America’s Blue Lacy Dog Blog

Those who argue against linebreeding are inevitably those who have never successfully bred animals themselves – most often they are college professors. The same people who have bred nothing more complicated than fruit flies or no more demanding than lab rats are often the most vocal about how others should breed performance animals. These “know-nothings” advocate the notion that out-crossing is in and of itself good because it produces some thing they often refer to as “hybrid vigor”.

Since I also breed French Bulldogs one of the most common problems with them is food allergies. I’d switch from one brand to another, from beef to lamb, from grain to rice, etc. and find myself frustrated at not being able to solve the problem. Things may seem to go well for a time and then the same old thing happens all over again. Changing to lamb from beef would appear to be a logical thing to try, but how on earth do you really know just what you are really getting? Let me give you an example of what could be in a run of “lamb” from the rendering plant and still legally be labeled as lamb.

If we were to bulldoze into the pit, say 25% of lamb parts, mix with 20% beef, 20% chicken, say 15% dogs or cats, and say a mixture of 20% of various road kill animal carcasses, we can say that the dominant ingredient of this run is lamb. (For this example we will ignore the % of plastic, metal, styrofoam, insecticide, etc.–all too small to affect the labeling process). As long as the rendering plant does not misrepresent the % of protein or fat or calcium, etc., they are legitimately entitled to sell the run to your favorite pet food manufacturer as “lamb.”

By the way, I should mention that the fat sold by the rendering industry does not all come from animals. Thanks to the proliferation of fast food restaurants, nearly half of the “raw material” is waste kitchen grease and frying oil cleaned out of the traps on a regular basis (another industry all of its own). Again, the pet food people rely on this source for the fat that is usually sprayed on the kibble at the end of the drying process.

Once you understand just what really goes into producing a commercial pet food, you can’t really be surprised to learn that many of the health problems we see in our companion animals are directly attributable to a lack of proper nutrition.

When someone asks me “aren’t you afraid of salmonella or contamination in the raw meat you use?”, I only wish I could take them out to a rendering facility and show them just how bad the commercial goop can be! Never again would they buy a bag or can of pet food without realizing just what they are really doing. Never again would they have any fear of using “fresh” meat in place of what the industry laughingly calls food for pets.

If you insist on retaining the “convenience” over health factor, and want to keep using your dry food, at least add a digestive enzyme to give your pet a break on his already overtaxed system.

Adding some fresh vegetables and fruits would also help a lot. Even if these too have been subjected to pesticides, at least they are still raw and have more to contribute to nourishment than the highly processed contents in commercial pet foods!

At the beginning of this century pets were fed on “scraps” from our own food. Around the middle of this century, the fast food life style started to make its appearance. As we approach the end of this century “scraps” have taken on a whole new meaning.

In natural foods (raw), Mother Nature does the balancing for us and the body takes what it needs. When artificially added–who knows what is absorbed?

Join me as we delve into creating a diet for our dogs. You’re starting out with a healthy, disease free Blue Lacy with no hereditary disorders. Why not keep him or her that way?

“The only thing rabies vaccination is for is the protection from rabies virus, all other justifiers for the vaccine fall under human control and exist because there are a certain number of humans, connected to animals, who are irresponsible. Rabies is spread by the bite of an infected animal. The number of dog/cat bite cases in the U.S. that expose humans to rabies is as rare as shark attacks. This low incident rate has nothing to do with mandatory vaccination as the number of cases was low before the mandatory requirement.

From 1964 to 1989 there were no cases of rabies in cats in Pinellas County. Magically in 1989 a law was passed mandating rabies vaccination, tags and licenses for all cats. Same tired worn out excuses were used. Since the 1989 law there was one cat with rabies contracted from the bite of a bat. DO YOU READERS REALLY UNDERSTAND WHAT I HAVE JUST STATED? This is standard throughout the Country. No allowance is made for dogs/cats who never leave the house or yard, could never be exposed to rabies under any circumstances, or who are so ill, old or at the end of their life cycle that the rabies vaccine would throw them over the edge. No, all dogs and cats are treated the same because we have the bogeyman, rabies, stalking the streets waiting to strike unprotected dogs and cats.

Is there rabies in this Country? You bet. Are there areas of this Country that have rabies in their wildlife population and do some dogs/cats become infected? You bet. But let’s be realistic. Rabies has been on this earth long before man walked here and will be here long after we are gone. The only way to get rid of rabies is to remove mankind and the upper animals susceptible to the virus. Then maybe the virus will die off. It is a self limiting disease in the wild as it is fatal. So the virus has an extremely hard time spreading far and wide.

The vaccines, particularly rabies, are a political and economic scam being forced upon pet owners because they do not know the truth. Rabies, nationwide, is nowhere near the problem the veterinarians, media, politicians and bureaucrats would like you to believe. If you wish more of the truth go to your local city or county government building and look up the codes and statutes concerning vaccines and rabies. Get figures from local animal control for rabies in dogs, cats and wildlife in your area. Then you can start to fight back, take control of your life, and protect your pet from the only dreaded disease that is important–special interest groups pushing their program leading to vaccine induced damaged immune systems. Only you can set yourself free.

Current Veterinary Therapy by Kirk, the textbook bible for veterinarians in general, has an article on canine and feline vaccines by two researchers. Near the end of the article is a paragraph called Annual Vaccinations. It states “The practice of annual vaccinations lacks scientific validity or verification. There is no immunological requirement for annual vaccinations. The practice of annual vaccinations should be considered of questionable efficacy unless it is used as a mechanism to provide an annual physical examination or is required by law.” Sure, if we can’t manipulate you with annual vaccinations let’s pass a law to get you into the office. Nice trick!” * John Fundens, D.V.M.

Chlorinated Water? Not For My Dog!

Chlorine is a halogen that damages enzymes. It does not belong in our bodies!

Chlorine potentiates magnesium deficiency, which can cause almost any symptom you can think of from high blood pressure, to chemical sensitivity or even sudden death. Furthermore it also decreases the absorption while increasing the excretion of calcium and phosphorus. The increased loss of calcium into the urine, promotes osteoporosis. On top of this some people still use plastic water bowls. These absorb and retain numerous toxic materials. Most breeders are aware of the chlorine problem in drinking water, but often overlooked is the fact that bathing in it can have the same effect!! Because skin absorbs it is just like drinking it!!

In some cities the chlorine level is so high, that taking 3 showers a day puts you over the government standard for exposure.

As always, the Europeans are ahead of us in promoting natural health by the use of OZONE treatment. It does a wonderful job, with none of the free radical damage to the body that is common with chlorine. There are many fantastic benefits of ozone to be derived from its interaction with the body! It sure would be nice if we could get our cities to also consider this!

You know that chlorinated drinking water is directly responsible for several problems including cancer in humans. What about our animals?

Animal studies by the Environmental Protection Agency have shown that drinking chlorinated water caused blood cholesterol to switch from high-density lipoproteins (the good guys) to low-density lipoproteins (the bad guys). Why the EPA doesn’t inform the public that our drinking water is contributing to the number one killer in our country, I can’t begin to understand.

Way back in the May/June 1992 issue of Chemical Research In Toxicology, there is a report that ingested chlorinated water alters and destroys essential unsaturated fatty acids. When water is treated with chlorine the compound “hypochlorite” is created. This compound creates free radicals which oxidize these essential fatty acids and cause them to turn rancid!

These free radicals being created by chlorinated water not only decrease the body’s ability to get essential fatty acids from food, but they also create dangerous toxins directly linked to liver malfunction, weakening of the immune system, changes in the arteries and even actually altering the cellular DNA.

Keep in mind that the fatty acids that are being destroyed are “essential” fatty acids, meaning that the body must have them to survive and they’re not something the body can make. They have to come from food! Of course if you are still feeding a typical commercial pet food to your animal you’re probably not concerned with this anyway, since there’s little (if any) unsaturated fatty acids in pet foods. They go rancid so quickly they decrease the shelf life and to solve this problem, most pet food manufacturers use either saturated fats or hydrogenated fats—both of which cause even more health problems.

But for those of you feeding a human grade, natural diet while providing a good source of essential fatty acids, please remember to avoid chlorinated water in your feeding program. *LacyGameDog.com