DogtorJ’s PET FOOD REVOLUTION
Coming soon! I will be launching a nationwide campaign to increase awareness of the unhealthy nature of most commercial pet foods. I have been working on this idea for over two years and its time has finally come. I hope you will join me in the fight to make major changes in the pet food industry by forcing them to use biologically appropriate and non-harmful ingredients in their formulations. This will include the elimination of all gluten grains (wheat, barley, rye), corn, soy and dairy products (the “big 4”) as well as particular food additives that have been shown to cause significant medical problems.
Our pets are becoming ill and dying long before their time. The single biggest reason for dogs, cats and people to fail to achieve optimal health and reach their expected lifespan is an inappropriate diet. The “big 4” foods are causing major medical issues in all species that consume them, including fish and birds. Our rapidly expanding knowledge of the universal effects of gluten sensitivity in human medical conditions is only the beginning. We know that gluten intolerance occurs in the dog and the evidence is everywhere. But there is much more to the story, as this Website explains.
Please join the battle. Some four- or two-legged- creature will thank you.
Dogtor J
On This Page:
1) Mission Statement
2) A Call to Arms: The Need for Major Change
3) How to Get Involved
Mission Statement
The purpose of DogtorJ’s Pet Food Revolution is a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of the harmful nature of most currently available commercial pet foods.
The staple ingredients of wheat, corn, soy and dairy products must be removed from all pet formulas in order to restore health to dogs, cats and all other companion animals.
The goal of the founder, John B. Symes, DVM (aka “DogtorJ”), is to affect the same paradigm shift in veterinary medicine that is currently taking place in the human realm: A major shift in focus toward nutritional health that will ultimately lead to a level of wellness rarely attained in the past while minimizing the need for medical intervention and long-term symptomatic medication.
A Call to Arms: The Need for Major Change
There have been books written about the unscrupulous practices of the pet food industry, including those exposing the use of “less-than-healthy” meat sources (slaughter house waste and road kill) and cancer-producing additives and preservatives. Some of these are allegations are quite alarming. I cannot personally confirm or deny the truth concerning the more sensational claims made by these authors but these practices are certainly worth investigating.
My angle on this issue is a bit different: The very staple ingredients of most pet commercial pet foods- the gluten grains (wheat, barley, rye), corn, soy, and dairy products- are both biologically inappropriate for and incredibly harmful to our companion animals in the same way that they are to countless humans who consume them. Celiac disease (gluten intolerance) does occur in dogs, despite the fact that the veterinary profession has forgotten about its existence. In fact, I was taught about celiac disease in the Irish setter over 30 years ago in veterinary school. Where are all of those Irish setters now? They used to be the Golden retriever of my parents time. As I explain to my exam room clients and while doing formal interviews “That’s what happens when you feed celiac sufferers a wheat-based diet. They just don’t do very well!” What an understatement.
In the mid-80’s, the pet food industry made the single-biggest blunder in their commercial history when they executed the transition from corn to wheat-based pet foods. This occurred ten years into my veterinary career, affording me the perfect perspective to comment on this nutritional disaster. As I write in my papers Gluten Intolerance and Your Pet, The Truth About the Ingredients in Pet Food, and the attention-grabbing Is the Pet Food Industry in the Business of Population Control?, the rapidity with which the health of the pet declined following the introduction of wheat-based formulas was absolutely mind-boggling. However, the true reason for this catastrophe evaded me just as it did the public and the rest of the veterinary profession.
The novel wheat-based foods of the 1980’s caused serious gastrointestinal issues in countless dogs being fed them for the very first time. I can remember it like it was yesterday as we fielded one phone call after another concerning GI distress and allergic reactions. The veterinary solution was to have the owner gradually mix the new food with their previous diet while offering the superficial explanation that “pets can’t handle sudden changes in their diet.” That sounded logical and reduced problems for many but, upon closer examination, this approach exposed a serious lack of common sense as well as a misplaced trust in the pet food industry’s knowledge of veterinary nutrition. After all, why would we feed a carnivore grains, soy and dairy products? And what healthy food causes violent diarrhea- or vomiting- in an individual, even if it is the first time they’ve consumed it?
The sad fact is that most pet foods are made with convenience and economy in mind not the biologically-specific nutritional needs of the pet. This realization is often a shock to pet owners and veterinarians alike, both of whom have failed to learn much about animal nutrition because “the pet food industry has that base covered”. I can vouch for the fact that we learned very little about nutrition in veterinary school. We had commercial diets available that were “safe and nutritionally complete” and their manufacturers were omnipresent as sponsors of our continuing education program. As did many of my colleagues, I imagined ivory towers filled with veterinary specialists in white lab coats doing what they (should) do best- formulating high-quality, biologically appropriate, completely nutritious diets for our beloved pets.
This fantasy deteriorates rapidly when we see that the main ingredients of most commercial diets are proteins that the pet would never even come into contact with in nature, much less consume them as a long-term component of their natural diet. Wheat, corn and soy are man-made, man-cultivated crops that neither the wild dog nor cat would even happen upon. And I don’t know of any cow that would stand still long enough for one of these two animals to suckle them. But, are there foods that can be healthy for a pet even if they would never come across them in nature? Yes, but not these four foods.
Gluten grains (wheat, barley, rye), corn, soy and dairy products are the only four foods that induce villous atrophy of the small intestine, the lesion seen in celiac disease (gluten intolerance). This damage to the finger-like projections of the bowel can lead to severe nutrient malabsorption, including that of calcium, iron, iodine, B complex, C, D3, trace minerals (e.g. zinc, magnesium, boron), proteins, carbohydrates, and fats/essential fatty acids. The first two sections of the small intestine, the duodenum and jejunum, absorb many of these components through a passive diffusion process while the final segment, the ileum, uses a more active transport system, absorbing what was missed by the preceding segments. In effect, the ileum serves as the backup- or“plan B”- for damage done by the “big 4” foods or viral infections when they occur upstream. The ileum is crucial in this regard…if it remains healthy. Sadly, there are newly described processes (including vaccine damage) that compromise the function of the ileum, causing food intolerant individuals to become symptomatic much faster than in the past. The meteoric rise in Crohn’s Disease that has recently occurred, especially in the young, is a major indicator of this process. The health of the ileum may also be a determining factor in the severity of a patient’s decline following a gastric bypass surgery.
The phenomenal success of The GARD in treating the chronic medical conditions of both pets and their people is completely explainable. In fact, the rationale for its use is so simple that it should boggle the mind. By removing the four foods that damage its delicate villi, the intestinal tract can heal and resume the role of absorbing the vital nutrients used by every cell of every tissue to perform every bodily function. The body does not operate solely on oxygen and water but rather the nutrients absorbed from the food. This sounds elementary but I state it to counter a common statement made by ”learned” men of science who have read my work on epilepsy: “We don’t know what causes epilepsy but I can tell you that diet has nothing to do with it.” Not only it that statement blatantly self-contradictory but it shows a complete lack of knowledge about the role of nutrition in the day-to-day function of every cell in the body, including neurons and their supportive (glial) cells. Starve them and bad things happen.
It is still incredibly hard for me to believe that any scientist or doctor living in the 21st century can still have this “absent mindset” concerning diet. The only thing that makes this illogical notion plausible in the least is the ignorance I carried for the first twenty years of my veterinary career. Before my personal discovery of and recovery from celiac disease, I had no clue about the dietary truths about which I currently write. My own suffering and hunger for answers led me to the truth about diet and medicine, resulting in a level of health that I never dreamt possible. How can you not want to share that with the suffering masses, both two and four legged?
Yes, we and our pets desperately need a dietary revolution. It is long overdue…and the time is now! Much to the surprise of many, there are no more medical mysteries that we need to solve in order to affect this change. Our understanding of food intolerance combined with a deeper grasp of the adaptive nature of our resident microorganisms (viruses and bacteria)- and the carcinogens that keep making them angry- has changed everything. This knowledge and the true medical wisdom that followed has enabled us to start closing the lid of Pandora’s Box, which we first opened when we created common wheat in the 4th century. Gluten intolerance (“coeliac disease”) was born. We then unleashed the plagues this chest contained by making other serious dietary mistakes, including the consumption of soy, the cultivation of corn, and our preference for cow’s milk. Goat milk was and still is the “universal foster milk”…and for very good reason. We even chose the wrong cows (A1 vs. A2 cattle) from which to harvest “nature’s perfect food”, a moniker established by the dairy industry. We further invited disaster by creating hydrogenated oils, artificial sweeteners and a laundry list of carcinogens too great in number to enumerate. Is our medical plight really a mystery?
Is it a wonder why dogs and cats are living less than half of their life expectancy? These animals are carnivores and yet we stuff them with these unnatural grains, soy and animal by-products while adding as many man-made vitamins and minerals as possible to cover our tracks. For example, taurine was added to cat food years ago and successfully prevents a devastating form of feline heart disease called cardiomyopathy. Has anyone questioned what the natural source of this amino acid might be? Meat! Yes, over twenty years ago we virtually eliminated heart disease in the cat by finally giving them one ingredient (taurine) that they would have gotten all along had they been enjoying their natural diet of meat. What does that say about commercial cat food? No meat in it. The label on the bag confirms it. Bottom line? All we require to prevent most disease is to think “biologically appropriate diet”. The planets will then align more precisely than predicted for December 21st, 2012.
We can and will close this tragic yet fascinating chapter of man’s medical history, which is characterized by bad choices and self-induced misery for both himself and his companions. All that is required is a return to common sense thinking and a childlike understanding of this miraculous vessel we call a body. Every tissue knows exactly what it is doing, including the immune system. If we feed this amazing structure what it needs, it thrives. If we don’t, it fails. It is that simple and applies to all creatures, great and small.
The revolution starts with the diet…and it starts now!
Dogtor J
How to Get Involved
DogtorJ’s Pet Food Revolution is still in the planning stages. I am investigating services that will be useful and seeking volunteers who want to be involved in this historic endeavor. I have a number of novel ideas for the project that will hopefully gain media attention and attract celebrity involvement.
In the meantime, I am looking for people with interest and experience in the areas of media, PR, merchandising and finance. Investors are welcome. I currently have multiple domain names purchased as well as logos prepared and the first order of T-shirts ready for shipment. I will be expanding the line of merchandise to posters, hats, scrub tops, and other items as the project progresses.
I will be taking inquiries and applications though the Email link found at the top of every page of DogtorJ.com and those found below. I hope to quickly assemble a team who can make this project a success in a short period of time. Our pets’ lives are depending on it.
Contact DogtorJ – info@dogtorjspetfoodrevolution.com or dogtorj@dogtorj.com
