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Freedom
From Illness:
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February 2016 | ||||
Welcome to the monthly Freedom From Illness wholistic newsletter from Russell Louie and Margaret Auld-Louie at Optimum Choices. To receive this newsletter by e-mail, click: Subscribe Newsletter. To unsubscribe, see the bottom of this e-mail. Contents February
Sale February Sale
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Current News
Pet Food RecallsThe pet food recalls continue. The best "wholistic" suggestion to prevent danger to your pet is — STOP feeding dry kibble dog food. In our "wholistic" opinion, dry kibble dog food is the least nutritious form of food to feed a carnivore. Furthermore, a majority of all pet food recalls is with dry food. Canned food, freeze-dried food and raw food have a much lower percentage of recalls. To read more on our "wholistic" philosophy on pet food, go to the following links:
Pet Food Recall For a very revealing report on pet food, click the link:
What Pet Food Companies
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********************************************************************************* National Pet Dental Health MonthDoes your pet have bad breath or unexplained benign lumps? Do you want to avoid Chronic Renal Failure (CRF) or Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in senior pets? Since February is National Pet Dental Health Month, we will discuss how all the above may be holistically related to bad teeth. Doggy bad breath is not normal. It could be a sign your dog has periodontal disease. Some studies show up to 85% of dogs and cats could have periodontal or gum disease. According to Australian veterinarian Tom Lonsdale, author of Raw Meaty Bones Promote Health, if left untreated this could lead to heart, lung, kidney and joint disease, and depress the immune system. So why do our pets have such bad dental health with all the dental chew treats and so-called "dental" and "tartar" formula dry kibble? Based on our "wholistic" research and the holistic experts we follow, those are all marketing ploys that simply do not work. Those commercial "dental" formula dry kibble will clean your pet's teeth no better than mint-flavored pretzels will clean your teeth. Animal nutrition expert Kate Solisti, author of the Holistic Animal Handbook, explains that kibble is particularly bad for the gums of cats. They have pointy teeth designed to tear meat, not molars to grind kibble. When they try to crunch kibble with their pointy teeth, it slides between the teeth and presses against the gum, abrading it and allowing the carbohydrates from the kibble to enter the bloodstream. Retired, holistic feline veterinarian. Dr. Jean Hofve (www.LittleBigCat.com), calls dry kibble "diabetes in a bag" for cats. According to Dr. Lonsdale (author of Work Wonders: Feed your dog raw meaty bones), cats and dogs are designed by nature to get clean teeth from gnawing on raw bones, not crunching kibble. He feels a diet of processed pet food (kibble and canned) is the cause of this epidemic of periodontal disease. Most holistic vets are now recommending a diet of raw meat, bones and organs for dogs and cats to promote optimal health and clean teeth. It does take some care and education to do this safely—we have heard of cases of animals getting bones stuck in their digestive system, even raw bones, when they were switched too quickly to a raw diet. We would suggest that you educate yourself on how to feed a balanced and safe raw diet and work with a holistic vet during this process. If our pets cannot clean their teeth the way Nature intended by gnawing on raw bones, then it's up to us to keep them clean so they have optimal health. An important part of this care includes professional cleaning every 6 to 12 months by a vet or dental hygienist, just like we do for ourselves. Do not forget regular x-rays too. Even a visual inspection by a vet may not be enough to identify bad teeth that need to be extracted. One Chihuahua mix had several loose teeth that needed to be extracted. Subsequent x-rays discovered two abscessed molars that also needed to come out. These can be a source of hidden infections compromising the immune system. Small dogs are prone to bad teeth. Our previous dog, a 12 pound Chihuahua mix named Mikki, was no exception. In spite of giving her raw meaty bones, brushing her teeth and taking her for anesthesia-free teeth cleaning, she still had bad teeth. By the time she died at age 18 years, she had half her teeth taken out. We are sure that one of the reasons she got Chronic Renal Failure (CRF) is because of her bad teeth. Every time we had some of Mikki’s bad teeth removed the benign lumps on her would decrease in size. Apparently, these lumps were collection spots for the toxins the bad teeth created. This wholistic principle applies to both people and pets. In addition to these periodic cleanings, most vets recommend regular tooth brushing, if your pet will let you do it. Make sure to use toothpaste designed for cats and dogs as they will swallow it and human toothpaste could be toxic to them. You can also try various chew toys and treats to clean teeth, but be careful to read the ingredients labels on treats. One of the most popular teeth cleaning treats, which is green and shaped like a toothbrush, contains wheat gluten as the main ingredient. Since dogs are carnivores, we feel it makes more sense to feed a meat-based treat such as hard “bully sticks” or beef tendons. If you do not have a specialty pet store in your area that offers these, you can order them online in different sizes to accommodate all sizes of dogs. Rawhide treats are widely used to clean teeth too but we do not feel comfortable giving this to our dog since rawhide is often highly processed and pieces of it could possibly be swallowed and get stuck in the digestive tract. Unfortunately, regular teeth cleaning means putting your pet under general anesthesia. We do not feel holistically it is good for our pets' health to experience anesthesia every six months. Anesthesia, like other drugs, is a toxin that the body has to work hard at eliminating so while the periodontal disease is being reduced, the toxin load on the body is being increased. If you have a senior pet or do not want your pet to experience anesthesia frequently, one solution is to take your pet to someone who is trained in anesthesia-free teeth cleaning. Technicians are trained and veterinary-supervised to clean using the same techniques as a vet—cleaning under the gum line and polishing the teeth afterwards. If the person is skilled at handling animals, they can perform this service on most pets, including cats. We prefer to take our pets for an anesthesia-free teeth cleaning session here in Denver. This is especially good for small dogs, so they do not have to be put under anesthesia every 6 months. Senior dogs that cannot tolerate anesthesia would also benefit. Cindy Lloyd is a Certified Pet Dental Hygienist in the Denver area. She is a founding member of www.WellAnimalInstitute.com/. You may contact her at info@WellAnimalInstitute.com or at: Cindy@NaturalPetProducts.net or 303-654-0560. To find out if there is a practitioner that does anesthesia-free teeth cleaning for pets in your area, the best way is to search on the Internet for "anesthesia-free teeth cleaning" in your location or ask your local vet and pet stores for a referral. Well Animal Institute publishes a list of students that have graduated from their anesthesia-free teeth cleaning program. Go to their School/Students tab on their horizontal menu bar from their home page: www.wellanimalinstitute.com/school/students Here are some photo results of anesthesia-free teeth cleaning.
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Contact us
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E-mail:Telephone:303-271-1649 office Location (available by appointment ONLY)416 Plateau Pkwy
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