Give a dog a bone
Hold onto your leash. Pet supply mega-chains are peddling
over-priced pseudo-foods that are responsible for the
malnourishment of our hounds on a massive scale. Not only
that, they’re intentionally steering dog owners AWAY from
the natural raw foods canines really need to stay as healthy
as they can be.
By now, you’re surely asking: How can this be? Aren’t those
expensive, pre-packaged pet foods “scientifically
formulated” and all that? Yeah, they’re scientifically
formulated. In fact, the “three basic types” of dog foods
(dry, semi-moist, and canned) are virtually devoid of
nutrition – especially the keep-forever-and-a-day dry
varieties.
But here’s the good news: Finding and feeding your dog
what’s best isn’t difficult at all, and the rewards far
outweigh the few minor inconveniences. As far as I’m
concerned, the three basic types of foods that are best for
MY dog, Silky (and every other Fido out there for that
matter) are these:
Raw, natural, and fresh.
That means several servings a day of uncooked meats like
liver, pork, and chicken livers (chicken necks, too -
they’re great) mixed in with plenty of raw eggs. Throw in a
few table scraps of raw vegetables or fruits occasionally
and you’ll be giving your pup a diet worthy of a show dog.
Oh, and let’s not forget the VERY BEST treat for your trusty
mutt: A big, raw, bone!
But the pet superstores recommend all the wrong things, in
all the wrong amounts. For example, take PETCO’s web site
(which disseminates the same worthless nutritional drivel as
they no doubt do in their 650+ retail stores), which
recommends: “Some foods must never be fed to dogs these
include raw eggs and meats, liver, bones, pork”
They even recommend that you NEVER give your dog a bona-fide
bone!
What hogwash. These are the very closest things available to
what dogs would eat naturally if well-meaning (but ill-
informed) pet owners weren’t training them to munch down a
pile of tasteless, meatless dry kibbles – the nutritional
equivalent of potato chips or other junk foods – every day
on the advice of RETAIL MERCHANTS.
As if that weren’t bad enough, now dogs have to submit to
their owners’ dietary politics. That’s right, there are
actually varieties of VEGETARIAN dog food being marketed out
there (That’s funny, since most of it is already
vegetarian, derived from soy.)
I feel sorry for the poor pooches that are being force-fed
this stuff – they’ll no doubt end up as stunted, obese, dull-
witted, and disease-ridden as their masters surely are. Let
me state this as clearly as I can – a raw and natural diet
is the only way to keep your pooch thin, lean and healthy,
and your vet bills the same!
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One for the “bizarre-but-true” file
You may remember me telling you about a pending far-Eastern
line of nutritionally enhanced clothing in a Daily Dose last
fall (11/04). That’s right: vitamins, amino acids and other
nutrients you WEAR instead of taking or eating will be very
likely arriving on department store clothing racks within 5
years. But far sooner than that, you may be able to slip
into a pair of tights and get a daily infusion of caffeine
through your skin, without having to bother with (or enjoy,
depending on how you look at it) brewing up a pot of morning
coffee.
Whether you’d want to, though, is another matter.
Regardless, a leading European underwear manufacturer is
currently marketing tights in the UK that are made out of a
fabric containing microscopic gelatin-encapsulated dosages
of caffeine. Specifically designed to help women lose weight
and inches off their thighs by tapping into caffeine’s
metabolism and energy-enhancing benefits, these “Coffee
Tights” are said to be proven to work in this capacity.
Whether or not this is from the added caffeine or simply
from the compressive action typical of any support tights
remains to be seen.
Look, these kinds of high-tech shenanigans are all well and
good, but my question is this: Why would anyone WANT to
forego all the great taste (not to mention all those heart-
healthy antioxidants) that a cup or three of java brings to
their day? Isn’t that most of the reason why we consume the
things we do – because of their satisfying good taste? This
reminds me of the red-wine-in-a-pill I wrote about a couple
of months ago (2/13)
In my view, this is just another case of doing something
just because we CAN — without regard to whether or not we
SHOULD. What’s next, clothing we can chow down on (or brew
our coffee through) after wearing a few times? Somehow, I
don’t think that’s what Bart Simpson meant when he said “Eat
my shorts,” but it does put a new twist on things, doesn’t
it?
This old dog’s not buying their nuTRICKtion,
William Campbell Douglass II, MD
