Chinese Government Release New Policy Forbidding Dog Meat

China’s Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs has marked the practice of raising dogs for meat as forbidden in a new draft policy. The ministry further explained its policy, saying dogs were a “special companion animal.” Animal rights activists have long decried the eating of dogs in China, and this new stance from the government is a step towards banning the practice.

That signals a major shift, recognising that most people in China don’t eat dogs and cats and want an end to the theft of their companion animals for a meat trade that only a small percentage of the population indulge in,”

Wendy Higgins, Humane Society International

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Due to the coronavirus outbreak, China’s National People’s Congress has banned the consumption of all wild animal meat. Shenzhen, a city in the populous province Guangdong, has put forward additional regulations banning the eating of dogs and cats. On May 1st, the law will take effect, and restaurants that serve pet meat will receive a fine of 20,000 to 200,000 yuan (2,800 – 28,000 USD).

Sources

Dogs May Test Positive For Coronavirus – No Evidence They Can Transmit to Humans

A second dog tested positive for coronavirus in China. Dogs have not shown symptoms of the disease. The Hong Kong government is urging people to stop kissing their pets and also to not abandon them either.

Update: PLEASE DO NOT GIVE AWAY YOUR DOG BECAUSE OF THIS ARTICLE! That is not the intentional suggestion of this article. The best advice one can probably get from this article is that you may not want to be overly affectionate with other people’s dogs right now if you are immunocompromised or you stay with someone who is. But, it’s very important to note that there is no indication the dog can transmit the virus to humans.

In February an elderly 17-year-old Pomeranian tested “weak positive” for the virus. The dog was quarantined until deemed to be free of coronavirus, then the owner took the dog home. The dog died two days later. It is extremely unlikely that the dog died from the virus but we’re told the dog’s owner wasn’t willing to allow an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

Last week a German shepherd in Hong Kong was sent for quarantine after their owner was confirmed as being infected. The dog “repeatedly tested positive” for the COVID-19 virus.

The Hong Kong animal-welfare authority stressed that there is currently no evidence that pets can be a source of the virus or that they can get sick from it. “Under no circumstances should [owners] abandon their pets,” it said.

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) said that infectious disease experts and multiple international and domestic human and animal health organizations, all agree there is no evidence at this point to indicate that pets become ill with Covid-19 or that they spread it to other animals, including people.

Market Watch

Swine Flu Is Now Infecting Dogs

H1N1, a flu virus originating from birds and commonly identified as swine flu, has been discovered in dogs from the Guangxi region of China. These animals were brought to the vet after showing symptoms consistent with canine influenza, and researchers published their analysis of the 16 strains of flu they found. The most notable discovery was H1N1, the swine flu strain responsible for the 2009 pandemic that resulted in more than 200,000 deaths. Study co-author Adolfo García-Sastre, director of the Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, says there is a reason to be cautious.

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In our study, what we have found is another set of viruses that come from swine that are originally avian in origin, and now they are jumping into dogs and have been reassorted with other viruses in dogs. We now have H1N1, H3N2, and H3N8 in dogs. They are starting to interact with each other. This is very reminiscent of what happened in swine ten years before the H1N1 pandemic.”

Adaptable Influenza

The continuing battle to correctly guess the dominant flu strain of the season showcases how adaptive and varied the flu is. Often pandemics originate in animals, usually birds or swine. While dogs have never been considered a significant carrier of the virus, more varied and potentially strains have been showing up in canine tests. The potential for a devastating flu pandemic that we aren’t prepared for is high in man’s best friend. There have been documented instances of viruses from avian, porcine, and equine sources successfully jumping to dogs, and that’s a potential flu cocktail that humans don’t have immunity against.

Can It Affect Us?

Does that even matter? There is no case of a human ever being infected by canine flu.

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Humans have previously been infected by the strain of flu found in the dogs, H1N1, but previous exposure has come from birds, who were the original carriers. Of course, H1N1 is now more closely identified with pigs, after 2009 swine flu outbreak. H1N1 became the dominant strain of flu in 1998, and the virus was seriously affecting humans within ten years. Before then, the idea that humans would be suffering from swine flu was farfetched.

It’s important to note that vaccination efforts were unsuccessful in both pigs and humans, primarily due to how fast the virus evolves. H1N1 also showed resistance to Tamiflu, the controversial antiviral drug. Healthcare professionals in the U.S. ended up using vaccines nearly identical to the seasonal flu vaccine, which is a daunting prospect in light of how poorly that immunization performed this year. If the discovery of an adaptable H1N1 virus in dogs follows the same trajectory as H1N1 did in pigs, do we have any good solutions? In cases of avian flu, farmers eliminate diseased birds from the flock immediately. Is that even an option when many Americans consider their dog a member of the family?

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The More You Know

Scientists repeatedly mention how diverse canine flu strains are becoming, and there isn’t a push to figure out why. Perhaps part of the answer is the proximity of the animals to the ultimate disease incubators – us.

The further we continue down the rabbit hole of our health care system, the more it becomes clear that we have dramatically underestimated our opponents. Our answers to the problems posed by bacteria and viruses have seemed to inspire those pathogens to greater and more creative heights at a speed not seen in nature.

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Smaller Dog Stools Mean Easier Pick-up and Better Nutrition

Tired of picking up massive dog poo pies? A change in diet will minimize Fido’s stools, making clean-up easier for you and nutrients more accessible to him. Highly digestible foods are absorbed better by a canine microbiome, and they produce less waste, boost your dog’s immune system, and decrease the risk of obesity.

You’ll find ingredients listed on every dog food can or package. The first item listed should be a specific meat, such as beef, lamb, or chicken, not “by-products,” which could be virtually any part of the animal from fat to guts to digestate. It should be honest-to-goodness meat. Sure – when a dog hunts down a rabbit and eats everything consumable, he or she is eating what would amount to by-products. If the prey is healthy, at least those by-products are fresh and somewhat nutritious. Processed by-products? Not so much.

After meat, rice is one of the more digestible ingredient fillers dogs can eat. Always avoid foods containing corn, which doesn’t break down well in canines. Corn results in big appetites and big stools. Some whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and herbs can be beneficial, but be suspicious if you see a laundry list of cheap fillers such as meat or bone meal, fat, flour, protein concentrate, gluten, or potatoes. If you see a roll call of unpronounceable preservatives on the label, snub the item as you would when choosing your own food. Salt, sugars, flavoring, and coloring should have no part in pet foods.

The law requires pet food manufacturers to add back vitamins and minerals that aren’t found in the primary ingredients or have been destroyed through processing. So be wary of long strings of supplements at the end of the list. And keep in mind that the words “natural” and “premium” have no legal meaning or regulation guidelines.

High-quality commercial brands are more expensive, but require fewer feedings to satisfy carnivore needs. With smarter nutritional choices, doggie dumps will be smaller and your dog will experience less uncomfortable urgency. Preparing homemade foods for you dog is a satisfying labor of love that will result in a healthier, happier pet. Foods can be concocted in batches and frozen a month at a time. Many raw and cooked recipes, along with portion instructions, are available online. Here’s an example of what might go into an easy pooch pleaser:

Two types of raw meat (one an organ meat)
One green vegetable
Hard boiled eggs with mashed shells
Several cooked whole grains (rice, oats, wheat…)
Veggies and fruits on hand

As the techno geeks say, garbage in, garbage out. Kick the ersatz fillers to improve your dog’s well-being and, in the bargain, make pick-ups easier for you and all of your best friend’s stewards.

Reduce Your Dog’s Carbon Poo Print One Flush at a Time

Chances are good that you’ve had the same thought as thousands of eco-savvy dog stewards: “Every day I pick up poop in a plastic bag and throw it in the garbage. How dumb is that?”

Does it make better sense to simply flush it down the toilet? If you have an average sized dog — say, a 25-lb. beagle — you dispose of around 274 pounds of dog waste a year. That might be more than you weigh! Multiple dogs, of course, up the ante. Flushing is not a novel idea.

Plans for animal shelters and dog daycares now design flushing systems into the kennel areas so that they can be easily cleaned. Caretakers simply hose waste directly into built-in drains that flow into the same sanitary sewers servicing human toilets. So the dog waste winds up at a local treatment facility. After sanitation, the water can be released or reused and the left-over sludge, might be re-purposed as a soil conditioner.

Flushing has always been a reliable solution for people with small, elderly or disabled dogs that do their business in a controlled indoor area such as a litter box or synthetic grass pan. In these cases, scoopers or even toilet paper are useful for pick up. But what if your dog downloads outdoors? Is it worthwhile bringing the booty home for a flush? If you’re game to try flushing and have a moderate “ick factor” threshold, bear with me.

Flushing loose dog waste is far from convenient. And you can’t flush dog waste in a regular plastic pick-up bag. Do you really want to send a bag that will never degrade in a meaningful time frame to your local treatment plant’s garbage patch?

But if flushing dog poo seems like a reasonable approach to you, try thinking outside the standard plastic bag. Consider using flushable polyvinyl alcohol dog bags that are “hyrdo-biodegradable.” But before buying in whole hog (dog?), consider the pros and cons.

Flushables cost around 12-20 cents per bag, so they’re more expensive than commercial plastic pick-up bags. But you can find some real bargains online. Read the claims and reviews carefully before hitting the “buy” button. You might want to compare several bags in small quantities before coming to conclusions about their usefulness and purchasing in bulk.

These bags may not stay intact when transporting dog doo long distances, so you might need to use them in combination with a waterproof container or baggie. There are also many fine-looking leak-proof, washable totes, pouches and clip-on holders on the market that are made for that purpose.

Before using your flushable bag, experiment to see how long the bag will hold up without disintegrating at room temperature. You can do this by filling the bag with wet food scraps and setting it in the sink. While you can’t always perfectly time your doggie road trips or control the heat of the day, at least you won’t have any surprises regarding bag performance. Keep the process green by knotting the top of the flushable.

If your dog has giant paws or you pick up after multiple pets, don’t dispose of a sizable doo dump in a single flush. The bags may be flushable, but none claim to be miraculous. The labyrinth of traps, wax rings and closet bends inside residential toilets were never intended to handle mega masses, let alone mega masses compressed in bags.

Newer toilets have larger openings and are less likely to overflow than older models. You do not want dog waste collecting in your toilet waiting for a plumber to arrive. You do not want dog waste backing up over your floor. Be conservative and use common sense when testing your toilet’s capacity for flushables. Use multiple bags with limited contents whenever possible.

Don’t flush dog waste into toilets connected to septic tanks. Dog waste contains quite a bit of fur and the bacteria in tanks do not readily digest hair. Hairy residue could obstruct emitters that drain effluent into the soil, requiring the services of your favorite honey dipper.

You’ve probably seen online lessons on how to toilet train your cat. Bad idea! Feline poo might contain Toxoplasma gondii, a disease agent affecting marine mammals, pregnant women, and people with compromised immune systems. You don’t want to release that stubborn parasite into waterways.

But, if you have a really smart, eager-to-please, dare-I-say saintly dog, you might entice him or her to pot-sit. Yes, people teach them to do that. Search “train dog to use toilet” and let me know how it goes. Be sure to leave him or her the latest edition of the Daily Wag.

Whether you have a single dog, a small pack, or run a pet care facility, a separate outdoor flushing system for pets might work well for you. Any dedicated septic system for dogs will be pricey. The least expensive option requires contracting with a reputable plumber to install a direct access line into the sanitary sewer connection on your property. Doo can simply be dropped or washed into an entry hatch. Be sure to include a lid or other mechanism to trap sewer odor.

Manufacturers offer some truly inventive systems for dog waste flushing at high-volume facilities. Products with whimsical names like “Powerloo” and “Whoopsie Away” are easy to find via online searches. All require professional installation.

At the exit end of the sewer line, flushed dog waste is processed and tested per EPA standards. The resulting biosolids might be buried, landfilled or (best-case scenario) used as a fertilizer. You can even buy bagged soil amendments made from sewage sludge to top dress your lawn or feed your garden.

The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District, a pioneer in this field, has been producing and distributing Milorganite for 85 years. These heat-dried biosolid pellets are available at garden centers throughout the country. Other waste facilities have been following Milwaukee’s lead, turning treated solid waste into natural fertilizer and reducing the need to manufacture chemicals or mine minerals to enrich soil.

If flushing proves to be a practical approach for your household, you’ll dispose of fewer plastic bags, divert organic waste from your local landfill, and recycle your dog’s waste – all gifts to the natural world.

The Top 5 Worst Pet Food Ingredients

It should come as no surprise that the cheapest and most widely available pet foods are just as unhealthy as cheap, widely available human foods. Unfortunately, most mainstream foods for cats and dogs are overly processed and don’t even meet animals’ basic nutritional needs.

When we assess pet food, we look for products that most closely mimic what the animal’s diet would be like in the wild. Cats and dogs are both carnivores – in nature their daily diet is high on protein and low on carbohydrates.

Despite the fact that this is widely known, many of the most common pet foods feature recipes that are exactly the opposite – low in protein and high in carbs, chemicals, and preservatives, which are just as bad for your pets as they are for you.

No pet owners intentionally feed their pets unhealthy food; if a dog or cat’s diet is lacking in nutrition, it’s almost always because their owner is either uninformed or cannot afford to regularly buy healthier options. Whichever the case, you should at least avoid buying foods with these 5 harmful ingredients.

Meat “Products”

In a natural setting, your dogs and cats would be eating fresh prey, like rabbits and mice, which are unadulterated, high quality protein. That’s why it’s such a shame that so many brands stuff their foods with extremely low quality meat “products.” Meat by-product and meat and bone meal consist of ingredients that not legally allowed to be put into human food. However, like most harmful ingredients, these products are much cheaper than the real thing.

Both meat by-product and meat/bone meal are made up of all animal parts, such as bones, lungs, feet, heads, intestines and blood. The worst part is that these parts can be taken from any and all animals, including the 4 D’s: dead, dying, diseased, or disabled at the time of slaughter. This meat is almost entirely unregulated and can be contaminated or diseased. No pet owner wants to be feeding their beloved pet such polluted food.

Animal Fat

Animal fat is sometimes known as “tallow” and is derived in a pretty nasty process. When an ingredient is just listed as “animal fat,” and not as a specific type of animal, it is often a generic mix of animal parts, grease from restaurants, or other oils that wouldn’t be allowed to be used in products for humans. The rendering process that results in this fat involves boiling any and all animal parts available along with used restaurant grease. The top layer of fat is skimmed off and used in many pet foods.

Beef tallow is also a common ingredient – it’s used to make low-quality pet foods taste better, but offers no nutritional value. You want to look for pet foods that include specific types of animal fats, such as chicken or poultry fat, which is derived and preserved in a healthy manner.

Corn

Corn and grains constitute large amounts of low-quality pet foods, despite the fact that dogs and cats would not be ingesting corn or grains in the wild. These inexpensive ingredients are used as a cheap filler that helps add substance to the paltry amount of actual protein in the recipe. The corn or grain products are high in calories, so they make dogs and cats feel full, but don’t give them what they need to stay healthy. Given too many carbohydrates, dogs and cats can develop obesity and diabetes

There are many excellent brands on the market that don’t contain any corn or grain fillers. Granted, they are a bit pricier, but that’s because they actually contain high-quality ingredients, which cost more. These options are much easier on animals’ digestive systems and will not cause allergic reactions the way foods with fillers will. Though it may be hard to find these at your standard grocery or convenient store, they’re readily available online or in specialty pet stores.

Sugar

There is absolutely no reason for any type of sweetening agent to be included in your pet’s food. The only reason it’s used at all is to mask the unpalatable quality of the other ingredients and provide empty, cheap calories. Keep an eye out for any version of sugar: cane molasses, corn syrup, sorbitol, fructose, glucose, or propylene glycol. Be sure to avoid any product that lists sugar in the first several ingredients.

If the food has to include sweeteners, you should ask yourself why the food isn’t appetizing enough as is. If it contains high-quality proteins, you won’t be able to keep your furry friends away from it. Also, if pets are regularly fed high-sugar recipes, they can become dependent on sweet foods, making it difficult to transition them to healthier options. Not to mention that excessive sweeteners can eventually cause serious medical problems such as obesity, hypoglycemia, arthritis, tooth decay, and allergic reactions.

Preservatives

Are you starting to see a pattern here? Many of the qualities that make pet food unhealthy are the very same ones that make processed human food unhealthy. Methods of producing food cheaply are very similar across the board, except pets have it even worse. Most common, inexpensive pet foods on your grocery’s shelves feature chemical preservatives like propyl gallate, ethoxyquin, BHT, and BHA. The last two, in fact, cannot legally be used in human products in many countries, but are still legal in the U.S.

All of these chemicals have been associated with dangerous illnesses such as cancer and liver disease. Fortunately, there are some effective preservatives that don’t cause health problems. Look for foods that include natural preservatives: rosemary oil, vitamin E (tocopherols) and vitamin C (ascorbic acid).

Navigating the pet food aisle can be just as challenging as making sense of the rest of the grocery store. Organic? All natural? Low fat? Fat free? Translating food labels is not for the faint of heart. But, you should invest a bit of time finding a high quality pet food that’s convenient and affordable for you to buy on a regular basis.

The best possible option is a BARF (Biologically Appropriate Raw Food) diet, which consists of raw meats, organs, bones and even raw eggs. Following this diet takes some commitment but has a huge payoff: your pets will have far fewer health problems and enjoy their food much more. You can always start the transition by incorporating some raw foods into what you’re already feeding your pets. Check out BARF World to learn more about getting started.

Given that your bet is a beloved member of your family, it only makes sense to take special care in deciding what goes in his little body so that he can stay healthy and happy for many years to come

Natural Flea Remedies

To repel fleas, keep your dog smelling like citrus and garlic. To make your own repellnt, put 3 cloves of garlic, the peels from 1 orange and 1 grapefruit, 1 tablespoon of rosemary and 1 pint of water into a blender. Blend until liquefied, and then heat the concoction at a simmer for 20 minutes. Allow it to cool and strain. Put the liquid in a spray bottle and spray your pets before they go outside. During flea season, add sulfur and garlic to your pet’s food for additional protection.

Fleas, like any parasite, are more attracted to sickly animals. Therefore, your best line of defense against flea infestation is a healthy diet. A diet of raw meat with vegetables and cod liver oil (with DHA) is much healthier than any store bought food. Some companies sell raw ground meat for pets with various organ parts and bones mixed in. But if you buy prepackaged raw food for your pet, make sure the meat is produced the right way. For instance, if you’re buying beef, it should be from free range, grass fed, hormone free, antibiotic free cows.