Raw Food Diets
Dogs'
and cats' digestive tracts are mostly unchanged from their
wild ancestors. They are designed to eat fresh, raw meat and
bones along with small amounts of partially digested grains,
fruits and vegetables from the stomach of their prey. Raw meat
contains enzymes that are necessary for dog and cats to properly
digest their food.
Can
commercial pet foods like kibble and canned food substitute
for this natural diet? Yes and no. High quality commercial
foods can provide adequate nutrition but they are not optimal.
The
trouble with commercial foods is threefold. First, the ingredients
may not be wholesome or even nutritious. To keep pet food inexpensive
compared to human food, manufacturers must use ingredients
that are unfit for human consumption such as meat that has
been rejected because it's from diseased or decayed carcasses.
Many super premium commercial foods use human grade meats,
grains and vegetables which are a vast improvement but still
not ideal.
Second,
during production the food is cooked many times at extremely
high temperatures and extruded under pressure onto pellets,
thereby destroying the enzymes that allow proper digestion.
Many manufactures add enzymes back into the food but this is
not sufficient because enzymes break down fairly quickly when
exposed to air and light.
Third,
most pet foods have a long shelf life. Long-term storage can
lead to loss of vitamins and oxidation of fats. Many pet foods
have preservatives that are suspected carcinogens to help increase
their shelf life.
The
alternative to all this is to feed a raw meat-based diet to
your dog or cat. You can use USDA inspected raw meats, ground
vegetables and cooked grains to enhance the health and longevity
of your pet. However, it is extremely important to balance
this diet by supplementing properly. Because meat is high in
phosphorus, it is essential to add calcium. At The
Healthy Pet we
have a powdered supplement called Celestial Dog and Celestial
Cat that you can add to your meat to assure it is properly
balanced.
If
you are interested in learning more about making a raw food
diet for your pet we have a number of excellent books:
-
Natural
Nutrition for Dogs and Cats, The Ultimate Diet
by Kymythy
Schultze
-
Dr.
Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and
Cats
by Richard Pitcairn, D.V.M. and Susan Hubble Pitcairn
-
Give
Your Dog a Bone and Grow Your Pup with Bones
by
Dr. Ian Billinghurst.
If
the thought of preparing home-made food for your pet is overwhelming,
another choice is to use a frozen, ready-made raw meat diet
such as Steve's Real Food for Dogs and Steve's Real
Food for Cats. This is a convenient, excellently formulated
diet with all the benefits of raw meat and fresh vegetables
with minimal hassle.
Whenever
using raw meats, good hygiene is important! Don't keep raw
meat in the refrigerator for more than 3 days. Do wash your
hands before and after handling meat. And clean cutting boards
and counters well.
Come
into The
Healthy Pet and
talk to any of us. We'll be glad to help you get started on
the road to healthier pets by feeding raw meat diets.
We are open 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM - 7 Days
a Week!
You may reach us by phone at 541-302-6279
or
Email The Healthy Pet
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