The Pursuit of Health
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What is health? You’d think this would be an easy answer, given that it’s something that everybody
wants, for ourselves as well as for our animal companions. And yet it’s as elusive and difficult to define as
it is to achieve.
Is health simply the absence of disease? Not necessarily. Some diseases are essential to stimulate and
train the immune system. These are commonly recognized as the infectious diseases of childhood,
although every common cold we overcome has also affected our immune system.
Being healthy involves having a robust mind/body system that is capable of meeting the challenges of life
without succumbing. Our health determines how quickly and how completely we recover from any
disturbance to the system, whether the latest strain of the flu, a car accident, or an emotional trauma.
How can we promote and maintain the health of our animal friends? It turns out that the answer is the
same basic stuff we’ve known all along – diet, exercise, fresh water, clean air, and a loving environment.
With a little common sense and a minimum of difficulty, these are all things about which we can do
something.
DIET
The food we feed our pets can be either the most harmful things we do to them or one of the best. The ill
effects of cooked, sterile, vitamin and enzyme deficient diet may not be evident for many years. Packaged
dog food was invented in the 1950s, along with white flour, white pasta, and white bread, and we know
how good those are for our bodies…not! In my opinion, the optimum choice is to feed our pets an organic,
raw-food diet. This, of course, is not within the reach of everyone’s wallet or schedule. There are a lot of
little things we can do, though, to improve the situation. One of the easiest things to do is to feed our
pets a high quality packaged food and add things to it. Easy things to top Fido’s feast with are live-culture
yogurt and a fatty acid/vitamin/mineral supplement. There is a large amount of information available on
this topic, including recipes for food “toppers,” and prepared, balanced, raw-frozen diets. (See
recommended reading list.)
One thing that is important to understand is that both dog and cat foods are too high in carbohydrates for
the species for which they were formulated. Dogs appear omnivorous. Their normal diet consists not only
of prey animals, but includes fecal matter (of other animals), grass, vegetables, fruit, berries, dead things…
odds and ends. Even so, they are carnivores. Although they can tolerate quite a lot of carbohydrates, and
there are some dogs doing well on vegetarian diets, it’s not the best for them.
Cats, on the other hand, are obligate carnivores, like ferrets. Cats are the ultimate Atkins Diet model.
They require high protein and high fat. It’s questionable whether they even have a carbohydrate
requirement. Cats were originally desert animals and would normally get all their fluid requirements from
their prey. For the cat, dry food is truly a disservice. It has much too high a level of carbohydrate for their
needs, which is why we see so many diabetic cats and cats with urinary tract disease. Also, dry food is
incredibly dry, forcing cats to drink more water than is normal. Which is even then, not enough – hence all
the kidney failure we commonly see, that was, incidentally, a rare occurrence before the invention of dry
cat food. At the very least, cats should have access to canned food, although canned food is still a cooked,
processed product, devoid of important nutrients necessary for true health.
Any dietary adjustment that brings our pets closer to a natural, raw-food diet is going to improve their well-
being immensely, and promote a long and healthy life.
EXERCISE
Dogs and cats are natural athletes. (Okay, granted, some of them don’t look like it.) They were made by
nature to roam over a wide territory, searching for food when not grooming, playing, and sleeping. All
dogs require some off-leash exercise, either in a fenced yard (preferably with a playmate) or at the dog
park. Exercise is just as important for our feline friends, although more difficult perhaps to enforce.
Overweight cats and dogs need better diets and more activity, not high-carbohydrate “reducing” diets!
Making time in our busy schedules for pet exercise on a regular basis can go a long way towards improving
their health and ours.
WATER
Are you reluctant to drink the tap water in your town? Does the water from the well always smell funny,
enough to deter you from imbibing? Then why make your pet drink it? Yes, it’s true, dogs will drink out of
a puddle in the road that a car just drove through, but that should be the exception, not the rule. Water
quality, with associated chlorination and fluoridation, has serious implications for human health, and so too
for the health of our shorter-lived, four-legged companions. Having the water tested and filtered, or using
bottled water, can help our animals drink as much as they need so their bodies can function optimally.
AIR
Poor indoor air quality is a known human health hazard, also termed “sick building syndrome.” This is why
dogs and cats need regular infusions of fresh air into their environments. Humans are perhaps less
affected by the air quality at home. We are, on the whole, much less sensitive to airborne pollution than
animals, and we leave our home environments every day to go to work for a few hours.
Dogs usually get outside at least a little bit, if they’re potty trained. Indoor cats are the most sensitive to
the common air health hazards – dust, smoke, hairspray, air fresheners – and the least able to escape
them. Having the air ducts cleaned and changing filters on a regular basis, as well as not smoking in the
house and avoiding chemical sprays, can improve the indoor air quality and reduce the incidence of
respiratory diseases in our pets.
EMOTIONAL ENVIRONMENT
This is perhaps the most important factor in fostering health in our animal companions. An unhealthy
emotional environment can be blamed for a whole host of ills. In the wild, dogs and cats have complex
social lives and behaviors that humans respect, rather than focusing on bending them to our will. Both
dogs and cats have senses that are much more acute than our own, dull ones. They are also much more
aware of body language and intention than we are. Humans need to talk in order to communicate. Our
pets will never speak our language, and yet they’ve learned how to predict our behavior so well that they
will act “guilty” after shredding the sofa or “angry” when we leave them alone. In reality, these are
human interpretations of actions from beings that have a far more all-encompassing experience of life than
we can ever hope to achieve.
We can reward our friends for their unconditional love by allowing them to be themselves, respecting them
as sentient beings, inviting them into our hearts and homes, and endeavoring to understand them half as
well as they understand us. Domestication has so changed animals’ lives from the wildness they once
enjoyed. We can help our animals adjust by allowing dogs to be members of our family pack and teaching
them the arbitrary human rules of indoor behavior, instead of isolating them in outdoor kennels. We can
offer cats a place to scratch and mark territory instead of partially amputating their feet by declawing them.
We demand a lot of our animal companions. Imagine that you arrive into a strange country where a
foreign language is spoken. You can’t understand the language and will never be able to speak it.
Instead of the local customs being introduced to you gradually, they are forced upon you instantly, and
any innocent infraction on your part is met with punishment. It’ll be a wonder if you make it through the
first day. There are many things we can do to improve the health of our pets. I encourage you to
investigate the matter further and to take personal actions to promote the well-being of the animals you
love. Both they, and you, will be happier and healthier.
Recommended Reading:
Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats
Dr. Richard Pitcairn and Susan Hubble Pitcairn
The Nature of Animal Healing
Martin Goldstein, DVM
Reigning Cats and Dogs
Pat McKay
wants, for ourselves as well as for our animal companions. And yet it’s as elusive and difficult to define as
it is to achieve.
Is health simply the absence of disease? Not necessarily. Some diseases are essential to stimulate and
train the immune system. These are commonly recognized as the infectious diseases of childhood,
although every common cold we overcome has also affected our immune system.
Being healthy involves having a robust mind/body system that is capable of meeting the challenges of life
without succumbing. Our health determines how quickly and how completely we recover from any
disturbance to the system, whether the latest strain of the flu, a car accident, or an emotional trauma.
How can we promote and maintain the health of our animal friends? It turns out that the answer is the
same basic stuff we’ve known all along – diet, exercise, fresh water, clean air, and a loving environment.
With a little common sense and a minimum of difficulty, these are all things about which we can do
something.
DIET
The food we feed our pets can be either the most harmful things we do to them or one of the best. The ill
effects of cooked, sterile, vitamin and enzyme deficient diet may not be evident for many years. Packaged
dog food was invented in the 1950s, along with white flour, white pasta, and white bread, and we know
how good those are for our bodies…not! In my opinion, the optimum choice is to feed our pets an organic,
raw-food diet. This, of course, is not within the reach of everyone’s wallet or schedule. There are a lot of
little things we can do, though, to improve the situation. One of the easiest things to do is to feed our
pets a high quality packaged food and add things to it. Easy things to top Fido’s feast with are live-culture
yogurt and a fatty acid/vitamin/mineral supplement. There is a large amount of information available on
this topic, including recipes for food “toppers,” and prepared, balanced, raw-frozen diets. (See
recommended reading list.)
One thing that is important to understand is that both dog and cat foods are too high in carbohydrates for
the species for which they were formulated. Dogs appear omnivorous. Their normal diet consists not only
of prey animals, but includes fecal matter (of other animals), grass, vegetables, fruit, berries, dead things…
odds and ends. Even so, they are carnivores. Although they can tolerate quite a lot of carbohydrates, and
there are some dogs doing well on vegetarian diets, it’s not the best for them.
Cats, on the other hand, are obligate carnivores, like ferrets. Cats are the ultimate Atkins Diet model.
They require high protein and high fat. It’s questionable whether they even have a carbohydrate
requirement. Cats were originally desert animals and would normally get all their fluid requirements from
their prey. For the cat, dry food is truly a disservice. It has much too high a level of carbohydrate for their
needs, which is why we see so many diabetic cats and cats with urinary tract disease. Also, dry food is
incredibly dry, forcing cats to drink more water than is normal. Which is even then, not enough – hence all
the kidney failure we commonly see, that was, incidentally, a rare occurrence before the invention of dry
cat food. At the very least, cats should have access to canned food, although canned food is still a cooked,
processed product, devoid of important nutrients necessary for true health.
Any dietary adjustment that brings our pets closer to a natural, raw-food diet is going to improve their well-
being immensely, and promote a long and healthy life.
EXERCISE
Dogs and cats are natural athletes. (Okay, granted, some of them don’t look like it.) They were made by
nature to roam over a wide territory, searching for food when not grooming, playing, and sleeping. All
dogs require some off-leash exercise, either in a fenced yard (preferably with a playmate) or at the dog
park. Exercise is just as important for our feline friends, although more difficult perhaps to enforce.
Overweight cats and dogs need better diets and more activity, not high-carbohydrate “reducing” diets!
Making time in our busy schedules for pet exercise on a regular basis can go a long way towards improving
their health and ours.
WATER
Are you reluctant to drink the tap water in your town? Does the water from the well always smell funny,
enough to deter you from imbibing? Then why make your pet drink it? Yes, it’s true, dogs will drink out of
a puddle in the road that a car just drove through, but that should be the exception, not the rule. Water
quality, with associated chlorination and fluoridation, has serious implications for human health, and so too
for the health of our shorter-lived, four-legged companions. Having the water tested and filtered, or using
bottled water, can help our animals drink as much as they need so their bodies can function optimally.
AIR
Poor indoor air quality is a known human health hazard, also termed “sick building syndrome.” This is why
dogs and cats need regular infusions of fresh air into their environments. Humans are perhaps less
affected by the air quality at home. We are, on the whole, much less sensitive to airborne pollution than
animals, and we leave our home environments every day to go to work for a few hours.
Dogs usually get outside at least a little bit, if they’re potty trained. Indoor cats are the most sensitive to
the common air health hazards – dust, smoke, hairspray, air fresheners – and the least able to escape
them. Having the air ducts cleaned and changing filters on a regular basis, as well as not smoking in the
house and avoiding chemical sprays, can improve the indoor air quality and reduce the incidence of
respiratory diseases in our pets.
EMOTIONAL ENVIRONMENT
This is perhaps the most important factor in fostering health in our animal companions. An unhealthy
emotional environment can be blamed for a whole host of ills. In the wild, dogs and cats have complex
social lives and behaviors that humans respect, rather than focusing on bending them to our will. Both
dogs and cats have senses that are much more acute than our own, dull ones. They are also much more
aware of body language and intention than we are. Humans need to talk in order to communicate. Our
pets will never speak our language, and yet they’ve learned how to predict our behavior so well that they
will act “guilty” after shredding the sofa or “angry” when we leave them alone. In reality, these are
human interpretations of actions from beings that have a far more all-encompassing experience of life than
we can ever hope to achieve.
We can reward our friends for their unconditional love by allowing them to be themselves, respecting them
as sentient beings, inviting them into our hearts and homes, and endeavoring to understand them half as
well as they understand us. Domestication has so changed animals’ lives from the wildness they once
enjoyed. We can help our animals adjust by allowing dogs to be members of our family pack and teaching
them the arbitrary human rules of indoor behavior, instead of isolating them in outdoor kennels. We can
offer cats a place to scratch and mark territory instead of partially amputating their feet by declawing them.
We demand a lot of our animal companions. Imagine that you arrive into a strange country where a
foreign language is spoken. You can’t understand the language and will never be able to speak it.
Instead of the local customs being introduced to you gradually, they are forced upon you instantly, and
any innocent infraction on your part is met with punishment. It’ll be a wonder if you make it through the
first day. There are many things we can do to improve the health of our pets. I encourage you to
investigate the matter further and to take personal actions to promote the well-being of the animals you
love. Both they, and you, will be happier and healthier.
Recommended Reading:
Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats
Dr. Richard Pitcairn and Susan Hubble Pitcairn
The Nature of Animal Healing
Martin Goldstein, DVM
Reigning Cats and Dogs
Pat McKay