Tollden Farms

by Edmund R. Dorosz, BSA, DVM

Are many of our dog problems today due to their environment or to poor heredity and what role does nutrition play? I believe that many of our modern day dog problems are due to the foods that they eat, the conditions under which their food maybe grown as well as the environments that they live in. This then alters their genetic make-up which in turn is pasted on to their offspring.

I have just received my Dec. 12th issue of Time Magazine. The cover titled "To The Dogs - The shame of overbreeding" over a picture of a sorrowful bulldog. The cover story "That's No Way to Treat a Dog ..." Decades of bad breeding have saddled a quarter of America's purebreds with hereditary illness that cripple and even kill - and the nation's canine establishment is to blame" goes into the many problems seen in dog breeds today.

Problems such as bone diseases, hip dysplasia, retinal degeneration, skin allergies, lymphatic cancers, muscular dystrophy, undescended testicles, small litters, deformed puppies and behavior problems are listed, many specific to certain breeds. All seen in greater prevalence in many purebred breeds today.

The appalling truth is that as many as 25 % of the 20 million purebred dogs in America -- 1 in 4 animals -- are afflicted with a serious genetic problem.

The question arises, what causes these problems in the first place? "The astonishing thing is that despite the scope of these diseases, veterinary researchers know next to nothing about what causes them and how to cure them." I wonder how many of these problems are due to poor nutrition. Could these problems be due to generations of dogs being fed highly processed and refined diets filled with additives and other unnatural ingredients.

Diane Stein in her book The Natural Remedy Book for Dogs and Cats, states: "America is the richest nation in the world but its people are malnourished, despite all the media hype about good health in a bag or can, so are our pets."

We are seeing more of these unhealthy conditions in our dogs today than ever before. Are the problems due to the exclusive feeding of processed diets containing large amounts of cereals, slaughter house by-products and the long lists of substances that we can not even pronounce? I have just read where two large North Eastern U.S. hospitals do not microwave babyfood. The question asked 'What do microwaves due to the protein?' The answer is that we don't know.

What about the endless bombardment of other chemicals in our dogs' surroundings? Pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, the list goes on and on.

What are the long term effects on our dog population not only on the individuals but on subsequent generations? Where did the defective genes come from? Were they there all a long and inbreeding and line breeding brought them to the fore or have the genes with their DNA and RNA been affected?

Could hyperactivity and unusual behavior patterns in our dogs be due to diet? Human medicine states that, yes, behavior abnormalities in children can be related to diet. Heart disease and cancers are the main death causing conditions in man today. These conditions are also more prevalent in our dog population. We are also seeing more bone and skin and hair problems. We hear of many dogs today being allergic to meat. Beef, pork, lamb, chicken and other meats are being fingered as the culprits. This is something hard to believe, for a species that has been carnivorous for millions of years to be now allergic to meat. Maybe its something in the meat or in the " complete and balanced " diets that are foreign and new to our dogs that are causing the problem. Why do so many of these dogs clear up when fed a home grown, home prepared diet?

Heredity plays a big influence on all of us including our dogs and livestock but just as big an influence is environment and nutrition. Maybe bigger if one asks what caused the alteration in the genes in the first place? Once a gene is altered the offspring start to show the alterations.

Are we seeing some of the results of the food that we have been feeding our dogs and the environments that they live in ? Problems not only in our individual dogs but in their offspring as well.

Are our pets the mine canaries of our own environment?