#MAAHA: Make American animals healthy again!

No it wasn't a typo.

The MAHA movement applies to the animals living in this country just as much as it does to humans. Our dogs, cats, and even more importantly, the agricultural animals that provide food for humans and our pets reflect our health and wellness as a society.

Mahatma Gandhi acutely observed that “the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”

• One in three dogs will develop cancer in their lifetime.

• Half the dogs over the age of 10 will develop cancer.

• There are approximately 6 million new cases of cancer in dogs every year.

• Inflammatory diseases, i.e., arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, gingivitis, and dermatitis, are skyrocketing.

• Type II diabetes, pancreatitis, and Cushing's, which used to be fairly rare diseases in dogs and cats, are now commonplace.

• Cancer is a leading cause of death in cats. In the United States, about 6 million cats are diagnosed with cancer each year.

• Type II diabetes and metabolic disease are at epidemic proportions in cats.

Digestive problems, i.e. food intolerances, dysbiosis, acid reflux, chronic diarrhea, are occurring in animals as young as 2 years old. Some of them come to me unable to eat anything without bouts of diarrhea and vomiting. Their humans are so overwhelmed by watching them waste away that they are scared to even try anything new that might actually help them recover and heal.

All of the above more than likely originates from the food they are fed. I know this, because if I can get them switched to a healthy, clean diet, their symptoms resolve.

The multibillion-dollar pet food industry (Purina made $22 million in 20222) began as a dumping ground for industrial waste products. During the great depression, two gentlemen were trying to figure out how to keep pets fed in the cities when rations were in effect. They collected scraps from factories and developed the first commercial pet food. And big pet food has kept that business plan going. Why not, when you can take waste products companies are willing to pay you to take off their hands and turn it into mega-profits?

Commercial kibble contains very little if any, actual meat. It is made with meat meals and plenty of corn products and grains with a hefty dose of synthetic vitamins and minerals added. Go and read the ingredient panel on your bag of kibble. The meat meals come from the rendering plant, and the animal protein that ends up at the rendering plant comes from the 4D animals: dead, dying, diseased, and disabled.

You can read my first-hand account of visiting a downer cow slaughterhouse here:

In 2024, reports began flooding social media of pets having sudden hemorrhagic gastroenteritis (HGE), seizures, and even sudden deaths. This correlated with the opening and feeding of a brand-new bag of kibble in many cases. Over 3000 reports were filed with the FDA. Thousands more flooded a Facebook group, where over 10 moderators could not keep up with the posts. In July, the FDA wrote a statement saying they found nothing wrong with any of the food. Reports are still coming in from animals getting sick and dying.

There are suspicions that the problem is due to fumigant pellets that are not being fully removed from the final food product. There is a long list of other things that could be contributing as well, but tracking down a toxin is a difficult and expensive endeavor, and the manufacturers know that.

Image from Saving Pets One At A Time (The Original) Facebook group.

The food is only half the problem.

The other half is Big Pharma. About 15 years ago, private equity set its sights on veterinary medicine. It realized how many billions of dollars pet owners were willing to spend on their pets, and it wanted to get a piece of that pie. Corporations scooped up independent veterinary clinics owned by actual veterinarians. These corporations then made deals with Big Pharma to get discounts on pharmaceuticals and supplies.

Pharma realized it could utilize veterinary medicine as a repository for products it was having problems with on the human market. The sudden widespread use of gabapentin clued me into this.

The FDA requirements for new drugs and biological products are different for animals than for humans. When a new drug comes out, the first two years of use on pets is the clinical trial. Your dog or cat is the test subject. Years ago, I made it a personal practice not to prescribe medications to my patients until they had been on the market for a couple of years.

In the fall of 2023, two new monoclonal antibody products were released on the veterinary market: Librela for dogs with arthritis and Solensia for cats with arthritis. Getting the truth out about the lack of safety and efficacy testing and the adverse effects of these two products has been my side project throughout 2024. Here is my first post on Librela where I review the package insert:

Many more products have recently been released, including a self-replicating Leptospirosis vaccine for dogs currently being injected, injectable Apoquel for allergies, which has warnings about causing cancer, and injectable Bravecto, a flea preventative known to cause seizures.

This does not begin to cover the agricultural products such as the avian flu virus vaccine given to dairy cows and how those may impact human health by getting into our food supply. In addition, the United States allows thousands of chemicals banned by the EU into our food supply. Glyphosate alone has managed to destroy the microbiome in all living systems, from animals to humans to the actual soil itself.

It takes an extraordinary amount of time to thoroughly research and then report about these products. It is a full-time job for many people.

In the above examples, the FDA has either remained silent or sided with pet food and pharmaceutical companies.

Only one man thoroughly understands how government agencies have been captured. His appointment to HHS is up for Senate approval this week. He is our only hope for breaking these cycles, restoring some sanity to our food supply and healthcare system, and saving our pets! They deserve better.

If you haven't already, contact your senators and attend the hearings in Washington, D.C. if you can. We must stand strong on this issue if we want a healthy future for this planet.

Photo by Alec Favale on Unsplash