Our dogs, cats, and ferrets are carnivores, regardless of what you’ve heard! If your vet or other animal health care professional tells you otherwise, refer them to the textbook they were all required to study, usually, Anatomy of Domestic Animals, by Sisson & Grossman. Our beloved pets, cats, dogs, and ferrets are meat-eats. Will they eat other things? Yes! …if they are tainted with synthetic excito-toxins including MSG, Aspirtane, and a whole host of artificial flavor additives, that are never listed on any label.
You may ask, the law says they need to list what is in this food. You are right, but only what that manufacturer adds. If the buy a meat product called “meat meal, chicken meal, fish meal, salmon meal, etc, you have no idea what that is!!!! This is not fresh meat! It is usually everything from plasma, tumors, spoiled, old and rotting, not-fit-for-human-consumption product, treated with all kinds of preservatives including odor-control, anti-bacterial, colors, flavors including those excito-toxins that include MSG!
Understanding that this is the product that is sold to you through slick advertising to supermarkets, pet specialty stores and veterinarians, we are literally killing our pet while believing we are doing the best!
A sad truth…. Veterinarians are NOT required to study ANY nutrition! Because of this, they are the last professional we would ever ask for advice on feeding our loved pets! All their “expertise” in food comes from the sales rep from Purina (Nestles), Mars (yes the candy company), Proctor & Gamble (yes, the cleaner company) and Colgate-Palmolive (the tooth-paste company). Let’s use a little common sense here… what does a candy company, a cleaning products company, a tooth-paste company, and another candy company know about dogs, cats or any of our pets?
They may explain that they hire specialists in nutrition to formulate these special diets. I ask you a simple question… they all have “veterinary only” diets for everything from cancer, diabetes, liver support, kidney support, weight control, etc These are all companies that produce “ready-to-eat” meals for us. If their expertise was as good as they profess, and they could really do what they say can be done, “why waste it on the pets, do it for us!!!”
The true facts are this is all marketing! It’s the power of advertising. If we could do a “marketable” diet for cancer, a million people would buy it in a heartbeat!
Did you know that diabetes can be cured in almost half the dogs & cats with just a change of diet? Did you know it can be totally avoided by the right diet? Could we do that with humans?
You must understand, above everything else, every creature on this planet has a very specific requirement when it comes to nutrition. Cows do not digest meat as they are herbivore… that is what has led to “Mad Cow” disease. Carnivores get very little benefit from corn, sweet potatoes, pea protein. Chickens only eat corn in the fall when it’s ripe. Where did rabbits and mice get pellets in nature?
You see, to ensure a healthy pet, we need to look at what they would eat and drink naturally. Wolves, lions, fox, and panthers eat mostly meat. Do they cook it? Do they get sick from eating it raw? What about your parakeet? Are seeds available year round? No, they eat seasonal foods like fruit, veggies, bugs, and yes, dead animals, meat! And they’re favorite… eggs! Think of the fox in the henhouse… were the there to watch TV?
The truth and scientific guidelines require that we look to Mother Nature for the perfect diet. First there is the physiology, in which carnivores need animal based foods, herbivores need vegetation based foods, and omnivores need a balance of the two. You will notice that none of these groups eat grain as a main part of their diet as it would only be available in the late summer in fall. It allows certain animals to gain stored fat to survive the long, little food available winter.
Another forgotten fact, animals don’t naturally drink purified, filtered water. They drink from puddles and ponds. Those in the sun usually are covered in algae, things like “super greens”, Spirulina, chlorella, and others. In the shade, like the forest, or even in grasses, they are soaked in leaves, creating an “herbal tea”’. Our pets need these herbs as well as they are tonics that cleanse the body. If you’ve ever used a holistic or homeopathic treatment, look at the active ingredients. You will find many herbs, usually combined with secret, patented or trademarked additives that are highly processed.
And then we have to ask, why do we add all those toxic chemicals to our pet? Heartworm, flea and tick, vaccine, anti-biotic, synthetic vitamins, preservatives, on and on! How does the body handle them?
As the title says, what is the ultimate diet for our dog or cat? Here is a simple breakdown.
First and foremost, let me state that diets are comprised of many different and varying foods. A rotational diet of the entire listed formats is ideal for your pet.
Best…. A large variety of natural, hormone and antibiotic free raw meats. Yep…. They digest raw meat just fine! These are available usually in a frozen format but some of you may be lucky to find it fresh as well. While vets may tell you about salmonella, that is found in all normal stool. We cannot digest our food properly without it. Carnivores don’t contract natural salmonellosis or most of the other common Salmonella related challenges like thyphoid. All good quality meat diets and human consumption meat are routinely tested for this and E-coli, thereby minimizing any risk.
2nd Best…. Real meat cooked foods. These including lightly home-cooked, commercial cooked meat diets, and canned meat entrees. Canned foods may be labeled as all-meat, 100% or 95% meat and free of all grains and added carbohydrates. The best quality foods are cooked at low temperatures to retain the vitamins and enzymes your pet needs. Wet foods are needed to ensure proper hydration of your pet’s body.
3rd Best… A new generation for freeze dried & jerky style diets which are in the same range in content of the best raw diets, either all meat or meat with a minimal amount of fruits and vegetable. The only drawback is you must moisten to ensure good hydration. It is a real plus if you are travelling.
4th Best… All-meat treats. Yes, you read this right… treats. The best treats are always a real food that your pet really loves. Pets love liver treats because they need liver! Other goodies like dried salmon, assorted jerky, dried animal parts are all natural for your pet.
At this point, I want to stress that any feeding program may include all these formats and should be varied to fit your life-style. It is also important to vary the meats… as carnivores have three food groups… red meat (large prey), poultry (birds and rodents) and fish (including shellfish).
You have probably noticed something missing here. It’s probably the format that you feed.
The reason that we include NO KIBBLE, PELLETED, OR MEAL TYPE FOODS is very simple. It’s not natural! I don’t care what the argument, dogs and cats cannot find any form of these foods in nature! By the nature of the ingredients and the nature of ALL the processing, they are mostly devoid of any natural benefit. While it is convenient to pour that dry cereal into our loving pets’ dish, we are actually killing them!
While the marketing is impressive, ask yourself a simple question, “Could you live a healthy, active life eating one flavor and brand of one cereal for your entire life?”
Another question… as a kid some fifty years ago, my pets only saw a veterinarian 3 or 4 times in their entire 15 to 25 year life span. Why today, with seeing the vet every six months and on a “scientifically formulated, recommended diet” do are pets die of cancer, diabetes, liver and kidney failure, at 5 to 10 years of age?
The AVMA states that 85% of all health challenges our pets have are rooted in nutrition. This includes all the special diets they sell.
Well, just like us, when faced with a major health challenge, we eliminate processed and un-natural foods. We add a solid base of natural herbs to supplement of nutritional needs. And we do this instinctively.
Let’s apply the same common sense approach to our pets, the source of unconditional love in our lives. They can’t tell us what they need so it is our ultimate responsibility to do the research, to do the VERY BEST!
