Natural Rearing

My M recently found this website, Natural Rearing that advocates natural rearing and holistic and alternative care for pets. She found a particular article about feeding quite familiar.

To extract from it's passages:

- Everybody knows that---The digestive system of the modern domesticated dog is much "weaker" than a wild dog’s and that is why modern dogs have to be fed differently to their wild counterparts.

- Everybody knows that—Each meal you feed your dog should be complete and balanced,

- It is impossible without a university education in dog nutrition to be able to successfully feed a dog,

- And of course—the best way to ensure proper nutrition is by feeding only (fill in appropriate brand name) commercial dog food.

I wonder if anyone found the above statements familiar? Yes, it is almost exactly the same thing that the vet told my M!

And my M loved the reply in the site:

"COMMONSENSE—Ask yourself the question…is that the way you design your own meals ? Each of them totally balanced with every conceivable nutrient present that you require ? Of course you don’t. No creature since life began has eaten that way!!

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize that in nature, a "wild" dog will achieve a balanced diet over a period of time that can range from a few days to a few weeks. Never at each meal and never consistent. The attempt to put all the nutrients a dog requires into one commercial product is responsible for much unnecessary suffering and poor health. It is an insidious way of slowly ensuring a shorter life span for your animal and is guaranteed to sooner or later make your veterinarian a little richer."

My M is not against kibbles, it's just that I can't take them, and she has the time to go marketing and cook for us. She just doesn't like the way the vet was lecturing her, almost like forcing her to listen to his beliefs.

Anyway, thanks to some of your suggestions, my M did change to another vet when she took Helios for his last vaccination. This lady vet (whom I dislike, which I will explain why later), is a lot more receptive. She did recommend dog food as well, but she said it nicely, not in a 'I know better that you' kind of way. She did say that if my M prefers to continue with hcf, maybe she can substitute one of the meals with kibbles so that Helios will still get his nutrients. But my M is still sticking to hcf. With the recent food recall, she can't really trust dog food for now.

And now I shall explain why I dislike this vet. She said I'm a little OVERWEIGHT!!! My M asked her to check if my weight is ok, and she said I'm OVERWEIGHT!! If I had known she was feeling for my ribs, I would have stood up, because gravity will pull my skin and fur down so that my ribs are more visible. But nooooo..... she had to feel for my ribs when I'l all sprawled out on the floor, and the floor is pushing my skin and fur up to surround my ribs.

So my M said I have to go on a diet. And the vet suggested giving me fruits and vegetables as treats instead of biscuits because 'I can't tell the difference!'. Of course I know the difference! I'd prefer to have them all!

I think I shall have to avoid going to the vet in future.