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In my research on health and nutrition for animals, I’ve come across a lot of information that applies specifically to people. If you’re interested in improving your own health, here’s what I’ve learned!

Is Declawing Justified for Human Health Reasons?

Pro-declawing veterinarians are running out of excuses to keep on performing this damaging, unnecessary, multi-amputation surgery on cats. One of the last bastions is a seeming concern about human health. People who are on blood thinners or immunosuppressive drugs, or people with HIV, fragile skin, or other medical conditions that make them susceptible to infection, proponents say, must declaw their cats to save themselves. But there is no human medical condition that justifies declawing a cat. Here's why: Perhaps most obviously: there are people with all sorts of medical conditions in all the countries where ...

2017-04-07T14:51:57-07:00
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The Woman-Cat Bond

You may have heard of the "human-animal bond," but my colleague and friend Dr. Jane Bicks (who makes Life's Abundance pet food) just posted a great summary of research on the bond between humans and cats; and more particularly, the unique bond between women and their cats. Fascinating! One of the study's authors, Dorothy Gracey of the University of Vienna, said, "A relationship between a cat and a human can involve mutual attraction, personality compatibility, ease of interaction, play, affection and social support... A human and a cat mutually develop ...

2017-03-23T14:18:22-07:00
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Can You Make Your Cat Sick?

This is a question many people would like to know more about! Animal disease transfer to people is called "zoonosis." Humans transmitting diseases to their pets is called "reverse zoonosis." How and why this happens is still poorly understood. But veterinarians wonder if pets could be getting sick from humans, and not the other way around. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, "While new strains of flu can evolve from animal populations and ultimately move into human populations, it now appears that humans have passed the H1N1 flu to ...

2017-03-23T14:34:09-07:00
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Rabbit Fever

Both people and cats can get infected with Tularemia, also known as rabbit fever. People usually acquire the infection by handling dead rabbits (whether shot or died of natural causes); and cats contract it more directly by eating infected rabbits. Infected cats may have a high fever, mouth ulcers, depression, enlarged lymph nodes and behavioral changes that include not wanting to eat. Cats that have been outdoors and are showing these symptoms need veterinary care. People can become infected by handling pets or wild animals with tularemia, or by being bitten ...

2017-03-23T15:10:05-07:00
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Pets are good for us!

Another day, another study on the benefits of companion animals. This one was reported in the Washington Post (a rarity these days, when most of the news coming out of Washington is not so great!).  A team of psychologists from Miami University and St. Louis University surveyed ordinary pet guardians to find out just what kinds of social and psychologic benefits pets bring. Since other work has shown that pets are beneficial to people with serious health challenges, the team wanted to know if pets were as good for ordinary ...

2019-06-30T13:18:43-07:00
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What you don’t know about food can hurt you!

Check out this stunning TED talk on food safety in the U.S. The speaker, Robyn O'Brien, told the story of how one of her children developed a food allergy, and that experience started her on a path of researching the human food chain and its many links to illness. It's dated (2011) but nothing has improved; in fact, it's gotten far worse over time. For example, nearly all corn and soy in the U.S. are now genetically engineered (GMO). The video is about 18 minutes but it's definitely worth the small ...

2017-02-18T13:18:45-07:00
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