The Raw Deal –
Achieving optimum wellness for your dog through diet!
by Kaye Davis
For any machine to work properly it must be supplied with the manufacturers recommended fuel. Anything less will cause that machine to malfunction over time. Our pet’s bodies work on the same principle. A biologically appropriate raw diet is the best diet to maximize the health and longevity of your pet.
 A raw or “fresh frozen natural diet” consisting of meat (muscle), organ meat, bone material and a low portion of botanical matter supplies protein, energy and nutrients that play a major role in healthy nutrition. It also supplies varying amounts of fat, water, vitamins and minerals. Because it supplies fat and protein, it also provides energy. Meat is a first class protein and it contains all the essential amino acids necessary for dogs of all ages, including growing dogs, pregnant dogs, female dogs feeding puppies and even the couch potato dog.
There are no carbohydrates in meat. That is no starch, sugar or fiber. As the fat content of the meat raises so does the energy it can supply to your dog. Raw meat is low in sodium and high in potassium and that is excellent news for dogs with potential or existing heart problems.
In the wild, dogs eat the stomach content and organ meat from the animals they prey upon. In fact, internal organs form a vital part of the wild dog’s diet. Domesticated dogs have similar requirements, because they still have 99.8% of the wolf’s digestive tract at the Mitochondrial DNA (internal body) level. Yes, your Yorkie, Chihuahua and Lab are all really domesticated wolves from a nutritional and DNA standpoint!
Dogs have actually eaten vegetables the whole period of their evolution. As such, vegetables, particularly green leafy vegetables should form part of the domestic dog’s healthy diet. The fiber your dog obtains from raw vegetables includes both soluble and insoluble fiber. Vegetables supply many other nutrients. Many of those nutrients are the ones that have been found to be in short supply in the modern dog’s diet. This includes difficult to obtain omega 3 essential fatty acids, most of a dog’s vitamin needs, masses of enzymes and various anti-aging factors, including antioxidants and phyto-chemicals.
Living enzymes are proteins found in raw foods which help the body function. Enzymes are only beneficial to the body if they are living. Foods without living enzymes put stress on the pancreas to produce the necessary proteins to function. Living enzymes in a fresh frozen natural diet restore repair and maintain health. The convenient patties of a fresh frozen natural diet (we recommend and sell Stella & Chewey’s) retain their living enzymes along with phyto-chemicals, antioxidants and unprocessed amino acids. Your pet’s long term health depends upon these factors, to ensure a long and healthy life span.
The benefits of feeding your dog a fresh frozen natural diet are numerous. Your pet will have much-improved breath, minimal tartar buildup, and in addition periodontal disease that is so prevalent with pets fed grain-based diets is almost nonexistent. One of the first changes you will notice is an improvement in skin and coat. If you have a pet that that has persistent skin problems a healthy fresh frozen natural diet will help those problems improve or disappear and you will no longer need vet visits, medicated washes, antibiotics or cortisone shots.
A fresh frozen natural diet normalizes and strengthens the immune system. Because the diet contains a good balance of essential fatty acids and other immune normalizing and strengthening nutrients, it reduces inflammatory conditions and reduces or eliminates infections. Fresh frozen natural diets are more readily absorbed, than grain fed diets, and the result is less stool volume and odor. Odorous stool and gassiness are a result of improper or incomplete digestion of nutrients. What is the down side to this? No more blaming it on the dog!
Pet owners that switch their older pets to a fresh frozen natural diet usually find whatever degenerative disease their pet has, becomes less of a problem. The diet is by no means a wonder drug but it has and can reverse many aggravating degenerative conditions. Even arthritic conditions are improved and you can expect to see greater mobility in your pet.
The loss of unwanted fat and the increase in muscle mass is perhaps the greatest benefit of the fresh frozen natural diet. It not only makes your pet look better, it also increases their metabolic rate, their activity levels and their healthy life spans. I can personally speak to this as my two crazy dachshunds started to pack on the pounds after I started to incorporate kibble in to their diet as a convenience for me. After returning them to an exclusive fresh frozen natural diet they have both lost weight and gained muscle mass and are now lean, mean barking machines!
The word “raw” often triggers the idea of danger to most people, but when it comes to feeding your pet it shouldn’t! Why? The raw meat we buy in the grocery store has been handled and stored in a way that we have to cook it to ensure we ingest no pathogens. Raw or fresh frozen natural diets for your dog are handled and stored to a much higher standard than “human grade meat” because they are intended to be fed raw. It’s crucial that if you feed your pet raw meat, you can verify that it is pathogen free and that you handle it properly, that way you will reduce any potential risk.
It is true that feeding your dog a fresh frozen natural diet is more expensive than kibble. This is true for humans as well; a diet of fresh vegetables, fresh quality meats and whole grains is more expensive than macaroni & cheese, canned spam and canned vegetables but making better nutritional choices have long term benefits too. Often people choose to incorporate a fresh frozen natural diet by offering it a few times a week, as a or doing a diet of half kibble and half fresh frozen to ensure their pet is getting the best nutrition as possible.
Every dog will react differently to a fresh frozen natural diet, so it is best to start slowly. Incorporate fresh frozen natural food with your dog’s current food to allow the dog’s stomach to adjust, as feeding a diet of solely kibble increases the ph and the stomach needs time to adjust the ph to become more acidic in order to be able to process the meat.
As pet owners we want our pets to grow and develop every part of their body to the peak of their genetic perfection. Brilliant health is what we should want for our pets and this means our pets should be healthy, happy, active, bright, alert and free of problems. Every living animal on earth requires a natural and healthy, biologically appropriate diet and if you think about it, not one animal on earth, has adapted by evolution to eat a cooked food diet and your dog is no exception! |
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