The pet food industry would have you believe that providing an balanced diet for your dog is more difficult than landing a man on the moon. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Feeding your pet is the same as feeding your family. BALANCE OVER TIME THOUGH FEEDING A VARIETY OF FOOD STUFFS.
A healthy dog should be able to eat a varying diet. Just think about canines in the wild, most are scavengers, eating the left overs of other more skilled hunters. These left overs are often less than fresh and hardly appealing to our human sensibilities, but it is manna from heaven for a dog.
Don’t believe for a minute that dogs are delicate beings incapable of digesting anything that doesn’t come in a dog food package. A HEALTHY DOG SHOULD BE ABLE TO EAT A WIDE VARIETY OF FOOD WITHOUT STOMACH UPSET. If your pet has recurring stomach upset following “dietary indiscretion” it is not healthy and no amount of metronidazole (a drug commonly prescribed for diarrhea)will make him healthy. A natural approach to health care guided by a trained veterinary homeopath(www.theavh.org) is the true path to long lasting health for your pet.
I am a proponent of raw feeding. This is the best choice when it comes to feeding a dog or cat. The basics recipe for a raw food canine diet is:
- 75% RAW MEAT (with up to 20% organ meat)
- 25% STEAMED AND MASHED VEGGIES
- CALCIUM SUPPLEMENT (bone meal or eggshellent)
It really is that simple. Change protein and veggie sources with each batch of raw food that you prepare and the body will balance itself. You can make up a large batch and freeze in single serving portions.
For more information on raw feeding or BARF (biologically active raw feeding) visit the following sites:
What if Raw feeding is not for you? That’s okay too. Although raw is the best, their are other options. High quality holistic canned diets are another good choice. Once again variety is the spice of life, so, offer a variety of protein sources and flavors. There are many good brands currently on the market and it is a matter of finding the one that works best for your individual pet. The Whole Dog Journal publishes a list of the best pet foods each year. It is an excellent source for information on canned and kibbled foods.
Kibbled diets have been popularized by pet food companies because they are economical and convenient. Even I feed kibble on occasion when life gets in the way of my well laid plans to prepare dog food over the weekend. Everything in moderation. Kibble should never compromise the majority of your dog’s diet. Animals are not made to eat dry pellets of “food”. Even the highest quality protein suffers irrepairable damage when it is cooked at high temperatures and extruded at high pressures to produce a pellet. The food just isn’t as nutritious as it was in it’s natural form. When you think about it, it really makes no sense that a living being can eat the same exact food day in and day out and obtain all the nutrients it needs to be healthy. So, if you must feed kibble, try to add in some “real” food on at least a twice weekly basis. This is where I say the dreaded word ‘TABLE SCRAPS”. I can see you cringing. There is nothing wrong with select table scraps. Eggs, lean meats and cooked veggies are all fine to feed to your dog.
Did you know that before WWII most animals were fed from the table? Once again, if your dog develops gastric distress when fed novel foods, IT IS NOT HEALTHY!
ALL DIET CHANGES SHOULD BE APPROACHED SLOWLY, ADDING NO MORE THAN 25% NEW FOOD EACH WEEK UNTIL CHANGE IS COMPLETE.
FEEDING CATS
The above rules pretty much apply to cats with the exception of Kibble. Cats simply should never be fed a kibbled diet. Why? Cats are not designed by nature to drink water. The are designed to eat a fresh prey based diet which not only contains large amounts of protein, but also large amounts of moisture. Cats are meant to meet their daily water requirement through the consumption of moist foods. Feeding a kibbled diet, leaves a cat marginally dehydrated, putting excess strain on the kidneys and leading to what the Chinese call internal heat and dryness. Internal heat will manifest as hyperthyroid disease. So many of the gastro intestinal problems that cat face can easily be corrected simply by feeding a diet that is close to nature.
www.felinefuture.com has a wealth of information on feline nutrition and is a must visit site for all lovers of cats.
Hi this blog is great I will be recommending it to friends.
4 ounces would be too much. Generally, for one so young, 1 ounce divided into 8-10 feeding should be plenty