Holistic Pet Care

Toni,

I think if we also consider the fact that years and years ago, human and pet generations weren't as polluted as they are today.  Our environment is more toxic, less oxygen in the air, more pesticides in the lawns, and more generations of kibble fed, vaccinated, chemically treated flea/tick/hw preventative parents. 

30 years ago, there were much fewer vaccines that were given.  Now we have 8-in-1 vaccines, plus a rattle snake vaccine, and more.  Maybe the shelters didn't exist as they do today – fully packed, so there weren't as many euthanized animals to stuff into that bag of kibble.  There weren't the laws that only allowed 4 dogs per property whether 1000 acres or a city back yard, so the animals could run loose without being sucked up by animal control and likely the people that hoarded too many animals weren't vaccinating them either.  And the canine, feline, horse, etc. blood lines were cleaner and purer.

Take into account that back then human grade meat sources weren't tainted with as much traditional vaccinations, antibiotics, etc.  And now our ground and water is polluted with these things that are routinely given to animals in our food supply and are being grown in our fruit and vegetable soils as well.  This is why bacteria have developed immunity to traditional antibiotics (as it's constantly fed to the feed animals we are eating AND it's in the soil our food is grown in) and why super bugs have developed immunity to traditional pesticides.

As most know, I don't breed the wolves and there isn't a domestic dog breed that I love enough to want to consider breeding, but I am raised by polydactyl manx outdoor country cats who breed.  When seeking to find an orange tabby kitten to add to our breeding lines, I could NOT find one who had NOT already been vaccinated…not ONE! =(  As much as I wanted to bring this color into our lines…I could not bring myself to do this, as I have 7 generations of raw fed, unvacc'd, never seen a vet in their life cats and their kittens just never ever ever get sick.  Did I say "never"?  And just the thought of one vaccination in our lines raised the hair on the back of my neck and top of my head realizing the possibility of just ONE vaccination could ruin future years of healthy raw fed cats and kittens and it just wasn't a chance I was willing to take as I do guarantee the health of our kittens and have regular clients and breeders who call back year after year wanting more and a waiting list of people wanting our healthy kittens that just won't quit…Even if I found a breeder who agreed to not vaccinate one kitten for me, that kitten would still have some vaccines and traditional treatments in its system due to the fact that it's parents were vaccinated and treated traditionally….

Remember the water supply as well.  Is everyone filtering the water for their pets and animals?   Many years ago, I checked my local water supply store (I have never been able to wrap my head around what filter, osmosis, or other water purifying system to use, though more so the excessive expense of being able to regularly TEST my water before and after filtering for any and all contaminants to see if the filtering/purifying system is actually working as the manufacturer says it does).  The local city water coming into his store tests out at over 500 ppm tds (total dissolved solids).  He has numerous filters to cleanse the water and it brings the tds down to 6 ppm – they actually put some minerals into the water after purifying it.  I checked a local family member's city tap water and it also tested out at 500 ppm tds.  I checked my own well water, which is what I feed to my own animals and it tested out at 200 ppm.  I checked my Walmart distilled water and it tests out at zero ppm, just the way it should and then I checked the local Sam's Choice Spring Water which tested out at 8 ppm.  The water source being fed to our pets, as well as what we are bathing in and drinking ourselves affects the health of all of us.

And likely another factor, as Toni has brought up, society has changed.  Look at the HUGE amount of stress factors there are in our world today.  This stress affects our pets just as it affects us and sometimes our pets take the worst of our stress by manifesting disease by trying to take some of our burdens off our shoulders by making us smile, loving us unconditionally, etc.  Years ago, we were all more active in our lives, but now we have TV to keep us on the couch and computers to glare at us while we sit on our hind ends, and machines that do nearly everything for us, so none of us get the exercise we did even just 10 years ago that often involved our furry friends activity as well.  And of course, the stress of the economy, health care system, school system, politics, etc.

Julie