People tend to think that commercial dog food, especially if it has been recommended by their veterinarian is of good quality and is giving your dog the best chance in life. Right?
Wrong!
While vets should be the best people to advise about dog food, sadly they’re not. Why? Because the top commercial pet food manufacturers now financially contribute to many veterinary schools. They have a foot in the door. They can, and do, influence the students.
After all you generally don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
In most countries of the world, there are, at least some basic laws governing the quality of human food, whether it’s fresh produce, meat or fast food.
In no country are there laws (which are enforced) that insist commercial pet food manufacturers use quality ingredients. That means anything can, and does, go.
After all, if meat is of good quality, wouldn’t you sell it to the highest market - the human market? So, it’s only the poorest quality meat, more often meat by-products (such as hair, intestines and contents, chicken feet, brain, skin, grizzle, fat, etc) that goes for dog food.
This means that the overall nutrient quality is as poor as it gets, as different proteins have different nutritional absorbability.
Pet food is always bulked out with inert (or not as the melamine scam from China testifies) filler. Typically, this filler will be the current cheapest carbohydrate. There’s often a world glut of something, driving down the price. It may be sugar one year, wheat the next.
Do you think the addition of sugar into your dog’s diet will serve to improve his health?
Why do you think that diabetes in dogs is on the increase?
Dogs may bulk out their food in the wild, but it would be on fresh plant matter that’s available, such as fruit or leaves.
Cooking destroys many vitamins and enzymes which are critical to the overall health of your dog.
As most dog food is dried pellets, which keep indefinitely at room temperature, preservatives must be used. Some manufacturers claim they have not added preservatives. Look carefully at the wording. They did not add it. This may be true. But preservatives will always have been added to the meat before it was delivered to the manufacturers.
It’s impossible to keep meat products at room temperature indefinitely without the use of strong preservatives. Preservatives that would never be allowed in human food, because of their poisonous effect.
So your dog may be well fed as far as volume is concerned, but will be starving for quality food. How can your dog remain healthy if he’s fed garbage?
Most people would be appalled at the process that goes into the making of commercial pet food. That would be a really good incentive not to feed it. I’m attempting to give you a glimpse behind the scenes, so you can give your dog the best dog food available within your budget and within your time available.
Showing posts with label natural dog food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label natural dog food. Show all posts
Monday, January 25, 2010
Monday, April 13, 2009
What is An All Natural Dog Food?
What’s on your mind when you consider an all natural dog food? Could it be a commercial dog food which has the word ‘natural’ on the packet? Could it be you think of cooking your own dog food from scratch? Do you consider table scraps to be the ideal diet?
Wrong! None of the above will address your dog’s health, Why not?
Well, the commercial dog food starts off with very low grade meat, mostly meat by-products (the better quality going for the higher priced human food), high fat and sometimes euthanased animals, which contain the chemical sodium pentobarbital. Then, to bulk out the already cheap ‘meat’, a non-nutritional filler is added. That can be sugar, as there’s a world glut of it at the moment, or melamine if you live in China.
Then, to keep the product indefinitely at room temperature a preservative is added.
When you see a packet of dried dog food in the shop, with the slogan ‘preservative free’ ask yourself this question - how can dried ‘meat’ be kept indefinitely at room temperature without preservatives? Do you think you wouldn’t have heard of a new way to do this, if there was?
So either there is no ‘meat’ or there is preservative present. Trouble is, the preservatives used are very strong, cause huge health problems and aren’t allowed in human food.
So commercial dog food can be crossed off as an all natural dog food!.
I see quite a lot of ‘dog experts’ on the internet advocating you cook your own dog food. Whilst that is hugely better than commercial pet food, it’s still missing the nutrients that are lost in cooking. Typically these are vitamins and enzymes, both essential for a healthy dog. But other nutrients are altered by cooking. Fat changes during the cooking process from a beneficial food to a harmful one.
So you can cross though this one too, as an all natural dog food.
What about table scraps? That depends so much on the table scraps. If the human food is a good, natural one of lots of raw fruit and veg, with lightly cooked meat, then these table scraps have the potential of being the best dog food out of all three options, as long as there is enough left over to satisfy your dog’s nutritional needs.
If, however, your diet is typically fast food with a lot of processed food, then these table scraps will be little better than the commercial dog food.
Yet another cross through.
There is only one all natural dog food and that’s the one dogs evolved on. Nothing that mankind has done has improved one iota on that. And considerable decline has occurred.
Dogs have evolved over millions of years on an all natural dog food and it keeps them happy and healthy.
Once you get to grips with the idea of how dogs evolved, duplicating that diet within the constraints of what is available and the limits on your time, is not that difficult. However, there are a few important things you need to know such as:
When you change the diet of your dog from a commercial pet food to an all natural dog food, there may initially be a de-toxing period. This is normal and natural, but can seem a bit scary to you if you don’t understand why it’s happening and the symptoms. It should be of short duration, depending on your dog’s age and level of health.
Dogs digestion is robust. They have evolved on eating raw meat and carrion. They can’t cope with preservatives, fillers, high fat or low grade protein, none of which occurs (at least in high proportions) in nature.
Once you have your dog on an all natural dog food, you’ll find fewer and fewer health problems. I’m sure you’d be as happy as anyone, to cut your dog’s professional health fees.
Wrong! None of the above will address your dog’s health, Why not?
Well, the commercial dog food starts off with very low grade meat, mostly meat by-products (the better quality going for the higher priced human food), high fat and sometimes euthanased animals, which contain the chemical sodium pentobarbital. Then, to bulk out the already cheap ‘meat’, a non-nutritional filler is added. That can be sugar, as there’s a world glut of it at the moment, or melamine if you live in China.
Then, to keep the product indefinitely at room temperature a preservative is added.
When you see a packet of dried dog food in the shop, with the slogan ‘preservative free’ ask yourself this question - how can dried ‘meat’ be kept indefinitely at room temperature without preservatives? Do you think you wouldn’t have heard of a new way to do this, if there was?
So either there is no ‘meat’ or there is preservative present. Trouble is, the preservatives used are very strong, cause huge health problems and aren’t allowed in human food.
So commercial dog food can be crossed off as an all natural dog food!.
I see quite a lot of ‘dog experts’ on the internet advocating you cook your own dog food. Whilst that is hugely better than commercial pet food, it’s still missing the nutrients that are lost in cooking. Typically these are vitamins and enzymes, both essential for a healthy dog. But other nutrients are altered by cooking. Fat changes during the cooking process from a beneficial food to a harmful one.
So you can cross though this one too, as an all natural dog food.
What about table scraps? That depends so much on the table scraps. If the human food is a good, natural one of lots of raw fruit and veg, with lightly cooked meat, then these table scraps have the potential of being the best dog food out of all three options, as long as there is enough left over to satisfy your dog’s nutritional needs.
If, however, your diet is typically fast food with a lot of processed food, then these table scraps will be little better than the commercial dog food.
Yet another cross through.
There is only one all natural dog food and that’s the one dogs evolved on. Nothing that mankind has done has improved one iota on that. And considerable decline has occurred.
Dogs have evolved over millions of years on an all natural dog food and it keeps them happy and healthy.
Once you get to grips with the idea of how dogs evolved, duplicating that diet within the constraints of what is available and the limits on your time, is not that difficult. However, there are a few important things you need to know such as:
- what food should not be given more than once a week
- should bones be given
- what carbohydrates are the best ones and how much
- are there any fruit or vegetables that shouldn’t be given
- what amino acid is essential to a dog’s healthy skin
- should you supplement the diet
- how do you convert the diet of an elderly or sick dog safely
When you change the diet of your dog from a commercial pet food to an all natural dog food, there may initially be a de-toxing period. This is normal and natural, but can seem a bit scary to you if you don’t understand why it’s happening and the symptoms. It should be of short duration, depending on your dog’s age and level of health.
Dogs digestion is robust. They have evolved on eating raw meat and carrion. They can’t cope with preservatives, fillers, high fat or low grade protein, none of which occurs (at least in high proportions) in nature.
Once you have your dog on an all natural dog food, you’ll find fewer and fewer health problems. I’m sure you’d be as happy as anyone, to cut your dog’s professional health fees.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Feeding This Diabetic Dog Food Could Cure Your Dog’s Diabetes
Diabetes is no fun for humans or animals, with the desire for sweet things, the copious urine output and the huge thirst, to mention just a few of the common symptoms.
And it’s on the increase in humans as well as dogs and cats. Why should this be happening now?
Leaving the human cause aside for the purposes of this article, lets look at a typical diet for dogs in the western world, those who are not fed a quality diabetic dog food, that is.
Most people feed their dog a commercial brand of pet food. You’re lured by the manufacturers claims, which are mostly untrue, and by smiling vets and dog breeders on the colourful packets.
Health depends hugely on diet. Arguably, it could be considered the major cause of ill health in all animals, you included.
I want you to imagine, for a moment, that you are the owner of a dog food manufacturing business. You have to pay
All this costs money. And you haven’t even bought in the raw ingredients, the food, yet.
Would you be a bit tempted to buy in low quality, low cost raw ingredients? After all, with the price of meat going up all the time, you have to consider whether your potential customers would pay the higher price your product would be? There’s plenty of competition about and customers are generally lured by low prices.
And they probably say - it’s only for dogs.
(I don’t know about you, but my dogs aren’t ‘only’.)
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want you to sympathise with the commercial pet food manufacturers. But if you can understand where they’re coming from, you’ll understand why it would be a good idea to make your own diabetic dog food.
I’m not suggesting all commercial pet food manufacturers are the same. But they do all face the same problems.
So not only is the meat low quality, it’s also bulked out with a filler.
Fillers can be anything from sawdust, to melamine (remember Chinese pet food?), to a market glut of any carbohydrate.
For the past few decades, the production of sugar has soared with its huge demand. This has resulted in a world glut.
Now, whenever there’s a world glut, the price drops. So buying sugar for bulking out commercial pet food is cheap.
I’m sure you’ve now made the connection between your dog getting diabetes and feeding him a commercial pet food. After all, no dog evolved eating processed sugar even in small amounts, let alone the huge amounts that go into pet food.
So the best diabetic dog food is to make it yourself. Then you know what goes into it.
I am offering you the chance to make a huge impact on the health of your beloved dog, simply by switching to the diabetic dog food I recommend.
It’s easy, it’s quick, you probably have most of the ingredients already. And it won’t cost you any more.
Are you ready to make a commitment, to feed your dog my diabetic dog food, to see his health change almost overnight?
And it’s on the increase in humans as well as dogs and cats. Why should this be happening now?
Leaving the human cause aside for the purposes of this article, lets look at a typical diet for dogs in the western world, those who are not fed a quality diabetic dog food, that is.
Most people feed their dog a commercial brand of pet food. You’re lured by the manufacturers claims, which are mostly untrue, and by smiling vets and dog breeders on the colourful packets.
Health depends hugely on diet. Arguably, it could be considered the major cause of ill health in all animals, you included.
I want you to imagine, for a moment, that you are the owner of a dog food manufacturing business. You have to pay
- rent on the premises
- services to the premises - electricity, telephone
- equipment purchase and upkeep
- wages for your workers, including tax, health, sick and holiday pay
- packaging for the end product
- storage for the end product
- advertising and marketing the end product
All this costs money. And you haven’t even bought in the raw ingredients, the food, yet.
Would you be a bit tempted to buy in low quality, low cost raw ingredients? After all, with the price of meat going up all the time, you have to consider whether your potential customers would pay the higher price your product would be? There’s plenty of competition about and customers are generally lured by low prices.
And they probably say - it’s only for dogs.
(I don’t know about you, but my dogs aren’t ‘only’.)
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want you to sympathise with the commercial pet food manufacturers. But if you can understand where they’re coming from, you’ll understand why it would be a good idea to make your own diabetic dog food.
I’m not suggesting all commercial pet food manufacturers are the same. But they do all face the same problems.
So not only is the meat low quality, it’s also bulked out with a filler.
Fillers can be anything from sawdust, to melamine (remember Chinese pet food?), to a market glut of any carbohydrate.
For the past few decades, the production of sugar has soared with its huge demand. This has resulted in a world glut.
Now, whenever there’s a world glut, the price drops. So buying sugar for bulking out commercial pet food is cheap.
I’m sure you’ve now made the connection between your dog getting diabetes and feeding him a commercial pet food. After all, no dog evolved eating processed sugar even in small amounts, let alone the huge amounts that go into pet food.
So the best diabetic dog food is to make it yourself. Then you know what goes into it.
I am offering you the chance to make a huge impact on the health of your beloved dog, simply by switching to the diabetic dog food I recommend.
It’s easy, it’s quick, you probably have most of the ingredients already. And it won’t cost you any more.
Are you ready to make a commitment, to feed your dog my diabetic dog food, to see his health change almost overnight?
Monday, March 2, 2009
What Can Hypoallergenic Dog Food Really Do?
Allergies abound in today’s health arena, for dogs as well as humans. There are a various causes for this, but in my opinion, there is only one maintaining cause, ie the reason it keeps going.
As a rule, allergies are showing that the sufferer has a very weak immune system. When you are considering feeding your dog a hypoallergenic dog food, you know that his immune system is at rock bottom.
I’m not going to address the possible causes here, but I am going to look at bringing your dog’s immune system up, so that he is no longer so sensitive.
Food is consumed every day. So food has the biggest impact on your dog’s health. Whatever the label may say, if you’re feeding your dog a commercial hypoallergenic dog food, then you’re contributing to his discomfort and ill health.
All commercial pet foods are basically the same:
Each one of these aspects of commercial dog food will undermine your dog’s immune system. Bringing them all together ensures he can’t fight off any health issue that comes his way.
The best way to help bring up your dog’s immune system is to feed him as his ancestors fed - with raw meat and bones.
I’m not saying that by feeding your dog as nature intended he will necessarily completely recover from his allergies. But he’ll do a whole lot better than he will by feeding him a commercial hypoallergenic dog food.
There is no true holistic vet or animal therapist who doesn’t adhere to this policy.
Once you have his diet addressed and he’s been on it for enough time to see what it alone can cure, then it’s time to consider treatment.
Being a natural therapist myself (a homeopath), of course I’m biased! But I get a lot of animals come to me who vets haven’t been able to help. Once I get the dog on the natural diet, then the homoeopathic remedy of choice finishes the problem off. Without the diet, the remedy can only palliate.
What I’m really saying is that there is no such thing as hypoallergenic dog food. There is only good, healthy dog food and unhealthy dog food. You will never address a problem if you don’t look at the cause (which homeopathy does so well) and you don’t contribute to it.
Suppose you have a riot in the city (allergies). You can send in the police and the riot will die down (allergies seem to clear up). But underneath the unrest continues (the cause of the allergies hasn’t been cured), and the real reasons are left untouched, only to fester into a much worse state (now hypoallergenic). Homeopathy is akin to finding the cause of the riots and disturbances and dealing with those in a peaceful and constructive way. That is the true nature of cure. (See afternote.)
So don’t be taken in by the pretty words and smiling actors on a packet of commercial hypoallergenic dog food. It will do nothing to bring your dog’s immune system back up, which is the only way to help cure his sensitivities.
I consider there is only one type of healthy dog food, only one type which help restore even the sickest dog’s immune system. And that’s the one based on the natural diet of wild dogs.
Footnote
The above example was written by Jeremy Sherr, a leading UK homeopath.
As a rule, allergies are showing that the sufferer has a very weak immune system. When you are considering feeding your dog a hypoallergenic dog food, you know that his immune system is at rock bottom.
I’m not going to address the possible causes here, but I am going to look at bringing your dog’s immune system up, so that he is no longer so sensitive.
Food is consumed every day. So food has the biggest impact on your dog’s health. Whatever the label may say, if you’re feeding your dog a commercial hypoallergenic dog food, then you’re contributing to his discomfort and ill health.
All commercial pet foods are basically the same:
- over cooked, destroying vital nutrients
- use of very low quality food, such as dead animals and high fat
- use of any cheap filler to bulk it out
- use of highly toxic preservatives - how else do you keep ‘meat’ products indefinitely, at room temperature
Each one of these aspects of commercial dog food will undermine your dog’s immune system. Bringing them all together ensures he can’t fight off any health issue that comes his way.
The best way to help bring up your dog’s immune system is to feed him as his ancestors fed - with raw meat and bones.
I’m not saying that by feeding your dog as nature intended he will necessarily completely recover from his allergies. But he’ll do a whole lot better than he will by feeding him a commercial hypoallergenic dog food.
There is no true holistic vet or animal therapist who doesn’t adhere to this policy.
Once you have his diet addressed and he’s been on it for enough time to see what it alone can cure, then it’s time to consider treatment.
Being a natural therapist myself (a homeopath), of course I’m biased! But I get a lot of animals come to me who vets haven’t been able to help. Once I get the dog on the natural diet, then the homoeopathic remedy of choice finishes the problem off. Without the diet, the remedy can only palliate.
What I’m really saying is that there is no such thing as hypoallergenic dog food. There is only good, healthy dog food and unhealthy dog food. You will never address a problem if you don’t look at the cause (which homeopathy does so well) and you don’t contribute to it.
Suppose you have a riot in the city (allergies). You can send in the police and the riot will die down (allergies seem to clear up). But underneath the unrest continues (the cause of the allergies hasn’t been cured), and the real reasons are left untouched, only to fester into a much worse state (now hypoallergenic). Homeopathy is akin to finding the cause of the riots and disturbances and dealing with those in a peaceful and constructive way. That is the true nature of cure. (See afternote.)
So don’t be taken in by the pretty words and smiling actors on a packet of commercial hypoallergenic dog food. It will do nothing to bring your dog’s immune system back up, which is the only way to help cure his sensitivities.
I consider there is only one type of healthy dog food, only one type which help restore even the sickest dog’s immune system. And that’s the one based on the natural diet of wild dogs.
Footnote
The above example was written by Jeremy Sherr, a leading UK homeopath.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Natural Choice Dog Food, Chosen by Your Dog
The most natural choice dog food currently is commercial dog food. That’s as far as a dog ‘owner’ is concerned. If it was up to your dog, that wouldn’t be the case. How would your dog choose?
I believe dogs are inherently intelligent and know, on a deep level, what is good and healthy for them. This natural ability is often upset, just as in humans, by the daily consumption of junk food, year in, year out. Your dog can become addicted.
But if your dog had the freedom to a natural choice dog food from a puppy, what would you see?
I had just that experience, when a dog came into my home, for the first time since becoming an adult.
I was by then, feeding my cats raw meat and bones, having made the conversion a couple of years before.
I hadn’t expected to get a dog, she catapulted into my life, so I was unprepared. I didn’t know what to feed her. Here was this abandoned, energetic puppy, about eight weeks old, who had made it very clear to me that I was the chosen one. She intended to live with me, so I’d better just get used to the idea.
Still racking my brains for a clue as to her diet, I decided to purchase a couple of tins, while I tried to work it out. After all, they were supposed to be ‘balanced’, ‘nutritionally complete’, ‘recommended by top vets’ weren’t they?
My dog knew better.
Even though I was feeding her separately from the cats, she knew what I was feeding them.
And she didn’t like what I was offering her.
Abandoned dogs have often suffered a lack in regular or sufficient food. Even so, she left her food and raced to where the cats were, whining and leaping about as only puppies can, desperately trying to tell me that THIS was her natural choice dog food.
I ended up throwing away a tin and a half of dog food. I capitulated and fed her the same as the cats, just more of it, until I could be sure of the correct amount and type.
She remained fit, energetic and healthy up to about eleven years of age, with absolutely no veterinary intervention of any sort except sterilisation at about six months. She kept her figure, was always interested in everything going on, had a lovely glossy coat.
Her natural choice dog food was raw meat and bones. She chose it. She never had any other type of dog food.
It was me who was the barrier to try initially. I had to sort out my prejudices, my beliefs, my ingrained ideas of healthy dog food that I had gained over the years, from childhood, through advertisements. That was my biggest hurdle to allowing my dog her right for her natural choice dog food.
I believe dogs are inherently intelligent and know, on a deep level, what is good and healthy for them. This natural ability is often upset, just as in humans, by the daily consumption of junk food, year in, year out. Your dog can become addicted.
But if your dog had the freedom to a natural choice dog food from a puppy, what would you see?
I had just that experience, when a dog came into my home, for the first time since becoming an adult.
I was by then, feeding my cats raw meat and bones, having made the conversion a couple of years before.
I hadn’t expected to get a dog, she catapulted into my life, so I was unprepared. I didn’t know what to feed her. Here was this abandoned, energetic puppy, about eight weeks old, who had made it very clear to me that I was the chosen one. She intended to live with me, so I’d better just get used to the idea.
Still racking my brains for a clue as to her diet, I decided to purchase a couple of tins, while I tried to work it out. After all, they were supposed to be ‘balanced’, ‘nutritionally complete’, ‘recommended by top vets’ weren’t they?
My dog knew better.
Even though I was feeding her separately from the cats, she knew what I was feeding them.
And she didn’t like what I was offering her.
Abandoned dogs have often suffered a lack in regular or sufficient food. Even so, she left her food and raced to where the cats were, whining and leaping about as only puppies can, desperately trying to tell me that THIS was her natural choice dog food.
I ended up throwing away a tin and a half of dog food. I capitulated and fed her the same as the cats, just more of it, until I could be sure of the correct amount and type.
She remained fit, energetic and healthy up to about eleven years of age, with absolutely no veterinary intervention of any sort except sterilisation at about six months. She kept her figure, was always interested in everything going on, had a lovely glossy coat.
Her natural choice dog food was raw meat and bones. She chose it. She never had any other type of dog food.
It was me who was the barrier to try initially. I had to sort out my prejudices, my beliefs, my ingrained ideas of healthy dog food that I had gained over the years, from childhood, through advertisements. That was my biggest hurdle to allowing my dog her right for her natural choice dog food.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
What You Need to Know About Commercial Dog Food Before Buying Any More
People tend to think that commercial dog food, especially if it has been recommended by their veterinarian is of good quality and is giving your dog the best chance in life. Right?
Wrong!
While vets should be the best people to advise about dog food, sadly they’re not. Why? Because the top commercial pet food manufacturers now financially contribute to many veterinary schools. They have a foot in the door. They can, and do, influence the students.
After all you generally don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
In most countries of the world, there are, at least some basic laws governing the quality of human food, whether it’s fresh produce, meat or fast food.
In no country are there laws (which are enforced) that insist commercial pet food manufacturers use quality ingredients. That means anything can, and does, go.
After all, if meat is of good quality, wouldn’t you sell it to the highest market - the human market? So, it’s only the poorest quality meat, more often meat by-products (such as hair, intestines and contents, chicken feet, brain, skin, grizzle, fat, etc) that goes for dog food.
This means that the overall nutrient quality is as poor as it gets, as different proteins have different nutritional absorbability.
Pet food is always bulked out with inert (or not as the melamine scam from China testifies) filler. Typically, this filler will be the current cheapest carbohydrate. There’s often a world glut of something, driving down the price. It may be sugar one year, wheat the next.
Do you think the addition of sugar into your dog’s diet will serve to improve his health?
Why do you think that diabetes in dogs is on the increase?
Dogs may bulk out their food in the wild, but it would be on fresh plant matter that’s available, such as fruit or leaves.
Cooking destroys many vitamins and enzymes which are critical to the overall health of your dog.
As most dog food is dried pellets, which keep indefinitely at room temperature, preservatives must be used. Some manufacturers claim they have not added preservatives. Look carefully at the wording. They did not add it. This may be true. But preservatives will always have been added to the meat before it was delivered to the manufacturers.
It’s impossible to keep meat products at room temperature indefinitely without the use of strong preservatives. Preservatives that would never be allowed in human food, because of their poisonous effect.
So your dog may be well fed as far as volume is concerned, but will be starving for quality food. How can your dog remain healthy if he’s fed garbage?
Most people would be appalled at the process that goes into the making of commercial pet food. That would be a really good incentive not to feed it. I’m attempting to give you a glimpse behind the scenes, so you can give your dog the best dog food available within your budget and within your time available.
Wrong!
While vets should be the best people to advise about dog food, sadly they’re not. Why? Because the top commercial pet food manufacturers now financially contribute to many veterinary schools. They have a foot in the door. They can, and do, influence the students.
After all you generally don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
In most countries of the world, there are, at least some basic laws governing the quality of human food, whether it’s fresh produce, meat or fast food.
In no country are there laws (which are enforced) that insist commercial pet food manufacturers use quality ingredients. That means anything can, and does, go.
After all, if meat is of good quality, wouldn’t you sell it to the highest market - the human market? So, it’s only the poorest quality meat, more often meat by-products (such as hair, intestines and contents, chicken feet, brain, skin, grizzle, fat, etc) that goes for dog food.
This means that the overall nutrient quality is as poor as it gets, as different proteins have different nutritional absorbability.
Pet food is always bulked out with inert (or not as the melamine scam from China testifies) filler. Typically, this filler will be the current cheapest carbohydrate. There’s often a world glut of something, driving down the price. It may be sugar one year, wheat the next.
Do you think the addition of sugar into your dog’s diet will serve to improve his health?
Why do you think that diabetes in dogs is on the increase?
Dogs may bulk out their food in the wild, but it would be on fresh plant matter that’s available, such as fruit or leaves.
Cooking destroys many vitamins and enzymes which are critical to the overall health of your dog.
As most dog food is dried pellets, which keep indefinitely at room temperature, preservatives must be used. Some manufacturers claim they have not added preservatives. Look carefully at the wording. They did not add it. This may be true. But preservatives will always have been added to the meat before it was delivered to the manufacturers.
It’s impossible to keep meat products at room temperature indefinitely without the use of strong preservatives. Preservatives that would never be allowed in human food, because of their poisonous effect.
So your dog may be well fed as far as volume is concerned, but will be starving for quality food. How can your dog remain healthy if he’s fed garbage?
Most people would be appalled at the process that goes into the making of commercial pet food. That would be a really good incentive not to feed it. I’m attempting to give you a glimpse behind the scenes, so you can give your dog the best dog food available within your budget and within your time available.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Healthy Dog Food - How do You Find One
Most people don’t stop to think about the food they are giving their dog. The colourful packs on the laden supermarket shelves are normally as far as people give dog food a thought. You may be one of them, but are now branching out and looking for something a bit healthier.
Believe me, the packs can look tempting and with smiling veterinarians and dog breeders on the cover, you’re not that hard to convince.
But stop for a moment and consider a wild dog’s diet. Dogs are naturally pack animals and so they hunt in packs. They can bring down a large animal, as large as a cow, with their combined efforts. Then they all gather round, with much growling and snarling and consume most of the carcass, bones and all. Probably the only parts left is the hide and hooves.
Whether or not you can accept this idea, that’s how dogs evolved. And the wild dogs still manage very well. This is the most healthy dog food. There is nothing that can beat it.
Man, with his puny pseudo scientific ideas of improving on the natural diet of dogs is going down a dead end. You can’t.
Period.
There is only one type of healthy dog food. And that is the one which so closely resembles a wild dog’s diet, as to be virtually the same as far as health benefits are concerned.
Lets look at some of the differences between a wild dog’s diet and commercial dog food, a diet most dogs exist on (I won’t say live, as it’’s hardly a life).
A wild diet, a healthy dog food, consists of:
A typical commercial dog food consists of:
So in your search for a healthy dog food, keep firmly in mind the diet of a wild dog. It’s OK to take your time to get used to the idea. If you find the idea repulsive, just go slowly. Try to replace one thing at a time. Just keep in mind that dogs have evolved over millions of years, on this diet. Humans have only been producing (poor quality) commercial dog food for a few decades.
If you don’t like the idea of raw meat for your dog, that’s your issue, not his.
I also suggest that you keep in mind the concept that most people are lured by price. With the best will in the world, if a commercial pet food manufacturer suddenly started to produce quality pet food, because it would be more expensive, do you think it would be a sell-out?
That would only be possible if people had already started to reject the current commercial dog food and were now looking for a healthy dog food, so were prepared to pay a little more.
However, if you make your own dog food, you won’t need to find the extra cash. Not only is a homemade, healthy dog food economical to produce, it has an enormous impact on the health of your dog, often beyond your wildest dreams.
Believe me, the packs can look tempting and with smiling veterinarians and dog breeders on the cover, you’re not that hard to convince.
But stop for a moment and consider a wild dog’s diet. Dogs are naturally pack animals and so they hunt in packs. They can bring down a large animal, as large as a cow, with their combined efforts. Then they all gather round, with much growling and snarling and consume most of the carcass, bones and all. Probably the only parts left is the hide and hooves.
Whether or not you can accept this idea, that’s how dogs evolved. And the wild dogs still manage very well. This is the most healthy dog food. There is nothing that can beat it.
Man, with his puny pseudo scientific ideas of improving on the natural diet of dogs is going down a dead end. You can’t.
Period.
There is only one type of healthy dog food. And that is the one which so closely resembles a wild dog’s diet, as to be virtually the same as far as health benefits are concerned.
Lets look at some of the differences between a wild dog’s diet and commercial dog food, a diet most dogs exist on (I won’t say live, as it’’s hardly a life).
A wild diet, a healthy dog food, consists of:
- raw food
- lots of raw bones
- internal organs are consumed, but these are scarce compared with the muscle meat
- carbohydrates which are limited to the stomach contents, so is small in the overall content
A typical commercial dog food consists of:
- cooked food (many vitamins, enzymes and other nutrients are destroyed by cooking)
- the meat is of poor (often extremely poor) quality (humans get the good stuff)
- carbohydrates, in particular sugar, are a major part of the food - it’s cheap and bulks out the ‘meat’
- the food is fortified with strong preservatives (not allowed in human food for their dangerous impact on health) - DESPITE WHAT THE LABEL SAYS
- to try to redress the nutritional imbalance, isolated and synthetic nutrients are added - nutrients which can’t be properly absorbed and utilised when they are in isolation, or if they are synthetic
So in your search for a healthy dog food, keep firmly in mind the diet of a wild dog. It’s OK to take your time to get used to the idea. If you find the idea repulsive, just go slowly. Try to replace one thing at a time. Just keep in mind that dogs have evolved over millions of years, on this diet. Humans have only been producing (poor quality) commercial dog food for a few decades.
If you don’t like the idea of raw meat for your dog, that’s your issue, not his.
I also suggest that you keep in mind the concept that most people are lured by price. With the best will in the world, if a commercial pet food manufacturer suddenly started to produce quality pet food, because it would be more expensive, do you think it would be a sell-out?
That would only be possible if people had already started to reject the current commercial dog food and were now looking for a healthy dog food, so were prepared to pay a little more.
However, if you make your own dog food, you won’t need to find the extra cash. Not only is a homemade, healthy dog food economical to produce, it has an enormous impact on the health of your dog, often beyond your wildest dreams.
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