Tag: pets

They Are Experimenting on Your Dog

You read the labels. You check the ingredients. You avoid seed oils, limit sugar, and side-eye anything with a barcode longer than a haiku. You subscribe to Substacks that dissect institutional capture. You understand, probably better than most, that “the science” can be quietly purchased by the people it is supposed to regulate.

So let me ask you a question that might sting.

What did you feed your dog this morning?

If the answer is a brown pellet from a bag, you are running the same ultraprocessed food experiment on your dog that you have spent the last few years learning to reject for yourself and your family. And you are doing it for entirely understandable reasons, because the same machinery of institutional capture, industry-funded research, and reassuring pseudo-scientific language that once told you margarine was healthier than butter has been quietly operating in veterinary medicine for decades.

I am a practising veterinary surgeon in the UK. I have spent over 30 years in clinical practice, and I am the founding president of the Raw Feeding Veterinary Society. I also lecture on canine nutrition at the University of Glasgow and around the world. I was in Florida last year and San Diego the year before. I am writing a book on ultraprocessed food for dogs, because someone needs to say plainly what the pet food industry would rather you never thought about: your dog has been subjected to the most sustained ultraprocessed feeding experiment in mammalian history, and almost nobody noticed.

The Cleverest Marketing You Never Saw

Here is how it works, and it will feel familiar to anyone who has followed the corruption of nutritional science in human medicine.

The major pet food corporations do not merely sell food. They fund the university departments in the UK and the US where veterinary nutritional science is researched. They endow professorships. They provide free student packs and educational materials to veterinary schools. They sponsor the conferences where vets gather for continuing professional development. They supply the textbooks. They fund the bursaries. They stock the waiting room shelves and put posters on the surgery walls.

They do this so quietly and so comprehensively that most vets do not even realise they have been swimming in industry-sponsored water since the first day of vet school.

The result is predictable. Almost all large-scale nutrition studies published over the past 50 years have been conducted on extruded, grain-based diets produced by the very companies that funded the research. That research became what vets are taught. 

Raw and fresh diets, by contrast, have received almost no industry funding, which means almost no large-scale trials. Vets are then honestly told there is “no evidence” for raw, because nobody with money has paid for that evidence to exist.

It is rather like sponsoring every study on buses and then declaring there is “no evidence” that bicycles work.

The World Small Animal Veterinary Association’s Global Nutrition Committee now explicitly warns that most pet nutrition studies are industry-funded and says conflicts of interest should always be declared. RCVS Knowledge, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in the UK, which runs the Evidence-Based Veterinary Medicine Network, notes that funding source is one of the strongest predictors of outcome in nutrition trials. JAVMA News has run pieces on corporate influence in veterinary education.

This is in the official documents. It is no longer fringe grumbling.

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After Attacking Dog Ownership, Nerdeen Kiswani Does Damage Control

It’s clear that most Americans get testy when you even suggest outlawing dog ownership. New York Leftist Muslim Nerdeen Kiswani said the other day that “NYC is coming to Islam” on dogs being filthy and unfit to live in homes. Florida Rep. Randy Fine said what most of us were thinking: we chose our dogs. He’s been hammering Democrats about it, too, many of whom are eager to call critics of Kiswani and Islam “racist,” but none of whom can bring themselves to say they won’t ban dogs to appease Muslims.

Now Kiswani is doing two things, and the first one involves her playing the victim, accusing Fine of making a “genocidal statement.”

Genocide is the “deliberate, systematic, and intentional destruction—in whole or in part—of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.” Nothing Fine said is remotely genocidal. Muslims who don’t like dogs are free to leave America, where dogs are part of our culture, and go to one of the many Muslim nations that openly slaughter dogs in the street.

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Famous Palestinian activist calls for dogs to be banned as ‘indoor pets’ in NYC because they are UN-ISLAMIC

A Palestinian activist has called for dogs to be banned as pets in New York City claiming they aren’t Islamic.

Nerdeen Kiswani said dogs have a ‘place in society’ but ‘not as indoor pets.’

‘Like we’ve said all along, they are unclean,’ she wrote on X.

After receiving fierce backlash she later claimed that her post was a ‘joke’.

‘[Laughing] at the Zionists frothing at the mouth at this, thinking they’re doing something,’ she wrote.

‘It’s obviously a joke I don’t care if you have a dog, I do care if your dog is s***ting everywhere and you’re not cleaning it.

‘Also clearly trying to weigh in on an issue unaware of the current NYC discourse where we’re collectively (jokingly) hating on dogs given all the visible dog s**t in the unmelted snow.’ 

Muslims typically do not keep dogs as pets as many believers feel they are meant to be used for work such as herding or hunting.

Kiswani gained notoriety for leading Pro-Palestine protests in New York City with her organization Within Our Lifetime (WOL), which calls for the eradication of Israel. 

She led several rallies across the boroughs, where protesters marched down busy streets chanting for the ‘full liberation of Palestine’ and ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.’ 

She poked ire with Jewish New Yorkers after WOL suggested the October 7 massacre, where more than 200 Israelis were taken hostage and 1,400 died, was justified. 

At the time, Kiswani shared a post by WOL on X, which called for a rally ‘as we mobilize to defend the heroic Palestinian resistance, honor our martyrs and let the world know that NYC stands with Gaza.’ 

The WOL website states that oppressed people ‘have the right to win their liberation by any means necessary.’ 

Kiswani’s activism goes back to the early 2010s.

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Pets Will ‘Suffer Needlessly’ If Federal Hemp Ban Takes Effect And Limits CBD Access, Veterinarian Says

The federal hemp ban that was included in a spending bill President Donald Trump signed last week could inadvertently hurt a patient demographic that isn’t usually associated with cannabis: Dogs, cats and other pets who’ve come to rely on cannabinoids as part of their veterinary medical care.

As certain GOP lawmakers in Congress pressed for a policy change to prevent the sale of consumable hemp products, the narrative often revolved around the idea that a strict ban would close a “loophole” in the 2018 Farm Bill that legalized the crop, leading to the expansion of an often unregulated market for intoxicating cannabinoids.

But while there’s broad consensus that gas station THC vapes and copycat hemp edibles appealing to youth should be addressed, stakeholders and advocates say that narrative paints an incomplete picture, as the language included in appropriations legislation that’s set to take effect next year threatens to upend legitimate enterprises as well—including those that provide access to CBD for pets.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) attempted to distance himself from that argument before Congress passed the bill with the hemp provisions. He said that the Farm Bill and hemp legalization provisions he championed were always meant to be about industrial uses, and CBD products would be spared even with a ban on intoxicating elements of the plant.

The way the law is written, however, will permit such limited concentrations of THC that most growers and manufacturers say the idea of a CBD carve-out is infeasible. And for companies marketing such non-intoxicating products, that could spell doom—or at least force them to take on the significant added cost of extracting CBD isolates so as not to run afoul of the law.

Tim Shu, founder and CEO of the company VetCBD, tells Marijuana Moment that the passage of the appropriations legislation is cause for concern for animal companions, many of which have found relief from conditions such as arthritis, epilepsy, pain and other health conditions with the help of CBD.

Just like the 0.3 percent THC by dry weight limit that currently defines hemp, the more restrictive THC limit prescribed under the newly enacted law is “arbitrary,” Shu said. He also stressed the importance of the “entourage effect” for cannabis that makes it so having the plant’s natural ingredients—THC, CBD, terpenes and other compounds—work together often enhances their therapeutic efficacy.

“If the rule stays unchanged, then essentially anyone that’s producing CBD products from hemp are going to have to use CBD isolate,” he said. “And the problem with that is that we know from increasing evidence that the entourage effect does have benefits—it does appear to be a real thing.”

“This is something that people tend to forget about. Everyone’s thinking about intoxicating hemp properties, right? The delta-9, delta-8 THC stuff that you can find at gas stations. But the reality is that there are a lot of people and animals that rely on full-spectrum CBD products from hemp to not suffer,” Shu said. “And as usual, the neediest suffer the most.”

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Associated Press Publishes Absurd Video Targeting Pet Ownership Due to Climate Change Hysteria

With everything going on in the world today, The Associated Press — the premier wire service and news institution in the English-speaking world — knows what’s really on your mind: Is Fido’s “carbon pawprint” too big?

In yet another bid to prove that even the most supposedly objective media cannot set priorities that aren’t bad or misplaced, the AP dedicated 32 paragraphs in five sections — along with a video on social media — to the climate change dangers that your furry friend allegedly poses. Because even childless cat ladies are driving us to extinction in ways that don’t involve not having kids, apparently.

“One of the most climate intensive decisions we make is whether to own a pet,” the AP’s Caleigh Wells reported in a piece published Tuesday.

“It’s for the same reason that humans have a big impact: They eat every day. And most of them eat meat. The environmental impact of meat includes the land the animal lived on, the food it ate, the waste it generated and other factors.”

This is apparently being accelerated by a “trend toward refrigerated, ‘fresh’ or even ‘human-grade’ pet food,” with a reminder from the AP that “just like people, a pet’s impact on the planet can vary greatly depending on their diet.”

Now, amazingly, there’s a kernel of truth in here: the same ideology that has given us the archetype of the childless cat lady who foregoes kids to save the planet is still hurting the planet:

The marketing of higher-quality pet food suggests that it’s healthier.

But there isn’t much evidence to suggest refrigerated, fresh or human-grade food leads to better pet health outcomes, according to Alison Manchester, assistant clinical sciences professor at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

“I think a lot of it is playing on marketing and treating pets as members of the family,” said Manchester.

It’s almost like people want to have families. You will not be shocked to learn that this thread of thought goes unexplored by the AP in both the article and the video, which features pet food researcher Billy Nicholles.

In the video, Nicholles said that the problem was “their food, basically, and in particular, the ingredients in their food.”

“Dogs and cats both eat pretty highly meat-based diets,” he continued. “And what do we know about meat? It’s one of the key drivers of climate change.”

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Strict new pet law to cost Aussies $5,000: What you need to know

Cat owners may be forced to spend thousands on building custom enclosures for their pets if powerful new laws are passed next year. 

Local councils in Western Australia could be granted new powers to enforce cat containment and fine owners whose pets stray too far from home. 

The federal government is currently amending the Cat Act 2011, with the changes expected to come into effect from as early as 2026. 

Building a large custom cat enclosure can cost upwards of $4,500.

It’s been estimated that since colonisation in 1788, cats have played a leading role in most of Australia’s 34 mammal extinctions.

A University of Sydney study found that each roaming cat killed an average of 186 reptiles, birds and mammals per year.

The 2020 report showed a death rate of 4,440 to 8,100 animals per square kilometre per year in areas inhabited by pet cats. 

In Australia, 2.7million pet cats, or 71 per cent, are able to roam free and hunt wildlife.

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EPA Failed to Assess Safety of Pesticides in Flea and Tick Collars Linked to 3,000+ Pet Deaths

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not properly reviewed the safety of a popular flea and tick collar that has been linked to more than 3,000 pet deaths, according to the agency’s top watchdog.

The EPA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), an independent office in the agency tasked with holding the agency accountable, published a report on Feb. 29 calling on the EPA to make a proper, science-based decision on the Seresto product and improve its processes for making safety determinations for pet products.

The report found that the agency has not conducted or published animal risk assessments as it promised to do, and continues to rely on an inadequate 1998 companion animal safety study.

Seresto pet collars work by releasing two active ingredients, the pesticides flumethrin and imidacloprid. The OIG found that the EPA has failed to properly review those active ingredients, including in a new analysis last year.

At a congressional hearing in June 2022, pet owner Faye Hemsley of Pennsylvania reported that her dog, Tigger, began to suffer from neurological issues, including his head drooping and a loss of energy, before dying five days after she first put the Seresto collar on him.

Thomas Maiorino of New Jersey also testified at the hearing that his family’s dog, Rooney, suffered neurological issues and eventually a seizure, after wearing Seresto. They eventually decided to put the dog down.

Many other pet owners reported neurological issues in their animals, including seizures as well as pet deaths.

The collars have been the subject of more than 105,354 incident reports, including 3,000 pet deaths, more than any other EPA-regulated product in history, according to the EPA’s incident database.

From 2012 through 2022, the EPA received more than 100,000 incident reports related to the collars, including more than 2,500 pet death reports and nearly 900 reports of human pesticide incidents related to the Seresto pet collars.

“The EPA’s response to reported pesticide incidents involving Seresto pet collars has not provided assurance that the collars can still be used without posing unreasonable adverse effects to the environment, including to pets,” the OIG report states.

The collar has been under sharp scrutiny in recent years after USA Today and Investigate Midwest published an investigation spotlighting the high number of incident reports about Seresto.

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which is now the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, launched an investigation and subsequently determined that the EPA knew for years that Seresto was linked to a high number of pet deaths but took no action and recommending that the EPA take it off the market.

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China’s Toxic Dog Food Threatens Our Four-Legged Friends

As a former commissioner on the congressionally chartered U.S.–China Economic and Security Review Commission, identifying toxic ingredients from China in American products has always been a grave concern for me. In its 2019 report to Congress, the commission noted China was the No. 1 global source of pharmaceutical ingredients, which includes dietary supplements for pet consumption.

As far back as 2007, we found rampant agricultural contamination by airborne pollutants as a result of China’s rapid growth, conflicting layers of oversight, oppressive control of state media, and China’s tacit refusal to enforce its own product safety laws.

The dog food safety problem is no small thing. It has never been more important, nor more human-centered.

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Popular flea collar linked to almost 1,700 pet deaths. The EPA has issued no warning.

Rhonda Bomwell had never used a flea and tick collar before. Pierre, her 9-year-old Papillon service dog, was mostly an indoor animal.

Still, her veterinarian recommended she purchase one, so Bomwell went to the pet store near her home in Somerset, New Jersey, and selected Bayer’s Seresto collar. 

A day later, on June 2, 2020, Pierre had a seizure, collapsing while Bomwell was making dinner. Lying on his back, the dog stopped breathing and his eyes rolled back. 

Bomwell tried giving him CPR. Then she called the police. An officer helped her lift the dog into her car, and she rushed him to the hospital. Pierre died before he could receive medical treatment. Bomwell didn’t think to take off Pierre’s collar.

“I just didn’t put it together,” she said.

Bomwell isn’t alone. Seresto, one of the most popular flea and tick collars in the country, has been linked to hundreds of pet deaths, tens of thousands of injured animals and hundreds of harmed humans, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency documents show.

Yet the EPA has done nothing to inform the public of the risks.

Seresto, developed by Bayer and now sold by Elanco, works by releasing small amounts of pesticide onto the animal for months at a time. The pesticide is supposed to kill fleas, ticks and other pests but be safe for cats and dogs. 

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