“Your pets and you: a winning team”

Health Enhancement and Companion Animal Ownership

Today is the last day of National Pet Month 2012, so we are running a special edition of our Science Spot blog about how animals improve our lives and health. This edition features a review of scientific papers, entitled “Health enhancement and companion animal ownership,” published in 1996. The writers were Alan M Beck and Marshall Meyers.

Summary

Beck and Meyers said: “Pet ownership is neither rare nor random: it is an integral part of society” – they therefore question why most research, in science and medicine, focuses only on the possible harms caused by companion animals, for example, allergies, bites and diseases. Research into the positive effects, they say, is under funded and infrequent: this represents a golden opportunity missed, because “interacting with companion animals may well be one of our more successful strategies for survival.”

Animals and Children

Beck and Meyers describe research into the effect of animal interaction on children’s learning and behaviour: for example, a 1993 study by Katcher & Wilkins, found that the use of animal contact in educational programmes for children with ADHD produced a significant reduction in levels of antisocial and violent behaviour. The studies described in this review span about 30 years and, when taken together, dramatically highlight the importance of animals for the healthy emotional and social development of children.

Children can, for example, learn important values and attitudes from animals – often at times where their interest would otherwise be diminished: young children learn about the role of mummy animal as carer for baby animal during a time when their interest human babies is developmentally lower. Boys in particular may learn a lot about nurturing behaviour from animals, when, perhaps, there are fewer human examples aimed at them. Also, while only half of adults “confide” in their pet, nearly 70% of children do so: a companion-animal can be best friend as well as teacher.

Animals and Violence

Aggression against living creatures is shown to be generalised: people who are aggressive towards non-human animals are likely to be aggressive towards humans too. This is something which Freud was insistent upon – though it apparently took another 80 years for cruelty towards animals to be added to the Diagnostic Manual for Mental Health. I feel that this is typical of a culture within science which is slow to see the life of a non-human animal as equivalent to the life of a human.

The contrary effect is also apparent: one study found that children who are exposed to humane education programmes, where they learn to be kind to animals, also show more empathy towards humans too (compared with children not educated this way). Animals can teach us to be peaceful people.

Animals and Adults

For older people “animals may replace children who have grown and moved away, or perhaps those who were never born. They may afford opportunities for an increase of human-to-human social interaction and, finally, they may permit older adults to live alone without being lonely.”

Animals can be especially important for adults who are marginalised in some way; pet ownership can be helpful for homeless people and also, interestingly, for wheelchair users – who are more likely to find positive social interaction when accompanied by a doggy friend. Bizarrely, having a pet has been shown to make politicians seem more attractive – so Obama’s new puppy was a clever move politically! (Let alone Cameron’s Cat!) The social component of human-animal friendships is powerful: it has long been accepted that, like the research monkey rocking in his cage, humans deprived of contact do not thrive well. This contact can be found in a companion-animal.

Animals and Health

Animals improve your health directly, by affecting physical functions (for example lowering your blood pressure) or indirectly, by influencing your psychological well being (by improving mood and lessening risky behaviours). These effects don’t just relate to companion animals however, those who feel a general attachment to Nature, for example, to the countryside or gardening, also seem to have a lessened risk of disease. Beck and Meyers believe that “Preserving the bonds between people and their animals, like encouraging good nutrition and exercise, appears to be in the best interests of those concerned with public health.”

Cardiovascular disease: prevention and healing

Not only are pets shown to keep us generally more healthy – pet owners also have reduced risk factors for cardiovascular disease too – even in pet-people who eat takeaway/junk food regularly, the correlation is strong. Also, when talking to animals, your blood pressure is likely to fall: while this dip in blood pressure is partly due the use of a calm and relaxed voice, this isn’t the full story. Even passing by a stranger’s dog, for example has been shown to have a soothing influence. Animals have also been shown to effect a 2-3% improvement in survival/recovery after a heart attack: while 2-3% seems small in common terms, medically, it’s pretty impressive – and cost effective! Companion animals: they keep you healthy and help you recover.

Mental health

It’s not just talking to “responsive” mammals which can calm you down: the iconic fish tank in a dentist’s waiting room is designed to soothe – and it works! Birds have also been shown to relax patients, specifically in group therapy settings. Animals in therapy is a growing area of interest – both in “outpatient” and institutional settings. Pet ownership has also shown to help university students by alleviating anxiety: this is quite important as anxiety and even suicide can be a problem for this group of people – who are mostly either forbidden or unable to keep pets during their studies.

Animals in Research

We are all well aware of the ongoing plight of animals used in medical research. One of the reasons animals are used in this type of research, aside from an apparent social belief in their inferiority, is that animal disease has a “shorter latency” than human disease. This means that, after exposure to a harmful environmental factor, animals can become ill much quicker than humans.

Beck and Meyers believe that animals in the home could, like the canary in the coal mine, be used to detect health threats to humans. There have been stories about pets “saving the lives” of humans when suffering from, for example, carbon monoxide poisoning, by alerting the owner to danger and giving them vital extra time to seek medical treatment from themselves. According to Beck and Meyers, the veterinary community should be part of the human research team, feeding information back to the medical community and helping to pinpoint unknown and known threats to human health. It seems, however, that while many vets are willing, there is little interest medically – therefore “Companion animals are an unrecognised alternative to study many of the health problems facing people today.”

Conclusion

“Interacting with companion animals may well be one of our more successful strategies for survival” – and yet, typically, medical research talks of infections, bites, allergies and zoonotic diseases. It’s time to recognise that companion animals are not only cute and fun, but good for us: mind, body and soul. Despite all of the evidence above, there is still a lack of funding and research – perhaps our scientists and clinicians can’t face the thought that an animal could be worth much much more to medicine than a subject for lab tests. Laughter and humour are now recognised medical interventions – and what could bring us more joy, or more laughter, than our wonderful animal friends.

Competition

Send us a photo of your pet doing something which makes you laugh and win a free cat or dog treat! (to the right is a photo of our cat Ivy sitting in a post bag! teehee! Perhaps she wants to get sent out to a customer!)

Zogo-a-go-go

What is Zogoflex?

Zogoflex is an amazingly tough material used to make dog toys: it’s non-toxic, buoyant, dishwasher safe and recyclable. The toys themselves are also well designed; for example, the Zisc Frisbee is a little softer than average and so kinder to those fragile bottom teeth, or the Twiz can be thrown, tugged, twisted AND filled with treats (Perfect for Yarrah Duos); enrichment all round!

Which Zogoflex toys do you sell?

We sell the following Zogoflex toys

From left for right: Zisk, Hurley, Twiz and Huck (Hucks are available in two sizes).

So, how tough is tough?

Tough enough for a one-time replacement guarantee! Tough enough that less than 1% get returned them for replacement! Of course, they are not totally indestructible; there really is no such thing as an indestructible dog toy – extreme chewers, for example Staffies, will get through any toy eventually. However, it will take time take a long time to destroy a Zogoflex toy – and then, the old one will be recycled and a new one sent out! These toys are certainly the way to go for destructive dogs, and are also ideal for sanctuaries, breeders and kennels, because even with several dogs chewing and tugging on them every day, they still last for months. Here is an example of the Zisk at work: Zisk is designed to be the toughest “interactive” toy – it’s great for tugging and pulling (but it’s not as strong as Huck and Hurley).

Are Zogoflex toys made ethically?

Yes, the toys are all made “in-house” by West Paw Design in Bozeman, Montana – as is the Zogoflex material itself. It’s fab to find a supply chain so transparent: you know who makes them and where, and under which employments laws. It’s really great! West Paw take great care to be eco too; for example, when their workshop needed expanding, they re-used all of the original outside walls – an unusual building method which saved 175 Tons of concrete form being dumped in landfill. The manufacturing process is also very efficient, producing very little waste. Great! Oh and we forgot to mention: all of the packaging is printed on 100% recycled paper with soya based inks.

But they are imported from America?

Yes – Companies like West Paw and products like Zogoflex are sadly hard to come by. However, the import process is pretty good – they are shipped by boat from America to Rotterdam, then they are moved from Rotterdam to our wholesaler by road – then by courier to us (plus they always arrive in a recycled box!) Of course, we would love to stock a British made equivalent! Let us know if you see any likely candidates!

Any other questions?

Fire away! We got answers by the bucket load! 🙂

The Healthy Huskies

A summary of a scientific study into vegetarian animal nutrition.

What’s the short version?

In 2004, two teams of Huskies raced across Australia. One side of each team had been fed a veggie diet, while the other side ate meat. They did not run in circles (or die).

Cool! So tell me more….

This study, lead by Dr Wendy Brown, was deigned to see if hard-working dogs would become anaemic or ill if they ate only plant based food. Sled-racing presents a great opportunity for nutritional research because the dogs run in pairs – i.e. at the same speed, for the same distance, pulling the same weight. This level of experimental “control” is hard to achieve, and desire for it has lead to unethical practices in many types of research. What’s really great about this study is that the dogs were just “borrowed” – they are pets; not “lab-animals.”

Dr Brown explains initially that the difference between meat and veggie food is bigger conceptually than it is nutritionally. Both non-meat and with-meat foods are usually made mostly of grain [8]. She says: “It is only a small step from some of the popular cereal-based dry dog foods to one that contains no meat at all.” [1]

The difference between meat and veggie food is bigger conceptually than it is nutritionally.

So, what happened in the experiment?

In this experiment, 12 Siberian huskies were divided into racing pairs based on ability. One of the dogs in each pair was fed on Pedigree Advantage, a food containing meat, made by Mars Petcare – who test on animals and use battery/barn eggs [2]. The other dog in the pair was fed on a vegetarian food, also developed by Mars Petcare Australia (especially for the experiment). [3] Take a look at Table One for a comparison of the ingredients – note how similar the foods are to each other. Both foods exceeded nutritional requirements/suggestions for dog food [4].

The racing season lasted 16 weeks, including training and recovery, and the dogs stayed in their usual environment and routine throughout. They were checked by a vet before hand, and then again in weeks 8 and 16. They had a blood test beforehand and then again in weeks 3, 8 and 16. The dog pairs raced in packs of 6 or 4, running 12 or 9 km races respectively.

What were the results?

In the race, the 6 dog team came in 4th place out of 29 packs, and the 4 dog team came in 7th place, from 36 packs….

No, not the race results! What were the blood test results?!

All the blood tests and vet checks showed normal results, for all of the dogs through all 16 weeks.

All the blood tests and vet checks showed normal results.

So, dogs can get enough protein from a veggie diet?

Yes, though scientists actually already knew this. Dr Brown suggests that, when taken in combination with data from previous studies, the results of this experiment highlight “the importance of providing sufficient dietary protein for exercising dogs, irrespective of whether the protein is of plant or animal origin.”

Does this mean that Vegetarian dog food is scientifically proven to be totally safe and complete?

No. It shows that veggie dog food can fulfill all the required “nutritional standards” in chemical terms [4]. It also shows that for short periods of time dogs wont suffer ill effects from eating a vegetarian diet – even if they are under considerable physical strain. This level of evidence, in my understanding, greatly surpasses that provided by most non-veggie pet food retailers, certainly most ethically minded ones anyway – yet it will probably not be considered enough evidence by many dog-lovers who find the concept of veggie dog food strange. For science to “decide” if vegetarian dog food is nutritionally equivalent to meat dog food, it will take many more investors, tests (perhaps inhumane) and dogs (perhaps in labs) – and much more time.

This level of evidence greatly surpasses that provided by most non-veggie pet food retailers.

So… why do Vegetarian pet foods say they are “nutritionally complete” on them?

It all comes down to methods and money. Dr Brown says: “Dog foods are tested for their nutritional adequacy in the first instance by means of chemical analysis. However, not all of the nutrients present in the dog food will necessarily be available to the dog.” In essence, when you grind up dog food, put it in a machine and look at the molecules it’s made from, vegetarian ingredients and meat ingredients are either the same or similar. However, that doesn’t mean that your dog is guaranteed to digest, absorb or use them in identical ways.

The foods can also be tested in a “feeding protocol” for more information – Dr Browns experiment is a very good and ethical example of such a test, however, normally such tests involve lab dogs. Also, these tests are expensive – out of reach for small, interested parties and not an attractive use of funds for large and disinterested parties.

So, if we decide to wait for categorical proof, how much meat will we feed to our dogs in the meantime?

I did a little nerd-calculation – if the average dog eats about 164 kg of meat a year [5]; the average cow weighs about 700kg, and there are 74 million dogs in Europe [6] – meat to the “equivalent” of around 17 million cows will be farmed and killed every year to feed the dogs of Europe. What if it takes another 10, 15 or 20 years for science to reach a verdict? Should we feed the equivalent of another 240 million cows to our dogs in the meantime? Each year these 17 million cows would eat over 200 billion kilograms of vegetable protein [7]… and none of this takes into account the carbon footprint made by all that meat… nor the rain-forests cleared for the feed production… nor all the extra people who could have food if the west produced less meat…

Logically, perhaps we should consider feeding our dogs on a plant-based diet until/unless science can tell us the food is nutritionally-incomplete!

Meat to the “equivalent” of 17 million cows is farmed and killed every year to feed the dogs of Europe.

And the conclusion?

Dr Brown says “[This] is the first study to demonstrate using a short feeding trail that a meat-free diet can be nutritionally adequate for exercising dogs. Whilst longer-term trials are necessary to prove this claim, nutritional adequacy was shown by chemical analysis, and this was further demonstrated by feeding the diet, in a controlled experiment, to actively exercising dogs…… these findings pave the way for commercial pet food manufactures to produce nutritionally adequate meat-free diets for dogs.”

We say… here here!!

I’m convinced! Where can I buy vegetarian food for my dog?

I know a great little place on-line… I think it’s called “Ethical Pets” ; )

References

[1] This quote is from the first page of the article, which is numbered page 102. You can download the full study here.

[2] Sources for my claim that Mars conduct animal testing:

1) Ethical Consumer Magazine’s report into pet food, page 17/48. 2) Uncaged – unsure how reliable this source is as there are no references. 3) Mars Candy Kills – a glossy campaign with emotionally manipulative features and no references. This website states “Not one of Mars’ experiments on animals is required by law.” 4) The Mars Website says testing is meet legal requirements and that they “only conduct such animal research when non-animal alternatives are not feasible. Info from document entitled “Mars’ Position on Animal Welfare” dated 08/Sep/2011 accessed Feb 2012. Document is unnecessarily difficult to link to! 5) The Waltham Center for Pet Nutrition, owned by Mars. Glossy site, unclear language. Language and imagery seem manipulative, for example they call their test subjects “pets” and have subtle happy pet pictures in the background of their website.

[3] There was a feeding trial done, using the collection of dog faeces to establish “digestibility coefficients” at the university using dogs in their “Quarantine Approved Premises.” I assume in good faith this is not a lab, but a facility for animals which have been moved into the country as pets and require a legal examination etc. I await confirmation of this as I can find no exact information.

[4] In this case the standards set by the “National Research Council” were vastly exceeded by both foods. I (roughly) checked them against the current European equivalent at FEDIAF; they also surpassed this standard. Also note that it is likely these nutritional requirements have been discovered in experiments using vivisection.

[5] According to New Scientist, from Ethical Consumer Magazine’s report into pet food, page 17/48

[6] According to The European Pet Food Industry Federation: Facts and Figures, 2010

[7] As for each kg of beef produced, the cow needs to eat 17kg of vegetable protein From “saving the world with your knife and fork” by Juliet Gellatley in Resurgence, March/April 2012.

[8] From my understanding, these cereal-based foods need a high grain content for the “extrusion” process which shapes and cooks the biscuits/pellets. According to wikipedia, vitamin A is lost through extrusion – and potentially inadequate Vitamin A provision is one of the criticisms of specifically vegetarian pet food. Is meat pet food supplemented anyway, due to loss in this extrusion process?

Images:

By User Damast on sv.wikipedia (Photo by Damast) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons.

By Jjron (Own work) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons.

How not to entertain your puppy…

(ok, and how to as well…)

A guest blog from Alison Clayton-Smith

Bobby the Tibetan Terrier is coming up to 5 months old and yes he is very cute but he’s also very tetchy when he’s bored, which is pretty frequent (like every hour). Here are 3 lessons learnt on how not to entertain your puppy:

Leaving work notes on the sofa
Cleaning up wee in the house without removing him from the temptation of waggling tissues
Wearing dangling necklaces, scarves, laces. In fact, pretty much wearing any clothing at all, though I have to admit, it would be more painful without the clothing barrier, and a bit chilly what with the doors being open so much to let him into the garden. (Top tip: never get a puppy in the winter months…)

Bobby loves digging up the garden to hide his hedgehogs and crocodiles.

There are better strategies and some of them even come with a good ethical pedigree, for example:

Bobby loves digging up the garden to hide his hedgehogs and crocodiles. He likesme going with him. I tell myself it is in case he forgets and he is relying on me to remember, but I suspect that might be a bit of anthropomorphism going on there. At some point he’ll go back and dig them up, running triumphantly across the garden. He might eat a bit or he might just go and hide it somewhere else.
An empty plastic bottle, clean and reasonably firm, makes a good toy to chase around. He had a particularly great time in the snow as the bottles slid across the surface. The only thing we have to watch is his little pincer teeth chewing the plastic off. In fact he’s pushing one round the lounge right now. If you’re outside and got neighbours, I don’t recommend giving them the bottle before 8am, it makes quite a racket.
Cardboard tubes from toilet rolls, for example. I reckon he thinks our downstairs toilet is where cardboard tubes are made. Good for chewing, nosing around the carpet and sometimes hiding treats in, though he’s not great on the whole ‘Find’ thing yet.
And finally, frozen carrots. I found this one on the Internet. Chop them up into chunks and freeze. Healthy snack, good for teething, and for some reason, fun to hunt. I’ve never thought of a carrot as prey. Works particularly well on a tiled/slippery surface where the carrot ‘escapes’ at every touch. Downside, Bobby does have a tendency to let them go mushy, which isn’t always nice for the carpet.

Ok, well he’s starting to get up to mischief so best be off!

Alison Clayton-Smith lives in the first Garden City, Letchworth, Hertfordshire. She is a facilitator and writer focused on sustainable living, ecopsychology and mindfulness. Her back ground in management/personal development has not proved that useful for puppy development! 2012 is the year for a number of exciting new projects – find out more at www.growinginsights.co.uk.