Register Now: Naturally Safe Seminar: Raw Feeding Safely | Natural First Aid Sunday, NOV 20th (new date) at 9 AM – 12 PM

Naturally Safe Seminar: Raw Feeding Safely | Natural First Aid  Sunday, November 20th (new date) at 9 AM – 12 PM Space is limited (12 participants). Cost for the seminar includes one SFRAW Basic Natural first Aid kits for each participants (FREE); a limited supply of additional kits will be available to purchase for a fee. Location: San Francisco Raw Feeders (SFRAW) 250 Napoleon St, Unit G, San Francisco, California 94124 SFRAW’s founder, Kasie Maxwell, will present part one of this workshop. She will review the following topics about common safety concerns and issues with feeding a fresh foods diet: 1) basic safe food handling techniques for meat/poultry and other common fresh feeding ingredients; sourcing for safety and wholesomeness 2) what’s toxic to dogs & cats – list of foods and ingredients to avoid 3) how to select and prepare the best foods and cuts (bones/meat) for different dogs/cats that will minimize or eliminate risks associated with feeding prey mod el raw or

read more Register Now: Naturally Safe Seminar: Raw Feeding Safely | Natural First Aid Sunday, NOV 20th (new date) at 9 AM – 12 PM

On Heartworm…

I wanted to re-post Dr. Siri Dayton’s truly excellent emails on the subject of heartworm that she wrote for the SFRAW Yahoo Group in 2009. I concur with her suggestions wholeheartedly.   I have had dogs my entire life and have never once given any of them heartworm medication in any form; and I’ve never had a pet test positive. While San Francisco and the Bay Area are not areas with a lot of heartworm disease, whenever I visited heartworm endemic areas with my dogs (camping in the Sierra foothills or Russian River area, for example), I’d test them when I returned and then again 6 months later. The plan was if they tested positive at an early stage, we would then dose them with Ivermectin at that time only. I never had to do that because they were always negative.   I would personally never use Heartguard as recommended conventionally. But I wouldn’t use Black Walnut preventatively either. However,

read more On Heartworm…

Read more

100% Non-Toxic, Biological Flea & Tick Control Program: Beneficial Nematodes Really Work!

Avoid fleas/flea problems – SAFELY & EFFECTIVELY *today* with Nematodes! Nematodes are living, microscopic organisms. They need to be applied while still alive and handled with a lot of care. We are having them shipped overnight and will store them in the walk-in cooler/cooler display. The company has assured me that they will be viable for up to 10-14 days when stored in this manner. We recommend applying them within a few days of purchasing because the sooner you get them into the garden environment, the more viable and effective they will be.

read more 100% Non-Toxic, Biological Flea & Tick Control Program: Beneficial Nematodes Really Work!

Read more

Canine Mange: A Holistic Approach

I have treated Demodex mange many, many times in rescue dogs without ever
having to resort to using the chemical treatments. I have resolved both minor cases,
and severely neglected dogs with generalized demodex and deep, oozing staph
infections so bad that the dog could not even use her hind legs. If your dog has a
small area of mange, it should be easy to resolve with the following protocol…

read more Canine Mange: A Holistic Approach

Is Your Lawn (or City Parks Program) Killing Your Dog?

Wanted to share this great blog post from “Raise A Green Dog” http://blog.raiseagreendog.com/2012/09/is-your-lawn-killing-your-dog.html If you frequent public parks that use sprays/chemicals to manage pests or plants, do what you can to change local policy. We have a real problem with this in SF – particularly in some of our favorite places to walk dogs, in those areas considered part of the “Natural Areas Program”. Learn more about this issue on the San Francisco Forest Alliance website here. Sadly, the NAP practices are pretty terrible and need to change. At home, we all should strive to do what we can to keep our loved ones, people & pets (and all animals/the ecosystem), safe & healthy! There are a lot of safe and effective ways to maintain our gardens & yards (and homes) without the use of toxic chemicals. One product/remedy we frequently recommend to people these days is FleaBusters & their BioBusters nematode service – a much better way to handle flea problems!  

Feeding Anadromous Fish Safely: Not Just An Issue for Raw Feeders

Recently one of our members lovingly fed his two wonderful and much adored dogs some fresh trout purchased from a local market. Unfortunately, he was unaware of the potential risk associated with feeding fresh raw salmon and anadromous fish or how to prepare this type of fish so that it could be consumed safely. Sadly, both of his dogs became very ill and ended up in the emergency clinic. Thankfully, both dogs recovered and were able to come home after a few days, but this was a very scary and expensive incident that could have been easily prevented. Unfortunately, the attending veterinarian did not correctly diagnose the condition at the time, but thankfully they are now under treatment and should recover in full. From this incident, we realize that education for veterinarians and all canine care-givers on this topic is still needed. Even though “Salmon Poisoning Disease” is neither rare, difficult to prevent, difficult to diagnose, nor a new problem and

read more Feeding Anadromous Fish Safely: Not Just An Issue for Raw Feeders