Lessons Learned-The Begining

In this inaugural blog, I am going to tell you, the reader, the intended purpose of this blog, the reasons for that purpose and what I hope to accomplish here, with you. As you can see from the title this is going to be a blog about lessons. Lessons learned. Lessons learned from the mistakes I consider myself to have made while trying to handle my best friend Chocolate’s descent through Kidney Disease, to the inevitable end. With the analysis of those mistakes and research based on, and in the facilitation of that analysis, and just plain old curiosity, I will explore the questions raised when we go through such sudden and troubling events.

What could have caused it? What could have exasperated it? What could I have done to prevent it? What toxins might have been involved, and so forth. Together, you and I will explore all these questions, and more. Think of our questions as signposts delineating the different paths we will take on our quest for answers. As you can see there will be many possible routes to the answers we are seeking on this journey.

Our primary questions arise from the story this website is devoted to, and particularly due to the fact that Chocolate died of Kidney Disease. Back in October, Chocolate’s life came to a precipitous end; when, what was years of problems with her kidneys, came to a head, and she was diagnosed with what amounted to be the final stages of Kidney Disease. At that point, the end came pretty quickly. The toxins in her blood could not even be measured by the machines. They were off the charts; literally (not the cliche). All that could be done for her was give her fluids intravenously just to get her re-hydrated.

So, she spent about four days in the hospital. I couldn’t believe the difference it made in her appearance. She had not eaten anything substantial in about a month and she had seriously wasted away. Indeed, they describe it as anorexia in the list of symptoms. After the fluids, she plumped up to what looked like normal. I didn’t realize how much her loss had been fluid. Unfortunately, as she urinated, which was a lot and often, I watched her deflating back to skin and bones right in front of my eyes. She still wouldn’t eat. She would never take food again. But all this is covered in the story of her life. It is at the core of this website. This blog is more about the questions raised by the circumstances of that situation.

The purpose of this blog will be to explore and discuss all the possible answers to these questions and allow you, the reader, to raise and discuss any questions you might have. For me, the question that rises to the top of the list is the questions of toxins and the part they could possibly have played in her illness. As I wrap up this first installment I’ll leave you with a couple of sources, you may find pertinent and interesting, on the question of toxins in our environment and their possible effects on our animals’ health.

The first source is on the matter of fluoride in our water. I find it amazing how the general public thoughtlessly accepts the government line, “Oh, it’s harmless. It’s good for you. You won’t get cavities.” Well, I brush my teeth and go to the Dentist to prevent cavities. When I go to the tap I go there for the purest, cleanest, unadulterated water I can get to quench my thirst, cook or wash.
Follow this link: https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/10/11/dr-bill-osmunson-on-fluoride.aspx to get a different perspective on the matter, and let me know what you think.

Another angle to approach these matters from is the analysis of the claims of these other sources we will be accessing and evaluating. A case in point is the advent of The Clean Label Project (CLP). I first became aware of what they were doing on the news at KPIX Channel 5 in the San Francisco Bay area. It caught my attention immediately, of course, and it would be absolutely pertinent to the discussion we are having here. What with the numerous claims of contaminated treats and pet foods causing illness and death in some of our most beloved family members, I was ecstatic to hear that someone was taking the search for answers into the lab and doing a serious scientific analysis of the claims.

After seeing the report a few months ago and at the year-end revisit I decided to go to the KPIX web-page http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/05/24/lead-mercury-arsenic-cadmium-found-in-popular-pet-foods/ and take a closer look. I had already done a search and some internet research on The Clean Label Projects claims and had taken note of some troubling problems with their veracity and/or reliability of their claims. After perusing the CLP’s presentation I clicked on the critics of their work and found that they found the same things to be problematic that I did: A lack of presentation of any real data. No specifics on the participants in their testing and research. Follow this link for more on that: http://www.chadhayesmd.com/the-clean-label-project-is-playing-dirty/

The Clean Label Project writes it off as not wanting to overwhelm the consumer with data. They claim their intent is to make a simple way for consumers to judge products they’ve tested with a five-star rating system, which as we all know is a marketing ploy, not a method of scientific discourse. A statement made in the KPIX5 report is telling:
The Clean Label Project plans to launch a fee-based certification program. It will randomly test foods from participating brands for a variety of contaminants. That being done, they will then give those that pass a seal – similar to Good Housekeeping.

That’s not science, that’s marketing.
To see how a white paper is presented that is quite a bit more informative on the matter of contaminants go here:
https://cbssanfran.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/champion-petfoods-white-paper-heavy-metals.pdf.
So, we’ve begun. If you care to join us on this journey of discovery I would like very much for you to join in the conversation. In our next post, we’ll talk about water. I hope to hear from you.