Mission

CNNH is a well established Facebook Group Community created by Catherine Lane, CH, for the purpose of providing balanced, reliable, current information on using both nutrition and herbal medicine to prevent and address common canine health issues. Catherine’s perspective on holistic health for dogs always has been integrative; the emphasis on the group is exploratory, evaluating the best and worst of both holistic and conventional veterinary medicine. As a clinical nutritionist and herbalist, Cat relies on the science in dietary formulations as well as herbal recommendations with an ever present eye to safety, efficacy and the individual. All of the moderators are either trained in herbalism/canine nutrition or actively involved with dogs as breeders, advocates and lifelong enthusiasts. CNNH is unique in this emphasis on evaluation and insight rather than rigid adherence to one point of view. The group is friendly and supportive and loves a good discussion – differences of opinion are welcomed, strident insistence on the authority of one’s position, not so much.

Rules

1) Keep a civil tone. If you can’t say something nice it is best not to say anything at all. Examples include belittling or attacking another individual, swearing and/or vulgar language. Being argumentative for arguments sake, is uncalled for and discouraged. We absolutely will not tolerate down putting of veterinarians – also called vet bashing – and is grounds for removal. Mutual, playful banter is fine of course. The aim is for all to have the opportunity to voice an opinion as they learn and increase knowledge.

2) No harmful advice. Admins reserve the right to assess quality, and delete any comments or posts containing harmful advice. Members that continually post advice that is potentially harmful, despite warnings, will unceremoniously be removed from the group at admin discretion. If you are here to learn and share safe and beneficial information, we welcome your input, but reserve the right to dispute claims made by popular nutrition sites, and to remove comments we deem outright inaccurate or dangerous.

We do welcome critical thinking and analysis, as well as difference of opinion. Your opinion can be a valuable learning tool for others, just be prepared to document your claims with something other than pop-culture memes or online magazines. Be willing to be corrected, untrue or incorrect information will be challenged.

Some examples of what we mean by misinformation: “Daily/weekly variation in home prepared diets ensures balance; kibble kills dogs; brand X is the best; raw diets are naturally balanced over time; dogs do not derive benefit from carbohydrates; carbs in kibble are only fillers with no nutritional value.” We’re happy to discuss these topics, but if you make claims that are unfounded, they will be disputed. One aim of the group is to counter a lot of the misinformation so common online these days; we will aim always to be pleasant and respectful, but we will counter any such misinformation that is posted.

3) Help and add value. It is not a requirement to comment on every thread you read here. If the thread subject is not your cup of tea and you have nothing constructive to say, don’t. If you can’t tolerate an opinion different from your own, move on. See rule one.

4) On the topic of link sharing – this group was created to focus on nutritional science and herbs, and the extensive work of Cat Lane. Other content, advertising, or links to groups are allowed only at the discretion of the admins. Many very popular sites are overshared constantly and do not always contain the best information, as they a re selling products. We are happy with scientific shares (PubMed, for example) and in general, many non-marketing veterinary sites such as Merck online, articles from Tufts, UC Davis, WSAVA and similar – are welcome without asking a team member. Articles from marketing sites, or links to other groups, please do check with us first. Thank you for understanding.

5) Please tag an admin, should you see a post, link or ad you think is irrelevant or abusive or unnecessarily graphic. We try to keep up but do not always see everything.

Resources