This is an inspiring story about the heroic K9 German Shepherd Gunner in Memphis. He apprehended a felon, who stabbed Gunner tragically over 10 times.
Gunner is now getting a bulletproof vest. Here is the link:
www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/news/tennessee/120709_k9_officer_back_on_the_job
Tags: Inspirational dogs, K9
A client of mine who absolutely loves dogs- as just about all of my clients do- gave me two special books about dogs.
The books are “Dog Stories” and “Puppy Stories”, “Inspirational and Heroic True Stories” by well-known authors Brad and Sherry Steiger.
The stories are fantastic! They will really reinforce your love and admiration for our furry friends and the amazing things they do for us humans. There are numerous stories of dogs literally saving peoples’ lives.
The Steigers have also written other animal books, such as “Animal Miracles”. You can find a lot of their books on Amazon and other book sites.
Tags: dog stories inspirational dog stories heroic and true dog stories
This website linked below has a lot of interesting stories and information about pets, mainly dogs and cats. This particular entry (below) is a list of the Top Ten Pet Indulgences, a great list to help keep your pet happy and healthy!
And we think Pet-Tao Pet Food would be a good item to add to the list! Please check out this link:
www.zootoo.com/petnews/toptenpetindulgences-1493
I think its important to discuss how and why we chose the ingredients in Pet-Tao pet food. Casey and I get this question all the time, and I will address the answer here.
As opposed to just taking different meats and putting them into a bag and calling the result a healthy pet food, we have chosen each and every ingredient for a reason. For instance, the ingredients in the Canine Balanced Diet are chosen according to the theories of Eastern Food Therapy, the energetic properties of hot and cold, and the Five Element theory.
Casey and I studied Eastern Veterinary Medicine at the Chi Institute in Florida and learned invaluable principles that we have incorporated into our practices as well as the creation of Pet-Tao pet foods. Our goal is to create healthy pet foods for dogs and cats that will revolutionize how we feed and care for our pets.
We feel that Food Therapy is perhaps the most important and effective branch of Eastern Veterinary Medicine. As I mentioned earlier, the ingredients in Pet-Tao are chosen according to these Eastern Food Therapy principles. This diet is balanced. In Western terms balance denotes meeting AAFCO standards. In Eastern terms, it denotes the balance of Yin and Yang. This is exactly what our foods do- balance the body!!! Due to these facts, Pet-Tao is arguably the only truly holistic pet food.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Xing
Whenever I get calls from veterinarians about Pet-Tao, I frequently am asked the question: “Can you give me concrete reasons why Pet-Tao is the best pet food on the market?” I reply, “Yes, I can and here they are!!!”
So here are the answers and explanations of why PetTao is the best pet food on the market. 1) We use only wholesome, unmodified ingredients. If you examine our ingredient label, this fact is apparent. 2) Our ingredients are included in each diet for a specific reason. This is the Eastern Food Therapy component that makes our diets one-of-a-kind and unique to the pet food market. We do not just combine a few meats with a few veggies and fruits and call it pet food. 3) We use no preservatives. Preservatives, additives, and dyes are all contributing factors to the nutritional perils we see in many pet foods today. 4) We strike a compromise between cooking and raw thru our pasteurization process. Pasteurization eliminates pathogenic bacteria from the food while simultaneously maintaining the foods’ nutritional value. Pasteurization denotes balance between cooking and raw. By the way, this is another Eastern influenced thought. Finally, 5) Pet Tao foods have been designed by veterinarians with over twenty five years of clinical experience. As veterinarians, we have seen, dealt with, and treated the ill effects of dietary indiscretions throughout our practices. Our concern with these consequences was the driving force for the development of PetTao. No other pet food on the market today can make these claims!!
Tags: Best Pet Food, Healthy Pet Food
Since we launched Pet-Tao, I have had numerous people ask me about pasteurizing pet food- how, why , and what!!!!!!
Basically, pasteurization of pet food is similar to pasteurizing any food. The food is heated to a certain temperature to kill or retard the growth of certain bacteria known to cause foodborne illness. The most common bacteria are Salmonella, Listeria, and E. Coli, just to name a few.
At Pet-Tao, our process is unique because we first package the raw material in a boil-in bag and then submerge the food in the bag into heated water. The internal temperature of the food product is heated to 161F for 15 seconds and then submerged into a water bath for quick cooling. This is the pasteurization process. You can learn more at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasteurization.
We pasteurize our food as opposed to actually cooking it for a couple of reasons. 1.) Pasteurization is a only mild insult to the quality and integrity of the food and its inherent nutritional value. 2.) Pasteurization strikes a balance between cooking and raw. We feel it is a perfect compromise.
Some of my raw food friends will disagree. However, there are three main criteria that have led us and caused us to have the firm belief that pasteurized is better: Western Food Hygiene and Food Science; Eastern Food Therapy and Energetics; and over 25 years of clinical experience in veterinary practice. Right now is not the time to get into debate over raw pet food versus pasteurized pet food. We will save that for another post.
At Pet -Tao, exciting things are happening! We are hard at work as we speak! Casey and I seem to be spending any extra time we might have on Pet-Tao.
Our staff is doing an absolutely great job preparing our integrated pet foods. We are now preparing and shipping about 300 pounds of food a day. We ship directly to customers all over the USA.
We have had some nice videos on Youtube and other websites for some time. Recently, our production company finished another video about Pet-Tao and our Preferred Partner Program. Please check it out right here!:
Thank you for watching!
August 14,2009 was a big day in my life. Friend and colleague Dr. Casey Damron and I launched Pet-Tao pet food, the first and only pet food that combines the science of Western nutrition with the time tested theories of Eastern Food Therapy. It was a long time coming as it took over two and a half years from our initial creation to bring this product to market for pets all across the country to enjoy. We stayed up many nights working on the formulas, discussing packaging options, and trying to make decisions on how to best market our product. With those decisions behind us, we are ready to move on to the next level. Hopefully, our pet food will enhance the lives, health, and well-being of pets all across the country. Our next move is to develop our feline diets. We are almost there but we still have work to do, mostly on palatability issues. You know cats are pretty finicky eaters and sometimes their dietary likes and dislikes change for no apparent reason. Anyway, we are going to give it our best shot and move forward. Also, in the future, we are going to add specialized geriatric diets and cancer diets- to offer pets and their owners the optimal experience during the senior years. If you want to learn more about Pet-Tao and what we have to offer, visit us at www.pettao.com. Thanks!!!!
Since I integrate Western veterinary medicine and Eastern veterinary medicine into my practice, many clients and friends have asked about how and where I studied Eastern Veterinary Medicine. So I’ll explain it here. And I’ll pass on links to websites that explain more about what and where I have studied.
I began to learn about Eastern Veterinary Medicine back in the late 90s and on from classmates and veterinary colleague. During this time, patients began asking me about it as well, and I felt like I really needed to begin studying it.
So, for the last two years, I have been privileged to study Eastern Veterinary Medicine at The Chi Institute in Reddick, Florida. Eastern veterinary medicine is also called Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM). Eastern Veterinary Medicine is holistic and emphasizes the five branches of TCVM, which include food therapy, herbal therapy, acupuncture, chiropractic/massage (also called Tui-na) and Qi-gong.
The Chi Institute is widely considered the leading Continuing Education provider of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine study and training. Veterinarians and animal science workers from all over the world attend school there. Most of the teachers at Chi are related in some form or fashion to the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, which is also a top school. Here is a link to The Chi Institute: www.tcvm.com.
The Chief Instructor at The Chi Institute is Dr. Shen Huisheng Xie (his last name is pronounced “Shay”). Dr. Xie, from China, is an excellent teacher and veterinarian and is greatly respected around the world as one of the foremost Eastern Veterinary Medicine and Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine practitioners.
I and my fellow classmates at The Chi Institute have been fortunate to learn and study TCVM and its powerful, proven animal care theories and disciplines. My training in Eastern medicine has greatly enhanced my ability to diagnose, treat and provide optimal care for my patients, and my fellow classmates have said the same thing about their practices.
You can learn more about TCVM on The Chi Institute website as well as on the web. A good place to learn more is on the TCVm wikipedia page here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Chinese_Veterinary_Medicine
I was trained in veterinary school at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Science in Knoxville, Tennessee. It was a great experience, one that changed my life for sure. I am fortunate to have attended school there, where there are so many gifted and outstanding professors and teachers. Here is a link to the school’s website: vet.utk.edu.
Back to my training in TCVM. My friend and colleague Dr. Casey Damron and I studied at The Chi Institute together. Casey and I knew each other for years because we had both practiced veterinary medicine for large and small animals here in middle Tennessee.
We both learned a tremendous amount at The Chi Institute. It was during our time at Chi that we began to explore the idea of creating an integrated pet food combining Western and Eastern veterinary medicine.
Specifically, the class we took on Food Therapy taught by Dr. Xie was one of the classes that really motivated us to begin the journey of creating what later became Pet-Tao Pet Food.
At some point I will post a more detailed history and background of Pet-Tao. To summarize, we spent two years formulating and developing the Pet-Tao pet food formulas. Pet-Tao is the only all-natural, integrated pet food combining the science of Western nutrition with Eastern Food Therapy principles.
From our facility here in Tennessee, Pet-Tao is being shipped to pet-owners and pets all over the nation. It is available directly or through our nationwide network of veterinarians. One of the primary ways we are offering Pet-Tao is through veterinarians who can become part of our Preferred Partner Program, which we launched last month.
You can learn more about Pet-Tao and order pet food at www.pettao.com.
Well, thank you for reading! I am hoping the best for you and pets!
Tags: accupuncture, pet food, pet tao
One of the most serious problems veterinarians treat is cancer. Many of my patients and friends have asked about it recently- how to avoid it, how to treat it and more.
Veterinarians all across the country see cancer every day. It is estimated that over 50% of dogs over the age of 10 will succumb to the dreaded consequences of cancer.
Research has demonstrated that cancers initially occur due to the animals’ exposure to carcinogens, which promote cancer. Some carcinogens are naturally occurring, but the majority of them are manufactured substances like herbicides, pesticides, preservatives and the like, which are found in many commercial dog foods.
Carcinogens alter the DNA of the cell, resulting in uncontrolled cell growth which ultimately results in a mass-like effect. The initial phase of cancer development is termed initiation or implantation. With a competent immune system, some cancers are halted at this point.
The second stage is called promotion. This occurs when the conditions are favorable for the continued growth of the tumor cells. This stage is very similar to how grass grows on a watered lawn. This is also the time when diet plays such a key role in suppressing tumor growth.
Dogs eating a diet that they were intended to consume can slow the progression of the development of cancer. This is an opinion based on my and my colleagues’ general clinical experience.
The third stage is termed progression. Progression is the point where I see most of my patients or when the owners actually recognize the problem. This is the point when cells are rapidly reproducing, spreading, and causing damage both locally and in other parts of the body.
The role of diet in cancer is well-established. The proper diet can halt the initiation process by supporting the animal’s immune system function. The proper diet can also halt the promotion stage by starving the tumor, similar to not watering a lawn. Unfortunately, the progression phase is difficult to control by diet alone and oftentimes is the time when I first see the sick patient.
Tags: dog cancer, pet cancer, pet health