Pet Food

Q: What can i feed my dog to make her healthier? – D. Harding

A: This is a great question i frequently get asked. At the end of my answer I will give you a diet outline for dogs and cats, as they are the most common household pets we have.
Very little commercial foods and lots of fresh, homemade foods.

Let’s just take birds for example. I cringe when I see people who are trying to be kind to the birds and feed them white bread… Can you imagine a bird never having bread in its life, eats this white bread and then flies off. Do you think that bird is going to feel very good after only knowing its natural diet of seeds and worms?

Well, interestingly enough there was a very famous study done by a Dr. Pottenger back in the early 1900’s. Three categories of cats were studied for 3 generations. The first set was fed regular commercial pet foods. The second was fed 1/2 fresh and 1/2 commercial. And the third category was fed an all raw, fresh diet of milk, fish, etc. The study revealed that the cats eating cooked foods developed the same diseases as humans, and were so ill that by the third generation could not even reproduce. The cats eating their normal raw diet were healthy with virtually no illnesses.

Another study done by Dr. Kollath of Karolinska hospital in Sweden also fed animals cooked and raw foods. They found that when the animals reached adulthood they aged much quicker and developed chronic health problems. In 195? the journal of small animal practise found that processed commercial pet foods suppressed the immune systems and lead to liver, kidney, heart and other diseases. Wild animals in nature do not get the same degenerative diseases as domesticated and zoo animals.

Animals have a shorter digestive tract and more stomach acids to be able to handle raw meats. Animals do not get salmonella due to this physical attribute. Many domesticated pets have poor coat and skin problems due to the lack of raw fats.
Although getting a pet to start to eat raw will take some patience the benefits are much bigger. You can slowly add small amounts of raw foods to get them used to the new healthier diet.

A diet of 30% raw meats, bones, raw eggs and 30% or more raw vegetables and 10-25% cooked potatoes, brown rice, millet, and quinoa will be a good start and begin to show in your pets energy and health quickly as this diet is faster and easier to digest than processed foods many domesticated pets now receive. I remember assisting a client a few years ago with a pet that had cancer and some other health problems. We put the pet on more raw foods and added wheatgrass. The dog was cancer free in months and went on to live a few more years longer than the vets prediction.

Although a little more work than just opening a can of pet food, grating some vegetables and grinding some raw meats still is relatively quick to prepare. I even have some simple recipes that can help convert your pet (and you) to more raw foods.

Thanks for the question, hope this helps!