Forever Dog ( fə -ˈre - vər - dȯɡ): A domesticated carnivorous mammal, descended from the gray wolf lineage, that lives a long and robust life free from degenerative disease, in part due to their humans making intentional choices and wise decisions that confer health and longevity.
The Forever Dog has been getting a lot of pre-release buzz — I’m hearing about it from every direction — and as a dog owner/lover myself, I was pretty excited to get an early digital ARC of it; why wouldn’t I want the information that could help my own pooch live a long and healthy life? But having now finished it, I’m of two minds: The information is compelling, but as a skeptic when it comes to “Surprising New Science”, I’m not 100% convinced that this book’s authors are the ultimate authority on pet health and nutrition (and especially when they warn the reader that any vet I approach with this information will probably push back against it). Rodney Habib is a self-described influencer and blogger (and founder of the largest pet health page on Facebook) and Karen Shaw Becker is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (and certified in animal acupuncture and homeopathy), and while nothing they recommend is actually all that radical, this book doesn’t feel totally grounded in science. Three ambivalent stars. (Note: I read an ARC and passages quoted may not be in their final forms.)
If there’s one lesson you’re going to learn over and over again, it’s this: Eat less, eat fresher, and move more and more often. That’s a truism for both you and your dog. And it’s the biggest takeaway you’re going to get from this book.
I once had a vet say to me, “Never let anyone tell you that you can’t buy a good brand of dog food at the grocery store”, and that is the unexamined advice that I have brought to my dogs’ nutrition. (That and the fact that my last dog got bladder stones from sharing my meals with me, and my brother-in-law said he wishes he had never given his dog human food because Blue now drools at the table every time they eat, is why our current dog has only ever had grocery store kibble, and I thought I was doing what was best for him.) So I did find it very compelling when this book explained that “nutritionally complete” kibble has only been around a short while, and by comparing it to infant formula (which we now think of as second best, and at any rate, is only used for a few months in human lives, compared to a dog's entire life on processed foods), the authors did make the case for the addition of fresher, whole foods. There is a lot of nutrition science explained for why this or that is essential in a dog’s diet (and how ultraprocessed foods not only undernourish but actually harm various body systems), and the authors are careful to emphasise that it is very hard for a dog owner to successfully cook from scratch (there are many vital micronutrients that aren’t readily available in grocery store ingredients and supplements can be difficult to add in the precisely required amounts). However, there are many recommendations for how to boost kibble with add-ins (from blueberries to homemade mushroom broth), and in an ideal world, explains why one ought to switch to a minimally processed fresh dog food. I did find all of this to be compelling, supported, and I’ll look into it further; so what’s my beef with these authors as science communicators?
In an alarming 2018 study, Cornell University researchers found detectable glyphosate in all eighteen commercial dog and cat food products they tested (including the one GMO-free product in the group) and concluded that “exposure to glyphosate via food consumption is likely higher for pets than humans.” They calculated that our pets’ exposure to this likely cancer-causing agent is between four and twelve times higher than it is for us on a per kilogram basis.
The authors use a lot of the same buzzwords as the woo-woo purveyors (Vani Hari, Dave Asprey, Gwenyth Paltrow, etc.) that I tend to tune out; warning against GMOs, talking as though organic produce is grown without pesticides, promoting “detox” protocols. They anecdotally report that dogs avoid 5G routers (concluding that they are negatively affected by EMFs) and suggest, more than once, that the harmful chemicals off-gassing from dog beds can be mitigated by covering them with an organic cotton throw. Wherever there isn’t firm science to back up a claim (as in “likely cancer-causing” above), they write, “...we suspect these heightened risks are borne by our furry friends,too...researchers suggest...we can only imagine...we surmise the same is true for dogs…”, and that’s not good science. At one point they list their “Dirty Dozen”:
Avoid buying dog food with any of these ingredients listed on the labels (in no particular order):
➤ Any type of meal (i.e., “meat meal,”“poultry meal,” or “corn gluten meal”).
➤ Menadione (synthetic form of vitamin K)
➤ Titanium dioxide
➤ Peanut hulls (a significant source of mycotoxins)
➤ Dyes and colors (for example Red #40), including caramel
➤ Poultry or animal digest
➤ Animal fat
➤ Propylene glycol
➤ Soybean oil, soy flour, ground soybeans, soybean meal, soybean hulls, soybean mill run
➤ “Oxide” and “sulfate” forms of minerals (for example zinc oxide or copper sulfate)
➤ Poultry or beef by-products
➤ BHA, BHT, and ethoxyquin (synthetic preservatives)
➤ Sodium selenite (synthetic form of selenium)
But they don’t explain why you should avoid these particular ingredients. In a couple of other places the authors say that more information can be found on their website (including any of the sources that one might expect them to include in endnotes), but if that’s the case, what’s the point of writing a book? Beyond nutrition, the authors also suggest: not spaying or neutering a puppy before puberty; testing for the presence of antibodies before administering annual vaccines (other than Rabies); testing out natural (essential oil-based) flea/tick/heartworm repellents before agreeing to prescription broad-spectrum products; restricting a dog’s eating window to eight hours a day; turning off lights and routers at bed time. I like the idea that dogs should be taken on ten minute “sniffaris” — walks where they get to go where they like and sniff what they want — at dawn and dusk (and also be given many opportunities for heart-pumping active play throughout the week), but I don't know if sniffaris actually reset circadian rhythms..
Fifty years ago, vets saw patients primarily for acute injuries and infectious diseases. But these days most patients we see are suffering with GI problems, allergies and skin issues, musculoskeletal issues, and organ dysfunction. It’s an epidemic.
There’s no arguing against the fact that humans in the Western world have spent decades eating unwholesome convenience foods that have affected our health in countless negative ways; it should be unsurprising to conclude that the mass production of pet foods — which is a largely self-regulated, multi-billion dollar business — has led to similar negative health outcomes for the animals that are relying on us to provide for their every need. The bottom line — that we and they should eat less, eat fresher, and move more — is a good message, I just wish I didn’t feel so ambivalent about the messengers.
