What about feeding your dog in a more healthy way

I think I am lucky. I think this because I have two loving animal companions that are dogs. I also have a cat and he is very loving too.

My dogs, Belle(11)and Buddy(5), are both rescued. Belle is a Golden Retriever and Buddy is an Aussie-Corgi. They get very wholesome and sometimes raw food. I add herbs and nutritional supplements and use super premium baked kibble. I make much of their food and actually find it quite easy to do.

Purchase super premium pet food or order recipes for my basic mix and a healthy 'cookie' are available for a donation to CHI, the tax exempt, non-profit organization that brings you Natural Health News.

I advise people to avoid feeding only dry food.

From the VRP Pet Corner comes a similar concern -

What’s In Our Dogs’ Food? (Part I) By Gary L. Ailes, DVM

There seem to be many conflicting thoughts about dog food even today. It is an important topic and one that warrants a longer discussion. Therefore, I will devote the next four Pet Corners to this topic.

Consider dry dog food, which tends to be what most people feed to their larger dogs. Some people think that the baked form of dry food is the best. However, baking can take place with temperatures as high as 425 degrees. Extruded dog food, on the other hand, may be processed at temperatures closer to 115 degrees or as high as 212 degrees using a steam method. When trying to preserve the foods’ natural benefits such as vitamins and antioxidants, the lower temperature may actually be better. Is one way of cooking dry food better than another? I honestly do not know and have yet to see either way proven in a scientific method. If either one has black or burned areas, I would put that particular food in an unfavorable light as eating burned anything has a carcinogenic effect.

The ingredients of dog food should be evaluated in a thoughtful manner. Trying to understand exactly what the manufacturer is putting in the food is done by the way the ingredients are listed on the bag, box or can. The first listed ingredient will make up more of the final product than any of the others. The ingredients are listed in order from the first one, which has the largest percentage, to the last one, which makes up the smallest percentage.

What are the ingredients? I prefer to have meat then meat by-products listed first, which should be the primary source of protein. By meat, I mean beef, fish, chicken or lamb. A dog that is consistently fed a diet of lamb and rice may be deficient in taurine. Therefore, I suggest supplementing with 250 mg daily of taurine. The meats should be followed by the carbohydrate source, which will usually be corn, barley, oats, rice or wheat.

The third ingredient we need to know about is fat. Adequate amounts of fat are very important and it adds to the metabolic water in the body. However, it has twice the calories per gram and the total calorie intake must be kept to an amount that does not produce excess weight gain. Usually, the listing doesn’t specify the amount of omega-3 and omega-6 fats in the food. Most animal fats are higher in omega-6 fatty acids and need to have some supplementation of omega-3 fatty acids. The nutritionists I have consulted feel the optimum ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids is between 5 to 1 and 10 to 1. Omega-3 fatty acids are very important to help decrease inflammation. This action is helpful in decreasing allergies, osteoarthritis and skin inflammation. These may be times when more omega-3 fatty acids are indicated. Neptune Krill Oil® can be added to the dog food as a way to increase the omega-3 content.

The next article will discuss the protein fraction of dog foods and what that really means.

© 2008 VRP

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Too Many Women Still Dying From Breast Cancer

According to a report in Science Daily thousands of women die from breast cancer each year because current treatments are not always effective and in some cases fail to stem the disease.

I have been hearing this now for too many years and I sincerely wonder why women are so adverse to realize that this "race" for a cure is just a way to keep people on a payroll, under the guise of 'research'.

Facts are that much of the screening propagandized by MSM only promotes more breast cancer. And if you haven't read all my articles written on this topic over more than a decade, or attended one of my classes, you won't know just how high the risks are from radiation. This even includes your pink cell phone and pink-lid (fake food) 'yogurt'.

While chemo brings about limited cure, many of the drugs promote other types of cancer. Radiation treatment brings about problems with thyroid function and can lead to congestive heart failure. If it were me I would do anything to avoid these consequences.

I'd be taking all that non-soy vitamin e to prevent my hair from falling out from the treatment, and I's refuce the candy and chips offered at some cancer centers to help stave off your hunger while your flooding your body with that chemo cocktail in the IV.

I'd be taking supplements. Yes, you know those supplements they tell you not to take because it would interfere with your radiation or chemo. I'd look at all those herbal treatment that do give you an edge or even investigate IV vitamin C therapy.

Most of all, I'd look to what I can do to nurture myself. It is commonly known in natural healing circles that women who do not nurture themselves are the ones more likely to get breast cancer.

And then ther is the cancer promoting HPV vaccine, Gardasil, the want you to inject in your daughters.

Yes, let's keep the race for the dis-ease in high gear!

Too Many Women Still Dying From Breast Cancer, Says UK Charity
ScienceDaily (Mar. 30, 2008) — Thousands of women die from breast cancer each year because current treatments are not always effective and in some cases fail to stem the disease, warns the United Kingdom-based charity Breast Cancer Campaign.

In a comprehensive review of breast cancer research published today, 56 of the UK's most influential breast cancer experts have identified the key research gaps and priorities for the greatest potential impact on patients.

Breast cancer treatment has improved over the past few decades and led to increased survival rates and better quality of life, the report highlights. However over 44,000 women in the UK are diagnosed with breast cancer each year and around 12,500 will die.

Unfortunately, not enough is known about why treatments don't work for some patients or why breast cancer can return, sometimes many years later, says Breast Cancer Campaign.

The new study, one of the largest ever carried out in the UK and published by the open access journal Breast Cancer Research, is a unique insight into the current state of breast cancer research and its future challenges.

Gaps in key areas of breast cancer research have been identified in the report, says the charity: prevention, detection, spread or recurrence of the disease, treatment, pathology, physiology, genetics and psychosocial aspects of breast cancer.

Among the recommendations for future research priorities pinpointed by Breast Cancer Campaign:

Identify new ways to predict and prevent breast cancer
Predict who will develop advanced or secondary disease
Determine how and why breast cancer spreads to other parts of the body
Devise a suitable method to determine the effectiveness of a treatment at an early stage
Understand more about the psychosocial and psychological impacts of breast cancer
Pamela Goldberg, Chief Executive Breast Cancer Campaign said, "Breast cancer research has made considerable progress over the past two decades and vital work is still underway. But there are still significant knowledge gaps.

"Greater attention must be paid to all stages of breast cancer. The experiences of older women and those from minority ethnic groups must be considered, particularly in light of recent research showing breast cancer develops earlier in black women and their survival rates are poorer."

Breast Cancer Campaign is already playing a leading role in filling some of the research gaps identified in the report. The charity is currently spending £11.3 million on over 90 research projects around the UK, looking at all areas from screening and prevention to genetics and treatment.

The development of a computer programme that will quickly tell clinicians which is the best treatment for an individual is just one of the many research projects funded by the charity.

Accurately identifying who will respond, or not respond, to breast cancer treatments is very difficult. The computer programme will be able to predict which patients will benefit most, not only from current treatments, but also any new therapies that may come onto the market, paving the way for treatment tailored to the individual and ultimately saving lives.

"We have set out a blueprint for future breast cancer research by this analysis and we are already filling some of the gaps," says Pamela Goldberg.

"While we are working in an exciting age of discovery, our resources are limited. The Government, funding bodies and scientists should focus on these gaps to drive advances in knowledge into improvements in patient care. If we co-ordinate our resources and target the priorities in breast cancer research, we can ensure an environment of scientific excellence and plug these gaps."

Journal reference: Gaps in breast cancer treatment. Breast Cancer Research 2008, 10:R26 http://breast-cancer-research.com/content/10/2/R26

Adapted from materials provided by BioMed Central, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

BioMed Central (2008, March 30). Too Many Women Still Dying From Breast Cancer, Says UK Charity. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 1, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/03/080327172227.htm

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