Some Disturbing Food For Thought

Those of you who have known me a while probably know I have a keen interest in food security/food safety issues, and not just as they relate to veterinary medicine. Dr. Alice Villalobos, who has the veterinary cancer referral clinic down the street on Wednesdays has written an excellent article on the subject in this month's Veterinary Practice News.

While my views on the livestock industry lean more "animal welfare" than "animal rights", I agree that the film "Food, Inc." and the books "Fast Food Nation", "The Omnivore's Dilemma", and "In Defense of Food" are all well worth their acclaim.

Seasonal eating and limiting the amount of factory-farmed or unsustainably harvested animal protein in our diets are a good idea for all of us, and don't have to be terrible expensive. Heck, I know that I am not alone in needing to do a bit LESS eating, and can see an advantage to lower quantities of food and higher quality.

Feline Neuter Rate Drops With Family Income

According to an article from the JAVMA recently, about 80 percent of pet cats in the US. Not surprisingly, spay/neuter rates were higher among higher income homes and lower where income was lower. The rate approaches 97% in households with incomes over $75,000, but drops to little more than 50% in households with incomes below 35%.

Clearly there is much room for improvement in these numbers in low-income communities. Spaying and neutering doesn't have to be horribly expensive, especially since many veterinarians (myself included) offer it basically as a "loss leader" and lose money on the deal, just to encourage high rates of neutering in the community. Many communities have low-cost spay/neuter clinics, too. The City of Los Angeles provides vouchers when the budget allows, which help to subsidize the cost for city residents.

Spaying and neutering are not difficult or dangerous in most circumstances, and they help to ensure a much longer, healthier life for kitties. They also prevent undesirable behaviors and that nasty tomcat urine odor that will drive your friends away and your family to drink.

I have addressed spaying and neutering here in a previous post, but can't say enough about how critical it is that we do our pets this favor (and society, too).

AVMA letter to the editor of Smart Money magazine regarding the article "10 Things Veterinarians Won't Tell You"

I suppose it's a good thing I missed the original article referenced in this letter. I might have blown a gasket.

I guess Rodney Dangerfield was right. Some people just can't get no respect. Unfortunately, promoting mistrust of veterinarians as a whole can only result in very real harm to pets in the long run, and in the process very real increased risk to human health.

Signs Your Cat Needs To See A Veterinarian

All right - one more handout from the ether.

I wish I could copy and paste this right into the blog post, but PDF files don't allow that. Just click on the hyperlink.