Book Review: Schwarzbuch Tierarzt

Review of “Hunde würden länger leben, wenn...: Schwarzbuch Tierarzt” by Jutta Ziegler

by Marlies

I just devoured the book in two days, so I thought I’d write a review for my furry sons’ blog. As far as I know, the book is only available in German, in case you’re interested in finding out more after reading this post, but I’ll try to summarize the main points as diligently as possible for those who don’t speak German. 

The main message that can be taken from the book is that you shouldn’t trust your vet unconditionally, but instead question whether it is really necessary for your pet, for instance, to get vaccinations (every year), eat expensive diet food or take dangerous medications. The author points out that many vets are driven by profits, so they don’t necessarily have the patients’ best interest in mind. 

Most illnesses don’t just develop out of the blue or are genetic, but are caused by negative environmental factors and/or bad nutrition, especially the latter. Commercial pet food, both canned and dry, is not adequate for carnivores, as it contains mostly cheap carbohydrates, poultry meal made from feathers and beaks, cellulose made from wood, additives, artificial flavorings, genetically modified vitamins and so on. I’m ready to throw up now. I’ve read in other books that most cat food only contains 4% real meat. Isn’t it incredibly awful to feed a cat food that isn’t at all like the food it usually eats in nature, namely mice? 

Everything a cat needs is contained in a mouse: fresh, raw meat, bones, taurine, the contents of its stomach, moisture, and so on. Of course we can’t feed our cats mice, unless they catch some in the garden, so experts have been developing a raw diet, called BARF (biologically appropriate raw food), that tries to mimic what a cat would get from eating a mouse. It is really no surprise that cats just aren’t built to digest anything but real meat, of which commercial pet food contains very very little. 

Jutta Ziegler shows that a large number of illnesses could be prevented by just feeding pets their natural diet instead of cheap, low-quality commercial food. Those include allergies, diabetes, obesity, psychological disorders, various kinds of organ dysfunction, hormonal imbalance, joint and bone conditions, and so on.

Moreover, Ziegler points out how problematic it is to subject pets to yearly vaccinations. There is very little proof that it is actually necessary and the few studies that exist are usually sponsored by pharmaceutical companies. It is very problematic that the majority of vaccines for pets contain a high percentage of heavy metals and other dangerous substances, so it is really important to think about which vaccines are really necessary, and which ones cause more harm than good. The same, of course, also applies to medications, of which some even contain nerve poison. Often, antibiotics or cortisone are just prescribed to a pet as a precaution, even though it can be very dangerous, especially if used repeatedly. There are a large number of problematic medications for pets, most of which couldn’t get licensed for sale to humans, so they are used for pets, including weight-loss pills, anti-depressants, anti flee and tick spot-on treatments, etc.

So, to conclude, it is very important to look at the source of the problem and feed your pet the best food possible. I will try to review a few BARF books I’ve read in the near future and update you on how the BARF feeding is going with my furry sons as soon as they’ve joined us in late October or early November.