Energy bars

[Smalahundur]

That article has a lot of red flags for me. Not very convincing, and its claims are quite big ("huge health benefits") on a very small basis, one rather questionable research done on mice. No references, some detox mythology thrown in, and who wrote this, what are his/her credentials?

 

I remain skeptic about those so called "huge" health benefits, though I don´t think it is unhealthy for a dog or a human to fast once in while, if it was only as a help to reduce excessive intake of calories...

[simba]

Smalahundr: Not that it's best, of course- look at how many treatments that were used for hundreds of years turn out to be useless or dangerous- but yes as support for the idea that a dog can work while fasting.

 

 

That article: the use of the word' toxins' is a major red flag. Fasting is used to 'detox' but detox does not exist, you can't cleanse or flush out things, you just have to wait for the liver to deal with it. It might be beneficial via other means, but it ain't detoxing.

[mum24dog]

Smalahundr: Not that it's best, of course- look at how many treatments that were used for hundreds of years turn out to be useless or dangerous- but yes as support for the idea that a dog can work while fasting.

 

 

And look how many have turned out to have a basis in science. Willow bark to relieve pain became aspirin for example. The main difference is in measurable dosage and quality control.

 

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater just because something is old. A remedy or practice may or may have a justification in fact rather than folk lore. Scepticism is fine, a closed mind is generally not (although there are exceptions I would make).

 

The reason I used that link was because I was short of time and it referred to studies that had been carried out. I make no claim as to the quality of those studies nor their conclusions but there is a growing body of real medical opinion that believes that it is worth looking further into the results of studies that have produced results that indicate the health benefits of regular fasting in humans.

 

Whether that is transferable to a different species I have no idea; I merely pointed out what was fairly common practice at one time and seemed to work OK.

[simba]

Exactly, which is why it's not safe to assume something works or is safe based on 'they used to do it this way'. One needs to be open-minded to the possibility that it works, and the possibility that it doesn't do anything of the sort. Some worked, some didn't, some worked for something else and some worked but were dangerous, some would just harm, but we don't know until they actually get tested.

 

No-one's suggesting 'that's old so it's wrong', but being old isn't evidence it works. It's only recently we started actually sorting the wheat from the chaff, so ineffective remedies would have been passed on as well as effective ones, which is why there are more of them.

 

Digitalis for certain heart conditions- old and works if you are lucky enough to get it in the right dose. Digitalis as a test for changelings- 'works' by killing randomly. Bull's piss for the common cold (a 'traditional remedy' given locally)- probably not worth it, and inefficacious.

 

But it is relatively safe to say that most dogs can work while fasting, if they've traditionally worked while fasting. I also can't imagine it's necessary for a well-conditioned dog under most circumstances.

[Smalahundur]

Being skeptical is not the same as being "close minded". Not everybody seems to understand the distinction.