2024 Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Council Election

Dr Tom Lonsdale BVetMed, MRCVS

Biography

1972 graduate Royal Veterinary College. Late 1980s, I became aware I had injured the health of my patients and defrauded my clients by endorsing the feeding of industrial products.

Conscience stricken, in 1991, I blew the whistle on the endemic cruelty and corruption.

From 1991 to the present, I have researched and written about the pet food fraud and its impact on animal health, human wellbeing and stewardship of the planet.

In 1992 I formulated the Cybernetic Hypothesis of Periodontal Disease in Mammalian Carnivores (JVetDent 11:1 1994), a new hypothesis of health and disease applicable to animals and humans.

Books:

2023/4 Petition to Parliament: ‘Inquiry into the pet food industry and its relationship with the vet profession.

For 24 consecutive years from 1997 to 2020 I contested RCVS elections on the single most important issue confronting our profession.  

This is my 25th appeal for your vote.

Manifesto

Decades of false pet food advertising has obscured and normalised widespread animal cruelty and consumer fraud. TV ads depict dogs and cats as furry toys with limited maintenance needs—cans and packets on the supermarket shelf. Modified wolves (dogs) and specialist carnivores (cats) become addicted to ultra-processed junk leading to widespread diet-induced ill-health.

In the wild and in the zoo, biology defines the menu—’give the dog a bone’. But give the dog slops and death nuggets guarantees filthy teeth and stinking gum disease—leading to widespread skin, gut, heart, kidney, joint, liver and immune system diseases. 

A conspiracy of silence prevails. I believe that vet students are brainwashed and defrauded and that the entire vet establishment including the vet regulator, the RCVS, maintain the fiction that ultra-processed industrial concoctions are suitable and safe for carnivores. Natural food, they say, is harmful and dangerous!

Founded on fallacy, living a lie the profession is responsible for:

  • Systematic overservicing
  • Appalling animal cruelty 
  • Cynical consumer fraud

The community, bombarded with falsehoods, lacks protection and is vulnerable to dog attacks. And surely the heart-rending, mind-bending moral contradictions of a profession that denies the obvious and defends the indefensible predisposes to vet depression and suicide.

Self-regulation of the profession may have been efficient when vets focussed on the needs of their farmer clients. In the modern day where pet owners—the majority of clients—are easily duped and exploited, self-regulation primarily serves the interests of the pet food/vet alliance.   

I believe that:

  • The RCVS regulator is criminally negligent and should be sidelined forthwith.
  • Existing animal welfare and consumer protection laws must be enforced.
  • New veterinary regulatory arrangements must be established.

I respectfully ask for your vote, not for me personally but for the pets, people and planet that we are here to serve. Thank you.

Failed correspondence with RCVS Communications Department.

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Failed correspondence with President of the RCVS.

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RCVS Questions and Answers.

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Election results

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A cartoon depicting the differences between natural and factory made pet foods.
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