March 1, 1998 |dog meat
I don't know exactly when my husband and I became nuts-and-berries people. It undoubtedly started sometime in the last few years, when, like so many boomers, we stopped eating red meat. Then, after we moved to the West Coast, we found ourselves living near an incredibly well-organized coop that carried organic produce, organic meat, organic eggs… you get the picture. We started to shop there because prices were good and it was a smallish store that provided a low-stim shopping environment — something I had come to appreciate after years of overly bright supermarkets and too much noise in my life generally.
     Also, this was soon after a growth hormone started being given to "mainstream" (i.e., non-organic, Big Agribusiness) cows. That worried me. It especially worried me when the manufacturer of the hormone in question wanted smaller dairy farmers to be kept from putting a notice on their milk labels to show that their cows hadn't been given this hormone. The idea that there could even be such a dispute made me nervous.
     (There really are dogs in this column, by the way. Just not instantly.)
     All of this, in turn, followed years and years of information about the effects of pesticides on the environment, not to mention their effects on human beings. And alarming stories about other hormones, and antibiotics, routinely being given to farm animals.
     Finally, we just went organic altogether. Now we eat the typical bleeding-heart diet: whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds, fresh vegetables, and so on. I'm mostly vegetarian, and my husband is heading that way.
     I was glad we'd gone that route last year, when our local paper ran a series about the industrial wastes (translation: heavy metals) that can legally be included in fertilizer in our state. Do I know for sure that that's being done in other states? No. Do I suspect, even assume, it's happening elsewhere? I'd be an idiot not to. Basically, I'd like to avoid being poisoned by what I eat, and I don't want my husband poisoned, either. Equally important, I want us to be eating food that not only isn't bad for us, but is actually good for us.
     This is all about people food, of course. But there's another whole stream of information emerging, and it concerns pet food. The information comes from the still-new, but fast-developing, holistic-health-for-pets movement. The stories told in several recent books about mainstream food for dogs and cats are blood-curdling. Meat considered unfit for humans because it's diseased or contaminated evidently can be legally included in food for pets. Sterilization apparently takes care of the germs. Nutrition is, of course, another thing altogether. Interested? Go to any pet store that has a naturalistic or holistic orientation. You may be sorry you did, of course, because once you think hard about what's in pet food, it's impossible to see it in quite the same way.
     Never mind the horror stories. Let's talk about the bright side. The holistic folks say you should ideally feed dogs and cats fresh, whole foods: meat, grains, dairy, vegetables, herbs, and supplements. There are various sources for home recipes to do this — the same books and articles that condemn mainstream pet food.
     Now, I only started reading about this in the last few months. I read a little bit, then dragged my extremely wonderful husband to a two-hour explanation of how to give fresh food to pets by a woman who lives near us. Recently, we switched our two cats over to organic dry food (gradually, of course; they are nine years old, so they're a little, shall we say, set in their ways).
     But where the full-scale changeover is concerned — that is, the change to real, fresh food — part of me has been holding back. Why? Fatigue, and trepidation. I've just learned how to cook grains and beans for myself and my husband, for heaven's sake. Now I have to figure out a system for preparing and giving the cats the right amounts of oils, eggs, grains, meat, etc., etc., etc. Even more daunting, when we get a dog I have to establish a system for that, too. It just feels like a lot.
     But I'm ready now. For one thing, given what we know about how food for humans is grown or raised, then "produced" for supermarkets, I believe the holistic people's horror stories about pet food need to be taken seriously. More important, all you really have to do is think about it, and it makes sense that fresh, whole foods — preferably organic — would be infinitely better for pets.
     Also, to my surprise, after only a few weeks on organic dry food, our cats look different. Their coats are noticeably more beautiful — softer and glossier. And Samantha has more energy. How would they do on fresh food?
     The thing that really did it for me, though, was meeting Gail's dog. Remember Gail? She's the trainer who's helping us find a dog. Last week we met her at one of the shelters in our area so we could see whether they had a dog suitable for us. She brought her dog, a huge Malamute she had taken for her own pet as a rescue dog; I'd seen his picture in her brochure and asked to meet him. He's been on fresh food for years.
     I have never seen anything like this animal. His eyes were bright, his tongue was clean and pink, his teeth were in great shape… and his coat was extraordinary: clean, soft, and so healthy every hair stood straight out from his body. He radiated vitality — the Iditarod would probably be a walk in the park for this dog — and he was calm to boot. I took one look, and decided that I would have the cats on fresh food within a month. Stay tuned for results.
     Oh, and we didn't find a dog that day. But I sense that we will find one soon. We have a long-awaited weekend getaway scheduled later this month. I made sure we got reservations at a place that allows dogs. Hey… you never know.

Next time: dog do