Tom Lonsdale is a candidate for the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Council elections. For background information please consult Tom Lonsdale's Home Page
Published in The Veterinary Record, March 1999and March issue of RCVS News.
PLEASE DON'T VOTE FOR ME until you have conducted a thought experiment lasting
at least one week.
During that week imagine eating canned stew and dry biscuits - nothing else. As the toxic sludge builds up you should neither brush your teeth nor chew on the furniture. Instead ask a friend to brush your teeth once only for just two minutes.
As your mouth becomes progressively sore cup your hands and smell your stinking breath and spare a thought. What must it be like for the millions of cats and dogs forced to live this way every day? Consider the potential cruel consequences of chronic infection and immune compromise leading to multiple diseases and early death.
And then consider the evidence which I suggest demonstrates that the manufacturers of the "complete and balanced" formula giving rise to the 85% prevalence of periodontal disease, immune compromise and widespread disease have infiltrated the veterinary profession at every level. Notice that they appear to be in the universities, the laboratories, the surgeries and the associations and then ask if this coincides with the interests of our profession or the animals under our care.
At the conclusion of your thought experiment please cast your vote. It is my hope that of the 18,000 Members of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons there are enough of us willing to make a difference to the current abominable state of affairs.
Thank you.