AVOID GETTING YOUR DOG CAUGHT IN THIS PROFIT MACHINE: DOGS NATURALLY

Here’s a great business model (but a good one to not be a part of!): 1. Sell a product, in fact, better yet, give it away in the package plan you sell so it looks like an amazing bargain. Brand the plan with the word “Wellness.” 2. Tie into a profession that’s widely looked up to as purveyors of animal health who fully buy in to this product. So much so, that they push it as well, and make their living by pushing it. 3. When that product creates long term health problems in those who partake, sell a specialized product that addresses them. Make it expensive, “scientific” and high tech, and have a line of that product sold by the animal health profession itself. Add to their bottom line. See #2. 4. Claim product #1 has nothing to do with creating disease, (and have the profession widely decry the very idea of it — “It prevents disease!”) but explain how #3 will cure the disease (that it’s created). 5. Smile all the way to the bank. You’ve made money creating a problem and “fixing” the same problem! Variations of this business model live and thrive in many circles of society now, but one that affects you, dear pet owner, is purveyed by the Mars company. It sunk in over the past week, since I posted about their “fix” of selling chicken feathers as protein in their version of the best dog food: Royal Canin. Oh, and product #1? Vaccinations. For everything imaginable. Unraveling the Scheme So, who’s the Mars Company? Purveyors of diabetes and cavities, through their Milky Way, Skittles, M & M’s and such. Yes, they are a candy company, at least that’s where they got their start. One famous for their secrecy. Mars branched out in 2007 to own Banfield, The Pet Hospital. Who sells a “Wellness Plan” that includes “free vaccinations!” when you sign up. Often twice a year. Ahem. You know that frequency of vaccination is excessive, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past twenty years. And, you know it’s risky. But that the profession here, conventional veterinary medicine, runs on its profits and Dr. WhiteCoat isn’t going to stop pushing vaccinations if he has any say in the matter. Which he does. He can do anything he wishes in the name of “professional judgment.” And Banfield is a collection of corporate Dr. WhiteCoats, who vaccinate repeatedly in the name of “wellness.” Now, through Mars’ subsidiary, Royal Canin, they’ll sell you a high end, laboratory made diet with this “novel protein” source: chicken feathers. To cure the allergies they’ve created by repeatedly vaccinating every animal that comes through the doors of the Banfield machine. Is your head starting to hurt, yet? Drop Out, Quick! You are the only one calling the shots (sorry, bad metaphor. Wait: maybe not) for your animal’s health. They don’t vote. They eat what you offer, go to the vet when you say they’re going, and take whatever you agree to in the name of “prevention” or treatment. I submit that, unless you are keeping your eyes open and are willing to think outside the medicine box, your animals will become health statistics. If you follow this brand of “prevention,” it’s not a matter of “if my animals get sick” but rather, “when.” I’d hate to see you visiting your vet because you’ve got an allergic pet, one of the top three reasons the average consumer brought their animal for veterinary services in 2012. Because that’s a long, suffering road, with no cure in sight, if you stick to what Dr. WhiteCoat recommends. [There are better options, if you get stuck in this machine.] Be smarter than that. Choose your natural path carefully, eyes wide open, ears wide open, and learning all you can before making health decisions for your animals. Some Brilliant Words for Dr. WhiteCoat When you are in for an exam, and something is recommended to you, especially more vaccinations in one already vaccinated, try these words out: “Doctor, let me get back to you on that. I need to do my research before I decide.” Wow. Did you see how you just took control of that situation? Powerful stuff. This is the intellectual property of DOGS NATURALLY Magazine, please subscribe to it? Much is changing in pet care...get the jump on it with wonderful articles like the above!