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The minute officials announced that dogs and cats nationwide had been exposed to contaminated pet food, Daminana Smith’s phone began to ring.
Worried friends wanted to know: What should I be feeding my animals? What’s safe? What will be good for them?
Smith, a dog-nutrition specialist, has an answer, although not one officials in the pet-food industry — nor some veterinarians — like to hear. She plans to talk about that answer at a public presentation at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the American Legion Hall in Lebanon.
Smith will talk about the benefits of a pet diet rich in raw foods, and plans to provide recipes and instructions. She also plans to talk about evaluating pet-food labels and discuss which brands she believes are the most beneficial.
Admission is free, although Smith said she will place a donation jar to help defray costs of renting the meeting room.
Smith, of Lebanon, has worked with and around dogs for nearly 50 years. She is a retired veterinary technician and vet surgeon’s assistant, a former professional dog handler for show champions, has taught obedience classes for the Oregon State University Extension Service and worked as a groomer for 34 years. She is now taking formal classes in nutrition, but has been researching dog food on her own for 20 years.
It was during her dog-grooming years that Smith became interested in nutrition.
“I saw so many chronically ill dogs that just never seemed to get better,” she said. “Their skin was bad, they had bleeding, hot spots, (they were) listless — a lot of times they had tumors.”
Smith started researching pet foods, calling universities and veterinarians across the nation. What she found out, she said, convinced her the pet-food industry suffers not only from a lack of regulation, but from filler ingredients that sicken its target population.
“I’ve got facts, I’ve got numbers, I’ve got newspaper articles from around the nation,” she said. “I’m not making any of this up because have a vendetta against these companies, because I don’t.”
Smith feeds her own dogs — dachshunds — raw eggs, raw beef liver and heart, raw cuts of beef, and grated, raw organic vegetables, including broccoli and cauliflower. She also grinds up raw chicken necks and backs for them, bones and all.
“Dogs can eat raw bones,” she said. “It’s when they’re cooked that they splinter and cause all kinds of problems.”
For treats, she’ll bake wheat-free dog biscuits (dogs get their energy from fats, not carbohydrates, she says) or toss out a grape, raisin or chunk of apple. No breads. No peanut butter. Absolutely no dairy products.
Veterinarians, she said, rightly object to the idea of feeding dogs “people food.” So does Smith, if they’re talking about the usual sorts of people food: pizza, potato chips, macaroni and cheese.
Raw food, she said, is another matter. Dogs were designed to eat it, and those who do suffer from skin and teeth disorders and other diseases far less frequently than dogs who are “being fed nutritionless waste loaded with toxic chemicals.”
Pet-food manufacturers and some veterinarians beg to differ with Smith and other proponents of raw-food diets, some of which are known collectively as BARF — Bones And Raw Food, or Biologically Appropriate Raw Food.
Opponents of such diets say they may be nutritionally incomplete, which can lead to its own problems.
Smith counters with her own recipe for dog vitamins, a powder she makes and sprinkles on her pets’ food each day. That’s another handout she plans for Tuesday’s presentation.
The American Veterinary Medical Association says a raw-food diet “is not recommended,” saying raw foods can contain salmonella and other pathogens.
The danger to humans is mitigated the same way it is when cooking for one’s family, Smith said: Use stainless steel, not plastic, and wash everything thoroughly to avoid cross-contamination. The danger to dogs is almost nonexistent because of the acidity in their stomachs, she said.
Smith said she doesn’t have a veterinarian’s opinion to offer because she hasn’t needed one, except for the time one of her dogs swallowed a penny. Her oldest dachshund is 14 and in great health, which she attributes to diet.
“My main thing is, I want your dog to live 10 years longer than it should,” she said. “I want to see people’s pets live and die of old age and natural causes, not some painful and debilitating disease.”
Worried friends wanted to know: What should I be feeding my animals? What’s safe? What will be good for them?
Smith, a dog-nutrition specialist, has an answer, although not one officials in the pet-food industry — nor some veterinarians — like to hear. She plans to talk about that answer at a public presentation at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the American Legion Hall in Lebanon.
Smith will talk about the benefits of a pet diet rich in raw foods, and plans to provide recipes and instructions. She also plans to talk about evaluating pet-food labels and discuss which brands she believes are the most beneficial.
Admission is free, although Smith said she will place a donation jar to help defray costs of renting the meeting room.
Smith, of Lebanon, has worked with and around dogs for nearly 50 years. She is a retired veterinary technician and vet surgeon’s assistant, a former professional dog handler for show champions, has taught obedience classes for the Oregon State University Extension Service and worked as a groomer for 34 years. She is now taking formal classes in nutrition, but has been researching dog food on her own for 20 years.
It was during her dog-grooming years that Smith became interested in nutrition.
“I saw so many chronically ill dogs that just never seemed to get better,” she said. “Their skin was bad, they had bleeding, hot spots, (they were) listless — a lot of times they had tumors.”
Smith started researching pet foods, calling universities and veterinarians across the nation. What she found out, she said, convinced her the pet-food industry suffers not only from a lack of regulation, but from filler ingredients that sicken its target population.
“I’ve got facts, I’ve got numbers, I’ve got newspaper articles from around the nation,” she said. “I’m not making any of this up because have a vendetta against these companies, because I don’t.”
Smith feeds her own dogs — dachshunds — raw eggs, raw beef liver and heart, raw cuts of beef, and grated, raw organic vegetables, including broccoli and cauliflower. She also grinds up raw chicken necks and backs for them, bones and all.
“Dogs can eat raw bones,” she said. “It’s when they’re cooked that they splinter and cause all kinds of problems.”
For treats, she’ll bake wheat-free dog biscuits (dogs get their energy from fats, not carbohydrates, she says) or toss out a grape, raisin or chunk of apple. No breads. No peanut butter. Absolutely no dairy products.
Veterinarians, she said, rightly object to the idea of feeding dogs “people food.” So does Smith, if they’re talking about the usual sorts of people food: pizza, potato chips, macaroni and cheese.
Raw food, she said, is another matter. Dogs were designed to eat it, and those who do suffer from skin and teeth disorders and other diseases far less frequently than dogs who are “being fed nutritionless waste loaded with toxic chemicals.”
Pet-food manufacturers and some veterinarians beg to differ with Smith and other proponents of raw-food diets, some of which are known collectively as BARF — Bones And Raw Food, or Biologically Appropriate Raw Food.
Opponents of such diets say they may be nutritionally incomplete, which can lead to its own problems.
Smith counters with her own recipe for dog vitamins, a powder she makes and sprinkles on her pets’ food each day. That’s another handout she plans for Tuesday’s presentation.
The American Veterinary Medical Association says a raw-food diet “is not recommended,” saying raw foods can contain salmonella and other pathogens.
The danger to humans is mitigated the same way it is when cooking for one’s family, Smith said: Use stainless steel, not plastic, and wash everything thoroughly to avoid cross-contamination. The danger to dogs is almost nonexistent because of the acidity in their stomachs, she said.
Smith said she doesn’t have a veterinarian’s opinion to offer because she hasn’t needed one, except for the time one of her dogs swallowed a penny. Her oldest dachshund is 14 and in great health, which she attributes to diet.
“My main thing is, I want your dog to live 10 years longer than it should,” she said. “I want to see people’s pets live and die of old age and natural causes, not some painful and debilitating disease.”
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