Have you had occasion to reflect on the continuing escalation of debilitating chronic illnesses like cancer, heart diseases, various forms of arthritis, and the many other autoimmune diseases, despite our advanced development and medicine? Maybe you've also wondered why some people and animals are so naturally healthy despite this trend?
The author Euan Fingal has offered up a free ebook to try to help us understand how we might improve our well-being and that of our domestic animals in general, but especially that of our canine companions.
The book brings together ample unbiased natural sciences evidence, and the experiences of many naturally oriented caregivers, to clear a convincing swath through the propaganda surrounding well-being, and the misguided understandings it fosters. Due to it being much more comprehensive, and more thoroughly researched, referenced, and reviewed, it supersedes the previous Ol' Shep articles on this site. Bon appétit!
[Note: As of 11/23/09 a second revised edition is in the works]
Click on the book's title below to download the 17.4 MB pdf file. With some browsers/browser-settings you may need to right/control click the hyperlink, and select download file from the context menu. To view the book, all that is needed is one of the free pdf readers like Adobe Reader® (multi platform) or Preview® (Mac platform). The book is formated so that it is best viewed in single page mode.
Ol' Shep's Well-being: A Natural Perspective
by Euan Fingal
First revised edition published Tuesday, July 7, 2009
with a few additional changes uploaded Monday, July 20, 2009
Licensed under Creative Commons (Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0)
To insure the pdf file has not been altered/corrupted, the MD5 sum is:
18755bcc01dfb0ae3798e219721f0b12
The external supplement
Heartworm: A Natural Perspective (a paper by Euan Fingal)
is not yet available.
The book cover and table of contents, along with a how to get the most out of this book, are shown below for your initial appraisal.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments_______________________vi
Editing Notes___________________________viii
Getting the most out of this book___________ix
Introduction____________________________x
The Human Aspect____________________x
A Word about Veterinary Practice________xx
Section One - Model Evidencing____________1
Origins_____________________________3
Domestication_______________________15
Nature, The Ultimate Laboratory_________25
The Diet of Wolves _________________25
A Wolf’s Digestive System ___________34
Wolf Behavior_____________________45
Wolf Health_______________________62
Nature's Lessons _____________________73
Section Two - Model Applications ___________77
Species Appropriate Diet _______________79
Avoidance Considerations ______________107
Exercise and Rest ____________________ 133
State of Mind________________________ 139
Concluding Comments____________________149
Appendix A: The Natural Order _____________153
Appendix B: Divisions of Geologic Time ______155
Appendix C: Inert Ingredients Issue Example__156
Appendix D: Hyperlink cross reference _______157
References _____________________________160
Change Log _____________________________175
Getting the most out of this book
The "Introduction" should be read to understand what it is that is generally wrong in our advanced society, relative to pursuing natural well-being. The idea is to set the stage for individual corrective actions. A bit of an author profile is also included.
"Section One - Model Evidencing" of the book details the natural sciences basis of what follows in Section Two. Except for the "Nature's Lessons" subsection, Section One may be skimmed in an initial reading, and studied more thoroughly when one is later relating the scientific evidence to what is presented in Section Two.
"Section Two - Model Applications" is the meat of the book, and all subsections should be read carefully, maybe more than once, to achieve a full understanding.
The "Concluding Comments" section is a synopsis of the overall perspective of the book, so the reader can relate their own situations to the more general detail provided.