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The Raw Dog Food Truth
Pets with allergies, skin issues gut issues, and behavior issues can live better lives by eating a species-appropriate diet. Find out the dangers of kibble and cooked foods. Your Pet's Health Is Our Business "Friends Don't Let Friends Feed Kibble"
The Raw Dog Food Truth
Avoiding Dangerous Medications for Your Pet's Health
We discuss dangerous medications for pets, focusing on common drugs that pet owners may not realize can harm their animals and natural alternatives for managing health issues.
• Ivermectin can be toxic to dogs with the MDR1 gene mutation, commonly found in herding breeds
• UC Davis offers a $55 saliva test to determine if your dog has the MDR1 mutation
• Human medications like ibuprofen and Tylenol can be extremely toxic to dogs and cats
• Dog flea medications containing permethrin are highly toxic to cats, even through casual contact
• Metronidazole, commonly prescribed for diarrhea, can cause serious side effects, including seizures and neurological issues
• For diarrhea, consider fasting the dog for 24 hours with water and bone broth instead of medication
• Check if raw-fed dogs with loose stools have enough bone in their diet or have consumed too many organ treats
• The body often eliminates what it doesn't need—support natural processes rather than immediately suppressing symptoms
Raw Dog Food and Company offers free consultations to help customize your pet's raw diet. Visit rawdogfoodandcompany.com, where your pet's health is our business, and friends don't let friends feed kibble!
Raw Dog Food and Company where Your Pet's Health is Our Business and Friends Don't Let Friends Feed Kibble
Contact Us Today We Can Help Your Pets Live Happier Healthier Lives
Oh snap. Well, hello Raw Feeders. I'm Deedee Merson-Moffitt, ceo of Raw Dog Food Company, where your pet's health is our business and we're friends, like my friend Dr Judy. Well, she don't let friends feed Kitten now, do you no?
Speaker 2:way, no way. Not in Tennessee, not in Colorado, not anywhere, not even with green eggs and ham.
Speaker 1:I know. And the cats too, the kitty cats. They got to eat raw. Oh yeah, no.
Speaker 2:I don't know. They cry. They cry at the door and our cats hunt. You know they come in with bunnies and mice and birds and everybody's like. You know, if you don't feed your cats they hunt more, or whatever.
Speaker 2:I get up in the morning in their little faces peering at because I, they know, they know the instant I think that I pour the warm water in their food and they hear the fork thinking on the stainless steel. I got little stainless steel bowls and the one cat, Chris, my husband just had to reinforce the screen because he comes up and he like body slams into the screen on our door, open the door and he just comes up and does these body slams into it, Like every time, like like I've ever like not fed them. And then it's like I mean they're just screaming at me. They haven't eaten in in months for just their little, you know, ounce and a half of raw food. And then they're happy and they just go on their way. Sometimes they try to fool me, like if I feed them and like I'm grilling dinner for us or something, and then, like 30 minutes later they're like we didn't have dinner, like, oh, yes, you did, but they, they love their raw, they love their raw.
Speaker 1:Hey, um, I wanted to talk just a second about really dangerous medications for animals, right, and you know, I wanted to ask you about this one. What do you think? Because and the reason I'm going to bring this up is due to the COVID thing, right, so a lot of people take ivermectin okay, and ivermectin Okay, um, but I, but I, and ivermectin has been one that's been for animals but they say that it's safe in certain doses, but it could be toxic in some breeds or they could even be overdosed. What do you think about ivermectin for pets?
Speaker 2:Straight ivermectin. Yeah. So I mean I think it has a long history in veterinary medicine. First of all, it's used a lot in livestock. It's been around for a long time, so I think it has a pretty good safety record. But there is this MDR1 gene that's been identified.
Speaker 2:So it has been shown that certain collie breeds, like your herding breeds they say dogs with like white you know, like border collies, australian shepherds, you know anything like that have been shown to be. Sometimes they are more sensitive or they get sick after getting ivermectin. And it's supposed to be from this MDR1. And I'm going to look it up so I can tell you exactly what it it stands for. So it's a multi-drug, multi-drug resistance mutation and this can be tested for. By the way, uc Davis, university of California Davis, the vet school out there, they have a test that anybody can do it. You don't have to go into your vet, you can just contact them. It costs like 55 bucks. You do a little saliva sample, send it in and you can see if your dog has this. Now I mean I question some of this like genetic testing, but I mean there's definitely been a lot of correlation. A lot of people with these collie type dogs have been shown to get sick on ivermectin.
Speaker 2:Now the heartworm people, people like heart guard producers and all of those say that there's such a small amount in those products that it doesn't affect these dogs. Most people that test that they took, they test the dogs and they test positive. They avoid ivermectin because there's also other drugs. You can Google this. There's other drugs that these dogs are supposedly sensitive to and I don't know like the whole truth in that. But it's a simple test to do. You could find out and then maybe avoid. You know some of these other drugs. There's good herbal options and other things you can do for. You know for the heartworm. But I do think that dose matters because if you look at the typical heartworm preventative like heart guard, I mean it's just a few micrograms, it's a really low dose of ivermectin. And if you go to the feed store and you get like the livestock injectable and you're trying to dose that down for your dog, you would stand to give them potentially a whole lot more.
Speaker 1:So just because there's this history, you'd probably want to avoid doing that on the like you know, collie, collie type dogs, but um I mean well I the reason I asked dr jc is because if you follow what pet parents do in food, they they want to feed their dogs according to how they eat. Okay, we see that, right. You want to go grain free? Oh, my gosh, my dog needs grain free. You want? Um, I'm a vegan, I want to feed my dog vegan. And I started thinking about this ivermectin thing and with all the COVID people were like Ivor and the Joe Tippin protocol for cancer, right, and all that kind of stuff. And you look at it and you say if pet parents think that ivermectin is going to be the panacea for cancer, right, it's going to be the be all, end all. Then you can bet, you can bet your sphincter that they're giving their dogs the ivermectin without really understanding that there were some risk to that. We don't think there's a risk for us, but, but there is a risk.
Speaker 2:Well, we're. We're much bigger animals, like realistically. So you think you know I mean even like Lazi what's Lazi? Maybe 70 pounds, 75 pounds, something like that. You know she's much smaller than you know a human, if you figure average humans, 150 or you know, to 200, up to 250 guys or whatever, it's a much different body weight. And these, like livestock products are, assuming you're treating a thousand pound cow or horse.
Speaker 2:So you have to be really careful with the, with the dosing. And people are definitely getting on that bandwagon because everybody at least about every cancer patient I work with anymore they ask about the ivermectin and I mean I just don't see it working. I mean I don't see big differences in cancer patients. I mean if somebody really wants to try it, I do help people with dosing and we'll try it, but I don't see big responses.
Speaker 2:And fenbendazole, you know like, and the combination I'm seeing a lot of people come out of even more conventional veterinarians. They're like being prescribed fenbendazole and ivermectin in combination. So whenever something kind of starts to hit the mainstream like that, um, whenever something kind of starts to hit the mainstream like that automatically a bit more, a bit more suspicious, but you know there is no when it comes to cancer, there's no be all and end all. There's no magic bullet, you know. It's all very individualized and I still think it's still a pharmaceutical. Like, why are we, you know, putting a, a putting a pharmaceutical into an animal? What we really need to be doing is supporting their immune system and helping their bodies to heal naturally. So to me it still kind of goes against what my underlying philosophy is yeah.
Speaker 1:So I would just encourage pet parents to really think about that before you just go ahead and start doing that. Also, one of the things that I wanted to bring up today is that not all dog medications are good for cats. Guys, they're just not. So there are some flea meds out there that dogs take, which Hugh and I aren't big fans of those anyway. But anything that has permethrin it's a base you know a flea med for a dog it's extremely toxic to cats. So that advantage canine advantage super toxic to cats. So you want to make sure that if you are using a pharmaceutical flea and you know that medication for your dogs, that you don't use it on your cats.
Speaker 2:It can be really really fatal and watch the like over-the-counter stuff. Like you can go down to PetSmart and buy, like the hearts you know the hearts brand, you know flea and tick collars for dogs and cats and stuff. I mean that's not something we recommend doing, but be sure to know exactly what's in there If you are going to pick up one of those products. I've had people you know buy these collars. Well, I just put a flea collar. Some of those are incredibly toxic, in the animals especially will get like really bad skin disease where those collars, you know, contact their skin and people think, oh, they're just benign, but you know they're not. So, yeah, make sure don't just assume that these companies are putting out things that are, you know, safe across the board.
Speaker 1:Yeah, If there's a warning that says something like this don't let your cats cuddle or groom dogs recently treated with permethrin.
Speaker 2:maybe you don't want to put it on your dog yeah, if it says wear gloves to apply it, so wear gloves. So it's dangerous to contact your skin, but it's okay to contact your pet skin, like what's up with that?
Speaker 1:you know common sense in your noggin right. And also guys, I, I, I remember speaking with customers who, dr jacek, would give their animals ibuprofen okay, I like advil or motrin or even ave right, thinking that they were doing their dogs some type of good because they maybe had a limp or something. You guys, ibuprofen is very toxic, very toxic to dogs and cats. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure that somebody back in the day told me they said well, dr Jasek, and I said I know for a fact Dr Jasek would never say that.
Speaker 2:No, no, no it is much different and there's drugs in the same drug class. So this could have been misconstrued because people weren't paying attention. But that's in the NSAID class, the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. So drugs like carprofen, biloxicam, drugs that are sold on the pet side are in the same drug class. But yeah, ibuprofen has been shown to be really, really hard on a dog's stomach. And again back to dosage. You know, a person might take 400 milligrams of ibuprofen. They're going to go pop a couple of them. But what if you got a 50 pound dog, you know, and it wouldn't do any ibuprofen at all? But you got to be really thinking about the appropriate, appropriate dosage, you know, I see, or even things like Tylenol Tylenol has been shown to be really toxic to the liver. I was, I was just floored because I had a client. One of my Colorado clients went up to CSU because their dog was acting funny, was having trouble with a leg or something, and they put that on.
Speaker 2:Tylenol like Tylenol. Csu did that Like. I mean, it's been shown to be really toxic to the liver, even in people. I've heard a lot of practitioners say that the Tylenol is not good for you, and that's. Acetaminophen is the drug name, so why on earth CSU is prescribing it? I don't know. But yeah, be really careful with the human drugs, because the physiology is different, and especially for cats. Because the physiology is different and especially for cats.
Speaker 1:Yeah, metronidazole. Okay, can we talk about that? We've talked about that before, but you know any kind of a and the reason I brought this up is because someone in my family had gone to the doctor and they had massive diarrhea. On to the doctor and they had massive diarrhea and so obviously they put them on antibiotics and they also put them on metronidazole and I was like I'm not sure about that. But I said you know, that's something that a lot of pet parents keep on hand for any time their dog gets diarrhea. That pop a metronidazole, which we do not advocate for guys. I mean, it's not that your body is lacking metronidazole and that's why the dog needs it. Maybe there is some other reason.
Speaker 2:It's an antibiotic also. Metronidazole is. Essentially it might, might help. You know a lot of people say well, my dog gets diarrhea and put on metronidazole and just gets better. Well, did it get better because of the metronidazole or in spite of it? Maybe the dog would have gotten better anyway. But it's handed out like candy. I just, I just hate it Anytime a dog has diarrhea and the vets don't even tell people it's an antibiotic. Dog has diarrhea and the vets don't even tell people it's an antibiotic. Oh, here's a diarrhea medicine for your dog. And if people use it and and they'll say, you know, well, yeah, and I've seen dogs have been on and off of metronidazole for years and it might help, you know, for a couple of rounds of diarrhea and then it quits working and then their guts are just getting hammered because it's affecting the um, the microbiome, and there's a very narrow safety margin of metronidazole too. It's actually pretty toxic to the liver if you end up giving too much.
Speaker 1:Well you want to hear what the side effects are Muscle spasms, rapid eye movement. Muscle spasms, rapid eye movement, disorientation, seizures Okay, and this is one that I hear so much about seizures or tremors in your dog. They can get ataxia, which is that wobbly walking or even their head will start to tilt. So I think I mean, come on, guys, some pet parents are just like I can't deal with diarrhea at all, okay, but can you deal with seizures or tremors? Right, because this is a really dangerous thing. So, before we reach, I think our message is this before we reach for a drug that we think might be safe, do we really know and again, I think the key word that you said, Dr Jasek, was it's a pharmaceutical, and I don't know too many pharmaceuticals that don't have some major side effects to them.
Speaker 2:Right, Right, Absolutely. And I think people need to think, you know, need to start thinking about or changing how they look at. Okay, diarrhea, diarrhea, bad, yeah, it's okay, it's not fun to have to clean it up and everything. But we have to think about what's the body trying to tell us. There's something in their body doesn't want bodies wanting to get rid of something shooting it out the back end. So maybe we need to do instead of what can I do to stop the diarrhea? Well, what's the body trying to tell me and how can I support the body? Maybe the body just needs a fast.
Speaker 2:This is what I think. Just as long as they're drinking water, don't feed them for 24 hours. Just let that gut rest, let it get out what it needs, because the more stuff you put in, the body's trying to get stuff out, it's just going to keep getting the stuff out more. You know it's going counter to what the body's trying to do. So just give the body a break. Maybe give a little bone broth or something for 24 hours. Make sure you know the pet's drinking and then just give the gut a break and then slowly reintroduce. It's a regular diet. You don't have to reintroduce the chicken and rice.
Speaker 1:Oh gosh, please, you can introduce the chicken, but don't do the rice. I mean, I just don't even know where that ever came from. Everybody does it.
Speaker 2:Like you know well, I put my dog on a bland diet. What was the bland diet? And chicken and rice, and do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. And also what I do is, if I do look at Lossie's poops right, and if they are loose, I'm looking at did the blend that I'm feeding right, have bone in it? Doesn't have enough bone in it. Also, has she had a little extra bone? And that should that. If she has, if she still has diarrhea, then I'm like, okay, something may be wrong.
Speaker 1:But typically what I find is that she's either, you know, had too much, like something extra, you know, like Rick's kind of gotten, where he lets her lick the bowl of certain things and maybe it had too much oil in it or it had dairy in it or whatever, right, typically we don't let her do that, but sometimes I see that happening. I'm like, okay, what did she get Right? Or if there's too many treats, right, the liver, treats that we have, or even the lungs, right, it can cause that. But I would say let's take a look at what the combination is. Do we have enough bone in the diet? Do we have enough substance in there? Because if you were feeding a tripe blend without bone, I think you're going to have two softest stools. But take a look at that first. I'm not saying that the food is bad.
Speaker 2:I'm just saying that maybe the combination of what's going on, the ratio of the bone and organ, because a lot of people use freeze dried organs for treats, which are very nutritious treats.
Speaker 1:Great, I love them.
Speaker 2:But if you're doing a lot of, training you got to think about how much extra organ is my dog getting. So if you have like a big training day or go to an event or something and your dog gets a whole bunch of extra treats and then they have diarrhea, the next thing we could just be the extra organ. So just just let the body flush out what it doesn't want in there and it'll it'll get back to normal. I think people just forget that the body the most simple diarrhea is the body can just get it straightened out. Just give it a day or two.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, give it a chance. And if you're really freaked out and you need some help, well, you can work with Dr Jacek and her team at ahavetcom. Ahavetcom Just get over there and her team will assist you. And you know what, if you need a new bling cause maybe we've been feeding the same blend for five years now I mean, okay, just, we can help you here at raw dog food and company. You know what I mean. We're going to, we're going to assist you, we're going to make it easy for you.
Speaker 1:We're going to tell you what is the next blend that we would suggest based on your information, based on your dog, based on their age. Just what? What would we suggest? And you know what? Perfectly free, perfectly free Is that a word? It's, it's absolutely free. Is what I meant? Absolutely free, brian's going to help you. It says a 20 minute consult. I said to him the other day. I said, brian, we need to change that too. It's an hour and a half consult, absolutely free. There's no way he's getting on and off in 20 minutes, right, it takes 20 minutes to get the get the story. But regardless, we are here for you. Remember, every Wednesday we have your yappy hour. It is a sale on treats, bone foods and supplements. It's a we have a sale on everything. That's what we do, and we'd love to have you as one of our Raw Squad members.
Speaker 1:Just get over to rawdogfoodandcompanycom, where your pet's health is our business. And what, dr Jacek, for friends? Don't let friends be kibble y'all. That's right, we'll see you soon, everybody, bye-bye, bye. Oh snap, find out how you can start your dog on the road to health and longevity. Go to rawdogfoodandcompanycom, where friends don't let friends feed kibble and where your pet's health is our business.
Speaker 2:Just snap.
