From Dr. Michael W. Fox, aka "Ask the Animal Doctor":

"A 2004 listing in order of frequency of the ten most common claims of over 6,400 medical conditions that Veterinary Pet Insurance Inc received from cat and dog owners certainly reveals a high incidence of the most probable ‘junk food’ related diseases in the dog and cat population of the U.S., with the exception of bite abscesses in cats and soft tissue trauma in dogs, (both conditions being associated with animals who are allowed to free-roam).

For dogs: Ear infection; Stomach inflammation; Skin irritation; Tumors/growths; Skin infection/hot spots; Urinary tract infection; Osteoarthritis; Hypothyroidism; Inflammation of the intestinal tract; Soft tissue trauma.

For cats: Urinary Tract Infection; Stomach inflammation; Kidney disease; Bite Abscess; Diabetes; Hyperthyroidism; Inflamed colon; Conjunctivitis; Ear infection; Skin irritation.

–As for the contribution of highly processed commercial diets to the sickness and suffering of cats and dogs, the fact remains that animals often make spectacular recoveries, not when put on special prescription diets, but when taken off all such ‘junk’ convenience foods, and are instead fed balanced diets appropriate for their species (e.g. no cereal-based diets for carnivorous...) - Michael W. Fox, B. Vet. Med., Ph.D., D.Sc., M.R.C.V.S

(Although they're right here: http://leda.law.harvard.edu/leda/data/784/Patrick06.html ) ---

ANSWERS NOBODY KNOWS:

1) Can anyone enlighten as to any actual medicine and/or nutritional benefits within these examples of "Prescription Formulas" (main ingredients listed below) which are "prescribed" by veterinarians for:

a. Canid, mammal in the order Carnivora (Canine): Ground Whole Grain Corn, Powdered Cellulose, Peanut Hulls, Chicken by-product Meal, Chicken Liver Flavor, Soybean Meal, Soybean Mill Run, Dried Egg Product, Soybean Oil, Corn Gluten Meal...

b. Felid, obligatory carnivorous species (Feline): Ground Whole Grain Corn, Pork Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Chicken By-Product Meal, Soybean Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Soybean Mill Run, Chicken Liver Flavor, Calcium Sulfate, Dried Egg Product, Soybean Oil, Flaxseed, Iodized Salt, Dicalcium Phosphate, Choline Chloride

2) WHY would a client-consumer totally suspend all belief and logic in regard to these species and actually feed this to their own? (Because it's being labeled, sold, and prescribed as "Prescription", therefore being perceived as MEDICINE.)

So:

3) Can anybody cite any actual MEDICINE in these "prescription formulas"? (Answer is right on the INGREDIENT LABELS.)

4) Then how can they possibly justify the PRICE -- as much as $75.00 -- which naive clients shell out for it, especially when comparing the INGREDIENTS side-by-side with a bargain brands' ingredients? (See ALPO's Savory Beef which lists BEEF and CHICKEN within the first FOUR main ingredients.)

5) Can they also explain why they think carnivorous companion animals should be eating sawdust (of PINE TREE) and peanut HULLS? 5-a.) Are they even aware of just what Powdered Cellulose IS?

6) Has it ever occurred to people that eating these things is what actually CAUSES all the most common ailments and diseases in these species in the first place?

Carnivores' dentition and digestive systems do not permit efficient processing of grains and vegetable matter (let alone the inexplicable "things" listed above.) This is why nature designed and programmed them to eat what is already DIGESTED in their prey.7) Can anybody deny this?

8) Would we consider it ethical and LEGAL should our family Physicians have such a "relationship" with the Snack Food Industry and convinced everybody that "prescription" corn chip diets were necessary -- while they profited from the corn chip sales, as well as, drug company points for additional medications sold to mask the ailments resulting from such a strict diet?

Would we accept this -- despite the ingredients we see listed right on the packages -- and just pay the price, just as we do without hesitation for our chronically ailing, over-drugged companion animals?

9) Are there any differences between the Oath veterinarians took with that of our Physicians/M.D.s?

-Virtually everybody who SHOULD be alerting and informing companion animal owners to this scam is invariably tied to, and profits from, the Commercial Pet Food Industry.

-Unlike Physicians, Veterinarians only have to answer to their own governing body - itself largely funded by the Commercial Pet Food Industry.

So guess who gets to "teach" our Veterinarians "NUTRITION", too!

Naive companion animal owners are convinced by their trusted veterinarians that their pets "need" to ingest these things to get well, yet corn (tough to digest) -- along with soy and wheat which are also most prevalent in most of these foods -- is among the most common, PROVEN, causes of allergies and other health issues in dogs and cats.

And nobody's ever warned us?

Had to find it all out on the INTERNET after having learned it all the hard way!

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What about all the pet owners who don't know to be digging on the Internet for answers? What about those pets? It's like a broken record with the same old predictable outcomes -- inevitable kidney/liver failures..."burnt out" Pancreas...heart failure...seizures...over and over and over and...

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Dear Worthless Mainstream Media:

To show my gratitude towards The Worthless Mainstream Media for vital ARod, Brittany Spears and "TOMKAT" information which is so promptly provided with their every breath, I wish to submit a tip exposing a secret pet-healing ring perpetuated by Those People 'Just Saying Stuff' on The Internet.

Under the influence and guidance of "Internet" Animal Specialist pet healers, Those People 'Just Saying Stuff' on The Internet" routinely provoke unrealistic full healings on their once chronically sick and disease-trodden pets -- which the Vast Majority of the Real World has never seen, nor could believe exist.

Those People 'Just Saying Stuff' on The Internet know a simple, one-step cure for many dog and cat ailments and disease, which is The Common Factor of their Internet pet-healing ring and some even catch living proof of it all on film. They then “Post” it in secret Internet spaces (called "Sites") which they create to http://www.petfoodcrusade.com/. and "Scroll down" to see the actual living proof in color.

Somebody in The Real World, however, would have to be beyond frustrated with their over-drugged pets never healing from chronic irritations, and be desperately scouring the Internet for even a clue, for the slightest chance of ever knowing about them; what they do; and how easily they do it.

Some of Those "Internet" Animal Specialist pet healers (actually for-real Doctors in the Real World) share with Those People 'Just Saying Stuff' on The Internet their secret cure procedures, coupled with http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/ for Their Simple Cure Common Factor.

Top secret *Passcodes*, along with "Screen Names" are required to be a part of the sharing of information among Those People on The Internet 'Just http://www.city-data.com/forum/cats/578376-my-cat-doing-just-fine-dry.htm '

When I had my dog in for his diarrhea, hyperthyroidism, and chronic ear & skin infections again last week, I was telling my vets about "Those People On The Internet 'Just Saying Stuff' completely healing their pets themselves. They all laughed along with me, and instructed me to keep feeding http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=1077&cat=7.

Of course it is much easier to just give my pets all the convenient drugs along with the special http://leda.law.harvard.edu/leda/data/784/Patrick06.html -- just as the rest of the very busy Real World does -- than to spend hours Googling like crazy for Internet pet-healing secrets told by Those People 'Just Saying Stuff' On There.

Plus I like vet visits because the receptionists fuss over my pets. It is also fun to ridicule Those Internet People because they buy their MAGIC HEALTH-INDUCING supplies both via the Internet and over-the-counter ... spend a fortune on Those Fancy Foods loaded with MEAT when FEEDING tests have proven that carnivorous mammals much prefer the taste of http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04/Perhach/PetFood/Processing.htm anyway!

Those People 'Just Saying Stuff' on The Internet are also very cruel to take their carnivorous pets' corn/soy/wheat/cheap filler from China-laden food away because carnivores, obviously, LOVE the taste so much and just can't eat enough of it!

Those Internet People actually Say Stuff to brainwash each other into thinking their pets are http://visual.merriam-webster.com/animal-kingdom/carnivorous-mammals.php because they happen to be such species (which isn't their faults!), so I can only imagine how miserable Those poor, enjoyment-deprived carnivores must be because Those Internet People even brag about starving and having to FORCE their pet carnivores to finally get famished enough to eat Those Fancy Foods!!!

Just like my children who LOVE fast food and are addicted to tasty corn chips (and eat them every single day), my carnivorous companion animals are plump and pleasant, and overall very HAPPY even during all their vet visits where everyone looks forward to seeing them often. One even forgets the car rides (which he hates with a passion) as soon as I give him his favorite treats whenever we're there for his inflamed bowels, throwing up, urinary tract infections, crystals or bladder stone removals!

My third little carnivore gets to go again next week for his urinary tract infections, chronic vomiting, and hypothyroidism blood re-test and pill refill, so obviously I'm far too busy to be sitting on the Internet like Those People On There Just Saying Stuff.

As a side note, these things (hyperthyroidism, bowel issues, UTIs...) must be extremely contageous, as my carnivorous pets keep catching them from each other just when it appears one's this-or-that might be healing! It would be hard to quarantee them in my house but Vets say it's "pretty common for both kinds of animals to get them" anyway (and it's not like it's bloody tumor Intestinal growths and/or seizures and/or Kidney-Liver Failure YET) so I feel better.

When they snarl at me, I really get a kick out of my little carnivores' fangy-looking teeth and the weird ways they are shaped. I do sometimes wonder just why they are shaped the way they are ... not like us humans (OR COWS and HORSES)... but it's been so long since the Third Grade that I forget everything I learned in Biology Class way back during The Carter Administration!

Some of Those "Internet" Animal Specialist pet healers have actually written books (which have somehow also reached shelves in the Real World) and include "The New Animal Doctor's Answer Book"; and the brand new "Not Fit For A Dog! The TRUTH About Manufactured Dog & Cat Food", among many others. But, unless somebody in the Real World is tipped off by an Internet pet-healing insider (as I was), they will remain oblivious to these *Internet* Animal Specialist pet healers' secrets.

So I am tipping you off now just for the fun of it.

There is a Dr. Michael W. Fox who has a bunch of secret Internet cure information and research also unknown to The Vast Majority. Although he writes a syndicated newspaper column for The Real World, his healing secrets will probably remain secrets to The Vast Majority because he's not Michael J. Fox.

I also strongly suspect that Those People Just Saying Stuff On The Internet may be behind the following Internet pet-healing Information ring, and could be sharing All This Stuff amongst themselves when they congregate in their secret Internet spaces under their "Screen Names":

http://tedeboy.tripod.com/drmichaelwfox/id88.html (Research Evidence)

www.catinfo.org

http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/152/1/Is-it-Ethical-for-Veterinarians-to-Recommend-Pet-Foods/Page1.html

http://tedeboy.tripod.com/drmichaelwfox/id81.htm

http://hubpages.com/hub/Ask_Susan_Peters

http://www.theanimalspirit.com/vaccines.html

http://www.srdogs.com/Pages/rimadyl.deaths.html

I hope this information is somewhat entertaining, and will continue to look forward to ARod's and the Spears & Cruise Families' every breath which The Media is doing such a fine job of keeping us all abreast of!

I SHOULD also be thanking The Worthless Mainstream Mediots most profusely for all the alert, prompt reporting and headlines over the past decade and beyond which have prevented widespread confusion and heartbreak, thus the sparing of countless companion animals of easily preventable ailments, diseases and premature deaths.

BUT.

The only ones who, apparently, knew anything at all and have been sharing such information all this time were just ...

THOSE PEOPLE 'JUST SAYING STUFF' ON THE INTERNET!!

(And I wasn't one yet.)

Oh well.

They're just animals, right?

Keep up the good work!

-Deceived and Defrauded Pet Owners