Developing products
without pain
 Burns
Pet Nutrition has not done any formal testing of any of its
product. The most we do is give food to friends and ask them
to try out the food for palatability. I know that there are
guidelines that a food should be fed as the only food to a
group of [caged] dogs for a minimum of 6 months and their
health should be monitored clinically and by blood testing
but I have never done that, not even when I produced my first
product.
Development of my foods has been on the principles of natural/holistic
medicine. As well as being a veterinarian I am also an acupuncturist.
I have studied traditional Oriental medicine and also what
in this country used to be called Naturopathy (Natural Medicine).
I have also been a keen student of macrobiotics.
I have adapted these principles to veterinary medicine and
they are explained in my Guide to Natural Health Care of the
Dog. (available from Burns Pet Nutrition on 0800 018 18 90
or download).
In its simplest form, good health is the normal state and
the body is always working towards maintaining optimum health.
In practice this can be ensured by a correct lifestyle, especially
through correct diet.
This happy state of affairs is the result of millions of years
of evolution, adaptation to changing environment - climate,
food supply and so on.
In the wild, evolution is by natural selection by which those
individuals best adapted to changing circumstances will prosper
at the expense of the less-well adapted. The development of
domestic dogs over the last 15,000 years has reflected then-association
with humans. The diet of the dog would have mirrored that
of humans which for hundreds of thousands of years has been
based on unrefined grains and vegetables supplemented with
meat and occasional fruit.
My foods are intended to re-create this traditional diet in
order to harness the body's innate, natural tendency towards
optimal health. An understanding of these principles of holistic
medicine/nutrition means that nutrition can be used to treat
most of the common health problems of domestic pets, for example
skin disease, digestive disorders, gum disease, anal gland
problems, urinary tract disease, arthritis/rheumatism. The
same applies to serious diseases such as heart disease, diabetes,
liver and kidney disease. The same food can be used for all
of the above conditions as well as others, whether diagnosed
or not.
In spite of these well known holistic principles, many manufacturers
of pet foods carry out experiments on animals with the objective
of producing a product which is analytically engineered to
influence a specific disease condition.
For example, one company has conducted a series of experiments
on dogs in an attempt to produce foods which will slow the
rate of formation of tooth tartar. The rationale for this
"Dental Care System" is that dietary polyphosphate
will neutralise the calcium in the saliva.
In my opinion, dental tartar is best prevented by a simple
holistic diet which ensures the health of the whole body.
When we consider new products we use the principles as outlined
above. We may produce a product using an alternative meat
(protein) source as a means of avoiding dietary intolerance
which can result from lack of variety in the diet. Or we may
change the grain/carbohydrate as a means of altering the digestibility
of the food.
I hope this is of some help to you in your understanding of
how foods can be developed without animal testing.
Yours faithfully
JOHN BURNS BVMS MRCVS
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