Dr Tom Lonsdale to me is an icon in the world of raw fed for dogs and cats.  His advocacy of the natural feeding has helped bring the attention needed to help educate owners and guardians of dogs and cats.

Tom has been a guest speaker at locations around the world, authored “Raw Meaty Bones”, and produces a frequent RMB newsletter available for subscription on his website (http://www.rawmeatybones.com).

The following article “The Part Test” came from his Vol 6:5 Newsletter.

THREE PART TEST - By Dr Tom Lonsdale

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing” - Edmund Burke.

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How perverse that the global community permits giant corporations, Mars, Nestle, Colgate, Proctor & Gamble and others, to mass-produce junk pet food and thus to injure the health of a majority of the world’s pets.

How obscene that the organized veterinary profession colludes in this mighty junk pet-food industry consumer and scientific fraud.

Sure then it’s incumbent on those of us in the know to do something about it.  Recently I’ve been giving this matter some thought and would like to suggest a new and objective approach and would appreciate your thoughts on this matter.

Here’s what I propose:

As a starting point I believe we need to invoke two fundamentals of carnivore biology — the two imperatives that drive carnivores to do what they do.  Carnivores need to:

1 - Seek out, pursue, and consume whole carcasses of prey animals (or parts of animals and table scrap offering nutrients in similar formulation).

2 - Expend considerable time and energy gnawing, ripping, and tearing with thereby brushing and flossing their teeth.

If we are able to be true friends to our carnivore companions then invoking the two points about should, I believe, be our starting point.  By reaffirming the biological basis of our beliefs we stay in touch with Nature and ensure validity to our approach.

But clearly that’s not enough in the face of the junk pet food/veterinary alliance.  We need to keep to the fore how powerful, how determined the alliance is and we need to constantly work to defeat it by all means at our disposal.  Anything less fails our carnivore companions and their dependent owners.

Unfortunately, these day, there’s a multiplicity of quacks, opportunists, niche marketers and false prophets seeking to turn a back and gain kudos peddling nonsensical gibberish and weird incantations that do little to help companion carnivores in their time of need.  How can we spot the well meaning and ill-informed and those with more cynical intent?  How can we protect ourselves and our pets against slick presentations and marketing hype?

Maybe it’s no so difficult.  Maybe by applying the The Part Test false prophets can be identified and thus resisted.

Here’s the test:

Does the speaker/proponent/prophet affirm and invoke the need for:

1.  Carnivores to have a regular full belly of whole prey or something akin to the same?

2.  Carnivores to maintain a pearly white set of teeth and salmon pink gums?

3.  Every effort to overturn the junk pet-food industry/veterinary alliance?

Check out the articles, the websites, the books and the sly rhetoric of a multiplicity of barfers, herbalists, and pushers of supplements and quack cures.  Do they pass one, two or three parts of the Three Part Test?  Or do they fail abysmally?

To my mind, we’ve got a massive job to do, if we are to combat the junk pet food/veterinary alliance and restore pets to rightful good health.  We don’t need opportunists and false prophets deflecting the issues and making the job more difficult.  Let’s invoke first principles, stick to first principles and advance the cause of animals, people and the planet.

It would be real good to hear your thoughts on the introduction and application of the Three Part Test.  tom@rawmeatybones.com