Peace Begins on Our Plates
Caring for ALL Animals
Susan Pitcairn, MS
Richard Pitcairn, DVM, PhD
Most people love animals, especially our dogs and cats. But we can be equally touched by the beauty and soulful presence of cows, chickens, pigs, deer, rabbits and the wild birds outside our windows. Children know this.
As authors of a best seller on natural care for dogs and cats, my husband Richard and I are delighted to share with you a wonderful discovery: now we can care for ALL animals with one simple daily act: what we feed both our selves and our pets.
Based on exciting new findings on the benefits of plant based foods even for dogs and cats, we have thoroughly updated our recipes and nutritional advice in the 4th edition of "Natural Health for Dogs and Cats". Though it seems contrary to common sense, the truth appears to be that countless innocent animals no longer need suffer the horrible conditions of the modern meat industry so that our pets (or we) can be healthy.
That is particularly true for dogs, whose meat footprint can be greater than that of many Americans.
In fact, some of the healthiest and longest lived dogs in the world eat little or no meat. That has been true for centuries.
How can that be? What about those teeth? Scientists actually classify dogs as omnivores. (That's why they love berries, just like their cousins the bears.) Seizing an opportunity, it was not a big stretch for ancestral dogs to adapt their genes about 10,000 years ago to digest the plentiful grains and legumes of early civilizations.
Cats are closer to being "obligate carnivores," and yet, with a few "cat caveats" even most of them can do just fine on specially supplemented vegan products and recipes designed with them in mind.
Furthermore, most of the top food allergies of both dogs and cats are actually not to grains, as marketing hype suggests, but to animal products, which contain far greater levels of accumulated toxins than plant foods. Perhaps that is why many pets switched to plant based foods find relief from itchy skin, coat problems and low energy levels.
To learn more, order your copy today. Or try some of our dog recipes with this free download.
Caring for Our Future: Why It Matters
The vegan movement has been growing rapidly in recent years, and for good reason. Regardless of how we feel about the humane or health issues involved, we are nearing some crucial limits of what is possible for our planet to provide. As our population grows, along with our demand for resource-intensive animal products, we are rapidly depleting Earth's soils, aquifers, rainforests and marine species. Like it or not, our future will be far more plant based than it is now.
As summarized in the life changing film, Cowspiracy, each day you each vegan you save about:
•1100 gallons of water
• 30 square feet of rainforest
• 45 pounds of grain
• and one animal's life.
Now THAT is making a difference!
The good news is that plant based meals are easy to fix and easy to love. They are beautiful works of culinary art. Check out our handouts for humans as well. They include basic guidelines to types of plant foods and amounts of B12 (important), plus our favorite quick and easy meals.
Keep It Simple
If this is new to you, just find 3 or 4 vegan meals you like. Many can even be shared with your pet.
Incorporate them into your life as much as you can. You don't have to be 100% vegan to make a huge difference. Many people reducing animal products by 50% would make a huge impact towards sustainability.
Not only plant based dishes taste good and do good things for your health, they make each meal a beautiful way express a deep love and compassion for all animals and all life. Using simple, whole foods, they are also more affordable.
The animals --- and Mother Earth---will thank you!
And so do we.
Recent Works
