Guest Author - Denise Lacazette

Jan Zeiger at our Natural Living site recently wrote about her switch to natural pet food. In addition to natural living, there are other reasons to take a good look at your animal’s diet. Pets at Risk gives some compelling information regarding our pets and the effect foods have on their health. Dr. Plechner focuses on the endocrine-immune system – imbalances and treatment. Food allergies and overbreeding are given as significant factors.

While Pets at Risk is geared towards cats and dogs it does beg the question “will this happen to our other pets?” Many other animals are fed pellet foods rather than natural foods. Some, like parrots, can be inbred due to scarcity through CITES and their endangered status. Many foods are geared towards one species of animal, but used for others because of similar digestive systems or nutritional requirements. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to create a special pellet food for each species that gives them precisely what they need - not to mention costly in terms of raw materials - for what may be a small market. Read the material and consider the potential consequences for other animals.

I have a purebred weimeraner that has experienced skin allergies and cannot take a combination vaccine. Dr. Plechner’s insights and treatments make a great deal of sense to me since I have experienced this “epidemic” in my own household. It takes more time and thought to put together natural, healthy foods for all of my animals, but NOT experiencing the problems and prolonging their lives is well worth it. I found it quite interesting to note that Dr. Plechner actually created (and sold) the formulas for nationally used hypoallergenic and natural food brands. I was surprised to find out mixtures like lamb/rice meals that used to be considered hypoallergenic have been used to the degree that they no longer can be considered so. (I actually had to use duck/potato and deer formulas for my dog so I should have had a clue.)

Read the book, talk to your veterinarian. If you have animals other than cats and dogs talk to your veterinarian about modifying their diet to include healthy, natural foods at least as supplements if not entirely and avoid inbreeding.

Recommended: Yes

Pets at Risk is available through Amazon.com.

Title: Pets at Risk
Authors: Alfred Plechner, DVM
Publisher: NewSage Press
Copyright: 2003
ISBN: 0939165481