Archive for May, 2009
Dog-Wa featured in Animal Wellness Magazine
Check out the article Animal Wellness Magazine wrote about Dog-Wa and our company in their June/July 2009 issue.
The issue is scheduled to hit newsstands May 25, 2009.
Once the issue drops, Animal Wellness will go live with a digital version on their website.
We’ll update this post with excerpts once the digital site goes live.
Many thanks to Animal Wellness Magazine. We’re delighted to be recognized by a publication with such a long-standing history of excellence in animal health and well-being.
Add comment May 27, 2009
FDA food inspection under fire
If you read our earlier post about the safety of frozen foods, you remember that we told you that the Centers for Disease Control report that American food is becoming less safe, not safer.
Here’s a story about a lawmaker who is questioning the new administration’s movement forward on food safety issues. The president has convened a panel to investigate and make recommendations.
We believe this is what our leaders like to call a “teachable moment.” Only it seems like our leaders are always thinking that out of their mistakes, they can use public concern to teach the public about issues the public isn’t aware of.
We think that the folks who need some teaching are our lawmakers and regulators. If they heard more from the public, they would realize that we tend to be light years ahead of them on many issues.
So we encourage all of you to drop your legislator an email, or send one to whitehouse.gov, and let them know that food safety is a non-negotiable issue. After all, our lawmakers all pledge to protect and defend us. One way they do that is by ensuring the food we eat and the food that we buy for our animals is safe.
Update of May 21, 2009
Another approach to better health and safety with your food: Here’s a story about the increasing number of Americans who are growing their own food. Healthy eating, and it’s healthy getting out and working in the garden. When I read stories like this, I really miss living back East (or in a place that gets rain, has water, and fertile soil). Oh well, Vegas has its upsides, too…
Add comment May 21, 2009
This summer, get your Vitamin D while you walk your dog
If you follow our blog, you are aware that, just like the dogs we love, we often stray outside the boundaries of all things dog. We spend a lot of time following health, science, food safety, the environment, and other areas of interest to us (and, we hope, to you). And where there’s a connection to the health and happiness of your dog, we strive to point it out.
This seems to be the week of Vitamin D. There’s all sorts of news out there about new research indicating that Vitamin D does a lot more than help build strong bones.
Vitamin D’s known benefits include helping cells absorb calcium for bone health, protecting against cancer, artery disease, and tuberculosis. In fact, Vitamin D regulates 1,000 genes, and is believed to have a role in regulating the immune system.
Now a study by David Lee and colleagues at the University of Manchester in the UK supports earlier evidence that vitamin D may help older people stay mentally fit.
This benefit has been reported in the past, but earlier studies were less conclusive. The bigger picture is that we are always discovering more and more benefits of vitamins, minerals, elements, and micronutrients. The sunshine vitamin is increasingly seen as vital to health. And there is general agreement that Vitamin D is also essential to the health of your pet.
But another report from Reuters suggests that more Americans are not getting enough Vitamin D, according to U.S. researchers. It appears that 3 out of 4 Americans aren’t getting enough Vitamin D these days. That’s up from 1 out of 2 twenty years ago.
Getting enough Vitamin D can be simple: spend 10 minutes in the sun with legs and arms exposed. It is the ultraviolet rays of the sun that stimulate the production of vital Vitamin D through the body’s own natural processes.
“But people’s habits have changed … they are less active and outdoors less, and also protecting their skin from the sun because of skin cancer risk,” said Dr. Adit Ginde, who with colleagues did the study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
So we need to be aware that some sunshine is essential, but too much can be dangerous. And then take appropriate and reasonable precautions to balance the two out.
If you are familiar with Dog-Wa, then you know we are big fans of a balanced approach to health by getting essential nutrition the natural way. Dog-Wa provides an abundance of naturally occurring vitamins, minerals, compounds, and other elements through cold-pressed vegetable matter. We believe that whole foods are and always will be the preferred way to get nutrition.
So in that spirit, we suggest that it might be time to revisit the idea of getting yourself and your dog some vitamin D the old-fashioned way, from sunshine.
It’s easy to do. About three times a week, when you are walking your dog, spend 10 minutes in the sun with legs and arms exposed. That’s enough. If you’re going to be out longer, then cover up or find some shade. A hat, sunglasses, and protection for your face are always a good idea. Ensure that you and your pet are adequately hydrated before, during, and after time spent outdoors in the heat and the light.
At the same time, be aware that the potentially harmful effects of sunshine include increased risk for cancer (melanoma) and wrinkling. So too much sun is not a good thing. Watch for abnormal growths, rough patches, discoloration, and moles on your skin and your pet’s skin.
As with all things, use common sense.
Update: May 21, 2009
Here’s an article from the Boston Globe with more Vitamin D tips.
1 comment May 21, 2009
The dangers of frozen foods – are they safe for you and your pets?
We remember a time when food poisoning was something you only thought about with cream pies or perhaps seafood in cream sauce. No longer. Now we’re seeing food poisoning from spinach, tomatoes, cantaloupes, peanuts, pistachios, and even white pepper. This is in addition to problems with beef, pork, poultry – you name it.
Yet many dog lovers today are turning to raw foods for the health and happiness of their pets. We are passionate about the benefits of fresh, raw foods for both humans and animals. But we know that feeding raw foods also raises some serious health concerns. So we read with interest this piece in the May 14 New York Times on the subject of food safety and frozen foods.
If you want safer food, you’ll have to take care of that yourself
The gist of the article is that sickness caused by frozen foods is on the rise in the United States. This reflects a larger trend: American food is actually getting more dangerous, not safer. As a result, food manufacturers are shifting the burden of ensuring food safety onto the consumer. And the way they want you to ensure the safety of frozen foods is by really cooking them. Some even recommend that you stick with conventional ovens. New directions urge the consumer to avoid the use of microwaves with frozen foods, since microwaves do not guarantee a consistent internal temperature sufficient to kill contaminants.
The article points out that one manufacturer tried pre-cooking the vegetables they intended to include in their pot pies to a safe temperature before they assembled the pot pies. The result? The vegetables were reduced to mush. The article implies that this was considered a “palatability” issue. In other words, consumers didn’t like the mushy texture. What it does not mention is the nutrient loss from cooking foods at such high temperatures.
Why is this a problem? And what can be done to ensure safety in your food and your pet’s food?
There are actually a few things going on here.
Food poisoning, which can result in sickness and death, is caused by pathogens. Pathogens, more commonly known as infectious agents or germs, are biological agents that cause disease or illness to their host. Our bodies, and your pet’s body, contain many natural defenses to these harmful pathogens. The immune system and “good” intestinal flora help to combat pathogens when the body is functioning at peak performance. But when the health of the host, whether human or animal, is not functioning at optimal levels, pathogens have the opportunity to spread and result in infection. New and more deadly pathogens are also appearing, which are less responsive to the immune systems of our bodies and our pet’s bodies.
What is causing the spread of food-borne illness?
Major contributors to the spread of pathogens include soil contamination and the indiscriminate use of antibiotics.
Pathogens contaminate the soil in which grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables grow. The pathogens thus have the opportunity to infect the growing plants systemically. This accounts in part for the recent recalls of spinach and tomatoes, which have not historically offered a heightened risk for contamination with harmful pathogens.
This is a problem everywhere, but particularly in many foreign countries that provide raw food materials to the United States. The reason why foreign food products are often cheaper, and therefore attractive to food manufacturers, is in part due to the fact that foreign producers are not required to meet the same standards applicable to food produced in the United States. Soil contamination, in particular, is a problem. Yet the FDA inspects less than 1% of the foreign food coming into the United States.
The prevalence of antibiotics is also a culprit.
When used with discretion, antibiotics can give results that are almost miraculous. They can stem the spread of infection that could otherwise become life threatening. We tend to forget the dangers of infection in today’s world, because modern drugs and hygienic practices have changed the way we think. My grandmother, who is 97, remembers President Coolidge’s son. The little boy’s shoe rubbed his heel until he got a blood blister. The blister became infected, there was little to be done, and the boy finally died of infection. That kind of thing seems almost unbelievable to us today, but the era when death by infection was highly common was really not so long ago.
So antibiotics are very effective in killing pathogens. However, the use of these potent antibiotics has not been as controlled as it might be, and that has led to a new set of problems. One result of antibiotics is to kill the “good bacteria” in our bodies that help us to fight off the effects of pathogens. Another problem is that the use of antibiotics leads to mutation in the pathogens. So newer and more dangerous strains of pathogens result from the use of antibiotics. This might not seem like too much of a problem. But consider this: in the United States, 70% of the antibiotics that are consumed are fed to farm animals.
A bill has been proposed in the US Congress to ban the use of antibiotics for healthy livestock. And frankly, the arguments are persuasive on both sides. On the one hand, such a ban might help inhibit the development of newer and more deadly strains of pathogens. We would all be ingesting fewer antibiotics, thus preserving both beneficial intestinal flora and saving antibiotics for when we really need them.
On the other hand, raising livestock is now big business. That means that animals are kept in crowded conditions, exposed to illness from the thousands of other animals with them, and exposed to environmental contamination from the lots where they are kept. The proposed ban would forbid feeding antibiotics to healthy animals. But that might lead to far more infection in animals that were not given antibiotics for preventive purposes. So the result might be that there would always be enough sick animals to require the use of antibiotics in any case. We wonder how much difference there would be in the long run.
So how do I incorporate safe, fresh, and raw foods into my diet, and into my pet’s diet?
Free-range? Antibiotic- and hormone-free?
You might think that free-range, antibiotic- and hormone-free meat is the way to go. Generally speaking, we agree. But here’s something else to consider: a study published in the journal Foodborne Pathogens and Disease sampled more than 600 pigs in North Carolina, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The study discovered not only higher rates of salmonella in free-range pigs (54 percent versus 39 percent) but also greater levels of the pathogen toxoplasma (6.8 percent versus 1.1 percent) and, most alarming, two free-range pigs that carried trichinosis, which can be deadly. None of the confined pigs were infected with trichinosis.
The reason is because free-range animals are exposed to more pathogens when they are “ranging.” Just a little time outdoors increases pigs’ interaction with rats, birds, and other wildlife and even with domesticated cats, which can carry transmittable diseases, as well as contact with moist soil, where pathogens find an environment conducive to growth. If those free-range animals are also antibiotic free, the opportunities for infection multiply.
Made in the USA?
Another idea is to buy foods grown and made in the United States. We agree. However, this is not the magic solution to the entire problem. The reality is that most food manufacturers and distributors cannot identify the suppliers or recipients of their products despite federal rules that require them to do so. And many food manufacturers admit that it is almost impossible to know the origin of the ingredients they use, since many food products include dozens of ingredients. So buying products made in trusted countries is a big help, but it isn’t the single answer.
Are organics safer?
One of the most shocking aspects about the recent peanut recalls is that the Georgia plant that produced the contaminated peanut products was actually certified organic. If this were a single case, then we might be inclined to give organics the benefit of the doubt. But in fact a sister plant of the Georgia peanut processor, located in Texas, was also implicated in the peanut recall. And it, too, was an organic facility. This is not to say that all organic food is unsafe. But it does mean that organic doesn’t give you the guarantees you might be looking for. And of course, organic is expensive.
It’s hard for consumers AND manufacturers to know what to do
As consumers and dog lovers, we believe in the benefits of fresh, raw foods. But after everything we’ve told you in this post, you may be thinking that there is no way to have a fresh, raw product that is actually safe. As manufacturers of a dog food product, we faced many of these problems when we were researching and developing Dog-Wa. And believe us when we tell you, it’s easier to figure out the potential problems than it is to solve them.
Here’s what we did when we developed Dog-Wa
Our solution was to take a “belt and suspenders” approach. We opted to do all we could to ensure the safety, purity, and consistency of Dog-Wa by incorporating as many safeguards as possible.
Since Dog-Wa is a vegetarian product, we did not have to confront the issues around meats. But we did have to think long and hard about the other issues.
We started with the best ingredients
That’s why our herbs are pesticide-free and not genetically modified. We sourced our herbs in the United States, focusing on reputable suppliers who farm sustainably and maintain records that are compliant with state and federal guidelines, as well as recommended manufacturing processes. We selected only Human-Food-Grade ingredients that are grown and made in the United States. We consulted regulations of the Food and Drug Administration, as well as expert food scientists, to ensure compliance and consider all our options. We decided not to manufacture in a pet food plant. Instead, we chose an FDA registered, pharmaceutically licensed facility that makes products for human consumption. Pharmaceutical standards are higher than food standards. in fact, they are about the toughest standards out there. We believed that if we were going to make a product at all, then the highest standards would be the best choice. And finally, we incorporated a preservative system in Dog-Wa.
What do you mean, you added preservatives for safety?
Is your head spinning? Did I really just say we add preservatives to Dog-Wa for SAFETY? After all, preservatives have been bashed for years. And more and more foods are touting themselves as preservative free. So what’s safe about preservatives, and don’t manufacturers just use them to make cheap products instead of making something natural?
Absolutely not, so far as Dog-Wa is concerned.
Our position is that you do everything you can to ensure that none of the ingredients in your product are infected with harmful pathogens or other contaminants. Then you manufacture in the best facilities. You test your product for salmonella, e. coli, microorganisms, safety, stability, and purity. And then you incorporate a system to ensure that if there is contamination, it will be controlled. And that’s what preservatives do.
Preservatives maintain freshness by preventing oxidation. But they also inhibit the growth of molds, microorganisms, and harmful pathogens. That means that if there are any contaminants in your product, they won’t grow and multiply until they reach dangerous levels.
Our commitment is to fresh and raw. We are not satisfied that dried, dehydrated, frozen, or baked ingredients match the nutritional and digestive benefits of fresh plants. Nor are we convinced that dried herbs are 100% safe and free of pathogens. After all, if white pepper can be infected, so can herbs.
We understand that many of our customers are concerned about preservatives. What we have found, however, is that our customers are also open to this kind of discussion. When we explain our decisions, we find that many people agree with us. And if they don’t agree with us, they often agree with Whole Foods Market. If you check out the Whole Foods’ supplement section, you’ll find that they offer products with sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate, the preservatives we use in Dog-Wa.
We believe that the benefits of fresh, raw, and SAFE leafy greens outweigh the drawbacks of preservatives in supplements. And of course we worked to ensure that Dog-Wa would contain as low an amount of preservatives as possible. The bottom line is that there is no way to be sure that all the food we eat, or give to our animals, is 100% safe and free of pathogens. So we have to balance out the pros and cons. As manufacturers of Dog-Wa, we believe that our responsibility to all of our customers means we have to offer the safest, most beneficial product possible. And believe it or not, one way we do that is with preservatives.
Copyright Dog-Wa 2009
1 comment May 15, 2009
The thinking dog’s take on Harvard’s Canine Cognition Lab
Harvard University has recently debuted its Canine Cognition Lab. According to the article, “Researchers have long looked at other species’ reasoning abilities and behavior to discern what makes humans distinct. The Harvard team is now turning to dogs because on certain tasks, such as understanding pointing, dogs easily outperform animals much more closely related to humans, even chimpanzees.”
We have never been 100% convinced that humans are as closely related to chimpanzees as we are so often told. But that’s a whole different issue.
What we find confusing with the Canine Cognition Lab is the premise. Evidently, they hope to learn whether domestication has led to dogs that think and act more like their masters – or whether we just think they have human traits. In other words, do we crazy, dog-loving humans just project cognitive capabilities onto our dogs?
Here’s a true story that shows you why we’re confused.
When I was knee-high to a grasshopper, back in Ohio, we lived across the street from a family with four extremely active boys. They were always up to something, so managing the four of them was quite a handful. It was all their parents and their German Shepherd, Babe, could do to keep an eye on all of them.
The youngest of the four boys, Phillip, was famously accident prone. He was the biggest “pronie” in the neighborhood. (Does everyone say “pronie” or is that an Ohio-ism?) Now just for the record, I’d like to clarify right here that I was the all-time neigborhood champion in the “number of stitches” category, but sadly I never broke a bone so there were several kids I couldn’t compete with, let alone Phillip, who trumped all of us with the story I’m about to tell you.
One day Phillip was high in a tree up over the creek. He and two other neighborhood children were putting the finishing touches on their new tree house. Phillip took some kind of a misstep, and began falling with a great crashing of branches through the tree.
In case some of you have never been to Ohio or thereabouts, we had some really huge trees back there. Oaks, maples, walnuts. Of course they’re nothing compared to redwoods and sequoias. But they weren’t little ornamentals that were planted in the yards at the time the houses were built, either. These were full grown, big trees. How big? Well, let’s just say that when Phillip began his fall, he went past the wires that supplied electricity to all of the houses in our neighborhood. I guess they ran the wires along the creek to keep them out of people’s front yards.
Flailing wildly as he fell, Phillip grabbed hold of the wires. Well, as the lawsuit subsequently showed, those wires weren’t insulated and covered the way they ought to be. So Phillip was electrocuted. His heart actually stopped beating at that point, according to the doctors. And I guess when he was electrocuted, his hands went limp enough so that he continued falling. Down his lifeless body plunged, until he hit the ground with such force that it actually started his heart beating again. Which was great. Except for the fact that he landed face down in the creek.
The two neighborhood children who were with him watched the entire thing in stunned disbelief. They scrambled down the tree, took a closer look at Phillip, and then ran as fast as their legs would carry them for help. But instead of going to Phillip’s house adjacent to the scene, they ran home to their own house to tell their mother what had happened. Several blocks away. And they left Phillip face down in the creek.
That’s when Babe took charge. At this point, Babe was roughly 8 years old. Phillip couldn’t have been much older. And you know that dogs grow faster than children. So we always figured that Babe felt pretty maternal about Phillip. She had basically raised him, after all.
So Babe trucked into the creek, grabbed Phillip by the scruff of the neck, and dragged him out. Losing no time, she then ran back to Phillip’s house and barked frantically to alert Phillip’s mother. Once Phillip’s mother came to the door, Babe turned and ran to the creek.
The rest of the story is pretty much what you’d expect: the ambulance came, Phillip was rushed to intensive care, his life was saved, and he returned to the neighborhood covered with glory. You see now why I say that no matter how many stitches I had, this was just not an accident you could compete with.
But here’s our point. We aren’t the only people who know amazing dog stories. There are whole books full of them. And almost all of them revolve around some act of brilliance on the part of the dog that demonstrates a true understanding of the situation at hand, and the action that needs to be taken. In this particular instance, Babe demonstrated a better grip than the other kids playing with Phillip.
So when Harvard University decides to create a Canine Cognition Lab in order to determine whether dogs are capable of higher cognitive functions, what exactly do they mean? Is there something we’re not getting here? Frankly, my own dog treats me as though he’s quite confident that I possess at least a modicum of intelligence. From what I read, dogs have been domesticated for something like 100,000 years. You would think that after that length of time living with dogs, we would have figured out by now whether they are capable of higher cognitive functions. And if some people still aren’t convinced, I’m wondering what they’re going to be able to do at Harvard to change those people’s minds.
Add comment May 14, 2009
The end of testing on laboratory animals?
We meant to pass this on a while ago, but somehow it slipped through the cracks.
At Brown University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and other world-renowned research institutions, scientists envision a time in the near future when white mice, rats, rabbits, and dogs will no longer be used for scientific experiments.
To bring that day closer, they are developing complex living “microtissues” from cultured cells. These microtissues might better replicate human organs and tissues. So the science produced through their use would be superior to testing on animals.
Of course, some scientists remain adamant that testing on animals is critical to advancing science. But if we can actually produce cells that more closely replicate human organs and tissues, then even those scientists would be likely to concede that there would be less reason to experiment on animals.
Another point, which is critical and often overlooked, is that animal testing does not necessarily lead to information applicable to human beings. As the article we cited points out, there are drugs that benefit white mice quite a bit, but have little impact on humans. And vice versa, there are drugs that benefit humans but do not affect laboratory animals the same way.
We are all probably familiar with that famous quotation, variously attributed to Gandhi and Kant, that you can judge the moral development of a nation by its treatment of animals. It would be nice to live in a world where our ethical concerns about the treatment of animals in laboratory experiments led us to develop better and kinder alternatives. From our reading of this article, it isn’t clear that’s what is going on. But hey, if the quest for better science happens to lead to more human treatment of animals, then we’ll take that too.
Add comment May 14, 2009
Dog antioxidants explained by Dr. Jane Leon, DVM
We have all heard about the dangers of free radicals and oxidation. And most of us are aware of the benefits of antioxidants.
But what exactly do these terms mean, for you and your pet?
We have just posted an article by Dr. Jane Leon, DVM that explains the dangers of free radicals, and tells you what you need to know to protect the health of your dog.
Dr. Leon is a distinguished graduate of Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine who has dedicated her life to her love of animals. Dr. Jane currently serves as director of the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Central Florida. She has also written numerous books and articles, hosted nationally syndicated television and radio shows, and moderated numerous professional conventions and meetings for top veterinarians and animal practitioners.
1 comment May 9, 2009
Fresh herbs versus dried herbs – what’s the difference for your dog?
One of our customers asked if they could obtain the same great results they get with Dog-Wa by simply mixing dried herbs together and sprinkling on their dog’s food.
In a nutshell, the answer is no.
There are several reasons why Dog-Wa provides superior nutritional benefits in a form that is more bioavailable to your dog than eating dried herbs.
No matter what you eat, you do not get 100% of the nutrients, due to the digestive process. When a substance, like a food or drink, is consumed, the nutrients decrease due to incomplete absorption. We ensure an adequate amount of nutrients by consuming the correct amount of foods to compensate for these lost nutrients. One way we do this is by consuming whole and minimally processed foods that are high in the nutritious elements we need for optimal health. Another help is to eat foods that enhance the body’s digestive functioning, or at least do not add challenges to proper digestion.
Fresh herbs are the best herbs
One of the best ways to ensure that we maximize the nutrients from our food sources is to consume fresh foods. Herbs and vegetables that are dried, baked, dehydrated, or pasteurized experience significant nutrient loss. Delicate phytonutrients, acids, and other supernutrients may be diminished or eliminated by drying, baking, dehydration, or pasteurization. That’s why the herbs in Dog-Wa are fresh. We cold press with a patented technology to maintain the nutrient value of fresh herbs in the same ratios as are found in the actual, whole plants. So Dog-Wa contains more of the goodness of fresh, whole leafy greens.
Concentration is the key to success
If you’ve ever made fresh-squeezed orange juice or lemonade, you know how many fresh oranges or lemons it takes. You can go through a dozen of them before you know it. Now imagine trying to “squeeze” parsley and peppermint. A little peppermint goes a long way for flavor, but imagine trying to squeeze a cup full of mint juice. Obviously, it would take bushels and bushels of these herbs to do it. When we make a batch of Dog-Wa, it’s more like rooms full of herbs. That’s what it takes to obtain the concentration of our herbal blend. So with Dog-Wa, you can provide your dog a superabundance of leafy green nutrients in just a few tablespoons. In order to match the nutritional benefits of Dog-Wa with dried herbs, you would have to provide more dried herbs than your dog could ever ingest. And those dried herbs would not contain all the nutritional benefits of fresh herbs.
It’s not just the nutrients you consume, it’s the nutrients you absorb
Generally speaking, the goal of providing nutrients is to ensure absorption across the lining of the digestive tract and into the body. A dog’s digestive system, while similar to yours and mine, is different in many ways. One way in which a dog’s digestive system differs is a reduced ability to digest fiber and vegetable matter. So the question is, how do we provide the necessary nutrients found in beneficial herbs without contributing to problems in digestion. One way is through the use of liquids. The superior absorption of many nutrients in a liquid form is well documented, both in humans and dogs. Because Dog-Wa is a highly palatable, liquid concentrate, the beneficial components of these herbs are readily available for digestion and absorption. So your dog gets more benefit from Dog-Wa than he would from dried herbs.
The joy in life depends on good digestion
Because digestion is critical for absorbing nutrients, problems with digestion result in obvious symptoms of distress, including diarrhea, bloating, excess gas, and failure to thrive. These problems occur so frequently in our pets that they cause many, many visits to veterinarians. Typically, gastrointestinal problems rank among the top five reasons that dogs are brought in to see their doctors.
The herbs in Dog-Wa have a long history of success in addressing common digestive problems. These benefits result from the vitamins, minerals, trace elements, and compounds found in our perfect blend of parsley and peppermint.
But here’s the thing: dogs that suffer from common digestive problems such as gas, diarrhea, bloating, and grass eating and vomiting tend to have problems digesting their food as well. Poorly digested foods then contribute to the problem further, and your dog is caught in a vicious circle.
Giving your dog beneficial herbs to improve his digestion can help a lot. But you don’t want to supply them in a form that will also challenge their digestive tract by being difficult for your dog to digest. Due to the way a dog’s digestive system functions, the foods most likely to be poorly digested are usually carbohydrates and fiber.
And this, of course, brings us back to the difference between giving your dog dried herbs or opting for Dog-Wa. Dried herbs are basically stems and leaves. Or, carbohydrates and fiber, depending on how you look at it. With Dog-Wa, your dog gets the benefits of fresh herbs without consuming the indigestible parts of the green plants that can contribute to digestive distress.
Add comment May 7, 2009
Will the smart energy grid be a green energy grid?
We can’t resist certain stories, even though they do not directly relate to dogs or even animals. We hope and trust that dog lovers who are interested in healthy, alternative lifestyles for themselves and their animals will share our interest in other issues.
One issue of interest to us is the development of the “smart grid” for more efficient energy delivery. There is much debate on energy policy already, but a couple of articles we saw this morning added something new to the debate: is smart energy necessarily greener energy?
Recent developments in smart energy include managing traffic, water, and transportation systems more efficiently in ways that end up saving time, money, and energy. That’s the good news.
Something we’re struck by in a story from today’s New York Times is the fact that American companies like IBM and Cisco are being asked to consult and develop many of the most innovative projects in smart energy. But the projects are happening outside the United States. It does appear that there are some worthy projects moving forward at home as well, and we’re glad to see that.
Here’s a different wrinkle: the argument, advanced convincingly by some, is that smarter delivery of energy isn’t necessarily a greener use of energy. An example might be creating more efficient ways of delivering energy derived from coal plants that have not implemented CO2 sequestration techniques. In the long run, delivering more electricity more cheaply to more Americans might yield big gains on the efficiency side, but won’t necessarily corrollate to a greener use of that electricity, or greener creation of the energy that makes the electricity.
1 comment May 1, 2009
