Race Against Time

I am a UK vet, Mum of 4 children and a dog lover and in my own small way, I want to make a difference with my everyday choices and hope that by proving how easy these choices are, that others can follow safely.

The article shown above published on the 8th October 2020, is proof that through responsible pet ownership, we can make a difference. By choosing to own a dog, we sadly add to the carbon footprint and climate decline in more ways than we can imagine. As a vet and dog owner, these aspects fill me with enormous guilt as we have all done it and 99% of us continue to do these things, but we CAN and we MUST change –

We’ve all bought accessories for our dogs – toys, leads, coats, beds. We need to just stop buying all these planet destroying ‘goods’ that only make us feel better and far rather concentrate on what makes our own mental well being and our dog’s mental well-being better – long walks in the fresh air! For our indoor pets, we advise enrichment blankets such as one that Barney’s Mum made that we use everyday for our little Ruff – his ‘magic blanket’ as we call it!

For years and years as a GP vet, I have dispensed and recommended flea drops and various flea treatments as they become available without a thought to the natural world and how devastating it is to our insects, especially bees. Rosemary Perkins has written such a comprehensive and needed article highlighting the need for us to change as vets and pet owners. Fipronil is the active ingredient in Frontline (which is used without a thought and advertised blatantly on our TV screens); and Imidacloprid is the active ingredient in spot-ons such as Advocate and Bob Martin flea drops and it is so damaging to our natural environment.

I advise owners now to NOT use flea drops and definitely not use flea collars, but rather use the oral tablets that are available and once your dog has been treated monthly, clear and throw away their faeces for 2 days after treatment to protect our insect population.

Area twice the size of UK needed to feed world’s pets  highlights the devastation of our pets being fed ‘raw’ or ‘human-grade’ dog foods such as made by companies that buy the cuts of meat that we would eat, rather than the byproducts used from abattoirs. The carbon footprint of a very small dog eating this diet is equivalent to driving a family car! There is no such thing as ‘sustainable fishing’ and feeding fish is not a natural food for dogs or cats. We need to protect our fragile oceans, so stop buying any fish pet food products for this reason.

I turned myself vegan at the age of 53 last year, having not even been vegetarian prior to this, simply because I was determined to find the perfect plant-based diet for our little family dog Ruff. My journey has been fascinating and took me to Germany to work with the top veterinary nutritionists there and the best part of all of it is that Ruff absolutely loves his 100% balanced plant-based diet. He loves the dry food, he loves the treats and he loves the homemade food that we make him (with added supplements).

I am SO passionate about sharing all of this with you so that you can stop feeling the guilt that I feel as a vet and a dog owner and enjoy your sustainable companions. They enrich our lives immeasurably and I personally could not imagine a world without dogs.

Just try the 3 steps that I have highlighted above – it is actually very easy!