The original site was established on August 14, 2001 to help me share my personal story, extensive medical research, and applied knowledge with clients, friends, and family. The venture has grown into a full-time project as the number of readers- and testimonials- has skyrocketed over the years. Every visitor knows a pet or their owner who needs the information on this site. It is free for the taking and it does change lives.

It all began with my personal diagnosis of celiac disease (gluten intolerance) and the miraculous recovery that followed the elimination of gluten (wheat, barley, and rye) from my diet. However, I quickly found that dairy, soy and corn were also causing major problems in my health as well as that of millions of suffering people and their pets. I quickly labeled them as “the big 4” and began writing extensively on their wide-spread effects. I would later call them “the four horsemen of our medical apocalypse” once the breadth and depth of their harm was fully realized.

From over ten years of medical and nutritional research came The G.A.R.D. – an elimination diet for the treatment of most conditions afflicting man and his four-legged companions. The original meaning of the acronym was the glutamate & aspartate restricted diet, being derived from the fact that The G.A.R.D. placed a premium on the elimination of two non-essential amino acids, glutamic and aspartic acid, the parent proteins in MSG and aspartame (NutraSweet), respectively. These two neurostimulating amino acids play a major role in epilepsy, migraines, insomnia, ADHD, autism, fibromyalgia and numerous other neurodegenerative diseases. It was not hard to see that the food sources of these amino acids- grains, dairy, soy/legumes, and nuts/seeds- were also playing a major role in the manifestation of these common medical conditions. Read more…

Dogtor J

DogtorJ.com is divided into a number of sections based on content and length of material. You have your choice of Appetizers, Main Course or the newest area, Just Desserts.

Appetizers are what you might expect- small amounts of information designed to whet your appetite for a main entree. The Main Course consists of the more lengthy papers I’ve written over the years, some of which are summaries of my research while others are transcripts of veterinary lectures. Just Desserts are little fun facts I’ve acquired, observations I’ve made and insights I’ve gained over the years. These are found at the bottom of each page and in the FAQ and Links section. If you’re not really that hungry and just want Something to Chew On, then there are a few items in the right column that will hopefully fill that need. Today’s Specials are also in that column and change regularly to add variety to the menu.

Last but not least, I will be offering YouTube videos that will include short “exam room” lectures on important topics and video testimonials. If you have had a dramatic reversal in your health problems as a direct result of a diet change, I would love to hear from you and have you do a short video for the site. This will be a powerful way to pay-it-forward so that others can experience the miraculous changes that can follow the use of The GARD.

I hope you enjoy your stay and that the information helps you, your friends and your family…two and four-legged.

Purina announces the “first and only diet” to manage canine epilepsy – Dogtor J’s Response – Although this is milestone step…to have a pet food company claim that diet has anything to do with epilepsy…their new diet is NOT the first diet for epilepsy nor will it nutritionally manage dogs with epilepsy in the way that a properly formulated diet can. The G.A.R.D. came 15+ years earlier, and…is much more effective.

Dogtor J’s Response to CNN Article – “Study: Gluten-free diets do not improve autism behavior” – This one made my blood boil when I read it. I started out with plans to simply refute their findings. As usual, I found myself writing a novel. But…it’s a very important read.

What is the “Leaky Gut”? – Why are the “big 4” food so bad and what happens after they damage the intestinal tract? And, how have Italians survived all these years eating so much pasta?

“Secondary Glutenization” – It’s very real! – What happens when we eat the animals that are fed corn, wheat and soy? Do those predigested proteins do any harm to us if we are already sensitized to the them?

A Brief History of “the Big 4” –  Many have asked how gluten, dairy, soy and corn could be so bad for us when they have been staples in man’s diet for thousands of years. Good question…with some fascinating answers.

Hip Dysplasia – “Genetics” vs. Diet – This common condition is not a “genetic malformation of the hip socket” like we were led to believe in veterinary school.

The Truth About Gonadectomy – An eye-opening paper by a colleague on why not to spay at an early age. “Surgical menopause” anyone? We know what that can do!

Is the Pet Food Industry in the Business of Population Control? – Sound like the treatise of a conspiracy theorist? It’s not meant to be. But when you read this, you might just become one.

How to Start Treating Just About Anything – My next paper is going to be titled All Disease is the Same. Once we grasp the role of viruses, bacteria, lectins, and carcinogens, this is notion is quite easy to see…as is the treatment for most disease.

Left-sided Afflictions – Did you know that breast cancer affects the left breast more frequently than the right? Bone cancer is the same, occurring in the left leg of children more often than the right. In fact, I have found that nearly 90% of the conditions that can affect the left or the right side (e.g. immune-mediated diseases of the eye) generally afflict the left side first. Wanna know why?

L-form Bacteria and Mollicutes – The Good, the “Bad” and the Ugly – I thought learning the truth about viruses was fascinating. Wait ‘til you see how bacteria crawl inside cells and tell it how to adapt to lectins and pollution.

NAVC 2013 – Here are the transcripts of my latest lectures given to the North American Veterinary Conference in Orlando in January of 2013. I spoke on my three favorite topics: Gluten and Other Food Intolerances in Pets, Lectins, Viruses and Pleomorphic Bacteria – The Missing Links, and Idiopathic Epilepsy – The Dietary Solution and the Role of the G.A.R.D. Hope you get something good from them.

Read more…

You regulars may have noticed that I have been away from the site for a while. Let’s just say that life gets in the way some time. Most of you know exactly how that happens. But…that does not mean that the wheels have come to a complete stop. I have continued my search for and re-search into the reasons why we and our pets become ill, and there is still much to share.

If you would like a quick clue as to some of the topics I still plan to cover, you can look under the Appetizers tab at the top of each page and click on Dogtor J’s To-do List. Will I ever get it all done? Probably not, but…at least the list may give you a few new rocks to look under.

I do, however, have a couple of papers that will be available in the near future, the main one being a summation of all that I have discovered in the past 11 years of relearning medicine and finally understanding the true workings of these miraculous vessels we call bodies. As crazy as the title may sound, you will understand it when you read “All Disease is the Same!” If this one doesn’t turn some heads around then nothing will. The material has been a real hit in my exam room lectures so it’s time to put it out there for the general public. I was going to save it for the book, but…

As always, I hope these offerings help you to better understand the body – both four and two-legged – and thereby aid you in your search for answers to the important questions on so many minds: Why am I (and/or my pet) sick and what can I do about it? There are good answers, and…you can recover!

Here’s what’s coming:

“All Disease is the Same!” – “What???”, “That’s absurd!”, “This guy is crazy.”, “What a ridiculous notion.” And…those are probably just some the thoughts being had by many of the health professionals reading this. The untrained public, on the other hand, is more likely to be thinking things like “That sounds interesting”, “Could that be true?”, and “I wonder what he means by that?” At least, that’s been my experience so far. How could this proposal be true and why, in the year 2010, do the medical professions have such a measly grasp of why we become ill? You’ll know the answer to both questions…and more…after reading this. Here’s a clue: The resident viruses and pleomorphic bacteria living in our cells – each and every one of our cells – don’t like it when food lectins (e.g. gluten and casein), pollutants, carcinogens, and other insults bombard their “house”, whether it is a neuron, a liver cell, the medulla oblongata or the the islets of Langerhans. Their reaction causes symptoms, while long-term symptoms and the resulting cellular dysfunction lead to what we call “disease”. Whose fault is that???

Fluoride – Public Chemical #1 – This paper will hopefully make you run right out and buy a fluoride water filter…at least. It is my hope that it will also make the reader ask deeper questions, such as “Why do most dentists support the fluoridation of our public water?” Now that’s a deep rabbit hole. Oh…and it’s the fluoride in grapes and raisins that is responsible for those canine deaths resulting from “grape poisoning“.

Read more…

The Latest Success Story

Hi Dogtor!

This confirms my whole theory regarding my dog “Kody” – I wrote you about him about 8 months ago, having 5 seizures in 15 days at only 5 months old.  He was eating Nutro since the day I got him at 8 weeks old.  I sent you the ingredients for Merrick’s grain-free food called Before Grain, which you emailed the thumbs up back to me, and he HAS NOT HAD A SINGLE SEIZURE SINCE!  He is now a 14 month old  80 lb GORGEOUS black border collie/shepherd mix) with a giant tail like a Pomeranian.

I have since switched all my cats off of Nutro also, thinking it might help my pure white Norwegian Forest Cat who was scratching her little face and ears completely bloody raw, and always had black dried blood around her nostrils.  My cats did not like the grain free food, so I bought Dick van Patten’s Natural Balance and low and behold, my cat is now absolutely gorgeous also!  No scratching, no bloody nostrils.  Amazing.

Read more…

Want to keep up with the latest information?

Join my Friends of Dogtor J Email group and get a series of articles explaining the importance of the diet and a first look at the newest papers placed on DogtorJ.com. This is a different mailing than my monthly newsletter, which contains important site updates, the latest in medical news, and links to important articles for your review. You can find the form for the Email Group in the lower middle of every internal page of the site and the newsletter sign-up in the right column of each page.

As a member of Dogtor J’s Email Group, you will also receive an occasional Email containing information about my latest medical findings, important additions to Dogtorj.com, product reviews and links to the latest research being done in the various areas covered on this site. I promise not to bombard subscribers with countless letters offering items or services. That is not what DogtorJ.com is about. This Website is an information site and one that attempts to give the reader useful material that they can easily incorporate into their life and that of their pet.

So, feel free to fill out the form and become a part of the family. There is a lot for all of us to learn, so… there should be much more to come.

 Dogtor J