Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats (7 page)

If these elements were neutral, having no effect, it wouldn’t matter. But they are not neutral—they are very toxic. Every year, more and more of these metals are spewed into our biosphere, and the effects on people and animals are staggering.

For example, according to a study published in the
New England Journal of Medicine
, the average chemical pollution of breast milk in American women compared to that of American women who are complete vegetarians was
35 times
higher! Yet less than one out of every quarter million animals slaughtered in the U.S. is tested for toxic chemical residues.

Lead, the Most Common Hazardous Metal

In one study, a sampling of canned pet foods revealed lead contamination levels ranging
from 0.9 to 7.0 parts per million (ppm) in cat foods and 1.0 to 5.6 ppm in dog foods. Daily intake of only six ounces of such foods would exceed the dose of lead considered potentially toxic for children.

Much of this contamination comes from the use of bone meal in pet foods. Though they are otherwise an excellent source of calcium and other minerals, the bones of American cattle contain high levels of lead, owing to our prolonged usage of leaded gasoline over several decades. The only safe bone meal nowadays is from cattle raised in South America, Ethiopia, or some other country with few automobiles. A complication is that poisoning by these contaminants is very difficult to recognize. They come on gradually and are not very distinctive in their symptoms. Lead poisoning can appear as a type of anemia that is recognizable, but not all animals poisoned with lead will exhibit this. Some will be hyperactive, have seizures, become hysterical, go blind, have stomach cramps and diarrhea, constipation, or develop thickened and itchy skin. Not all these symptoms occur—there may be just one.

This wide range of possible symptoms is typical of these environmental poisons and makes recognizing them very difficult. Think of a common problem, like a cold. Not hard to recognize when someone has a cold, is it? Runny nose, sneezing, stuffed up. These contaminants don’t show up like that. One animal can have anemia, another seizures. How would you even know they are caused by the same thing?

If your pet has accumulated lead, for example, and was sick from just this one thing (for the sake of discussion, ignore all the other factors we have been considering), and you took your pet to a veterinarian for help, I think it is very, very unlikely that lead poisoning would be recognized. I posed that question to a number of vets that I know, ones I have trained in the use of homeopathic medicine. The anemia I mentioned would be a give-away, so I asked them, “If there was no obvious anemia, would you be likely to make the diagnosis of lead poisoning in an animal suffering from it?” Out of 13 that answered, 10 said they did not think they would recognize it. The three that said they might had prior experience with lead-poisoned animals and were therefore on the lookout. A lot of these environmental contaminant problems just come in under our radar.

E
FFECTS
OF
C
HEMICAL
C
ONTAMINATION
ON
THE
B
ODY

The problem of ingesting all these chemicals is three-fold. First, because the body must eliminate toxic substances, it uses up energy and nutrients that could be put to constructive use. Second, anything that the body cannot get rid of accumulates in the tissues. Third, those accumulated substances in the tissues can interact with each other in unexpected ways. Let’s look at each of these in turn.

Depletion of energy and nutrients.
The body uses several natural mechanisms to detoxify and eliminate harmful substances. Primarily, these processes occur in the liver (detoxification), kidneys (elimination), skin (additional elimination, especially through deposits in the hair), and immune system (reactions against harmful substances). Certain enzymes and their associated vitamins assist this process. The more toxic the chemical, the harder the body must work to get rid of it—and the more these enzymes and vitamins are used up. This strain by itself would be significant enough in a polluted world—but there is more.

Toxic accumulation.
The second problem is that the body cannot detoxify
all
substances. That’s because for thousands and thousands of years, animal detoxification mechanisms were fine-tuned to deal with the
natural
poisons encountered throughout their lifetime. The last few decades, however, have seen the introduction of unbelievable quantities of substances and chemicals never before encountered in a natural setting. As of 1989, some 70,000 different chemicals were in use in our society, with nearly 3,000
new
chemicals introduced annually.

When you consider the huge numbers of these substances that are in use and being produced each year, it becomes obvious why this nation’s ability to adequately test for harmful effects is compromised. As of 1990, only about 2,000 (approximately 3 percent) of all these chemicals in everyday use had been tested in animals for their ability to cause cancer (and half were found to be carcinogenic). So is it any wonder that some of these chemicals cannot be processed by the body? Most have never been encountered before.

When the body is incapable of detoxifying chemicals, it must store them in tissues, where they can interfere with normal function. The degree of interference depends upon the concentration. The more there is, the more significant the effect. And unfortunately, there is a third factor to consider.

Interactions between stored chemicals.
Imagine two different synthetic chemicals—substance A and substance B—that are stored in the same body tissue. They have four “choices”:

• They can “ignore” each other, having no interaction.
  
• A can act on B, possibly making B more toxic.
  
• B can act on A, possibly making B more toxic.
  
• Each can act on the other, possibly increasing the other’s effects.
  

Now, if we consider
three
substances, A, B and C, there are
nine
possible interactions, according to the rule that the number of possible interactions is the square of the number of substances present. (There’s that math again—the square is a number multiplied by itself.) Reflect back to the quote at the beginning of this section—that assays have detected over 100 chemical contaminants in our tissues. Now you can begin to understand
the complexity of all their interactions, which can follow 10,000 possible pathways.

When scientists study any
single
chemical and tell us that it is not harmful at a certain level, this may be true. But they have no idea how it will interact with
other
contaminants in the body. Furthermore, it is
not possible
for them ever to know. If the best that scientists have been able to accomplish so far is to test only about 2,000 of our industries’ 70,000 chemical substances for their cancer-causing potential, then there is no reasonable way that they will ever be able to decipher all their other interactions.

WHAT IS THE ALTERNATIVE?

What does all this mean? What can we do in the face of this situation? First, on the larger scale, it is clearly time for each of us to begin to do what we can to reduce our society’s use of untested, potentially dangerous synthetic chemicals, not only for our animals, but for all who live on the earth and for all who are yet to come. This will surely mean many changes in our patterns of consumption.

One of the most important changes we can make is in the daily choices about what we feed our pets, as well as ourselves. We just can’t expect to maintain good health on over-processed, denatured, contaminated foods. We are going to have to make some changes.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that when it comes to how you feed your pet, there are practical, affordable ways to make those kinds of healthy changes. In the next few chapters we will show you, step by step, practical and affordable ways to introduce fresh, even organically grown foods into your dog’s or cat’s diet.

First we share some stories about animals that found a new lease on life when their diet was switched to fresh, natural diets. Then we will show you how to do the same—how to select the best ingredients and how to put them together in a variety of carefully formulated, nutritionally balanced recipes for various needs. For those not quite willing or able to switch completely, we also provide formulas for fresh foods and supplements that can be added to higher-quality kibbles, the “alternative” products increasingly available that are made with more care and with better ingredients. Throughout, we will include time- and money-saving tips. Most animals will love the new food. But for those who are stuck in their habits (like a few cats we all know!), we’ll show you how to help your pet make the transition to a new way of eating that’s as old as the hills.

CHAPTER 3

TRY A BASIC NATURAL DIET—WITH SUPPLEMENTS

F
eeding your pet a fresher, more natural diet takes a little more time and effort. It’s certainly not as easy as opening a bag of kibble. You are building health one day at a time, and though it is an extra effort, it is much easier than continual health problems with your pet. Imagine avoiding those visits to the vet for treatments that never really solve the problem, of sparing your loved companion the suffering that goes with illness. Isn’t it worth extra exertion to have improved quality of life together?

Countless clients, along with readers of this book’s earlier editions, have switched their pets to more wholesome diets and
have rejoiced at the results. For example, this letter from a grateful New Jersey woman gives you an idea of what can be accomplished with such a little change:

My little dog Noel was going downhill very
fast two years ago. She was eight. Her coat
was dull and smelled awful. Her breath had
a foul odor. Her eyes were dull and she slept
all day under a chair. She had always been
friendly, but her temperament changed. She
would try to bite me and growled if I tried to
get her to come outside and play. I bought pet
vitamins and they stimulated her appetite
but she was still so sick-looking
.

Well, thanks to your wonderful book
there’s been a big change. Noel’s on a natural
diet now. No more dry and canned food.
What a difference! Her coat and her breath
don’t have an odor. At 10 years of age, her
eyes shine and she’s prancing around like a
puppy. Noel loves whole grains, tofu, beans,
eggs, cheese, and all vegetables. (I also give
her the supplements you recommend.) Another
change: her muzzle was turning gray
but now the hair is coming in black again,
the color it was when she was a puppy.
Thank you so much for saving Noel’s life
.

Another woman reported a similar turnaround in her daughter’s cat:

Some months ago my daughter’s 9-year-old
cat had numerous ailments and she was sorrowfully
considering putting it to sleep. I dug
out an article you wrote some time ago on
diet and since she had nothing to lose, she
tried it. Her cat didn’t eat for two days but
then, lo and behold, he started to eat and like
it. But the amazing thing is the change in
that cat. The personality even changed. He is
more playful than he ever was, comes when
called and is simply a nicer cat. She will
never go back to commercial food again
.

Isn’t this simply amazing? But it is not simply that nutrition will help those animals that are ill. One of the greatest benefits is avoiding a life of ill health altogether. Look at a letter I recently received that demonstrates this very well. It was entitled, “Thank you, my dog is 14 today.”

Just had to find some way to say thank you.
My dog Ivy is fourteen years old today and I
have been feeding her from your book since
she was about four weeks old. It started because
I was broke and couldn’t afford
quality dog food and was working in a
health food store where one of my customers
was a phone client of yours and recommended
your book
.

I have never had a vet bill for an illness
and at fourteen, she is amazing. She is still
active and vital, a little stiffness in the back
legs, but will still leap for a Frisbee. Her eyes
and mind are clear, her hearing is fine and
she even has good breath
.