Should Your Pet Do This? By Dr. Becker. Today and over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be discussing my favorite topic, raw food diets for pets. I want to talk about some of the myths and truths surrounding raw food diets, but before we get to the good stuff, it’s important to have a foundation of understanding about basic nutrition. One point that no one argues is that for optimal health to occur, animals must consume the foods they were designed to eat. I call this a species- appropriate diet. So vegetarian animals must eat vegetation for optimal health. And carnivorous animals must eat fresh whole prey for optimal health. Origins of Dogs and Cats. A good place to start a discussion of our carnivorous pets is to go back to the roots of the dog and the cat prior to domestication. The domestic dog, whose taxonomic name is Canis lupus familiaris, is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, which is a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. Most scientists believe dogs were domesticated from gray wolves about 1. But DNA analysis published in 1. Data suggests dogs first diverged from wolves in East Asia, and these domesticated dogs quickly migrated throughout the world. Of course, humans began selectively breeding dogs to create animals that suited their needs and their likes. The earliest evidence of cat domestication is a kitten that was found buried alongside a human approximately 9,5. Cyprus. A 2. 00. 8 study revealed that lines of descent for all house cats, of the species Felis catus, probably came from self- domesticating African wild cats up to 1. Today, over 8. 0 breeds of cats are recognized by one registry or another. Today's Cats and Dogs are Carnivores Just Like Their Wild Ancestors. Despite humans’ desire to create certain physical characteristics in dogs and cats – this is called their phenotype or how animals look externally – their genetic makeup remains essentially the same as their wild ancestors, which should tell you something about the foods they should still be consuming. Of course, all animals are biologically equipped to assimilate and digest foods they were designed to eat. For example, earthworms are naturally designed to process dirt. The entire GI tract of worms, from the mouth to the other end where waste is excreted, was designed for this purpose. Cows are designed to eat grass, and their GI tracts are set up perfectly for this. They have big, round, flat teeth used to grind grasses and an unbelievable range of motion in their mandibles, allowing them to chew, chew, chew, and chew. Cows have a lot of range of motion laterally in their jaws. Cat Trees & Cat Scratching Posts for active play for your cat. Cat activity centres and cat scratch posts from £8: Order Today from Europe's Biggest for Fast. Choosing the right diet for cats with kidney disease is an important part of managing this condition. A lot of cats have learned to love fish, but it’s not a natural feline food; and it’s really not a good idea to feed it to your cat. Sometimes it is obvious, and sometimes it is fairly well hidden, or only performed when their owner is not around. In dogs, itching shows up as. Printer-friendly version. Unfortunately, kidney disease is very common in cats, with as much as 18% of the UK cat population being effected. Raw Food Diet for Cats: A Natural Solution What you need to know about raw food diets for cats. Dogs and cats do not have this range of motion in their jaws. Their jaws move up and down only, like a trap door or a hinge, because dogs and cats are gulpers, not chewers. They don’t have chewing teeth. Dogs and cats have incredibly sharp interlocking teeth designed to rip and tear flesh. They also have very short GI tracts compared to vegetarian animals that need to ferment foods, as carnivorous animals consume foods with potentially very heavy pathogen loads. The bodies of carnivores are designed to get foods in and back out very quickly. The ancestral lifestyle of a carnivore includes lots of variety and seasonal variability, meaning certain prey was more prevalent at certain times of the year. They thrived consuming fresh, living, whole animals. Dogs and cats did not evolve to consume sterile foods. They have digestive tracts that are designed to be resilient and handle the loads of naturally- occurring bacteria that are present in the foods they eat. Their food in the wild was moisture- dense, meaning the prey they consumed was primarily water. The carnivorous lifestyle required a tremendous amount of exercise and exertion. Food was not served to them, so they had to stealthily catch it. This provided intense stimulation of all the senses, plus nervous, skeletal, endocrine, and circulatory system involvement. Carnivorous animals had daily rigorous workouts in an attempt to catch enough food to stay alive. Most Pet Food is Biologically Inappropriate for Dogs and Cats. What’s very important for pet owners to know is that “pet food” is a relatively new concept. So, “dog food” and “cat food” you buy from the supermarket has only been around a little over a hundred years. However, animals have hunted prey or, in the case of dogs, scavenged - - for millions of years. And although recent research suggests domesticated carnivores were able to adapt to some degree to starch in the diet as humans became planters and farmers of grains, dogs and cats have most definitely not evolved into vegetarians over time. Over the last hundred years, major pet food companies have produced most of their products using a base of corn, wheat, rice, or potato. The good news is dogs and cats are adaptable and resilient unlike other species, for example, snakes. If we suddenly forced snakes to eat grains or consume vegetation, they would simply die, demonstrating rather visibly and quickly that they were not provided the correct food source. Dogs and cats are among the most resilient animals on the planet. They are able to withstand really significant nutritional abuse, in my opinion, without dying. Degeneration does occur as the result of an inappropriate diet, but sudden death does not. So one of the reasons we’ve been able to deceive ourselves into believing convenience pet foods are good for dogs and cats is because they don’t die immediately of acute starvation. For a hundred years our pets have been fed inappropriate diets that have kept them alive, but far from thriving like their wild relatives. Instead, we’ve created dozens of generations of nutritionally weakened animals that suffer from degenerative diseases linked to nutritional deficiencies – a link the traditional veterinary community has not acknowledged. The Pottenger cat study is one example of how our current system of nourishing pets creates chronic disease. The truth is that our pet population provides a place for recycling waste from the human food industry. Grains that fail inspection, uninspected pieces and parts of waste from the seafood industry, leftover restaurant grease, deceased livestock, and even roadkill is collected and disposed of through rendering - - a process that converts all sorts of human food industry waste into raw materials for the pet food industry. These raw materials are purchased by huge pet food manufacturers – makers of the big name brands your parents and friends have probably used for the last 5. These manufacturers blend the rendered fat and meat with a large amount of starch fillers. They add bulk vitamin and mineral supplements, and then they extrude the mix at high temperatures, creating all sorts of toxic reactions including advanced glycation end products and heterocyclic amines. They call this “pet food” and sell it to customers at an unbelievable profit. Is the entire system flawed? But pet food industry giants are realizing that pet owners are becoming more educated about their flawed system, and they are trying to clean up their image. We are beginning to see words like “natural” and “no byproducts” on labels. We’re beginning to see “grain- free” and “naturally preserved” on labels as well. Manufacturers are hearing the grumbles of educated pet owners and are changing their marketing to try to regain lost customers. End Stage Liver Disease Diet. Liver plays a very important role in the process of digestion. When a person is suffering from end stage liver disease, it is very. Food allergies account for about 10% of all the allergies seen in cats and dogs. It is the third most common cause after flea bite allergies and atopy (inhalant. No treatment will cure cirrhosis or repair scarring in the liver that has already occurred. But treatment can sometimes prevent or delay further liver damage. Today and over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be discussing my favorite topic, raw food diets for pets. I want to talk about some of the myths and. Common Pet Food Myths Many People Actually Believe. I find it amazing that pet parents buy into marketing gimmicks that human parents would never fall for. For instance, how often have you heard a pediatrician say, “Never feed your baby anything but X brand of baby food, because feeding a homemade diet could be dangerous to your child’s health?” Never. But you do hear it often in the veterinary world. Or how about this one: “Switching your brand of baby food could lead to GI problems, so feed only one brand or type of baby food to your children for the rest of their lives to avoid GI problems.” You would never hear this, either, from a competent pediatrician. And yet, you hear this type of advice all the time in the veterinary industry. It’s startling to me to know that entire generations of people actually believe pets must have “pet food” to be healthy. And there’s a host of other myths you’ve probably heard. For example, pets can derive all the nutrients they need for vibrant health from a dry nugget that can be fed day after day, year after year. Or that if you don’t feed crunchy foods to your pet, his or her teeth won’t be clean. Or canned food is too rich, and raw food is just a recent trendy craze that could be risky. A lot of people also believe their veterinarian wouldn’t recommend X brand of food if wasn’t good for their pet.. What are the Facts? Number one, carbohydrates are not a necessary component of a carnivore’s diet. Cats have no taste receptors for sweet flavors and have low rates of glucose uptake in the intestine. They should not be fed any type of grain that metabolizes into sugar. Cats have no salivary amylase to break down starches, either, and dogs have very low amylase secretion. Also, cats never hunted fish from the ocean – fish is not an evolutionary food source for them. The intense heat used to process commercial pet foods diminishes or destroys the benefits of vitamins, minerals, and enzymes in food. The heating process also significantly reduces the digestibility of amino acids in pet food. And digestibility of meat- based protein is proven to be superior to plant- based protein – the type used in most inexpensive commercial pet foods - - for dogs and cats. So in a nutshell, for 9. For . 0. 1 percent of the time, they have consumed an extruded, processed diet. Dogs and cats evolved to consume a low- carbohydrate diet. But for the last century, the majority of pet owners have fed pets a high- carbohydrate, low- moisture diet. Natural Balance Dog Food Reviews, Coupons and Recalls 2. Brief Overview. Natural Balance was founded in 1. Dick Van Patten, an actor slash animal welfare advocator who wanted to give dog owners a chance to feed their dogs holistic food instead of the low- quality dog food that was available on the shelves at that time. Today, Natural Balance is marketed as a healthy and natural brand with the slogan, “Truly The Food For A Lifetime.” Let’s see if it’s something you should be feeding your dog from puppyhood to seniorhood. Who manufactures Natural Balance? Even though Natural Balance is a privately- owned company, pet food giant Diamond Pet Foods manufactures Natural Balance dog food. Some dog owners take issue with this, because Diamond Pet Foods does not value the quality of the ingredients they put in their dog food, which goes against what the Natural Balance brand stands for. Natural Balance Recalls 2. Please Read First: If this statement is still here we are actively watching for new recalls. Below you will find a history of recalls. If you would like to know as SOON as we find out about a recalls visit: http: //dogfood. Recall Alert form. We will ONLY email this list in the event of an actual recall. Once we stop watching for Recalls I will remove this statement. We also encourage everyone to bookmark the site for future reference. Latest Recalls List (From newest to oldest): In December 2. Diamond Pet Foods discovered Salmonella in their production facility in Gaston, S. C. As a precautionary measure, they announced a massive recall for their brands, including Natural Balance. The following Natural Balance dry dog foods were recalled: Sweet Potato & Venison, Lamb Meal & Rice, Sweet Potato & Bison, Vegetarian, Lamb Meal & Brown Rice Large Breed, and Lamb Meal & Brown Rice Small Breed. On June 1. 9, 2. 01. Natural Balance Pet Foods, Inc. In fact, they want dog owners to have the same level of confidence in their brand. That’s why they started the Buy With Confidence program. Dog owners can buy a bag of Natural Balance dog food, visit the website, select the formula in the bag, and then put down the best by date. They will be supplied with the laboratory test results of the very bag they purchased. If that doesn’t boost a dog owner’s confidence in the product, then we don’t know what will! However, just because Natural Balance is concerned with ensuring their customers’ confidence in their product doesn’t mean their product is automatically good. It’s always wise to do some research. That’s why we’re here! Let’s take a look at what Natural Balance really puts in their dog food, and then let’s talk about whether or not we should be confident in this brand. Natural Balance takes pride in the fact that they put human- grade meat in their formulas. The grains and vegetables are marketed as high- quality, as well. Given the fact that Diamond Foods manufactures Natural Balance dog food, we’re a little skeptical of this claim. However, the ingredient list doesn’t lie. Let’s take a look at the top five ingredients: Chicken. Chicken broth. Sweet potatoes. Potatoes. Dehydrated potatoes. We like that chicken is the first ingredient, but we’re a little put off by the fact that it’s whole chicken meat (instead of chicken meal), because it consists of 8. The carbohydrate sources (sweet potatoes, potatoes, and dehydrated potatoes) provide enough energy. The ingredients look good. However, there’s one ingredient we’re a little worried about: sodium nitrite. It’s a carcinogenic ingredient. Also, some Natural Balance formulas contain grains that can cause allergic reactions in dogs. If your dog has food- based allergies, you’d be better off putting him on a grain- free diet. In conclusion, we consider Natural Balance dog food to be an above- average dog food brand, but we recommend checking out the ingredient list first before buying a bag. How would you rate Natural Balance? Our Alpha Grain- Free Dry Dog Food Formulas Review: There’s a Natural Balance product line called Alpha Grain- Free Dry Dog Food Formulas. As you may have figured, this is their grain- free product line. According to the website, “Alpha is a completely grain- free formula that uses grain- free carbohydrate sources like sweet potatoes to provide the energy your dog needs to thrive in his natural form.”If your dog is overweight, s/he needs to be put on a grain- free diet. Let’s see if the Alpha Chicken, Turkey Meal & Duck Dry Dog Formula would help give your dog a balanced nutrition. This formula contains 2. Those are good levels for dogs that need to lose weight. The first half of the ingredient list contains wholesome ingredients (like chicken, potatoes, duck, and lettuce), and the last half contains vitamins, acids, and sulfate. We’re pleased with the fact that each ingredient seems to serve a certain purpose, and that there are no fillers. It looks like this formula is a solid formula to feed your dog. Where can you buy Natural Balance dog food? Natural Balance dog food is available both online and at brick- and- mortar stores. If you visit Natural Balance’s website, you’ll see a store locator at the top of the page. Enter your zip code, and they’ll show you the closest retailers that carry Natural Balance dog food.
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