast, colon, and endometrial cancers.
  

Why these differences? For one thing, research indicates that meat fat favors the production of certain carcinogens in the intestines. But perhaps even more critical are the toxins that accumulate in animal tissues. The chemical pollution of breast milk in American women averages 35
times
higher than that of complete vegetarians.

Some of these differences might originate with the fact that we humans evolved to eat a largely meatless diet. Most other primates are basically vegetarians. Our teeth and digestive tracts seem best suited to such foods.

Just as I write this today, a report has come out from a study sponsored by the American Cancer Society (in the
Journal of the American
Medical Association
, January 2005) that eating red meat or processed meat increases the incidence of colon cancer. In a very large study of 150,000 people, those eating red meat had a 35 percent greater likelihood, and those eating processed meats (bacon, hot dogs, lunch meats) had a 50 percent higher chance of developing this problem.

I
S
L
ESS
M
EAT
B
ETTER
FOR
D
OGS
AND
C
ATS
, T
OO
?

For our pets, that part of the equation is somewhat different. The cat is considered a true carnivore and clearly requires nutrients adequately supplied only by meat and animal products. Although the dog prefers meat, both its physiology and behavior indicate that it is better classed as an opportunistic omnivore—an animal that can meet its needs from a wide variety of sources. Wild coyotes and wolves, for example, consume vegetable matter, including grasses, berries, and other fresh material, plus predigested food from the digestive tracts of their vegetarian prey. In fact, a three-generation test found that dogs fed meat as a sole source of protein, along with other essential elements, had difficulties producing adequate milk for their young, as compared with dogs fed a diet that included milk and vegetables.

Strictly from a health viewpoint, it seems that the most natural diet for a dog or cat would be primarily fresh raw meat, eggs, and bones (or bone meal), supplemented with vegetables and fruits for dogs. Yet, such a diet may not be best for today’s domesticated pets. Their needs may differ from those of their hunting ancestors who got more exercise, lived in purer environments, and often, by necessity, fasted between large meals. Thus their bodies could cleanse themselves more easily, eliminating uric acid and other waste products of meat metabolism.

Our primary concern about feeding meat to dogs and cats, however, is that meat is now the most polluted food source in the market. Even the highest-quality cuts approved for human consumption contain residues of antibiotics, synthetic hormones, and toxic materials such as lead, arsenic, mercury, DDT, and dioxin. There are also more pesticide residues in meat than in dairy products, grains, vegetables, and fruits.

The long-term effect of all this toxic material—particularly the pesticides and heavy metals—may be increased cancer rates, allergies, infections, kidney and liver problems, irritability, and hyperactivity for our pets.

Looking beyond the immediate personal health issues, what about the big picture? What about the impact of meat production on the environment, on the world’s hungry, and on factory-farm animals?

G
LOBAL
, E
THICAL
,
AND
E
NVIRONMENTAL
C
ONCERNS

“A reduction in meat consumption is the most potent single act you can take to halt the destruction of our environment and preserve our precious natural resources,” contends Robbins. And he makes the following points:

• If Americans were to adopt a meatless diet and stop exporting livestock feed, we could return 204,000,000 acres to forests—almost an acre for every American who would become vegetarian.
  
• Over two-thirds of the topsoil in the United States has been lost, with 85 percent of this loss associated with livestock production.
  
• It takes 78 calories of fossil fuel to produce 1 calorie of protein from beef. Only 2 calories will produce the same amount of protein from soybeans.
  
• The 5,215 gallons of water California uses to produce only
  one
  edible pound of beef would grow 209 edible pounds of wheat, or 10 pounds of eggs, or provide 300 five-minute showers.
  

It’s clear that we can’t continue with this pattern of inefficient consumption. For the sake of future generations, it would be wise for us to begin to rely more on plant sources for our daily food.

Even as we waste resources needed for the future, we contribute to the present world hunger problem. Some 20 million people a year die from malnutrition. Yet 15 vegetarians can be fed on the amount of land needed to feed 1 person eating a meat-centered diet. If Americans would reduce their intake of meat by only 10 percent, 100 million people could be adequately nourished using the same amount of land, water, and energy no longer devoted to livestock feed. That’s five times the number of people who now die of malnutrition.

Finally, let’s consider the impact of meat production on the animals involved. When all we see is a neatly wrapped package in the supermarket and maybe a few cows out in the countryside, we may imagine that the meat came from animals who spent long, peaceful lives lazily scratching for bugs in a barnyard or grazing in sunny pastures. At the end of their idyllic lives, we imagine, they are slaughtered quickly and humanely. Unfortunately, the reality is usually quite different.

I used to work with livestock and was often appalled at the crowded, stressful, and uncomfortable conditions under which most chickens, pigs, and cows actually live and die. Farming has become big business, and most animals are treated more like profit-making units than creatures capable of feeling pain and distress. To minimize costs and maximize profits, most of them are packed into crowded quarters like items in a production line, deprived of normal environments and relationships. They may never even see daylight or stand on the ground.

Those who enjoy the companionship of dogs and cats often have a special appreciation and caring for all sorts of animals. Knowing something about the realities of
modern meat production understandably causes many to wonder whether they can reduce or eliminate meat from their pets’ diets.
Animal Liberation
, by philosopher Peter Singer, is an excellent book on the ethics of how we treat animals, with many graphic details about factory farming.

For these reasons, I recommend prioritizing the recipes in chapter 4 that use the least amounts of meat. While all of the basic dog recipes are tailored to require fairly low amounts of meat, the minimal-meat choices for dogs are (in this order): Quick Canine Oatmeal (
recipe
), Quick Canine Oats and Eggs (
recipe
), Dog Loaf (
recipe
), and One-on-One (
recipe
). The best choices for cats are Quick Feline Eggfest (
recipe
) and Mackerel Loaf (
recipe
).

In general, use more poultry, eggs, and dairy products than beef, since their production consumes fewer resources. And whenever you have the choice, select turkey over chicken. Turkeys are often raised more humanely and with a more vegetarian feed. They also produce the most protein. (They are, however, less fatty, and you should add some extra fat in the recipe to compensate.)

For dogs, consider a predominantly lactoovo vegetarian diet (one that includes milk and eggs along with plant-based foods); for cats, a partial one. Vegetarian clients have often asked if you can safely exclude meat from a pet’s diet. For dogs, the answer is yes, if you are careful in what you feed. Controlled research shows that dogs fed soy protein grow as well as those fed meat, and several meatless pet foods are now marketed through health food stores. For cats, the answer is “Yes, with special supplements, maybe, but a diet that excludes meat is not the best for the cat.”