Pukka's Promise: The Quest For Longer Lived Dogs

I do not usually do book reviews, but I felt that this book deserved one.

Pukka's Promise is written by Ted Kerasote, the author of my favorite dog book Merle's Door.
Merle's Door was a huge inspiration for the way I have gone about raising Conker. This book is the greatest reason why he is allowed off-leash as often as possible, why he eats a healthy diet, and why I started this blog.

Onwards!

Ted Kerasote's writing style is incredible. He is both a great storyteller and analyst. He is able to combine those two things into this book about how we can attempt to find a way for our dogs to live longer. He talks about his previous dog, Merle, and compares how Merle and Pukka were raised, some of the differences between the two, and their similarities.

There are several topics in this book. he writes about today's current breeding practices, nutrition, vaccines, enviromental pollutants, spaying and neutering, caner, and animal shelters.

A couple of my favorite bits are what I'll talk about.

Kerasote points out how today's show breeders, the supposed elite and "responsible" ones, are one of the biggest reasons for the current lack of genetic health in many breeds. Popular sires, and eliminating dogs from the gene pool for something as simple as a slightly wrong marking, amongst other things, are seriously hurting the overall health and well being of dogs by severely limiting the gene pool. He went through an exhaustive search when he was looking for his next dog, a dog whom he wanted to he healthy in all meanings of the word; mentally, physically, and genetically, something that today's show breeders don't often put on their list of priorities. 

The chapters on nutrition have some interesting parts in them. One bit is about rendering. We've all heard the stories of how euthanized dogs and cats end up in commercial kibbles, and how "4 D" animals are commonly turned into pet foods. Kerasote talks with and visits a few rendering facilities, and the information he uncovers is quite interesting.
The argument over grains in dog food is not left out either. Should dogs eat corn? Is a question he asks. He attempts to get some of the big-name petfood companies to talk with him, but at the last moment, they all back out for various reasons. I wonder why... Other grains are also talked about and how they could possibly be a cause of many of the ailments modern dogs suffer from today.
Raw foods are brought up with some interesting stuff written about it.

Then spay/neuter debate is not left out. Kerasote talks about the supposed "pet overpopulation" and questions if spaying and neutering all pets is really a good idea. He suggests alternatives to spaying and neutering, and talks about how the overall health of dogs is affected by the surgery. Negatively, in many cases. I found this chapter particularly interesting.


Overall, this book is very well researched, quite interesting, and is neither boring you to death with science or drowning you in stories. I loved every bit of it and think that anyone with a shred of interest in dogs should read it and actually pay attention to what Kerasote writes.