In my ongoing adventures
as proprietor of Sojourner Farms, this
is one question that I find myself asking people
time and time again. Obviously the answer is ‘no,’ but
that certainly doesn’t seem to make it an easy
concept for most folks to understand. After all,
it seems that most pets in this country eat cooked
cat and dog food -- and it’s my belief that
this isn’t
the way it was supposed to be.
My belief isn’t just based on common sense.
I’ve done plenty of highly scientific studies
over the years to prove my theories. Many times I
have placed various cats and dogs in front of my
stove, and without fail, they don’t know how
to work it. In fact, out of 15 dogs and cats tested
since my study started, not one of them knew how
to turn on the stove! Not only that, but none of
my “test animals” knew how to use a microwave
either (although I did know a dog once who could
fetch me a beer). I would have to guess that these
were probably astonishing results to most of this
country’s pet food manufacturers. After all,
these companies make processed, cooked, pelletized,
and preserved pet foods in the form of tiny pellets
and canned mishmash that we’re told are perfectly “natural” for
pets to eat. When I hear this, I picture undomesticated
dogs, killing their prey, and then turning them into
kibbled pellets before sitting down for a meal. Or
how about your cat building a little bonfire in the
backyard to make his newly-killed mouse safe for
consumption. Sounds pretty silly, eh?
When I was a young boy,
I can remember my dog, Chuggers (named after a
cozy little bar in Chattanooga)
being diagnosed by a local vet as having a “bad
thyroid.” Her coat began to fall out, and she
grew sores all over her body in addition to other dog
health problems. Her temperament became horrible,
and soon she had to
be put to sleep.
No
amount of “prescription diets” or powerful
medications could save her. Sometimes I wonder how
things would’ve changed had I known then what
I know now. When I graduated from college and began
work as the manager of a holistic veterinary clinic
in Minneapolis, I saw cases like Chuggers every day.
Hundreds of dogs and cats came in, time after time,
displaying variations on the same mysterious illness.
Sometimes it manifested itself in other ways. Some
animals had cancer, some had hip displaysia, some
F.U.S., leukemia, kidney failure, liver disease,
and so on, and so on, and so on. I couldn’t
figure out what in the world was going on. Why were
our critters suffering from so many chronic and seemingly
incurable illnesses? Soon it became clear that a
major contributor to these problems was in fact diet.
We had been feeding these dogs and cats pelletized,
processed pet foods (made of horribly suspect ingredients
in many cases) for around 50 years (which was around
the time that corporate America figured out that
they could profit from the thrown-away waste and
by-products by turning it into “pet food”)
and it was finally catching up to us. These pets
were meant to eat as they would in the wild. They
needed fresh, raw foods, that still contained vital
enzymes, nutrients, and trace minerals. They needed
their owners to take the time to make up fresh food,
rather than relying on simply tearing open a bag
and pouring its contents into a bowl.
When I think of traditional
dog food, I think of what it would be like for
me if I had to eat pelletized
people food. What if I took all of the things that
I normally eat (in the form of by-products and feed
deemed “not suitable for human consumption”)
and then fused them into a tiny pellet that I could
eat everyday and get 100% of the daily nutrition
that I need? I’d say life wouldn’t be all
that fun. I think of how good-old Chuggers must have
felt, when no one could figure out what to do, even
though the answer was so obvious.
One thing is for sure, and
that is that I will never make that same mistake
again. That's not to say that I won't ever feed
any cooked food to a dog again. There are healthy
leftovers as well as all natural
dog treats that
can be a great addition to a dog's diet. But I
will always continue to tell people my story, to
stop
them from making that same mistake. Whenever I’m
feeling down; whenever I start to think that reeducating
this country is too daunting a task; whenever I get
the feeling that I’m fighting a losing battle
-- I just remind myself that every time I talk to
someone about this story, I’ve hopefully changed
a critter’s life. Perhaps I’ve prevented
another case like that of Chuggers. Hopefully that
person told someone else their story too, and they
told someone, and they told someone and they'll all
switch to a holistic dog food -- and I daydream that
pretty soon, everyone will realize
at once,
that they’ve never seen an oven in the wild.
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Sojourner Farms. All rights reserved.
