Vitamin B12 is essential for the immune system to function properly. In addition, when the kidneys are failing the body often becomes depleted of the b vitamins.

However, even though it becomes essential for cats to have B vitamins that doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be in the form of a supplement.

It may be surprising to some of you to hear that some foods contain very high levels of B vitamis and that when the raw diet is provided properly it contains all the bs your kitty will need!

Synthetic aren’t always best for our kitties because our cats come from nature and synthetic vitamins are formulated in laboratories! In my opinion their vitamins, and food should come from nature as well!

In just 4oz of beef liver you can find about 70 mcg of B12. Duck eggs contain 6mcg and 25 mcg can be found in 3oz of beef kidney.

Cats only require about 20-50mcg per day which can easily be attained through diet!

Apoquel is a dangerous and toxic conventional drug used to treat environmental allergies in dogs and cats. It is not meant for long-term use. However, most pets never come off of it.

Apoquel is a suppressant drug that suppresses allergy symptoms in pets. However, it does not CURE the underlying cause of allergies.

Some underlying causes of allergies in pets include liver dysfunction, immune system dysfunction, malnutrition, gut imbalance, or chronic inflammation. Any or all of these underlying dysfunctions can lead to allergies. When the body is experiencing dysfunction, the immune system becomes overstimulated and will identify nonharmful substances such as food as harmful, increasing histamine and inflammation. This results in red, irritated, and itchy skin and, in some cases, ear infections, yeast, fungus, or secondary infections.

Apoquel can cause and contribute to the development and proliferation certain severe conditions, diseases, and disorders in pets, including cancer, tumors, kidney and immune system dysfunction, and liver disease.

The FDA has warned Zoetis, the company that manufactures Apoquel, regarding making and distributing false and misleading claims regarding the drug and downplaying the risks associated with pets taking Apoquel.

Conventional vets often prescribe antiparasitic drugs or dewormers when your adult dog, cat, puppy, or kitten tests positive for intestinal worms.

Many veterinarians will also suggest worm preventatives to help reduce the risk of your pet getting worms. Additionally, many veterinarians and breeders will deworm kittens and puppies at every check-up before six months without testing for parasites.

However, deworming medicines, also known as worming meds, have side effects and can cause long-term problems for our pets. (It is also important to note that healthy adult dogs and puppies shouldn’t need routine deworming.)

Antiparasitic agents work by poisoning the worms, but they aren’t selective with what they destroy within the system. So, these drugs can also kill or destroy the beneficial organisms or bacteria in your dog’s gut.

Additionally, these drugs can cause deeper imbalances beyond the gut – causing dysfunction in the immune system, liver, and kidneys. Lack of beneficial bacteria within the gut microbiome can lead to allergies, inflammation, loss of appetite, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). This can affect essential systems like your pet’s digestive and immune systems. It can also affect how your dog absorbs nutrients from food and even supplements, leading to malnourishment and deficiency no matter how high quality the diet is or how often you feed your pet. Additionally, these drugs are processed in the liver like many other prescription drugs, which can harm liver health.

Some Known Side Effects of Deworming Drugs:

• Lethargy
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Loss of appetite
• Seizures
• Liver damage

To learn more about holistic parasite prevention and alternative interventions, check out the post on “A Holistic Approach to Parasites in Pets.

Foxtails can pose quite a threat to dogs.

Foxtail is a generic name for tall, sway-like grasses with groupings of spiky, arrow-like hairs. They look similar to the tail of a fox.

Grasses with foxtails are most common in the Western US states, specifically in California.

Even though foxtails exist and veterinarians are correct about their potential threat to dog health, surgical intervention, and treatment methods aren’t always necessary.

If you catch foxtails early enough, you can often easily remove them from your dog using tweezers. It should be noted that foxtails can penetrate quite quickly and then become very deeply embedded.

When foxtails penetrate and become deeply embedded, conventional veterinarians often recommend removal surgically, usually under local anesthesia, but in some cases, general anesthesia is used.

However, there is an easier and safer alternative method. In my naturopathic pet practice, I utilize homeopathy to resolve this issue gently, safely, and effectively; no surgery is needed for my client’s pup!

Aconitum Napellus 30C is my go-to remedy for any dog that appears to be in shock, stressed, or presenting with any abnormal behavior. I often give this remedy after a dog has been stung by a bee or wasp, especially when they have a foxtail. I give 1-3 pellets every 15 minutes for up to 4 to 6 doses or until I see improvement in presentation.

Chamomilla 30C is best for highly emotional dogs that whine at the slightest touch. I give 1-3 pellets every 15 minutes for up to 4 to 6 doses or until I see improvement in presentation.

Hepar Sulphuris 30C is one of my best remedies for ear and other skin infections. This remedy is indicated for chilly or cold patients. Another indication is high-level sensitivity to pain. Hepar works by drawing an abscess to a head, resulting in helping to draw the infection out. I give 1-3 pellets 3-4 times a day. Discontinue remedy when the infection clears.

Silica 30C can help expel the seed. I give 1-3 pellets of Silica 3 times a day. Discontinue the remedy once the seed is expelled.

Silica 30C is amazing for the expulsion of foreign bodies from tissues. In practice, I often use it for embedded splinters or porcupine quills.

Note: The foxtail often takes 1-2 weeks or longer to surface fully.

Symptoms of Foxtails in the Ear:

Sudden and extreme irritation in the ear

Scratching or shaking his head violently, trying to dislodge the seed

Rubbing the ear with his paws

Tilting the head

Rubbing his ear on the ground incessantly

Ear is red, swollen, and painful to touch

1. Ground yellow corn:

Corn is a low-quality and cheap plant-based protein source found in most processed kibble and used as a carbohydrate and energy source. However, dogs can only digest about 54% of the corn in their dog food. Unless it is slow-cooked at lower temperatures, your dog or cat will hardly get any nutritional value from ground yellow corn.

When the first ingredient listed on the bag is corn, it screams low quality to me, and here is why:

Dogs and cats are obligate carnivores, meaning they cannot thrive and, in most cases, survive healthily without high-quality meat. They DO NOT have high enough levels of the digestive enzymes necessary to break down carbohydrates. This is why the only grains, fruits, and vegetables they eat are predigested and found within the intestinal tracts of animals they eat and only in minimal amounts.

2. Meat and bone meal:

Meat and bone meal, according to AAFCO, is:

“The rendered product from mammal tissues, including bone, exclusive of blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach, and rumen contents, except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices.” This part of the animal, especially in dense meal form, is high in protein, so it will boost the protein percentage in the food, and your pet probably won’t mind eating it (dogs and cats often eat some questionable things). Still, meat and bone meal isn’t a good quality part of an animal. Plus, it can come from any animal sometimes; this means roadkill, rejected or contaminated grocery store meat, or euthanized animals. Typically, this is also cooked at very high temperatures and lacks nutrients.

3. Soybean meal:

Soybean is a plant-based source of protein. But it’s a plant source of protein, which means it’s not as good for your carnivore as animal protein. Plant-based proteins are less bioavailable and don’t contain all the amino acids necessary, which would be found in meat. Again, it can boost the protein percentage in the food without the manufacturer having to use much or any real meat.

4. Poultry by-product meal:

Poultry by-product meal comes from any or assorted poultry, so it’s not quite as generic as “meat by-product meal,” but it’s not a named protein source. As a by-product meal, it includes “ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered poultry, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs, intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidably in good processing practices.” Again, your dog or cat might be okay with this ingredient, but it is considered a LOW-quality ingredient.

5. Animal fat

Animal fat (preserved with BHA and citric acid). Animal fat is a generic fat. You don’t know the source of this fat. It could come from any animal. Additionally, the fat has been preserved with BHA – Butylated hydroxyanisole. BHA and BHT are antifreeze agents. BHA is used as a food preservative, but it has also been linked to cancer. Many pet foods today avoid using artificial preservatives and instead use more natural preservatives such as vitamins C, rosemary extract, vitamin E, and Citric acid. Another preservative to look out for is ethoxyquin. Ethoxyquin poisoning has taken the lives of many pets; it results in elevated liver enzymes and liver disease.

Corn gluten meal and brewer’s rice are other ingredients in many kibble brands.

Corn gluten meal:

Corn gluten meal is another ingredient often used to boost the protein percentage in dog foods. Indicating that the animal protein sources are extremely low quality and don’t have much if any, nutritional value.

Brewer’s rice:

Brewer’s rice is a by-product of rice milling. It’s described as the small milled fragments of rice kernels separated from the larger kernels of milled rice. Brewer’s rice is a processed rice product that lacks many nutrients in whole ground rice and brown rice, reducing the quality. It can add texture to dog food, but it’s not a desirable ingredient as it is just the discarded or rejected pieces of rice that are not fit for human consumption.

Ingredients that warrant serious concern:

In addition to the artificial preservative BHA (which can cause cancer in pets), when the food contains many dyes and artificial colors, such as titanium dioxide, yellow #5, yellow #6, red #40, and blue #2, are cause for concern. Pets don’t need dyes and colorings in their food; some of these dyes have been linked to varying diseases and the development of harmful carcinogens in our pets. Carcinogens are cancer-causing and forming agents that are commonly found in pet food.

When the food also contains menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of vitamin K activity) – a synthetic form of vitamin K. AAFCO and other dog food governing departments have not determined that vitamin K is necessary for dogs.

Natural vitamin K is easily found in fish meal, liver, kelp, and other sources and is easy for your dog to metabolize and assimilate through diet.

The same is not true of synthetic vitamin K.

It has been linked to weakened immune systems, hemolytic anemia, allergic reactions, toxicity, and other problems. I would be especially concerned when lentils, legumes, and sweet potatoes are present in grain-free foods, as these ingredients block taurine absorption and lead to taurine deficiency. Dilated cardiomyopathy is linked directly to taurine deficiency and is thought to be the entire cause.

In animal nutrition school, we must read veterinary texts that include but are not limited to veterinary nutrition for veterinary technicians, clinical nutrition for vets, Royal Canin Veterinary Nutrition, and Purina Veterinary Diets. Veterinarians read these same texts in veterinary medicine school.

I can personally attest to the fact that these textbooks that Royal Canin, Hills, and Purina write are pretty biased and come across as more of a defensive text on why their food is “okay” to feed pets rather than a proper educational and nutritional account of what pets require anatomically.

Unfortunately, the ingredients are extremely low quality in most veterinary-approved diets and diets designed for specific health conditions. Veterinary kibble often contains meat by-products, meals, chemicals, preservatives, synthetic vitamins and minerals, fillers, dyes, etc. What you pay for that food to be veterinary-approved differs from the quality you would expect.

However, it makes sense why veterinarians recommend these foods. The nutrition texts they read in school for their short class in nutrition are written by the companies that manufacture the leading kibble brands. They spend the bulk of their time studying critical life-saving medicine. Their guest professors and lectures provided on nutrition are typically veterinarians or veterinary reps who work for Hills Science Diet, Royal Canin, or Purina veterinary diets. They recommend what they know and, more importantly, what they have been taught. If a veterinarian wants to learn more from a non-biased party and receive more education on nutrition, they have to attend classes after veterinary school.

I don’t blame any veterinarian for endorsing kibble. As health educators and practitioners, we work off what we have been taught in school.

Nutrition academies luckily educate pet nutritionists in many different areas of nutrition using all types of texts, giving us a different, less biased perspective. We read books on Anatomy and Physiology, pharmacology, vitamin supplementation, raw feeding, cooked diets, disease and disease prevention, and even the veterinary nutrition textbooks to understand better why veterinarians recommend the low-quality foods that they often do. We learn what nutrition is best for pets’ species classification and what they should eat based on their genetics and anatomy.

Let me leave you with this simple question – If a veterinarian doesn’t know much about canine and feline nutrition, only what the low-quality veterinary kibble companies have taught them, does it matter that a veterinarian backs the food you are feeding?