Are the seeds from apples and apricots toxic to your pets?  I hear this a lot…in fact the myth is so prevalent that people don’t even want to feed whole apples to their horses! Yikes!

So let me alleviate your fears…not only are apple seeds, apricot seeds safe they have a CRITICAL and rare vitamin that is low in all species diets now and we are all paying for it severely. This vitamin is Vitamin B17 or Amygdalin. B17 used to exist in the flesh of most fruits, veggies. legumes and some grains but because it makes the food bitter we have essentially bred it out of our produce and now the only place it still is existent is in the seeds of SOME fruits, veggies, legumes and plants.

Vitamin B17 IS IMPORTANT FOR KILLING CANCER CELLS IN THE BODY! So by not allowing our pets access to these types of foods we are essentially robbing them of their ability to control mutated cells/cancer!

That’s a big deal! So why did they get such a bad rap?

Well…because the molecular structure of B17 contains Cyanide…BUT it is not free floating cyanide that can hurt…it is BOUND in a molecule and does no harm to the body quite the opposite. Think of salt…salt is made up of Sodium Chloride…when bound in this molecule to make table salt it is not only harmless but it is also necessary to our health. However, you take only Chlorine and we all know this is VERY TOXIC…so knowledge is everything.
I can tell you from first hand experience…as a kid I used to sit under the Apricot tree and eat dozens of apricot kernels – and I can assure you I’m alive and well!

So next time someone tells you that apple seeds are toxic please tell them to go and do some research because they are missing out on a MAJOR vitamin that could literally cost them their life and their pet’s life for omitting.

One last thing…in the wild horses will eat the whole apple – yup seeds and all – in fact they will eat lots of plants rich in B17! We have so much to learn from our animals problem is we think we know so much better

Fat cat or dog?  Are you already feeding crumbs and still no weight loss AND the pet is miserable because it is starving?  Or the severe diet keeps them trim but they are not happy or healthy still…

Well I’ll share something very important with you…diets DON’T WORK FOR PEOPLE OR ANIMALS…if your pet is overweight you have to find out why not just cut back on calories/food and/or switching to a ‘fatty kibble’ diet…

Here’s a list of the main reasons why your cat or dog is pudgy no matter what food they are on or how much…

Does your horse feel comfortable enough to sleep or lie down? Sounds like an easy question…but you’d be surprised to know that horses need to feel quite comfortable and safe in order to lie down never mind sleep. Horses only sleep/doze for about 3 hours a day – true REM deep sleep is around 45 minutes in duration and done in three separate times – so a horse will only be deep sleeping for about 10-15 minutes at a time. Horses are prey animals and they have learned to adapt to sleeping in cat naps or not at all for up to 3 days if under stress (bad weather or predators)…so what can you do to help your horse?

1. Provide outdoor and indoor areas that are dry and soft to lie on.
2. Putting only a tiny bit of bedding down (as a lot of people do to save money) only discourages lying down. Horses need quite a bit of a bedding to lay down more. We are talking extra bedding not what one would think is normal. Studies done on horses show that the more cushion you provide the more they lie.
3. Nervous top leader horses sleep a lot less than the ones lower down in the group hierarchy. In these cases a large group feels safer and takes turns sleeping than when there’s only 2 horses for example. Safety in numbers.
4. Horses with ulcers or breathing problems do not lie down much – same goes with horses that have pains upon lying down on that particular body part. If your horses is reluctant to lie down much have him/her checked out.
5. If your horse lies down too much for too long…again have them checked out. It is not unusual for a horse to lie down at least once daily to a bit more…but unless they haven’t slept for a couple of days…the duration should be only a few minutes for the most part. There are exceptions to this but most of the time it means the horse is probably sore and trying to get off of their feet. Have it checked just in case.
6. Horses sleep more during day time hours or early morning…hardly ever at night unless stuck in a stall…this is because more predators hunt at night. Horses move and eat and are just as active in the night as they are in the day light hours…if not more so. Horses do better being out 24/7 in a descent sized group (where they get along) than being housed in a stall.

Heartbreaking conversation with a gentleman in front of a pet store about the age of pets now…he was bringing in his Doberman puppy to buy a toy. We chatted a bit as I love and used to have a Dobe…he went on to tell me this was his 7th DOBERMAN AND THAT THEY ALL DIED BEFORE THE AGE OF 10 YEARS OLD!  ALL HAD HEART DISEASE (cardiomyopathy) except for the last one which had cardiomyopathy AND cancer! He was devastated and bought another puppy to help with missing his dog.

We conversed on how dogs are NOT living as long as they used to (gentleman was past 45 years old) and that he never recalled them dying so young. Well either can I. I have always been a nerdy animal lover…if you ask my family members I’d have books and charts of every dog and horse breed and I’d learned how to do basic care for any creature I had. I would even write down things like life expectancy and really paid attention to the age, health and care of animals even as young as 8 years old…so I not only vaguely recall…I REMEMBER VIVIDLY dogs living till at least 15-18 years of age…even the bigger dogs like Dobe’s and Shepherds even some giant breeds pushed to 14 easily…never mind the smaller breeds living WELL INTO THEIR 20’s! The longest living dogs were in their 30 ‘s! The capability is there…why are they living less longer lives? Because they get sick at a VERY young age. And they look old because they are sick…not sick because they are old.
This is so very important – I want to impart this on everyone. Your cat should be able to live into their late 30’s, your dog into their LATE teens or early 20’s and your horse into their late 30’s early 40’s!!!! If they don’t – they are sick – this means we are doing something wrong.

The food is wrong, the health care system is wrong…the amount of stress and damage put on their little bodies is too much!

If you google life-expectancy of dogs it seems to DROP every time I search…so they are trying to erase the actual numbers so people think when their dog starts to get old around age 6-7 (considered seniour now!) you don’t think anything is wrong when they have to be put down at 9 years old or less. You dutifully bring your dog or cat to the Vet over and over again…do the same steps of feeding the Vet prescribed diets, vaccines and heartworm/deworming meds and your pet gets sick and unfortunately ends up passing away WAY too soon before their time.

Do not rely on your Vet to tell you how long your pet should live…they see so much sickness and early death that they have come to believe it is SHORT…so the numbers they will give you will be too LOW!

We should all be OUTRAGED – as a pet lover we love our animals like our children. So if know 1 in 2 will get Cancer and 90% of our pets will get a chronic degenerative disease in mid life that will ultimately shorten their time with us…we should want and demand better. Our pets deserve so much more than to suffer with the same crap we do. Our health has been pitiful as a species. We are overweight and take medication like candy…human beings have now passed on that lovely gift of illness and shortened life expectancy to some of the things we care about the most.

We need to get angry…because when we get angry we do something about it because we are emotional about the cause.

Best way to combat this is to do the OPPOSITE of what everyone else is doing as a majority…feed people food balanced properly for your pet, DO NOT OVER-VACCINATE (Rabies is the only one required by law), DO NOT USE FLEA OR HEARTWORM PREVENTIVES, WAIT AS LONG AS POSSIBLE TO FIX YOUR DOG, GET A HOLISTIC VET TO HELP YOU DEAL WITH HEALTH PROBLEMS AS THEY ARISE…suppressing with medications only drives disease deeper…and it never resolves.

I would like for others to share what the oldest living cat, dog or horse they know of? We need to keep the true information about this alive and well…so we can recognize that what is happening now is wrong and has to change! Our pets deserve our attention to this…

If you own a horse that has lameness due to bone chips you have to really take a deep look into the diet and supplementation. Bone chips contrary to popular belief do not simply happen because of too much strain on the horse (although ultimately this is what ends up happening when bones and joints are not strong enough) think osteoporosis type of ailments.

If was a simple case of over-exertion then that means all racehorses, jumpers and any horse pushed would have bone chips. Bone chips occur in horses who have weak bones and joints. This occurs mostly due to mineral/vitamin imbalances. For example if a horse is low in Calcium and Magnesium (which is needed in many critical bodily processes) then it will actively pull those nutrients from the bones to get the minerals thus weakening them. Performance horses in particular need more nutrients to prevent this from happening and often times their feed is inadequate especially if it contains GMO’s (this is 99% of feed out there). GMO’s actually block the absorption of certain nutrients so even if they are present in sufficient quantities they will not be absorbed. This is yet another reason why Nutrition has become that much more complicated.

So basically next time you hear bone chips…think malnutrition or malabsorption and fix the cause – because bigger things are a brewing in that horse that will show up later on.

I regularly test my patients for nutrition levels with a hair test which provides me with the necessary information to provide the patients body the required nutrition to repair itself.

If you would like more information about this please contact me here .

Important Vaccine Information: By Dr. M. Dym DVM
“I will not rest until I get the word out to animal guardians and my well meaning, and yet sadly ignorant veterinary colleagues on what constitutes a chronic immune reaction to vaccinations. Sadly, young veterinarians and those in training FAIL to get any understanding on the gross under-reporting of how prevalent CHRONIC immune reactions are possible to over-vaccination. Folks, there are at least four, WELL KNOWN AND ACCEPTED potential hypersensitivity immune responses to allergens, which include injectable vaccinations. Not just the immediate Type 1 hypersensitivity bee sting type reaction that occurs within minutes of exposure, but Type 2, Type 3 and Type 4 immune reactions that can occur days, weeks, months or even YEARS later, which, has been documented to occur after vaccination. Ron Schultz, phd, the leading traditional veterinary immune expert in this country has told me how pathetic and sad the immunological training of young veterinarians is on this issue. And to those who think that giving an injection of fast acting cortisone or benadryl to a pet getting a shot, will protect against these potential long term effects on the immune system, they are tragically mistaken. Recently saw a tragic case of a 5 year old dapple, colored BLUE eyed dachshund, who had experienced an acute type 1 hypersensitivity reaction to a vaccination 3 years earlier, which was managed successfully by their traditional veterinarian. The pet was seemingly healthy for the next 3 years, until it was time for its booster rabies vaccination. In erroneously thinking that a short acting cortisone or benadryl shot would prevent a reaction, this dog was given its rabies vaccination anyway, and within a few weeks was developing progressive spinal inflammation and progressive degenerative disc disease(which is probably immune-mediated) sadly resulting in the need for eventual euthanasia. Its time for everyone in this profession to become familiar with these issues, including the potential LONG term immune side effects of vaccinations in susceptible individuals, which have been discussed and well documented by well respected traditional veterinary professionals Jean Dodds and Ron Schultz. Blind ignorance can no longer be tolerated, as it is costing innocent animal companions their health. Please see the work of the rabies challenge fund, which will hopefully extend the rabies laws well beyond 3 years, as well as those states which allow medical exemptions to rabies vaccination in those individuals who are immune compromised and/or have history of ANY type of reactions in the past. There is also an excellent article on this website on the CHRONIC immune issues that are possible following rabies vaccination, and which is the impetus for the work of that organization ” Dr. M. Dym DVM

If you want to do raw with your dog but your dog can’t eat bones or you are afraid of the idea…you can try three options – raw no bones.

1. Buy meat with pre-ground bone mixed in it.
2. Give egg shells as they are the same constituent as bones.
3. Cut up some of the chicken bones to VERY small pieces so your dog won’t choke.

The last one can be done with dogs that have missing teeth but good digestive systems for example. You can use a good knife to cut the tips off of each bone (the cartilage is excellent for your dog as well), cut the ribs and the spine/tail (and neck if available) into small edible pieces. These parts of the bones are relatively soft and have no sharp ends.

The best thing is to do a combination of all three things to ensure your dog gets about 10% (this may vary from dog to dog) bone content in the diet. Many people make the mistake of feeding raw but don’t give bones or organs and this is the majority of nutritional imbalances begin. Meat has lots of protein and some nutrients BUT it needs bones and organs to balance out the rest. This is where the majority of Calcium, Magnesium and fat soluble vitamins such as Vitamins A, D, E and K are.

Also if your pet has a particular problem with an organ and it is nutritional in nature (most are) then feed that particular organ back to them because it will be rich in those nutrients. So, for example…you have an arthritic dog – make sure you feed lots of bones/joints of the prey animal you are feeding to help. If you have a cat with kidney problems or liver issues make sure you feed sufficient amounts of those organs. Animals with eye troubles will eat the eyes of another animal if given a chance (I know kind of gross but instinctively they know) or the internal organs such as the liver/kidneys that contain Vitamin A which the eyes are rich in. Deficiency of Vitamin A in their body means eye troubles.

Variety is important. Don’t get stuck with one meat source and one veggie for example. Soon you will have problems on your hands and you won’t know where it came from.
Even if you feed a kibbled diet – offer your pet eggs, egg shells, bones, cartilage, bone broth, bone gelatin (the stuff left in your pan after you cook chicken or beef), different types of organs and so on. Not only will your cat or dog love this but it will offer more nutrients they wouldn’t get otherwise.