Animals Further Learning Archives

Should You Mix Meat and Fruit or Vegetables in Dog Meals?

Understanding how wolves and wild canines actually eat and what that means for feeding dogs naturally.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational purposes only and reflects a Natural Hygiene (Terrain Model) perspective on health and nutrition. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any condition, and does not constitute veterinary or medical advice. The views expressed are independent of the conventional medical or veterinary industry, and all decisions regarding animal care or personal health care are the responsibility of the owner/individual.

Question:

Don’t wolves eat meat, fruit, and vegetables on the same day in the wild?

Answer:

While it might happen on occasion, wolves and other wild animals only eat when hungry and eat until full. They don’t have the same addictions to food that drive humans to consume at the mere sight or smell of food. In the wild, a wolf will hunt, and when they make a prey kill, they gorge feed on that prey, often eating up to 20-25% of their body weight. At this point, they are not hungry and will not eat other things simply because they are available.

Often, they will fast for 3-5 days or longer before consuming food again. Instead, they will rest and digest on the first day and then play and explore until they are hungry again.

Once hunger returns, they will graze on fruits that they come across, eating until full. When they eat fruits, they will sit at the apple tree and eat apple after apple until they are full. Then they move on with their day. They don’t typically have multiple meals in a single day unless the first source of food they came across was not sufficient to fill them up. They eat to their satisfaction and then go about enjoying life.

They are not slaves to food the way humans often become, eating all day out of habit, boredom, or discomfort rather than true hunger. Because of this natural pattern, the natural diet aims to approximate those rhythms as closely as possible within the limits of domestic life. Feeding one meal per day and separating meat meals from fruit meals allows digestion to proceed more efficiently and more closely mirrors how canids naturally eat.

That said, feeding fruit in the morning and a meat meal later in the day would not be harmful. In the wild it is possible, though less common, for a wolf or coyote to fill up on fruit and later come across an easy prey animal and eat again. However, predators generally do not hunt unless they are hungry, so this situation is relatively uncommon. Most of the time they eat one food source until satisfied and then move on with their day.

If you would like to learn more about how wild canids actually eat, you may also enjoy reading Evidence that Canids Eat Fruit in the Wild and Gorge Feeding vs. Daily Meals . For those who are new to feeding the natural diet, visit our Getting Started page to download the free feeding guide and learn how to begin returning your animals to their natural species-appropriate diet. As outlined in the natural feeding guide, dogs are naturally binge-and-fast eaters who consume large meals and then rest and digest for several days before eating again.

March 4, 2026March 19, 2026

Lauren FarrisLeave a comment

Why We Get Cancer: A Natural Hygiene Perspective

One of the most damaging things medicine has done around cancer is not just the treatments, but the story it tells.

According to the medical narrative, cancer is a mystery. It strikes at random. It is genetic bad luck, environmental roulette, or an unavoidable ticking time bomb hidden in your DNA. You are told there is no clear cause, no clear prevention, and very limited control. Your role is to comply, endure, and hope.

That story is profoundly disempowering.

When people believe cancer “just happens,” they are robbed of agency. Fear replaces understanding. Treatments are framed as battles against an enemy rather than an opportunity to restore order. And when those treatments fail, people are left feeling betrayed by their own bodies.

Natural Hygiene offers a radically different and far more empowering explanation.

Cancer Is Not Random

From a Natural Hygiene perspective, cancer is not an invader, not bad luck, and not a mystery. It is the final stage of a long biological process that has been unfolding for years, often decades.

The body is designed to heal, cleanse, and repair itself constantly. When waste, toxins, and irritation accumulate faster than the body can eliminate them, the body adapts. First through mild symptoms, then chronic inflammation, then tissue damage. Cancer does not appear suddenly. It is the end result of prolonged burden and impaired elimination.

This understanding is not new. Natural Hygiene pioneers explained that cancer arises after repeated suppression of the body’s earlier healing efforts. When inflammation is drugged away, when eliminative symptoms are silenced, when the causes are never removed, the body eventually resorts to containment rather than elimination. Tumors form as a last-ditch effort to isolate toxic material and damaged tissue from the rest of the system .

Cancer, then, is not the body “turning against itself.” It is the body doing the best it can under impossible conditions.

This Is Empowering, Not False Hope

This perspective does not exist to shame people or place blame. No one chooses to be sick. Most people are doing the best they can with the information they were given.

But responsibility and blame are not the same thing.

Understanding cause is empowering because it means change is possible. If cancer has a cause, it can be addressed. If it develops through a process, that process can be interrupted. If the body created the condition, the body also holds the intelligence to reverse it when given the opportunity.

This is where medicine often fails. It focuses on destroying the tumor while ignoring the conditions that produced it. Killing cells without correcting the conditions that made those cells necessary does not restore health. It only forces the body to adapt again, often in more destructive ways.

Natural Hygiene focuses on removing causes rather than attacking effects.

The Body Is Not Your Enemy

Cancer cells are not foreign invaders. They are altered human cells that have lost their ability to function cooperatively within the body. This loss of organization happens when cells are repeatedly exposed to toxic conditions, poor nutrition, lack of rest, emotional stress, and chemical overload.

When those conditions are corrected, the body often regains control.

This is why Natural Hygiene emphasizes rest, fasting when appropriate, simple natural foods, clean water, fresh air, sunlight, and the removal of all unnecessary burdens. These are not alternative treatments. They are the basic conditions under which the body was designed to repair itself and more importantly, they are the most basic conditions required for health.

Healing does not come from fighting the body. It comes from cooperating with it.

Hope Rooted in Biology, Not Wishful Thinking

The medical model offers no hope, only long shots, and criticizes and demonizes those who do, by calling it false hope. The medical model is also based upon disease creation for profit and disease maintenance for profit. The science of Natural Hygiene offers hope through understanding the laws of nature and offers us all an opportunity to align ourselves with these unbreakable laws and return to a state of health..

When people realize that cancer is not a curse but a consequence, fear begins to loosen its grip. When they see their body as intelligent rather than broken, trust can be rebuilt. When causes are addressed instead of suppressed, real healing becomes possible.

This does not mean every case can be reversed. Damage can reach a point where full repair is no longer possible. But even then, understanding brings peace, clarity, and often a better quality of life.

Cancer is not proof that the body has failed. It is proof that the body has been trying to survive for a very long time. And that truth is not frightening. It is empowering.

Healing is possible when we are empowered with the correct knowledge to return our body to a state of pristine health.

If this perspective resonates with you and you want to go deeper, the next step is education. Healing begins with understanding how the body actually works, not fighting it. To continue exploring these principles, you may find it helpful to start with Embracing Our Self Healing Body, a video presentation that walks through how the body cleans, repairs, and restores itself when conditions are corrected.

From there, The Nature and Purpose of Disease expands on why symptoms exist at all and how disease functions as a body-directed process rather than a failure.

For practical application, The Natural Human Diet explains what the body is biologically designed to thrive on, while Disease 101 and Why Do We Get Sick break down how illness develops step by step and how it can be interrupted by removing causes.

Together, these resources form a foundation for understanding health through Natural Hygiene and reclaiming trust in the body’s innate intelligence to heal.

Have more questions? Want to get answers about your specific health issues or concerns? I offer consultations, learn more about them here: Consultations

Ready to make changes but not sure how to begin? Need some motivation or accountability? Why not join our 30-Day Terrain Model Diet Support and Education Group: New Groups start on the 1st of every month! Support Group Information and Sign Up Form

Eat fruit and be well my friends.

December 18, 2025March 19, 2026

Lauren FarrisLeave a comment

Cancer Explained Simply: Removing Fear Through Biological Understanding

Understanding cancer without fear – and how to support the body instead of suppressing its healing efforts

A cancer diagnosis is often presented as a terrifying mystery—something that suddenly “attacks” the body without cause, explanation, or hope beyond aggressive intervention. This fear-based narrative leaves people feeling powerless, rushed, and disconnected from their own biology.

This Cancer Mini Guide was created to replace fear with understanding.

From the perspective of Natural Hygiene (Life Science), cancer is not an enemy invading the body, but a meaningful biological response to long-standing internal conditions. When we understand why cancer develops and what the body is attempting to do, the path forward becomes clearer, calmer, and far more empowering. This guide explains cancer in plain language—what leads up to it, the purpose it serves, and how to create the conditions that allow the body’s innate self-cleaning and self-healing processes to function as designed

Cancer Mini Guide – The Raw Key Download

This free Cancer Mini Guide explains cancer through the lens of Natural Hygiene, showing that cancer has understandable causes, a biological purpose, and a logical path toward healing. Rather than offering treatments or protocols, this guide focuses on removing the causes of disease and supporting the body’s natural ability to repair itself. Designed to be clear, concise, and non-fear-based, it’s an ideal resource to share with friends or loved ones navigating a cancer diagnosis.

Why Download This Guide?

This guide is for you if you:

Feel overwhelmed or frightened by a cancer diagnosis
Want a clear, non-medical explanation of why cancer develops
Are seeking a perspective that does not rely on fear, urgency, or suppression
Want to understand how diet, hydration, stress, and lifestyle affect healing
Need a simple resource to share with family or friends who are worried

Unlike conventional approaches that focus on “fighting” the body, this guide helps you understand how to work with the body’s intelligence instead of against it.

What You’ll Learn Inside

Why cancer is not random, mysterious, or caused by bad luck
How chronic toxicity and uneliminated waste lead to cancer formation
The body’s use of tumors as a protective and containment mechanism
Why suppressive approaches often worsen long-term outcomes
The three foundational steps for supporting healing in any disease state
How hydration, fruit-based nutrition, rest, and stress reduction support repair
Why removing causes matters more than adding “treatments”

This guide does not diagnose, treat, or cure disease. Instead, it explains how health is restored when the conditions that caused disease are removed.

Who This Guide Was Created For

This mini guide was written in response to years of requests from people asking for a short, clear resource they could give to someone they love—without overwhelming them or frightening them further. It’s designed to be read in one sitting and revisited as understanding deepens.

Rabies – The Manufactured Disease

How superstition, pseudoscience, and profit turned a non-existent condition into one of medicine’s most enduring myths

For more than 150 years, we’ve been told that rabies is one of the deadliest diseases on Earth. The official story goes like this: Rabies is a viral disease that attacks the central nervous system of warm-blooded animals, including humans, and it kills nearly 60,000 people every year, mostly children in poor, rural communities in developing countries, mostly in Asia and Africa. We’re told it exists on every continent except Antarctica, that it’s most often transmitted through a dog bite, and that it can only be stopped by vaccination.

The World Organisation for Animal Health ( WOAH, formerly OIE) and the World Health Organization (WHO) claim the rabies virus sits at the bite site before travelling along the nerves to the brain, causing inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. They describe two forms — one called furious rabies, with hyperactivity and fear of water, and another called paralytic rabies, with progressive paralysis.

We’re told the bite from an infected animal requires immediate vaccination, and rabies is one of the only diseases for which the vaccine can be given after exposure. We’re told that vaccinating 70% of dogs will eradicate rabies.

But this narrative is full of contradictions. If rabies truly exists everywhere, why is it supposedly concentrated among poor rural children? If it’s carried by many different species, including dogs, bats, raccoons, and cats, then why would vaccinating only dogs stop it? And if viruses are inert outside a living cell, how can one travel through the body on its own?

Also, did you know that the father of germ theory, Louis Pasteur himself, is the first person credited with creating a rabies vaccine?

Before Pasteur: Rabies Was Folklore

Before the late 1800s, rabies was not a proven disease; it was a mere superstition. People believed in what they called royal cures – the kiss of a king would cure rabies. It was later discovered that a piece of the king’s garment would be as efficacious. Other cures included magical “mad stones” pressed to the bite, chewing hair from the dog that bit you, or swallowing bizarre concoctions like ground-up jawbone of an ass or dog, colt’s tongue, and green rust from old coins.

These weren’t science. They were cultural rituals built on fear and misunderstanding. Eventually, Louis Pasteur came along to give a scientific veneer to some of these traditions, but contrary to popular belief, he didn’t replace actual superstition with genuine science. He simply gave the old fears a new, scientific costume.

Pasteur’s Brutal Quackery

Pasteur had no medical degree. His rabies experiments were nothing more than animal torture. He bored holes into rabbits’ skulls and injected decomposing matter directly into their brains. This method guaranteed brain damage and neurological symptoms, but it had nothing to do with how a real-life dog bite would happen in nature.

He never isolated a rabies virus, never proved transmission from a naturally bitten animal to a human, and never showed that his vaccine could prevent anything. However, the spectacle of his supposed cures won him fame, and his rabies vaccine became one of medicine’s most celebrated and profitable creations.

Contemporaries Who Called It Out

Not everyone bought the story. Many of Pasteur’s own contemporaries accused him of fraud and incompetence:

Dr. William A. Bruette — Showed rabies vaccine was a fraud that spread disease, calling its sale “an out-and-out racket.”
Dr. Matthew Woods — After 25 years at the Philadelphia dog pound, handling 150,000 dogs with frequent bites, reported zero cases of rabies. Concluded so-called rabies in animals was due to maltreatment or malnutrition.
Dr. George Wilson — President of the British Medical Society. Dr. Wilson called Pasteur’s anti-rabies vaccine “a piece of deception.”
Dr. Charles W. Dulles — Investigated for 16 years and concluded “there is no such specific malady” as rabies.

The Missing Virus

Even decades after the invention of the electron microscope, no one, not Pasteur, not the Pasteur Institute, not any successor, has ever identified a rabies virus. No isolation means no proof of viral causation. Without that, the entire claim of rabies as a contagious viral disease collapses.

The Negri Body Problem

For years, Negri bodies in brain tissue were called proof of rabies. However, these formations are not specific to rabies as they can be found in healthy animals. Even the Pasteur Institute admitted this. The diagnosis was based on interpretation, not hard evidence.

The Historical Record Tells a Different Story

When you look at actual records, the rabies scare falls apart:

London Hospital — 2,668 dog-bite patients, zero rabies without treatment.
St. George’s Hospital — 4,000 “mad dog” bites, no rabies.
Philadelphia Dog Pound — 150,000 dogs in 25 years, no rabies despite frequent bites.
Dr. J.W. Hodge — Documented over 2,500 deaths from Pasteur’s treatment — many in people never bitten.

Fear as a Cause: Lyssophobia

Natural Hygiene teaches us that fear itself is a poison to the body. History is full of cases where the belief in rabies caused symptoms and death:

A man lived 15 years after a dog bite but died within weeks after hearing his friend, who had been bitten by the same dog, had died.
A woman died after rabies treatment, later found to have been bitten by her boyfriend, not a dog.

This fear-induced condition was once called lyssophobia or “imaginary hydrophobia.”

Animal “Rabies”: What’s Really Going On

Animals labeled “rabid” are usually suffering from:

Parasitic infestations due to malnutrition and toxemia (i.e. heartworms)
Malnutrition (weakening the nervous system)
Poisoning (pesticides, environmental toxins, abuse)

None of these are contagious viruses.

The Vaccine Problem

Pasteur’s rabies vaccine, and all that followed, rests on the same flawed theory. It injects poisons into healthy bodies based on an unproven contagion. The results?

In animals: vomiting, fever, lethargy, severe allergic reactions, and death. All of these are acknowledged by the American Veterinary Medical Association.
In humans: pain, dizziness, nausea, breathing difficulty, swelling of the throat, and post-vaccine encephalitis.

Yet the World Organisation for Animal Health(WOAH) still recommends vaccinating 70% of dogs worldwide, while also claiming other species spread rabies. That’s not disease prevention — that’s a business plan.

The Natural Hygiene Perspective

The science of Natural Hygiene has no use for germ theory myths. Scientific rigors must be adhered to, and laws of nature must be observed in all claims. Rabies, all of the other so-called infectious diseases, are not a single, contagious entity but a label for various states of body breakdown. The real causes are:

Toxic injury — from cooked foods, processed foods, toxins, or vaccines themselves.
Enervation — loss of nerve energy from fear(chronic stress), injury, or chronic poor living habits.
Malnutrition — starving the body of the materials it needs to function.
Suggestion and hysteria — the mind triggering the body into crisis through fear and stress.

When we remove the causes, the symptoms vanish. No vaccine required.

The Bottom Line

Rabies is not a lurking killer waiting in an animal’s bite. It’s a manufactured disease that was born from superstition, dressed in Pasteur’s pseudoscience, and kept alive for over a century by fear and profit.

There has never been proof that rabies exists as a specific contagious disease. There has never been proof that a rabies virus has been isolated. What has been proven, over and over, is that the vaccine harms both humans and animals, and that the symptoms attributed to rabies are fully explained by poisoning, malnutrition, abuse, or fear.

Rabies is a ghost story in a lab coat. The only way to end it is to stop believing in it.

September 18, 2025March 19, 2026

Lauren FarrisLeave a comment

Parasites: A Symptom, Not a Cause – Rethinking Worms and Other Parasites

New clinical studies prove what the science of health, Natural Hygiene, has always asserted: parasites are not a cause of disease

For decades, the dominant medical model has taught us that parasites are invaders – dangerous intruders that must be eradicated at all costs. Dewormers, anti-parasitic drugs, and routine chemical treatments have become standard, especially in the care of animals. But emerging long-term research now confirms what the science of health, Natural Hygiene or the Terrain Model has always known and taught: parasites are not the cause of disease but a natural consequence of a biological terrain that invites their presence.

The Study That Flipped the Narrative

In 2022, Dr. Martin Nielsen and his team at the University of Kentucky published a groundbreaking study examining a herd of horses that had not been dewormed since 1979, over 40 years without a single chemical intervention. These horses were not suffering. They were thriving.

Despite consistently carrying parasite loads, including Strongylus vulgaris (the bloodworm), the horses remained in good health. The study showed:

No seasonal rise in egg shedding (debunking previous assumptions)
Pregnancy, foaling, and lactation had no effect on parasite levels
Mares transferred antibodies naturally to their foals through colostrum
The parasites were present year-round, yet disease was virtually absent

“Parasitism is a natural state… worms only extremely rarely cause disease or ill-thrift.”
– Dr. Martin Nielsen

These findings challenge the mainstream belief that the presence of parasites is synonymous with pathology. They also affirm what the terrain model and natural hygiene has taught all along: the health of the host determines the presence, behavior, and impact of microbes, including parasites.

Parasites as Natural Clean-Up Crews

In the terrain model of health, a toxic or compromised internal environment, the “dirty terrain”, is the true foundation of disease. When waste builds up in the body due to improper diet, stress, or poor elimination, nature sends in specialized helpers. Worms and parasites feed on the backlog of decomposing matter and cellular debris.

Just as vultures flock to roadkill, parasites emerge in a sick body, not to cause damage, but to consume what doesn’t belong. They are the clean up crew. Their population expands when there is a bounty of cellular waste for them to feed upon and their population drops when the waste has been cleaned up. But they are always present, waiting for their opportunity to help the body maintain a state of health.

More Evidence from the Field

Another 2022 study in Germany analyzing horses on low-intervention farms found Strongylus vulgaris seropositivity in 21% of horses, without any signs of illness. Even when egg shedding wasn’t detected, antibodies were present, showing that the body had encountered the organism and maintained equilibrium through its internal defense and elimination pathways. This wasn’t a sign of disease, but rather a reflection of a well-functioning internal terrain capable of handling exposures without distress. (Link to full study)

Similarly, a 2016 study in BMC Veterinary Research confirmed that S. vulgaris DNA could be found year-round, even when no active shedding occurred. The key finding? Parasites existed quietly in the background, not causing harm unless other conditions were already at play.

And again, in 2022, long-term monitoring of naturally infected horses (PMC8822790) reaffirmed that parasite burdens alone are not predictors of illness.

The presence of the parasite’s genetic material did not equate to sickness, it simply revealed that these organisms exist in the environment and the body, and are kept in check when the terrain is clean and the lymphatic and circulatory systems are functioning properly.

The Terrain Determines the Outcome

From a terrain model lens, these findings echo a deeper truth: microbes and parasites are not villains, but natural recyclers and responders. They flourish in bodies burdened with waste, just as mold grows on rotting fruit. But if the terrain is clean – supplied with proper nutrition, proper hydration and avoiding drugging or other damaging habits – there’s nothing for them to feed on.

In healthy animals, parasite presence is mutually harmless
Disease arises when the body is burdened by inappropriate foods choices or poisoning, not when worms are present
Attempting to kill parasites without addressing the terrain misses the point. Any substance capable of killing a parasite is also damaging to the animal ingesting that substance. So when we apply dewormers, rather than improving the health of our animals, we are poisoning our animals in order to kill creatures which were put in place intelligently to help the animal clean out the damage from prior exposure to poison. So the animal gets poisoned once, the parasite spring into action increasing their populations to feed upon the cellular waste debris and toxins, and our response is to then poison. The animal, a second time in a vain effort to try to kill the helpers.

This new discovery aligns perfectly with what Natural Hygiene principles have always proven: toxemia, caused by systemic waste buildup, is and has always been the true root of disease. Parasites, bacteria, and viruses are simply symptoms of a toxic terrain. They appear after the body has been injured and are working with the body to clean and repair.

Rethinking Deworming Protocols

Instead of defaulting to pharmaceutical dewormers:

Clean the terrain: Focus on species-appropriate diets, fasting, and hydration
Support elimination: Proper bowel function and and a hydrated lymphatic system are essential to maintaining waste levels within the requirements of health.
Respond to symptoms as warnings and red flags of the mistakes in diet and care that they reflect. Don’t blame parasites or bacteria for a food induced problem. ,
Honor the Laws of Nature: Nature does not make mistakes; but humans certainly do, especially when profit is a motive, parasites have a role, they are intelligently designed for their role not mistakes. Medicine always bases it’s foundations upon the body being a mechanical robot, poorly built, which requires their various poisons to operate properly. They neglect to remember that they have only been producing their poisons for around 150 years now, but the intelligently designed body has been living in harmony with parasites and bacteria for thousands of years.

As Dr. Nielsen put it, “[This herd] reminds us that parasitism is a natural state.” Indeed, it is the terrain, not the germ, or worm, that matters.

Parasites are not invaders to be feared, but part of the body’s natural cleanup crew. Like bacteria and viruses, they play an essential role in the body’s internal ecology—breaking down waste, aiding in the detox process, and responding to the conditions present. In healthy animals, they exist without causing harm. We do not poison our companions with dewormers—natural or synthetic—because parasites are not the problem. The problem is the terrain. When the body is clean and the diet is aligned with the animal’s biological design, there is no need for chemical interventions. If you’re ready to learn more about how to support your dogs and cats with their species-appropriate diet, start with our Getting Started Guide for Dogs , our Getting Started Guide for Cats, or join our thriving Facebook group for support and community, and explore our videos on the YouTube channel where we teach the truth about pet health and healing through nature’s design.

📚 References:

Nielsen et al. (2022). A year-long parasite surveillance in an untreated horse herd. Link
Nielsen et al. (2022). S. vulgaris exposure in German horses. Link
Tydén et al. (2016). Year-round PCR detection of S. vulgaris. Link
Kaplan & Nielsen (2011). Sustainable parasite control. Link

August 23, 2025April 23, 2026

Lauren FarrisLeave a comment

Cat Poop! What Should raw Fed Cat Poop look like?

Let’s talk poop

Cat poop

A lot of people get really concerned when they transition their cats to the natural diet, that their cat is constipated because they are used to seeing huge kibble and canned food stools. Raw fed stool is tiny in comparison to these big bulky stools you might be used to. Don’t worry, that is exactly how it should be!

The reason for this is with the canned and kibble and other cooked foods there is so much unusable waste matter in the food that the poop is full of bulk waste. This is also why your kibble and canned food fed cats (and dogs) poop always smells awful. On the natural diet, their stool should have little to no odor because everything usable is being digested, rather than fermented and putrefied by bacteria. The odor comes from the bacteria breaking down the indigestible materials in the processed commercial foods – in other words, all the toxic junk they put in those foods leads to lots of bacterial waste that stinks!

With the raw natural food, the body can use the majority of the material coming in. This means there is very little left over to be eliminated, creating small stool. The reason the stool is dry and crumbly is that most of what’s left over in the waste is broken-down bone, which is used like we use fiber by the cat’s body. This is what we want to see: all the protein being used, and most of the bone being used, and the body only pushing out the excess of bone with little to no odors.

Your cat’s stool should be small and gray or whitish in color. Once it has had some time to dry out in the litterbox it should be easy to crumble and turn to powder.

What color should my cat’s stool be?

Most of the time cat’s stool will be a pale gray, and when it dries, it will be more white. But if you have liver or other organ meats in the meal, it will sometimes be a bit darker, light brown to dark brown. It’s fine if you are seeing a darker shade than the photo above!

What if their stool is black or very dark brown?

Black stool can be old waste being eliminated. If your cat was originally fed cooked or processed foods before returning to their natural diet, they will have old, dried-out waste stuck in the digestive tract, which will be eliminated over time the longer they are on their natural foods. This old dry waste needs to be rehydrated before the body can eliminate it. This is why it comes out slowly, bit by bit and can occasionally cause some slow downs and constipation.

Black stool can occasionally be a cause for concern. Tarry stool, which is stool that looks like coffee grounds, can be an indication of internal bleeding. If you see stool that is black in color and also looks like coffee grounds, you may need to get your cat to the vet. If you suspect your cat has eaten something non-edible, then get an X-ray as quickly as you can to check for internal bleeding.

What if their stool has red blood in it?

Red blood means irritation of the colon or anus. This is rarely a cause for concern, it just means that something irritating has passed through, causing some small abrasions. But, whenever we see red blood in the stool, it is always best to fast for a day or two. This digestive break allows time for the body to repair any small abrasions and keeps the digestive tract from becoming chronically irritated. Sometimes old waste being eliminated by the body can be irritating to the tissues, so giving the body a bit of a break to rest after eliminating something irritating is always beneficial.

If you are seeing red blood in the stool frequently though, this can be an indication that something is wrong in your feeding routine. Check the feeding guide to make sure you are not missing anything – https://www.therawkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Natural-Cat-Diet-Quick-Start-Guide-March-2023.pdf or join our facebook group for troubleshooting and support – https://www.facebook.com/groups/naturaldogdiet

Have more questions? Need one on one help getting started or troubleshooting feeding or healing issues? I offer consultations here: https://www.therawkey.com/consultations/

May 24, 2025March 19, 2026

Lauren FarrisLeave a comment

How to Get Rid of Fleas Naturally on Dogs and Cats (No Chemicals Needed)

Sick of Fleas? Here’s What You Need to Know to Get Rid of Them Naturally!

Fleas can feel like one of the most frustrating seasonal challenges for pet parents. But if you’re committed to caring for your animals naturally — without chemical treatments, toxic sprays, or harsh shampoos — you might wonder what you can safely do when fleas show up.

In this post, I’ll walk you through a simple, natural, step-by-step approach to help your dogs and cats through flea challenges, even if you’re facing a full infestation.

Why Avoid Conventional Flea Treatments?

Most traditional flea treatments, whether topical medications, oral tablets, or chemical sprays, are loaded with neurotoxins. These can cause severe side effects, including seizures, tremors, and even cancer in both dogs and cats.

Most conventional flea treatments are pesticides, which are poisonous substances designed to kill small creatures. Any substance that is a poison capable of killing a small creature quickly, also kills larger creatures, like our cats and dogs, and ourselves, just more slowly.

Spraying poisons around your house doesn’t just put your pets at risk — it puts you and your family at risk, too.

So, what’s the best way to handle fleas without bringing harmful products into my animals’ lives or environment?

Step 1: Improve the Diet

First, understand that a healthy body is naturally less attractive to parasites.

When dogs and cats eat a biologically inappropriate diet (like kibble or heavily processed commercial foods), their skin produces excess cellular waste, which makes them more appealing to fleas.

Switching to a natural, species-appropriate diet improves skin health, strengthens the immune system, and reduces the chances of flea infestations — though it won’t eliminate fleas entirely. Even wild animals get fleas! But a good diet makes your pet less of a target.

Get our Natural Dog Diet Quickstart Guide here: https://www.therawkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Natural-Dog-Diet-Quick-Start-Guide.pdf

and our Natural Cat Diet Guide here: https://www.therawkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Natural-Cat-Diet-Quick-Start-Guide-March-2023.pdf

Step 2: Use a Flea Comb

A bit tedious but truly the most effective tool in your flea fighting arsenal is the humble flea comb. If you catch the problem early — maybe you spot a few fleas or notice your dog scratching occasionally — the simplest, safest tool is a flea comb.

Here’s how to use it:

Sit with your dog or cat and run the comb carefully through their fur.
Focus especially on areas where fleas like to hide: around the face and neck, under the armpits, along the back near the tail, and around the hips.
Have a dish of soapy water nearby, and after each pass, dip the comb into the soapy water to knock off and drown any fleas you catch.

If you stay consistent, combing once or twice daily for a week can often knock out a minor flea problem before it becomes an infestation.

Step 3: Bathing (Only When Necessary)

If your pet already has multiple fleas or is itching and scratching constantly, you’ll probably need to add a bath.

Important tips for flea baths:

Use a simple, non-toxic soap like plain coconut soap or Castile soap. Avoid shampoos with essential oils, fragrances, or harsh ingredients like sodium lauryl sulfate. Essential oils may seem harmless, but they are concentrated plant poisons that can cause severe symptoms in both cats and dogs.
Apply the soap thickly, working up a heavy lather, and cover the entire body, especially the face, armpits, and base of the tail.
Leave the lather on for at least 5 minutes before rinsing. Spend those 5 minutes giving your companion a nice relaxing massage and telling them how handsome or beautiful they look today! Then rinse very thoroughly.

Repeat the process: lather a second time, leave for 5 minutes, then rinse again. It’s important to do the second round to get any fleas that might have been missed on the first pass. Do a thorough job the first time to avoid having to do a second, third and fourth bath! A few extra minutes in the tub will save you hours of work getting fleas out of your home.

Be aware that too many baths can dry out your pet’s skin, making them even more uncomfortable. That’s why you want to be thorough when you bathe — it’s better to do one or two very effective baths than multiple weaker ones.

Step 4: Daily Combing After Bathing

Once you’ve bathed your pet, continue with daily flea combing for at least a week.

Even just a few minutes a day helps catch any stragglers before they can lay eggs and restart the cycle.

Step 5: Carefully Use Natural Flea Collars (If Needed)

If you have multiple pets or a severe infestation, you can consider using essential oil–based flea collars — with caution.

While essential oils can be toxic to pets (especially cats) if applied directly or diffused into the air, collars with small, controlled amounts embedded in the material can help repel fleas short-term.

Safety tips:

Use essential oil flea collars only during active infestations, not year-round.
Monitor your pet for any signs of sensitivity, such as drooling, scratching, skin irritation, or behavior changes like agitation. If your pet starts to develop any symptoms immediately remove the collar and give them fresh air and a bath if needed to remove the essential oils from their fur.
Never use essential oil sprays, drops, or diffusers around pets, as they can cause serious health problems.

Step 6: Treat the Environment

This is the step most people skip — and why their flea problem keeps coming back.

Fleas lay tiny eggs everywhere your pet walks, especially in carpets, rugs, beds, and furniture. These eggs can hatch weeks later, creating a whole new wave of fleas, even if you’ve already cleared them off your pet.

Best tool: Steam.

Use a carpet steamer or small cleaning steamer to treat dog beds, couches, carpets, curtains, and baseboards.
Steam penetrates fabrics and kills flea eggs far more effectively than vacuuming alone.

While daily vacuuming can help, it’s often not enough — even vacuuming multiple times a day may miss eggs hidden deep in fabrics. Steam, on the other hand, breaks the flea life cycle and prevents reinfestation.

Recommended Products

Here is what I use for my rescues!

Coconut soap -> https://amzn.to/4dANAsT or Castile soap → https://amzn.to/3SfOmlg

High-quality flea comb → https://amzn.to/4jmPFdl

Essential oil–based flea collar (use cautiously) →

For Cats -> https://amzn.to/4k2ZDBA

For Small Dogs -> https://amzn.to/4dvP5sp

For Large Dogs -> https://amzn.to/43d7I0F

Flea traps – https://amzn.to/46Pymg8

Carpet steamer (for large jobs) -> https://amzn.to/4jfARNl

or fabric steamer (for small jobs) → https://amzn.to/46PYTKd

While I prefer not to use essential oils because of their risks, there are some times when the flea infestation is strong enough to require essential oils to get the situation under control in the short term. Always use with caution. Never use on a sick pet. Never give essential oils internally. Never use a diffuser with essential oils around your pets. Always check all essential oils for safety before using, as many are highly toxic to cats and dogs. Cats are more sensitive than dogs. Never place undiluted essential oils on your pet’s skin. Only use essential oils sprays that specifically are labeled for use with cats and dogs, but remember, just because it says it is safe on the bottle, does not mean it is healthy, it just means the product is unlikely to cause major, catastrophic symptoms in most cats or dogs!

The following items should only be used for the shortest period possible to get a difficult flea situation under control:

Flea Shampoo with essential oils – https://amzn.to/3YgoVRn
Essential oil-based flea spray – https://amzn.to/3SPsspy
Very strong flea spray – use only in extreme cases, take all pets out of the home, spray house thoroughly to kill fleas, then open windows and air out several hours before returning with your pets. – Vet’s Best Flea and Tick Home Spray – https://amzn.to/44UULtK
Diatomaceous earth – https://amzn.to/3YfUlr8
- It’s best not to apply either of these directly on your cat or dog unless you’re dealing with a severe infestation that hasn’t responded to bathing. Instead, use them on dog beds, blankets, and carpets where fleas gather. Essential oils are plant toxins — their ability to kill small insects like fleas shows they are toxic — so use them sparingly and only as a last resort. Diatomaceous earth can irritate the lungs and eyes, so apply it carefully. Let the dust settle before allowing pets back into the room, and wear a mask and eye protection when using it.

Final Thoughts

While fleas are a natural part of life — and even the healthiest pets will encounter them — they don’t have to take over your home or make your pets miserable.

By combining the natural diet your companion is designed to thrive on with simple mechanical tools like combs, careful use of natural products, and targeted home cleaning, you can keep fleas under control without resorting to toxic chemicals.

If you found this helpful, be sure to check out my other posts and videos on natural pet care, and let me know in the comments if you have any favorite flea-fighting tips!

May 24, 2025March 19, 2026

Lauren FarrisLeave a comment

Euthanasia

Question:

Can you please educate me on why euthanizing your pet is more cruel than allowing them to die naturally? I spent hours today watching videos on YouTube trying to see the unpopular viewpoint but all videos I watched had the same narrative, that euthanizing your pet when they are suffering is the kind choice.

Answer:

Certainly. This is a sensitive topic that no one really wants to think about too deeply. It is especially difficult if you have made this choice in the past as I did. It’s far easier to just go on believing in the narrative than to look at it objectively. We all want easy fixes and life to be free from pain.

Really this entire concept stems from the utter failure of medicine to return health to their customers. If you can’t help them get better then just teach them that to die at their hands is a blessing. So the first issue that arises from euthanasia is that many times these vets are euthanizing an animal that is fully capable of healing. Therefore they are playing God and taking away a life prematurely. Because these vets only see animals that follow their treatment plans and are fed disease-causing foods their perspective is skewed. In their eyes nothing is fixable, all of the body’s healing processes are bad, wrong, and dangerous and must be stopped with poisons. None of the animals that they treat ever get better, so it is in their minds better to kill the animal than to drag on the treatments which always end up with the animal getting sicker and sicker.

However, we know better. We know that when a vet says that Cancer is terminal, this is not true. We have seen dogs that were given 2 weeks to live, go on for years, heal all of their conditions, return to the bountiful energy of puppies, and pass peacefully of old age many years later. Had we followed the vet’s recommendation to “put them out of their misery” we would have lost many years of companionship. Happy for example, lived another 3 years after being told that we should immediately euthanize her. She healed from Cancer, Vestibular disease, cataracts, and hearing loss. She went from being obese and falling over unable to walk to racing up mountains with me every day. Had I fallen for the logic of the vet I would have lost out on hundreds of amazing memories.

Most vets these days cannot even recognize the signs of an animal preparing to pass naturally, and they believe nothing is curable, so how, if they are so wrong in both of these areas can we trust them when they tell us that our animal is suffering and dying?

This alone is enough to pause and wait. What if what you think is your cat or dog dying is really just their body detoxing and healing? A vet cannot tell you the difference between an animal healing and an animal dying and is more likely to tell you that your animal is on the brink of death and sell you a poison when your animal is cleaning and healing their body.

Then we have the Euthanasia drug itself. This is a poison. A poison that is so strong that it takes their life away in just a few minutes of circulating through the blood. If you ingest poison or have it injected into you, you always feel it. Think about how the baby screams and is inconsolable after the injection of a vaccine. They feel the injury of this very small amount of poison acutely. If you drink coffee, a comparatively mild poison, you feel anxiety and become hyper. Your body registers the discomfort even if you have not taken a lethal dose of a toxic substance. If you drink alcohol you become sick. We always feel when we are being poisoned and so do our animals. They feel the discomfort of their cells being injured by the poison.

The euthanasia drug is a two-part drug, one part is a paralytic agent which paralyzes the muscles so the body cannot seize when the second poison is administered. So rather than the narrative of an animal drifting off to sleep peacefully what we really have is an animal being paralyzed followed by the poison going through their system. Imagine how terrified you would feel if you suddenly had no control over your body and could not move. This alone is a very distressing situation, a far cry from the advertisement.

Many years ago I believed the Vet when they made Brutus sick and could not help him get well again. We spent nearly $20,000 on specialists and then when he was struggling to breathe they convinced me that his life would be made better by “putting him to sleep” at age 5. A euphemism that distracts us from the reality of the situation. Rather than it being a peaceful process where he just drifted off to sleep, they held him down on a cold steel table and he looked at me in pure terror as the paralyzing agent made it so he could not move his body. His eyes though did not lie. Then the poison was administered and you could see the pain in his eyes. I thought I was doing the best for him, putting him out of his misery. Today I know that all I needed was someone to tell me to get him off the kibble and the junk supplements that we were feeding him. It was nearly 20 years ago but still, to this day I can see the look of suffering in his eyes as they administered the lethal dose. It still makes me cry to this day.

You will hear from so many others who have had the same experience, and seen the same look of terror in their eyes. The vets always sell us on how terrible and scary natural death is and how wonderful putting them to sleep on a cold steel table in the scariest place they ever go is, but I have had many dogs pass on since then the natural way and none has come close to the trauma I went through with euthanasia. When a dog or cat passes naturally there is peace in their eyes. Sometimes they have some symptoms that make us feel uncomfortable, sometimes they have accidents or maybe a seizure, sometimes they cry out – but not out of pain, it is more like they are saying goodbye – but it’s always very manageable. I have never had an experience that wasn’t more positive than negative.

They have given us their whole lives unconditional love, the least we can do is let them pass in their home surrounded by loved ones and in peace, naturally, as intended.

Death is a peaceful process when it occurs naturally, but it is a violent process when it occurs unnaturally. I know this is hard for many people to hear but it’s something that needs to be spoken honestly about.

September 21, 2024March 19, 2026

Lauren FarrisLeave a comment

Why Is My Dog Shivering?

Shivering, tremors, or shaking in dogs can occur throughout the healing process. Learn why and when we should be concerned.

There are a few common reasons why dogs tend to shiver:

They are excited or nervous or have excess energy to burn off
They are in pain. Typically there will be other signs of pain to go along with this.
They are cold.

Dogs Shiver from excitement

Shivering from excitement or an excess of energy is the most common reason that dogs will shiver, especially among toy breeds and smaller dogs. Shivering can become a trained behavior with toy breeds and smaller dogs. For example, they might get excited about food and then start shivering whenever they think they will get fed. Or they might shiver around one person in the family due to excitement or nervousness but not shiver around others. If your dog is shivering frequently, it is most likely a learned behavior; some training can help correct this. If you have recently changed your dog’s diet to the natural canine diet it is very common for them to have a lot more energy and not know how to burn off this excess energy, so shivering becomes a way that they burn off the excess energy. Giving your dog a longer walk or more play sessions can correct this excess energy issue.

Dogs can shiver when they are in pain

Dogs can also shiver if they feel discomfort. So if we see our dog shivering and it’s not obviously due to excitement then we should check them over. Check their teeth, paw pads, and ensure they don’t have a thorn in the foot or a bramble, etc. Check their mouth for injury if you can do so safely. Check their walk to make sure they are not limping and check their tummy to see if they have gas or bloating.

Shivering could also be due to stomach upset if they are not digesting food well. If they have gas and are shivering then it’s very likely that their meals are too large or you are combining too many ingredients leading to fermentation and gas. If you think this is the case you should decrease the portions or simplify the meals. Sometimes as their digestion heals we need to start them off with smaller meals and slowly increase the meals over time. If you have noticed any gas, bloating, lip licking, scooting, or loose stool then adjust their meals to smaller portions which will improve digestion and avoid any gas or fermentation from undigested foods.

Dogs can shiver when cold

If the weather has turned colder, or you have the air conditioning on in your house your dog might simply be cold. Try putting on a sweater, giving them a blanket or a heated bed or dog safe heated pad to lay on.

If your dog has recently lost some weight this can cause them to shiver as the loss of body fat means a loss of insulation. It can take a little time for the body to adjust and the thyroid to maintain temperature more effectively, so sometimes when dogs lose weight they can shiver until their body adjusts to their new weight and is able to better manage their temperature.

Shivering can also result from eating cold food. If you are currently feeding their fruit or meat meals out of the fridge you might try warming them on the counter or in a zip top bag submersed in warm water. Feeding right from the fridge can be another cause of shivering.

Shivering as a result of detox

When the body is healing, sometimes our animals will go through periods of discomfort, just like when we humans experience a cold or a flu detox healing event. Just like a cold or flu puts our body in a state of discomfort while it cleans and heals our body, when our dogs and cats are healing they can go through periods of mild to moderate discomfort. When this happens they may sometimes shiver. This type of shivering is usually accompanied by some level of fatigue as well as other detox symptoms like itchy skin, mucus, coughing, sneezing, or lack of or limited appetite, or picky eating. If you notice growing fatigue then this would be a good time to fast so the body can focus all of its energy on the healing processes.

Have more questions? Want to get answers about your dog or cat’s specific health issues or concerns? I offer consultations, learn more about them here: https://www.therawkey.com/consultations/

September 13, 2024March 19, 2026

Lauren FarrisLeave a comment

Bloat in Dogs versus Bloating

Question

I am a new dog owner, and I don’t know a lot about dogs, but I saw a video recently which is concerning me, on GDV and dog bloating and how they said it could be life-threatening and you would have to get to a vet immediately for surgery. They say it twists their stomachs and cuts of supplies and thats why you would need a surgery?

Is bloating not normal for dogs?

If it’s normal, when does it switch from something normal to something detrimental?

What would you do if you think your dog is bloated? Is there any prevention or something other than surgery that you can do to help your dog?

Answer

There are two separate things, bloating, and bloat. Bloat is a dangerous condition that certain breeds are prone to due to the degeneration caused by selective breeding and poor diet across many generations. Bloating is a normal condition that occurs when gas builds up in the digestive tract from poor digestion or poor food combining. Bloating can be uncomfortable but is not life-threatening, but bloat is a medical emergency that always requires surgery.

Bloat occurs most frequently with kibble because the dog will eat the dry kibble and then go and drink a lot of water and the kibble will expand in the stomach, stretching the stomach. The dog will then run around and if they move the wrong way the overfilled stomach can flip over and twist cutting off entry and exit.

While this is most common in kibble-fed dogs, it can occur even when eating natural foods, especially for seniors and those breeds that are bloat-prone. To prevent this from occurring on the natural diet we should always rest our dogs post-meal and not allow any vigorous exercise or play for at least 1 hour after their meal.

I like to give my dogs a long walk before the meal and this way they want to rest after eating.

Another thing we should be cautious about with bloat-prone dogs is avoiding all starchy foods like broccoli, sweet potatoes, or corn which can ferment significantly causing a swelling of the stomach. These foods are not generally fed on the natural diet, but some people will incorporate them. Since dogs cannot digest starch I do not recommend starch foods as a regular part of the diet but I would be especially cautious with these foods for seniors and bloat-prone breeds.

Lastly, for bloat-prone dogs, it would be a good idea to start with 2 smaller meals rather than one large meal and work slowly up to combining the food into one large meal. Some people choose to stick with 2 meals on fruit days for bloat-prone dogs so their stomachs do not need to handle as much.

But the most important thing is to limit their exercise post-meal. A really good practice would be to feed them in a crate and then let them rest in the crate for 1-hour post-meal.

July 5, 2024March 19, 2026

Lauren FarrisLeave a comment

Understanding how wolves and wild canines actually eat and what that means for feeding dogs naturally.

Question:

Answer:

Cancer Is Not Random

This Is Empowering, Not False Hope

The Body Is Not Your Enemy

Hope Rooted in Biology, Not Wishful Thinking

Understanding cancer without fear – and how to support the body instead of suppressing its healing efforts

Why Download This Guide?

What You’ll Learn Inside

Who This Guide Was Created For

Recommended Further Reading

Before Pasteur: Rabies Was Folklore

Pasteur’s Brutal Quackery

Contemporaries Who Called It Out

The Missing Virus

The Negri Body Problem

The Historical Record Tells a Different Story

Fear as a Cause: Lyssophobia

Animal “Rabies”: What’s Really Going On

The Vaccine Problem

The Natural Hygiene Perspective

The Bottom Line

New clinical studies prove what the science of health, Natural Hygiene, has always asserted: parasites are not a cause of disease

The Study That Flipped the Narrative

Parasites as Natural Clean-Up Crews

More Evidence from the Field

The Terrain Determines the Outcome

Rethinking Deworming Protocols

📚 References:

What color should my cat’s stool be?

What if their stool has red blood in it?

Sick of Fleas? Here’s What You Need to Know to Get Rid of Them Naturally!

Why Avoid Conventional Flea Treatments?

Step 1: Improve the Diet

Step 2: Use a Flea Comb

Step 3: Bathing (Only When Necessary)

Step 4: Daily Combing After Bathing

Step 5: Carefully Use Natural Flea Collars (If Needed)

Step 6: Treat the Environment

Recommended Products

Final Thoughts

Question:

Answer:

Shivering, tremors, or shaking in dogs can occur throughout the healing process. Learn why and when we should be concerned.

Dogs Shiver from excitement

Dogs can shiver when they are in pain

Dogs can shiver when cold

Shivering as a result of detox

Question

Answer