November 7, 2008 on the Breakfast Show you had Dr. Daniel Joffe sharing his agenda on the Barf diet. There are many vets that disagree with him and I would like to correct some of the mistruth's as well as point out that on the same day he was spreading fear of raw food and Salmonella, the NY times reported 79 people got Salmonella from dry food. Never has anything like that happened with raw food. So it would be nice to have him comment on that.

Secondly, dogs have been eating raw and cooked food for thousands of years. They have only been eating dry for 70, so which is the fad?

Third, he said that wolves live 2 years in the wild. Check the facts and you would find wolves live 8 to 10 years or more in the wild. Humans also used to live only 40 years under what would be considered wild living standards compared to today. As for zoo's, most zoo's feed as much species appropriate food as possible and only supplement with dry food, largely due to budget restrictions.

Fourth, is how much training veterinarian's actually get on nutrition. Ask any school and you will be shocked. It ranges from a few hours to maybe a day. And this is provided by the companies like Hills that provide them free food for their pets while they are in school. If there studies are so extensive can someone please explain to me why cat's who are carnivores (get all the nutrients they require from meat and fat) are being fed food mostly made from grain and very little meat? I think they slept through the basics. Ask any farmer if you feed meat to a cow or horse. They would laugh at you. So why are we not laughing at Joffe. Believe me we should be.

Joffe's own study showed that dogs that consumed food with salmonella passed it in their stool. The dogs did not get infected, they passed it in their stool, which means their systems are able to handle the bacteria and have it pass right through. If they ate meat with the bacteria and were not infected why would eating it again in the stool cause an issue? It does not, and he has no scientific evidence to the contrary. Where he is correct is if you or your children eat or play with the dog’s stool you are at risk. I think most people understand you have other problems there.

As for his logic of putting your family at risk, I ask him this question. Does he allow meat, sprouts, spinach or dry food, dry pig’s ears, in his house? These have all had actual reported cases of infection and deaths. If he has these in his house and gets on his soap box of fear and miss leading facts about raw food, I think we can all see him for the agenda he has. If you can not see his agenda, let me explain some things. Twenty years ago doctors said diet had nothing to do with cancer and most health issues like diabetes and heart disease. Now everyone knows there is a connection. The same is true in dogs and cats. Dry food has only been the main dietary choice for our pets since the 60's. Since that time there has also been the largest increase in cancer, diabetes, and kidney problems in our pets. No scientific studies have been done to link these in our pets because there is no money in it. There is money in disease. But the same rules that apply to humans tend to apply to our animals. Diet and health are related. Let me give you an easy example. Again, cats are carnivores. This means they derive all the nutrients they need to be healthy from meat and fat. Yet most dry cat food diets are made mostly of grains and very little meat. Cats never used to get diabetes when they ate a natural diet. Now they do. There are scientific studies in humans that link high carbohydrate based diets to diabetes. Do we need more scientific studies on cats to prove this or is it a reasonable leap we can make? As for Dr. Joffe's need for scientific evidence, people should know there are no long term scientific studies done on ANY food to prove they prevent disease. This would require 10 to 12 year studies that could be duplicated and reviewed at least three times. So I think Dr. Joffe should hold the foods he recommends to the same standards that he uses against raw food. But that would not serve his agenda.

Brent Hauberg