The basics: It's a paperback book, and it's hefty; the spine is nearly 1.5" thick an it's 540 pages. This made the $40 price tag
seem justifiable. (So often I've ordered books only to have them turn out to be more like a brochure.)
The author does a nice job organizing all the sources that many of us with inquiring minds have read, seen, or heard already but have lost in our many journals, so getting them down in good order for future sourcing of factual information like this is a god-send. It's like all my favorite test outcomes found on
es and reports that are scattered on the web or in medical journals are now in one tidy place. So, in that regard this book also makes a good tool and earns its right in my library.
The book has summaries of each chapter called "Take Home Points" where relevant information is bulleted in a quick take-away list. This is pretty neat- again for when one might use the book a as reference guide.
Spoiler alert: Yes, it ends up being a pro-raw book. After reading all the information, how could one not be? Dr. Brady wants to be unbiased, but dogs repeatedly healed from chronic health issues when changed from a kibble diet to a species-appropriate (and biologically individualized) raw, fresh diet. Who new?!?!
And spoiler alert #2, he's not over the moon about raw green tripe. Oh-well, to each there own.
Topic Selections: Great coverage of old time arguments like bacteria count in feces, right up to current controversies like what causes bloat, and a hypothesis for K9DCM.
And not only does he cover these topics for dogs, he begins by relating them to humans so I totally got to learn about new studies for human health too- LOVE THAT!
Important points: I think it's important to recognize that Dr. Conner is not a doctor of medicine nor a nutritionist. These are the two sides I've found associated in most arguments of functional medicine. He's a doctor of animal behavior. This can be viewed as good or bad depending on what team you're pitching for. I personally found it gave him a lovely neutral position like Switzerland. He has no hidden agenda to sell anything except knowledge. And if you know me, you know appreciate that!
He also clearly has well established friendships with many veterinarians around the world, and his questioning of them in regard to their education in nutrition during vet school revealed staggering shortfalls. We're talking GLOBALLY people! Not just in the USA. (With 97% of chronic diseases linked to diet, this is just a major bummer.) And, this is probably where the book will get labelled controversial....but I loved it!
Bottom line: If you're an info junkie, an animal practitioner of any kind, or even a remedial dietician like me, it's a book I feel confident in recommending. ...And I now have a crush on Dr. Brady ;)
