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Posted By Bay Vets Editor
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Comments 1
We are discovering more and more about the benefits of fresh natural whole food and how important it is for our own long-term health. The same goes for our pets. We humans are omnivorous, which means our digestive tract evolved to process a variety of both plant and meat sources. In comparison dogs and cats are carnivorous. Which means they are specifically evolved to gain nutrition through the digestion of meat. Feeding pets a species appropriate diet means feeding them real food they are meant to eat from nature. Feeding a natural diet creates optimal health which means pets thrive and not just survive.
What I mean by “real food” is fresh meat (grass fed/organic/free range where possible) or fish, fresh bones, organ meats (liver, heart, kidney), fresh vegetables (spinach, sweet potato, carrots, celery, broccoli), herbs (parsley, mint) and some fruit (apples, pear, banana) and supplements (essential fatty acids).
It’s really important to know cats have different dietary requirements than dogs. Diets high in vegetable and carbohydrate ingredients provide little nutrition to cats. Cats are more carnivorous and therefore need more meat than dogs within a real food diet.
Benefits of feeding your pets a real food diet are:
- Increased energy levels
- Improvement in skin and coat condition
- Improvements in behaviour
- Better dental hygiene
- Improvement in muscle tone
- Improved digestion and less faeces
There is a difference in the proportion of food a pet requires when it comes to puppies and kittens compared to adult dogs and cats. Likewise in our senior pets the feeding proportion may differ. This is also true when pets are either ill or have a disease process occurring.
Please note, feeding your cat or dog raw meat only is not providing them with a nutritionally balanced diet and will result in disease if fed over time. The emphasis here is a real food diet is not just raw meat only.
There are many brands of dry pet food (kibble) on the market that claim to be natural, holistic and grain free. However dry food while having a very long shelf life, is also highly processed, high carbohydrate and devoid of any moisture. It does not have any living enzymes; this leads to inflammation and is the furthest from the natural diet for dogs and cats. Whilst I am aware feeding dry food is easy and convenient, in my opinion, it does not lead to optimal health for your pet.
There are now many real food options available. Real fresh food diets can be raw, home cooked or commercially produced.
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