Dangers of raw pet foods

Producers With Only Kitchen Technology – Because of the minimal technology required to produce a RF pet food, essentially anyone regardless of credentials or expertise can bring a product to market. All one needs to do is grind and mix ingredients in a kitchen, package and put in a freezer. There are no controls over the conditions in the kitchen, the quality of the ingredients or the method of freezing. All these factors can dramatically influence the nutritional value and pathogenic and toxic content of the food. But being in a frozen state hides these potential dangers and therefore poses a threat to both pets and the humans who handle the foods. John Doe can make a food under unknown conditions and with unknown ingredients, label, package, freeze and deliver to consumers or stores without one single control monitoring or impeding the process. Regulators may eventually examine the label if they happen to see it in a store (they will never see it if shipped directly to consumers) and may object to some terminology or the like; but, all John needs to do is change the label and all will be well. The product could contain every manner of ingredient, be laced with virulent pathogens, and receive the www.wysong.net/products/cat-dog-health-nutrition-truth-about-pet-foods.aegis of regulators … and into the market it goes.

Display Packaging Causes Free Radicals

– Light, as well as air, can promote free radical production. Retail display pet packaging that is clear or light permeable permits light to catalyze the free radical (disease promoting) process.

The case against raw frozen pet food

R. Wysong, DVM, V. Savant, PhD

For some 25 years Dr. Wysong has alerted the public to the dangers of exclusively feeding heat processed pet foods. Not only is nutrient value diminished by heat, but a spectrum of toxins are created. Additionally, the singular feeding of processed pet foods has led to the spurious “100% complete and balanced” claim that is both logically and scientifically flawed. Entrepreneurs have seized upon this information to create a spate of raw frozen (RF) pet foods to capture a market niche and to fill the demand from consumers wanting a raw alternative to standard heat processed canned, semi-moist and dried pet foods. This market trend, as with most others, may begin with some truth (raw food is the best food) but gets distorted, if not perverted, once economic opportunity enters the picture.

Lower Ear noogies

A tried and true massage location, the ears are very sensitive sites.  At the base of the ear, gently rub your knuckles in true noogie fashion.  (To make a noogie form a half fist with your knuckles sticking out.)
97 Ways to Make a Dog Smile, by Jenny Langbehn

Dangerous Foods That Dogs Should Never Eat - WebMD Slideshow

Dangerous Foods That Dogs Should Never Eat - WebMD Slideshow

Dangerous Foods That Dogs Should Never Eat: Macadamia Nuts

Dogs should not eat nuts or foods containing nuts because nuts can be fatal. As few as 6 raw or roasted macadamia nuts can make a dog ill. Symptoms of poisoning include muscle tremors, weakness or paralysis of the hindquarters, vomiting, elevated body temperature, and rapid heart rate. Eating chocolate with the nuts will make symptoms worse, leading to possible kidney failure and death.

Web MD

For dogs, milk and other dairy products cause digestion problems.

On a hot day, it may be tempting to share your ice cream cone with your dog. But if your dog could, it would thank you for not doing so. Milk and milk-based products can cause diarrhea and other digestive upset as well as set up food allergies (which often manifest as itchiness).

Dangerous Foods for Dogs: avocado

Who can resist those big brown eyes and cute doggie grin? Can a little reward from the table really hurt your dog? Well, that depends on what it is and what's in it. A chip with guacamole can cause your dog some real problems. In fact, there's a lot of people food your dog should never eat. And, it's not just because of weight. Some foods are downright dangerous for dogs - and some of these common foods may surprise you.

Foods your dog should never eat: Onions

Onion in all forms - powdered, raw, cooked, or dehydrated - can destroy a dog's red blood cells, leading to anemia. That can happen even with the onion powder found in some baby food. An occasional small dose is probably OK. But just eating a large quantity once or eating smaller amounts regularly can cause onion poisoning. Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, little interest in food, dullness, and breathlessness.

Web MD

Quite a few bunnies are available at the Pasadena Humane Society now.

Most of the bunny cages are occupied now. A couple of very sweet ones have been there since April, like the white bunny with a black circle around her eye seems to love people.  The cages are clean and all of the rabbits have a toy or two, and a towel and some have a little hut for snuggling under.  But they would like a forever home for a relationship and more space to stretch out and HOP.
Some bunnies available at the Pasadena Humane Society

The bunny I adopted has long nails, and I need to trim them.  I expect he'll try to bite me; so I am procrastinating.  This video came across my site:  a technition demonstrates how to trim bunnies' nails.  I hope it is helpful!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2CdhIsp7uM

Equine stress control therapy STEPS CAN BE LEARNED

This article gave me ideas which will enable me to better handle a stressful situation with a horse.  I hope it inspires you.  Nancy

First and foremost, the human needs to be centered and calm. Your self-control and calm breathing can do wonders to help the horse. He will take his cue from the environment and your behavior is part of that. If a vet is on-site, all the better. Every effort needs to be made to keep the horse comfortable. Horses who have been sedated are NOT candidates for ESCT as tranquilizers of any type will interfere with the ESCT process.
Minimum requirements for the process to work are that the horse is able to stand and be handled with a halter and lead rope. It is best to work with an assistant in an emergency situation if at all possible. Moving the horse to a quiet place away from the fracas is also recommended, as working in a whirlwind situation is counter-productive.
Note that there is a definite protocol involved in healing a horse with ESCT. [The complete protocol is described in the Book of Horse Healing Secrets and in the ESCT and Pulser videos and DVDs available through www.harmonyhorseworks.com] It is likely that your state’s animal control network gives clinics in animal disaster relief. Many vets are trained in animal disaster management techniques. Adding ESCT to help horses in trauma situations is very effective. This is another welcome tool to help animals in need during tough situations. We recommend becoming completely familiar with the protocol and using it on many horses before heading out into a trauma situation.
Barbara Wright operates Harmony HorseWorks, Horse Sanctuary and Rescue in Conifer, CO. Contact her at (303) 816-0766, barbara@harmonyhorseworks.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , harmonyhorsewrks@aol.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit www.harmonyhorseworks.com

Reprogramming a stressful situation for a horse: REPLACE THE TRAUMATIC MEMORY for the horse

According to Barbara Wright: 

Equine Stress Control Therapy (ESCT) deals directly with the horse's brain through the optic nerve and skeletal structure, sending interrupt signals to it while it re-lives and then re-thinks its traumatic experience in a controlled setting. As a result, reprocessing of the harmful memory happens quickly and the horse is liberated of its fear.
Horses can return to their original fear within the situation and environment created by the ESCT therapist to re-establish as close a situation to the original as possible, and then discharge the energy associated with that fear. What is left in the horse's realm of experience is a new baseline of comfort stemming from having overcome the fear and having survived it.
The new experience creates a new memory with a new positive energetic charge and the old memory is removed.
Horses want to be healthy and whole. Being a healthy member of the herd is a biological imperative so the push to healing is great. A partnership with a human is also considered a herd bond, and the same push to healing and well-being in the horse applies in its relations with humans.
Equine stress management

YouTube - Simon's Cat 'Fly Guy'

This is a great cat cartoon...
YouTube - Simon's Cat 'Fly Guy'

Creative solution for spooky horses

My Fantasy is a sweetheart, and wants to please her people, so she would never intentionally cause a rider to fall.  She however, is easily spooked.  That said, when I came across the following article in holistichorse.com, I was fascinated.  The writer, Barbara Wright applied the principles of body tapping and eye movement to treat traumatized horses.  She concluded that the fear cycle in horses is similar to what we humans experience.

Body Tapping and Eye Movement

Written by Barbara Wright

Traumatized horses show remarkable results when treated with unique stress control therapy.

When I received human stress control therapy and felt the incredibly efficient and fast transformation of my fears into simple events in my past, I was compelled to try eye movement therapy and bilateral body tapping therapy on Victoor, the spookiest horse I had ever met (even after many sessions of retraining with traditional methods, Victoor, an Arabian gelding, startled and spooked constantly).
Victoor responded so well to my experimental approach that I read and studied everything I could about all the available eye movement and body tapping therapy techniques, then transformed the human protocols for the horse’s vision and physical form. That this protocol had never been tried on horses before (or any other mammal, for that matter) was surprising to me. I developed Equine Stress Control Therapy (ESCT) in 2002.
ESCT is based on human therapies that are commonly used in triage situations by therapists arriving on the scene of accidents and catastrophes. That it works on recently traumatized horses, as well as those suffering from abuse, injury or memory trauma for some time, underscores the fact that the fear cycle in humans and horses is very similar.