Fresh, whole, alive foods are what your pets need more than anything else
Our domestic pets have little choice in what they eat. Our dogs can\’t hunt for what they are best suited to eat. Our cats can hunt, but if they are in the city, there is no way they could ever find enough prey to keep them going. We, the humans, choose our pets\’ foods. The vast majority of pets are fed processed foods – kibble or tinned foods.
Why? Because the dominant narrative is that these commercial pet foods are healthy, \’balanced\’ and far better for your pets than feeding any kind of home-made diet. There is an active campaign against raw feeding around the globe, with a lot of misinformation or scaremongering about how raw feeding is BAD for your pets!
I have seen multiple news stories about how pets were poisoned by raw food with bacteria like Listeria or E-coli or Salmonella. These stories don\’t ever seem to talk about how rare this is. And they NEVER mention how many recalls happen in kibble with contamination with bacteria or fungus. It\’s a lot! Much more in volume of foods sold and affected than recalls in raw. See the at the end link below for more data on this.
I just did a google search, and there were by far more recalls because of various problems, including bacterial contamination, for processed foods – kibble and tinned foods! Very few recalls for raw. And you have to remember that the raw food companies in general are smaller, they produce a LOT less product.
Also- healthy dogs and cats have a digestive tract that is designed to cope with a much higher bacterial load than humans. Dogs can usually happily eat very ripe meat and suffer no ill effects. Low levels of Salmonella should not be a problem for a healthy dog.
Do you know how much money is in the processed pet foods industry worldwide? In 2019, it was 97 billion dollars – with the vast majority of this being dry food, kibble (the worst of the worst!). The compounded annual growth rate is projected to be 6%, reaching a valuation of 170 billion dollars annually by 2029.
That\’s an incredible amount of money, mostly concentrated into the hands of 10 huge companies. And they don\’t like competition. Raw food is becoming much more popular, very quickly – and for good reason! This is a big part of the reason why you see raw food get demonised by these companies, and by many vets.
Key point: The big companies spend vast amounts of money \’educating\’ pet owners and vet students about how processed foods are healthy, and the best possible choice for your pets! They also spend a lot of money demonising raw food, and influencing vets to believe that raw is danegrous (it\’s less dangerous than processed foods). Don\’t believe them!
Fresh whole foods are best choice for your pets\’ well-being. Ideally, BARF (Biologically Appropriate Raw Food) with grass fed organically grown proteins, fresh organic veggies, and a range of high-quality/superfood supplements. Raw is preferable, but home-cooked is mighty fine too. And some dogs will do better on cooked than raw. Most will do better on raw than cooked.
Processed foods, and especially kibble are a slow poison for your pets. The ingredients are awful – meat and bone meals are used for \’protein\’ sources. These are rendered at very high temperatures, damaging the proteins, making them indigestible and toxic. The main source of energy is from grains – carbohydrates (cheap calories). These grains are industrially farmed, so your pets then get a dose of pesticides in their dinner.
The Grain-free foods are a great marketing ply and even more dangerous, causing heart disease in many dogs. All of these kibble foods are often mouldy when you purchase them, and always go mouldy quickly if not kept in the freezer after opening. And I could go on for a couple more thousand words explaining why kibble (and tinned foods) are bad for your pets. Funnily enough, the most expensive \’prescriptions foods\’ like Hills Science diet have some of the worst ingredients. Great way to rake in a stack of profit!
Aside from all of this, processed foods are dead foods- it burns your pet\’s life force to digest them. I believe this is one of the main causes of the epidemic of chronic illness in our domestic pest! Fresh whole foods add vital energy rather than taking it away.
What you need to do!
I recommend that you feed your dogs BARF (see recipes at the end) raw, or stewed up if you need to cook it. Ideally, you\’ll want all organic with grass-fed protein sources. Now I know many of you won\’t be able to afford that. I don\’t feed organic. But it is the best option! Be careful with treats- single ingredient whole protein dehydrated only! No doggy junk foods (and of course they love them, because they are full of salt, sugar, flavourings, carbs etc).
I also recommend you fast your dogs one day a week- so good for their immune systems! And no, it won\’t kill them, no matter how much they tell you it will!
Minimise carbs. No potato. Not too much sweet potato or pumpkin. Dogs are made to burn protein and fat. Carbs cause all sorts of health problems (just like in humans) – obesity, diabetes, allergies, etc. There are exceptions- the odd dog won\’t be able to hold healthy weight without some brown rice or quinoa in their food. But it\’s the exception rather than the rule.
However, protein is expensive – so if you can\’t afford to feed the full amount of meat, then do add cooked high-quality whole grains. It\’s always best to soak them for 24 hours before cooking, too. But the more fresh meat you can afford, the better – up to about 70% for dogs.
If you have to feed kibble, you can at least feed some fresh whole foods! Even a small amount can make a BIG difference! Leftovers from your meals (as long as they aren\’t fatty and don\’t have onion or cooked bone in them) are a great way to get more fresh whole foods into your dog\’s diet. Or you can add veggies, which are relatively affordable- cooked or raw and blended up.
If you must feed kibble because it\’s all you can afford, at least read the ingredients carefully so you can always pick the best out of a bad bunch in the supermarket. Premium foods don\’t always have better ingredients than cheaper ones, even if they have better marketing and a more attractive packet!
Try to at least find one with actual meat as an ingredient! And the fewer carbs, the better. Ideally, you wouldn\’t want to see any starchy ingredients like grains, pulses, potato etc in the first 5-7 ingredients on the list. Don\’t buy the cheapest ones, ever! Mid to upper range supermarket or premium with careful label reading.
And the worst of the best would be to feed the best kibble you can find and add some fresh mince every day.
Be sensible, do what you can!
I have given you all the options, now go and feed your dogs the very best diet you can afford. How much you love them is more important, so don\’t beat yourself up if you can\’t afford the best. Just do what you can to keep your budget and your dog as healthy as you can
Some links…
https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/5-simple-recipes-for-raw-dog-food/
Reading your blog about feeding raw diet to the dogs, I decided to change their (two Labradoodles- one is 7yrs old and the second one 2.5yrs old) diet to raw food comprising of mince meat and complete mix (Vets all natural). I used chicken mince and the Kangaroo mince alternately. Maybe not a right decision. Both the dogs ended up having itchy skin and itchy ears. Champ the 7yrs old labradoodle even got very bad yeast infection in the ear. I stopped giving them that and put them on chicken and rice diet. I stopped that and slowly weaned them off back to their kibble. Early on, both the dogs were on Black hawk adult grain free chicken!
Last week, Champ had to be treated for his ear infection by the Vet. Treatment had steroids in it. Not surprised!! Also he admitted that this flare up is due to the food change.
Now I am not sure what caused the itching for the dogs! Complete mix, chicken mince or the kangaroo mince!
I have noticed that my older dog Champ has always been mildly itching his chin, skin and ears while on it. So he could be allergic to chicken. But then I used to give the single protein dehydrated kangaroo treats at the same time. So how do I know if it’s chicken or kangaroo that is a culprit?
They otherwise, eat lots of vegetables n fruits. They get good amount of exercise and they usually have been quite healthy!
So how do I go about changing their kibble diet to raw diet and which protein to choose?
Please guide. Thanks
Ella
Chicken is often a problem for itchy dogs. You may need to do an elimination diet…
I would like to know why to limit pumpkin? Today I listened to a podcast, talking about chicken and rice to help with diahorrea for dogs. This woman explained to fast for a day and then try lean turkey mince with mashed pumpkin and I remembered this blog. She explained the pumpkin as being a good source of glucose, so the body didn’t start using amino acids to make carbohydrates, the potassium levels and other minerals and the soluble fibre, to help bind the gut back up. She is a naturopath for humans, and now working with dogs. There was a comment about humans studies, so it should be the same for dogs. Anyway, I would like to know your opinion. Thank you
In general, lower carbs are better. Pumpkin is good for some things…