My Raw Food Conversion

Three years after graduating from vet school I was helping the well known veterinary homeopath Richard Pitcairn create his first-ever certification course for veterinary homeopathy. Richard is often referred to as the Father of American Veterinary Homeopathy. He solicited my opinion on including the topic of nutrition in the course. I rolled my eyes. “That’s not what vets will be coming to the course for,” I said, knowing full well he’d be talking about that stupid raw food stuff. But he included it anyway (thank goodness) and we all learned a lot more than we had in school. And Richard has a way of teaching that just makes sense to the scientific mind. So, I was converted.

I began cautiously, and with only a little faith. When I started changing my patients’ diets to natural and raw, my success rate jumped dramatically. Most notable among the early cures were the diabetic cats. I was curing about 50% of these cases. After adding the diet changes my cure rate for feline diabetes rose to above 95%, and has remained there ever since. Wow. Now I was a true believer. So, on I went happily nourishing my patients with species-appropriate diets, and getting better and better results. I’ve made changes to the recommendations over time as a result of feedback from my patients and their people. I’ve adapted the diet to fit a busy lifestyle, to fit a tight budget, to be sensitive to vegetarian/vegan pet owners, and to please a fussy, finicky eater, and still get the maximum benefit. I’ve made this basic raw pet diet information available free on my web site.

I’m delighted that now there are raw food diets available commercially! There is Nature’s Variety, Aunt Jeni’s Home Made, Stella and Chewy’s, Bravo, Oma’s Pride, and Steve’s, just to name a few. My clients that prefer convenience have used these wonderful products with great results. Other clients looking for the most inexpensive way to feed optimally will prepare the diet themselves from my design. It’s great to have the choice!

I love when a dear paradigm of mine gets crushed. And so it was with my views on conventional diets vs. natural/raw feeding of dogs and cats. My patients felt better and got healthier, and did it quicker, too. My clients were happier, and so was I.