Sick Pets

Below is a picture of Choco (7 years old), my brother's dog, happily eating "whole" animals, bones, skin and organs as part of his daily diet. He is free to consume as much as he wants and the parts he likes most.

Obesity, and diabetes is reaching epidemic proportions in cats and dogs. The reason is very simple, same as in humans: insulin resistance. Today's cats and dogs are usually fed a "well-formulated" high-carbohydrate pet food, which, over the long term predispose our pets to chronic diseases (cancer, diabetes, heart disease).

Choco, fed on dog crackers the first few years of his life developed the following symptoms:

• hair loss
• constant worm infestations
• fat tissue gain
• anger, aggressive behaviour (he attacked the little ones in the family)
• dental plaque 

The advise given by the vet was:

• Change dog crackers to a "healthier" very expensive version.
• Give him less food.

There were some improvements. But it did not seem to work very well after a few months, as the poor dog was starving. 

The solution was to give him food originally meant for dogs, as nature intended: raw or cooked meat, organ meat, bones, and no more starches. He eats whenever hungry.

The changes in Choco, some of them noticed by the vet at the yearly check-ups:

• He lost fat tissue.
• He doesn't have aggressive behaviour any more.
• The plaque on his teeth were no more apparent because of the constant chewing on bones. The vet did not understand how it disappeared as the notes from the previous visit highlighted the necessity for plaque removal.
• Shiny hair.
• No more worms.

Today, Choco would not touch a commercial dog food.

(Sorry for the quality of certain pictures)