Happy 2012!
For all those who asked that i repost this info. You are what you eat applies to dogs too.

The Whole Dog Journal’s Dry Foods of 2011 in alphabetical order- not in order of best dog food. Some of these companies make several brands of dog food. Please check their websites for more info.
drum roll please…

Addiction Foods New Zealand addictionfoods.com

Annamaet petfoods Sellersville PA USAwww.accamaet.com”>

Artemis Pet Foods N. Hollywood CA www.artemiscompany.com

Back to Basics Meadville PA www.backtobasics.com

Bench & Field Pet Foods Grand Rapids Mi www.benchandfield.com

Blue Buffalo Company Wilton CT www.bluebuff.com

Blue Seal Feeds (By Nature )Londonery NH www.bynaturepetfoods.com

Breeders Choice (AvoDerm) Irwindale CA www.apdselectchoice.com

Burns Pet Health Val. IN www.burnshealthpet.com

Canidae Corp San Luis Obispo CA www.canidae.com

Canine Caviar Pet Foods (Organix) Costa Mesa CA www.caninecaviar.com

Castor & Pollux Pet Works www.castorpolluxpet.com

Champion Petfoods (Acana & Orijen) Alberta Canada www.championpetfoods.com

Della Natural Commodities (Wenawe) Bayside NY www.dellanaturalpet.com

Diamond Pet Products (Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover Soul, Taste of the Wild) Meta MO chickensoupforthepetloversoul.com

Dick Van Patten’s Natural Balance Pacoima CA www.naturalbalance.net

Dogswell LA CA www.dogswell.com

Dr G’s Pet Food Company Sedona AZ www.drgsfreshpetfood.com

Dr Tim’s Pet Food Company Marquette MI www.drtims.com

Drs Foster & Smith WI www.drsfostersmith.com

Earthborn Holistic Evansville IN
www.earthbornholisticpetfood.com

Since this list is very long i will not be posting the html for the rest of the websites. So sorry!

Evangers Dog & Cat Food www.evangersdogfood.com

FirstMate Pet Foods BC Canada www.firstmate.com

Fromm Family Foods Mequon WI www.frommfamily.com

Horizon Pet Nutrition Canada www.horizonpetnutrition.com

Laughing Dog INC Lodi CA www.laughingdogorganic.com

Linocoln Biotech East Bend NC www.lincolnbiotech.com

Lotus Natural Food Torrance CA www.lotuspetfoods.com

Merrick Pet Care (Before Grain, Whole Earth Farms) Armarillo TX www.merrickpetcare.com

Mulligan Stew Pet Food Jackson Wy www.mulliganstewpetfood.com

Natura Pet Products (California Naturals, Innova, Evo, Karma, Healthwise) Davis Ca www.naturalpet.com
From Four Paws Acupuncture : Please note that this company has been bought out by Proctor and Gamble which tests on animals. There is no guarantee that the quality or same ingredients will remain the same in the future.

Nature’s Variety (Instinct & Prairie )Lincoln N.E. wwwnaturesvariety.com

Omnipro Pet Foods Madison MS www.omnipropet.net

Perfect Health Diet Products Elmsford NY www.phdproducts.com

Pet Chef Express New Westminister Canada www.petchefexpress.com

Petcurean Pet Nutrition BC Canada www.petcurean.com

Pet Valu Ontario CA

Precise Pet Products TX USA www.precisepet.com

Smartpak Canine Plymouth MA www.smartpakcanine.com

Solid Gold Health Products. El Cajon CA www.solidgoldhealth.com

Tuffy’s Pet Foods Inc Perham MN www.nutrisourcedogfood.com

Verus Pet Foods Abingdon MD www.veruspetfoods.com

WellPet Tewsbury MA (Wellness) www.wellpet.com

Here they are folks, the top 8 dog foods that are claiming to be holistic and oh so healthy for your dog. This info comes from Whole Dog Journal.
Don’t you wish David Letterman would do a top ten worse dog food list?

And the losers are:

Eukanuba Nautrally Wild Turkey & Multigrain

Iams Healthy Chicken Naturals

Nature’s Best Science Diet Chicken & Brown Rice

Rachel Ray Nutrish Beef & Brown Rice
(Rachel please stick to cooking for people!)

Chef Michaels Purina Chicken

Purina ONE Smart Blend Chicken & Rice

Are you ready for this one?
Whole Foods 365 Performance
ingredients: chicken-by-product, rice, corn meal, corn GLUTEN, wheat, dried beet pulp, natural flavors, flaxseed and dried egg product
More proof that not everything you buy at Whole Foods is good for you or your pets!

And drum roll please.. the absolute worst dog food claiming to be holistic and nutritious is….
Beneful Purina Healthy Harvest
corn, corn gluten, whole wheat flour, animal fat, soy protein, soy flour, water, rice flour, pearled barley, and sugar
(Do you think you could add any more allergens or junk to this! No animal protein is in this food at all. Yet people buy this for their dogs because the healthy picture on the bag. I think the bag would be more nutritious for your dog than the ingredients.)

I would also like to include on the worst dog food list the following brands which contain wheat, corn ,soy, by-products and who knows what else!
IAMS
EUKANUBA
SCIENCE DIET
PURINA
ALPO
HILLS

Please note that wheat, corn, and soy can be the cause of allergies in dogs. Wheat and all gluten exacerbates all pain and arthritis and auto-immune disorders. It has also been proven to bring on seizures in dogs.

Please note that Four Paws Acupuncture has moved from MA to VA and are no longer making acupuncture house calls. However nutritional and herbal phone consultations are still available. www.fourpawsacupuncture.com

My pet human Beta-chic loves to rant about how bad it is for dogs to eat wheat or anything with gluten in it. She found this informative article on Huffington Post. Though it is written about the effect of gluten on humans, the negative symptoms of eating gluten also applies to dogs.

Many dogs foods are filled with wheat and grains with gluten. Have your pet humans read the ingredients carefully. If you want to set my pet human over the edge while she is treating your dog, then mention that you feed your dog pizza crust and bread!

It is sad that i will never enjoy a nice piece of pizza crust unless i am able to find one in the park when nobody is watching.

Until my next post i am dreaming of a sausage and cheese pizza,
Quan Yin

Gluten: What You Don’t Know Might Kill You
Mark Hyman, MD
Practicing physician and pioneer in functional medicine
click her to go to the full huffington postarticle

Something you’re eating may be killing you, and you probably don’t even know it!

If you eat cheeseburgers or French fries all the time or drink six sodas a day, you likely know you are shortening your life. But eating a nice dark, crunchy slice of whole wheat bread–how could that be bad for you?

Well, bread contains gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, rye, spelt, kamut, and oats. It is hidden in pizza, pasta, bread, wraps, rolls, and most processed foods. Clearly, gluten is a staple of the American diet.

What most people don’t know is that gluten can cause serious health complications for many. You may be at risk even if you don’t have full blown celiac disease.

In today’s blog I want to reveal the truth about gluten, explain the dangers, and provide you with a simple system that will help you determine whether or not gluten is a problem for you.

he Dangers of Gluten

A recent large study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that people with diagnosed, undiagnosed, and “latent” celiac disease or gluten sensitivity had a higher risk of death, mostly from heart disease and cancer. (i)

This study looked at almost 30,00 patients from 1969 to 2008 and examined deaths in three groups: Those with full-blown celiac disease, those with inflammation of their intestine but not full-blown celiac disease, and those with latent celiac disease or gluten sensitivity (elevated gluten antibodies but negative intestinal biopsy).

The findings were dramatic. There was a 39 percent increased risk of death in those with celiac disease, 72 percent increased risk in those with gut inflammation related to gluten, and 35 percent increased risk in those with gluten sensitivity but no celiac disease.

This is ground-breaking research that proves you don’t have to have full-blown celiac disease with a positive intestinal biopsy (which is what conventional thinking tells us) to have serious health problems and complications–even death–from eating gluten.

Yet an estimated 99 percent of people who have a problem with eating gluten don’t even know it. They ascribe their ill health or symptoms to something else–not gluten sensitivity, which is 100 percent curable.

And here’s some more shocking news …

Another study comparing the blood of 10,000 people from 50 years ago to 10,000 people today found that the incidences of full-blown celiac disease increased by 400 percent (elevated TTG antibodies) during that time period. (ii) If we saw a 400 percent increase in heart disease or cancer, this would be headline news. But we hear almost nothing about this. I will explain why I think that increase has occurred in a moment. First, let’s explore the economic cost of this hidden epidemic.

Undiagnosed gluten problems cost the American healthcare system oodles of money. Dr. Peter Green, Professor of Clinical Medicine for the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University studied all 10 million subscribers to CIGNA and found those who were correctly diagnosed with celiac disease used fewer medical services and reduced their healthcare costs by more than 30 perecnt. (iii) The problem is that only one percent of those with the problem were actually diagnosed. That means 99 percent are walking around suffering without knowing it, costing the healthcare system millions of dollars.

And it’s not just a few who suffer, but millions. Far more people have gluten sensitivity than you think–especially those who are chronically ill. The most serious form of allergy to gluten, celiac disease, affects one in 100 people, or three million Americans, most of who don’t know they have it. But milder forms of gluten sensitivity are even more common and may affect up to one-third of the American population.

Why haven’t you heard much about this?

Well, actually you have, but you just don’t realize it. Celiac disease and gluten sensitivity masquerade as dozens and dozens of other diseases with different names.

Gluten Sensitivity: One Cause, Many Diseases

A review paper in The New England Journal of Medicine listed 55 “diseases” that can be caused by eating gluten. (iv) These include osteoporosis, irritable bowel disease, inflammatory bowel disease, anemia, cancer, fatigue, canker sores, (v) and rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and almost all other autoimmune diseases. Gluten is also linked to many psychiatric (vi) and neurological diseases, including anxiety, depression, (vii) schizophrenia, (viii) dementia, (ix) migraines, epilepsy, and neuropathy (nerve damage). (x) It has also been linked to autism.(ix)

click her to go to the full huffington postarticle

Quercetin: The Pawsitive Bioflavonoid

Quercetin is a wonderful supplement for dogs or humans suffering from allergies or asthma. Quercetin is a bioflavonoid (or flavonoid), which is a type pigment found in almost all herbs, fruits, and vegetables. It is also an antioxidant. a natural anti-histamine, and anti-inflammatory supplement

Research has shown that Quercetin’s antihistamine action may help to relieve allergy symptoms and asthma symptoms. Quercetin helps treat allergies by blocking the secretion of histamine in the body. Histamine is what causes inflammation and swelling. The symptoms of a histamine reaction can be stuffy nose, itchy eyes, sneezing, itchy or red skin, runny eyes and more. The anti-inflammatory properties may help to reduce pain from disorders such as arthritis.

Quercetin supplements are also available in concentrated powders and tablet or capsule form. It is often packaged with bromelain (an enzyme found in pineapple), another substance that has been found useful for treatment of allergies and inflammation, which is thought to increase the absorption of Quercetin.

I personally use the Solaray Brand since it has bromelain in the formula. The Solaray formula comes in capsules, which makes it is easy to break one apart and sprinkle on your dog’s food.

Treating Dogs with TCM
by jeanie mossa kraft, L.Ac. with Norman Kraft, L. Ac.

We did it! Our book is at the publishers and we are anxiously awaiting the proof copy for final editions. This book should be available to TCM practitioners by the first week of May.

This is a guide for the acupuncturist practitioner on the treatment of arthritis, pain and bi syndromes in dogs.

Includes:
Diagnosis
Western Veterinary Medication
Chinese Herbal Medicinals
Acupuncture
Canine Nutrition
Supplements & Lifestyle Recommendations
Laser Acupuncture
Tips on Working With Dogs and Their Owners

If you are interested in ordering a copy of this book or would like info on the recently approved NCCAOM class “Treating Painful Canine Disorders with TCM” please email us at woof at fourpawsacupuncture dot com.

The class is 3 CEU/PDA units and will be available to licensed acupuncturists late May. We will have more information on the cost soon.

Quercetin is a wonderful supplement for dogs or humans suffering from allergies or asthma. Quercetin is a bioflavonoid (or flavonoid), which is a type pigment found in almost all herbs, fruits, and vegetables. It is also an antioxidant. a natural anti-histamine, and anti-inflammatory supplement

Research has shown that Quercetin’s antihistamine action may help to relieve allergy symptoms and asthma symptoms. Quercetin helps treat allergies by blocking the secretion of histamine in the body. Histamine is what causes inflammation and swelling. The symptoms of a histamine reaction can be stuffy nose, itchy eyes, sneezing, itchy or red skin, runny eyes and more. The anti-inflammatory properties may help to reduce pain from disorders such as arthritis.

Quercetin supplements are also available in concentrated powders and tablet or capsule form. It is often packaged with bromelain (an enzyme found in pineapple), another substance that has been found useful for treatment of allergies and inflammation, which is thought to increase the absorption of Quercetin.

I personally use the Solaray Brand since it has bromelain in the formula. The Solaray formula comes in capsules, which makes it is easy to break one apart and sprinkle on your dog’s food. For more information on dosages for dogs please read Do the Math

You can find Quercetin at most natural food stores or online.

If you or your dog suffers from arthritis, auto-immune disorders or allergies you may want to put that slice of pizza down and read on!

Research has shown that wheat and gluten aggravates the symptoms of auto-immune diseases, arthritis and most pain. It also is the cause of allergies and Irritable Bowel Syndrome in many dogs and humans. Unfortunately wheat gluten is used in several name brand pet foods. Read the labels carefully before buying a brand who has the best commercials on TV!

Wheat also is a major factor in weight. Once you eliminate the wheat in a dog’s diet you may notice that he is in less pain, may lose weight and if he has allergies they may be eliminated. This fact also applies to people!
Foods that contain wheat:

Bread
Pretzels
Pizza Crust
Bread crumbs
Milkbones
Pancakes & Waffles
Cake & Pastries
Cookies
Some Cereals
Flour