The big problem appears to be that the pet food companies donate millions of dollars to vet schools, which appear to not do any independent reearch into nutrition. Why would you look to see if your benefactor is doing wrong, report it, and lose tons of financing?

That soon will change, but that is another story.

Anyway, Sandra posts a blog over on Blogspot and I wanted to give you a look at one of her posts. If you are interested, she has many other posts and will continue over there.

If you have a dog, you might read a few postings and think. Sandra is well known, well respected and unlike the Vets, has actual research she can cite.

You may ask why Vets recommend dry dog food? Well they don't have freezers, just stock space in the front office to sell pet food. It is a major source of income to them. Also, few know better. A raw meaty bone (like a beef rib) once a week cleans a dogs teeth better thn putting them to sleep and scraping their teeth. I can tell you that for humans, anesthesia complications can be more serious than the thing they are operating for.

Anyway, here is her post for today. As I say, read more if it interests you at http://rmb4healthypets.blogsp...

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An amazing story comes from a police officer with a drug-sniffing dog. The local police department uses Labrador retrievers to sniff for illegal drugs at the airport, in shipping facilities, and in suspected drug-dealers' residences. Research shows that dental plaque and gum diesase reduce dogs' ability to smell. When I showed the officer a research study, she immediately started her dog on an RMB diet. Within two weeks, his breath smelled better, and his gums were less inflamed. Within a month, the dog's mouth was repaired, and his scenting ability was back to normal.

Trained police dogs are expensive investments (cost = $8,000 to $15,000). They receive excellent veterinary care, except vets don't know what to do about foul mouths, because all their kibble-fed patients have it. Annual cleanings under anesthesia do not prevent foul mouths.

The fact that pet owners recognize that foul smell as familiar "doggie" breath says we accept the inevitablity of dogs' developing diseased mouths. Diseased mouths are inevitable for pets fed kibble and canned mush. Even if owners get their pets teeth cleaned annually by a veterinarian (at about $250 to $300 per cleaning), the infection process begins again with the next junk pet food meal.

Accepting "doggie" breath as normal in adult dogs is like accepting rotting teeth and infected gums in ourselves. No, you say, of course, we don't accept bad breath, rotting teeth, and infected gums in ourselves! We clean our teeth daily or more often by brushing and flossing. Exactly, and your dog cannot brush or floss his teeth unless you give him Nature's tooth brush -- raw-meaty-bones.

Veterinarians pass responsibility for pets' foul mouths to owners, by mandating daily brushing of pets' teeth and by approving, and selling, manufactured dental products. The American Veterinary Dental Association has a panel of experts that review and approve various kibbles, treats, and chews that allegedly retard the development of periodontal disease. Greenies, rawhide chews, and kibble formulae with grittier textures are supposed to help, but they are inadequate solutions to the massive problem of poor pet dental health.

Veterinary dental experts know that raw-meaty-bones clean wild canids' and felines' teeth. Wolves and wild cats do not suffer from foul mouths until they are very old, very ill, and ready to die. Dogs and cats suffer from periodontal disease from puppyhood, because they do not have raw-meaty-bones to clean their teeth, as Nature intended.

Foul mouth "doggie" breath is no more normal for pets than it would be for you. "Doggie" breath is the sign of a diseased mouth.