Martin Goldstein is not only a veterinarian, but the author of two wonderful books on animals. I have only read the one, The Nature of Animal Healing, and am so impressed with his honesty and the commonsense he has for someone in his field. Unfortunately this isn’t something you see everyday. His book is the kind you want to read twice. It’s that good! I’m not saying you will agree with everything he says, I don’t either, but he has allowed God to teach him along the way, and learned from what he has seen, rather than ignore, or deny it, because it didn’t agree with what he was taught to believe in medical school.
Here is a sampling of what he says in his book (he has a lot of things worth quoting). Starting on page 4 of his book The Nature of Animal Healing, he says:
“Twenty-five years ago when I started out in practice, the pets I saw with these diseases (arthritis, kidney or liver failure, hyperthyroidism, cancers) were old. Their conditions seemed to be age-related, and slow-growing enough to be accepted. Of the cases I see now, many are young and don’t live past the age of five.”
He describes how these diseases are becoming common amongst our pets, as well as faster growing and more aggressive. As you read through his book, and many others like them (Dr. Pitcairn’s. Dr. Don Hamilton’s) you will find they are linking the increase and severity of these diseases to vaccines and poor, or worse, toxic pet foods sold to the consumer.
He goes on to say, “As a holistic veterinarian, I don’t view cancer as a mysterious disease that attacks the body. It’s the ultimate manifestation of ill health…To me, it’s clear that more and more pets are getting cancer and other degenerative diseases because they’re being hit with more and more toxins that eventually mutate their genes, weakening successive generations.”
Raising holistic dogs myself, I find this to be absolutely true, and as an avid muscle-tester, I know it bears out in the testing too. When I go to a grocery store and test the packaged dog foods on the shelf I find they are pretty awful at best, and poisonous at worst. It’s rare that I find one “beneficial” for my dogs. And I don’t even bother to check regular grocery stores, it’s a waste of time. So, I am testing at health food stores, where the animal food is supposed to be high quality, more “healthy,” then the average stores have to offer. Then there was the testing experience at one of the major high-end grocery stores we shop. I say “high-end” because its not your average grocery store. This store carries a lot of organic groceries, both produce and packaged foods. Usually, we don’t buy our red meat at a grocery store because we get it from a farmer who raises his animals organically and uses homeopathics for their healthcare. Our dogs also eat this meat. This day though, we were out of meat for the dogs while we waited for our next shipment.
While at the store, I decided to purchase grass-fed organic ground beef for the dogs. Before doing that, I thought about testing some of the other, cheaper meats (all raw) for the dogs. After all, they are dogs, and they would rather eat road-kill then processed people meat anyway. We’ve had dogs of one breed or another all of my 50 plus years, and they have all either hunted for live kill, or brought home dead road-kill. We have watched them eat cats, squirrels, rabbits, mice, ground hogs, you name it. One brought home a road-kill turkey and even drug home a deer carcass someone had left in the woods after a hunting trip. None of them got “sick” or “diseased” from eating these things either. So, why buy the most expensive meat in the store?!
I got busy testing which pieces of meat were good for the dogs. I walked up and down the meat counter testing, then tested again. Surely this couldn’t be right. I was testing for dogs, not people, I reminded myself. Then I did it again. As I stood there perplexed, I watched the people, dozens of them, hang over the meat counter as they choose their pieces of meat.
Wow, if none, and I tested NONE, of the meat was even beneficial for my dogs, how could it possibly be good for people? I discussed this with my husband, who reminded me of the antibiotics, hormones, vaccines, pesticides, herbicides and GMO grains fed to the animals that were represented in this meat counter. I felt sick as I watched all of the people pick out their meat selections and put them in their grocery carts. They had no idea the meat they were buying, and paying a good price for, wasn’t good for them. As I picked up the organic meat for my dogs, I had to remind myself that, even for dogs, what is the point of feeding them a “food” (I hate to give even call it that) that may contribute to sickness or disease?
Spending a little bit more now on the organic meat, will result in a ton of savings of money and valuable time down the road as the dogs remain healthy (and out of the vet’s office) long-term. Preventative health for animals includes quality nutrition just as it does for humans. Preventative health in the form of healthy meat means decreased or zero vet bills down for life span of the animal! With these thoughts in mind, we purchased the meat and headed for home with the good feeling that our choices now will allow our dogs to live healthy for longer.