Posts Tagged ‘Natural’

What is An All Natural Dog Food?

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

What’s on your mind when you consider an all natural dog food? Could it be a commercial dog food which has the word ‘natural’ on the packet? Could it be you think of cooking your own dog food from scratch? Do you consider table scraps to be the ideal diet?

Wrong! None of the above will address your dog’s health, Why not?

Well, the commercial dog food starts off with very low grade meat, mostly meat by-products (the better quality going for the higher priced human food), high fat and sometimes euthanased animals, which contain the chemical sodium pentobarbital. Then, to bulk out the already cheap ‘meat’, a non-nutritional filler is added. That can be sugar, as there’s a world glut of it at the moment, or melamine if you live in China.

Then, to keep the product indefinitely at room temperature a preservative is added.

When you see a packet of dried dog food in the shop, with the slogan ‘preservative free’ ask yourself this question – how can dried ‘meat’ be kept indefinitely at room temperature without preservatives? Do you think you wouldn’t have heard of a new way to do this, if there was?

So either there is no ‘meat’ or there is preservative present. Trouble is, the preservatives used are very strong, cause huge health problems and aren’t allowed in human food.

So commercial dog food can be crossed off as an all natural dog food!.

I see quite a lot of ‘dog experts’ on the internet advocating you cook your own dog food. Whilst that is hugely better than commercial pet food, it’s still missing the nutrients that are lost in cooking. Typically these are vitamins and enzymes, both essential for a healthy dog. But other nutrients are altered by cooking. Fat changes during the cooking process from a beneficial food to a harmful one.

So you can cross though this one too, as an all natural dog food.

What about table scraps? That depends so much on the table scraps. If the human food is a good, natural one of lots of raw fruit and veg, with lightly cooked meat, then these table scraps have the potential of being the best dog food out of all three options, as long as there is enough left over to satisfy your dog’s nutritional needs.

If, however, your diet is typically fast food with a lot of processed food, then these table scraps will be little better than the commercial dog food.

Yet another cross through.

There is only one all natural dog food and that’s the one dogs evolved on. Nothing that mankind has done has improved one iota on that. And considerable decline has occurred.

Dogs have evolved over millions of years on an all natural dog food and it keeps them happy and healthy.

Once you get to grips with the idea of how dogs evolved, duplicating that diet within the constraints of what is available and the limits on your time, is not that difficult. However, there are a few important things you need to know such as:

what food should not be given more than once a week should bones be given what carbohydrates are the best ones and how much are there any fruit or vegetables that shouldn’t be given what amino acid is essential to a dog’s healthy skin should you supplement the diet how do you convert the diet of an elderly or sick dog safely

When you change the diet of your dog from a commercial pet food to an all natural dog food, there may initially be a de-toxing period. This is normal and natural, but can seem a bit scary to you if you don’t understand why it’s happening and the symptoms. It should be of short duration, depending on your dog’s age and level of health.

Dogs digestion is robust. They have evolved on eating raw meat and carrion. They can’t cope with preservatives, fillers, high fat or low grade protein, none of which occurs (at least in high proportions) in nature.

Once you have your dog on an all natural dog food, you’ll find fewer and fewer health problems. I’m sure you’d be as happy as anyone, to cut your dog’s professional health fees.

Madeleine Innocent is a practicing homeopath, a specialised modality of natural health care. She treats both people and animals in her busy West Australian practice. Madeleine loves to spread the good work of homeopathy and other areas of natural health care and writes extensively on the subject.

For a complimentary ebook on how to have a healthy dog, starting today, visit http://naturallyhealthydogs.com or http://www.bestdoghealth.blogspot.com

Use These Simple Guidelines to Choose the Best All Natural Dog Foods

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

Because dog foods are bought by people, dog food suppliers market to the ideas dog owners have about their dogs likes. This explains why dog foods come in different shapes and colors, with or without gravy, dry or moist, etc. Dogs do not need any of these things for the best all natural dog foods. Isn’t it interesting that pet owners spend around $13 billion annually for pet food which the majority of these dog foods are not all natural dog foods that give your dog optimum health.

Consumers Digest reported several years ago, “Few foods are so liberally laced with artificial flavors as pet foods” they also quoted sources that basically said that the only way they can get pets to eat the poor quality food is by adding phony flavors.

Would you choose artificial, poor quality for ingredients in your dog foods or would you rather choose dog foods that are all natural dog foods for your dog?

A carnivore’s system is designed to eat raw meat, one animal at a time. Your dog should digest its meal and be eliminated before any putrefaction begins. A dog’s digestive system is highly acidic, or at least it should be. Only raw meat stimulates a highly acidic system that is designed to kill unfriendly bacteria.

Ingredients in the Best All Natural Dog Foods

You will find the best all natural dog foods consist of approximately 75% organic, all natural raw meat. This can consist of beef, whole chicken or turkey wings, necks and backs as long as they are raw and fresh. When bones are old or cooked they become brittle and splinter.

The best all natural dog foods are also around 25% vegetables. This does not mean give your dog a whole, raw carrot. In the wild your dog would get these vegetable requirements from the predigested vegetables in the animal’s stomach and intestines. You can add organic vegetables to your all natural dog foods by grating them, chopping finely (like what you would find in a rabbit’s stomach) or run through a blender, food chopper or food processor.

In the wild a dog would get the water they needed from their prey, so the all natural dog foods you give your dog should be the consistency of a thick stew. The moisture content of dog foods also has an effect on maintaining healthy kidneys and bladder in your dog. Many pet owners report their dog cutting down on water consumption when being fed these types of all natural dog foods.

Most of the minerals must come in the form of supplementation today. Calcium is very important in the best all natural dog foods. Bone meal is not an acceptable source of calcium for your all natural dog foods because bones store toxins and heavy metals like lead or even mad cow disease. The other reason is the calcium to phosphorous ratio. Pets need a 2:1 ratio between calcium and phosphorus. That is, for every 2 parts of calcium in the food, there should be 1 part phosphorus. As an example, if the food contains 2 grams of calcium, the food should contain 1 gram of phosphorus. Meat is naturally low in calcium and high in phosphorus. Bone meal is not only a source of calcium, but bone meal is also a source of phosphorus, so using bone meal reverses the 2:1 ratio so that perhaps your dog’s body has a 1:3 ratio or 1 part calcium to 3 parts phosphorus. This imbalance could cause your dog health problems.

Finely ground raw egg shells are the best choice for calcium supplementation in the best all natural dog foods. They contain virtually no phosphorus and are extremely high in calcium plus they are affordable and lightweight. The best all natural dog foods will use approximately 1 tsp. finely ground raw egg shells or about 8 large eggs for every pound of meat. Raw eggs are an excellent source of meat and affordable.
Digestive enzyme supplementation are also a good ingredient in the best all natural dog foods. The four most commonly used enzymes in the best all natural dog foods are amylase that helps with the digestion of carbohydrates, protease which helps with the digestion of protein, lipase that helps with the digestion of fats and cellulase for the digestion of vegetables.

Nutritive herbs provide a blend of vital nutrients that are essential in the best all natural dog foods. Alfalfa which is an Arabic word meaning “mother of all foods, dandelion leaf, nettle, and kelp are ingredients in the best all natural dog foods. These herbs can be found in various green food powder supplements from health food stores.

The combination of these herbs in the best all natural dog foods provide such nutrients as biotin, bioflavanoids, calcium, magnesium, folic acid, iodine, iron, potassium, linolenic acid, niacin, potash, sulfur, zinc, vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, B12, C and E. These herbs also aid in the assimilation of protein, fats and carbohydrates plus are an excellent blood purifier. They also aid the body to help detoxify the liver, clean the colon and keep the thyroid working.

Using these simple guidelines you can choose which are the best all natural dog foods to buy or how to make the best all natural dog foods available so your dog can enjoy optimum health.

Sherrie Chastain Health and Beauty Consultant Best All Natural Dog Foods Helping People Find Health and Happiness in their Lives for 25 years