Eagle-Eye K-9
Why Feed Raw?
More and more professionals in the world of dogs and cats (breeders, veterinarians, breed ring handlers,
sport competitors) are advocating a second look at what we fed our animals. Why? Because there is a
growing assurance that dogs and cats need a raw, natural diet in order to be healthy, and that most
commercial pet foods cannot supply the nutrients necessary for good health and long lives.
What should Carnivores Eat?
Proper nutrition is vital to good health. In nature, it is live foods that truly nourish animals. If your animals
are to thrive, they need the live enzymes, phytochemicals, antioxidants, and unadulterated amino acids,
vitamins and minerals that only raw food can provide. While commercial pet foods are convenient, most
contain sub-standard or condemned meats. And because they are also highly processed at extreme
temperatures, they are devoid of many of the building blocks of good health, and often full of questionable
preservatives. So, commercial pet foods may sustain life, but unlike raw diets, they do not contain the
life-enhancing nutrition that promotes health.
Cats and Dogs Are Carnivores
Cats and dogs are carnivores, or meat-eaters. Yet, ALL dry commercial pet foods are at least 60% (or
more) grain because the carbohydrates are needed to hold the processed food together. Yet dogs and
cats have “no dietary requirements for carbohydrate” the Merck Veterinary Manual (8th ed., pg 1628).
Does it make sense to feed carnivores a diet that contains at least 60% of a substance they don’t even
need? In addition, carbohydrates are metabolized by the body into glucose (sugar) which is felt to
promote cancers, diabetes and many other disorders that now plague our companion animals. If grains
and vegetables were a primary nutrient source, you’d see cats and dogs stalking heads of wheat or ears
of corn.
Are Raw Diets Safe?
Dogs and cats are NOT humans. They have a very different digestive tract and food processing
mechanisms. For example, we could eat all the onion we want without harm, but some dogs can get
anemic from a single, small portion of them. We can also eat a pound of baker’s chocolate and merely
get fat or nauseous, while dogs can die from even a lesser amount. As humans we can get very sick
from eating raw meat, yet while dogs can thrive on it as their primary natural diet. Again, they are NOT
human.
Compared to humans, dogs and cats have a very short digestive system, which means that foods are
processed quickly – long before harmful bacteria have a chance to multiply and cause problems.
Additionally, carnivores have a very high acidity level in their digestive tract. This high acidity, which
enables them to easily break down the nutrients in raw meats and bones, is also hostile to most bacteria.
We’ve all seen dogs eat true garbage (rotten foods, decaying squirrel carcasses, etc.) without any ill
effects. Nature did not evolve carnivores to eat a diet that would kill them. Yet we aren’t suggesting you
feed spoiled or contaminated foods; a raw food diet consists of good quality, USDA-Inspected and
approved meats, organs and bones.
Protect the Health of Your Animals with a diet designed by nature
A high-quality, raw food diet can provide the nutrients that will help insure that your animals lead a long
and healthy life. Some animals with existing health problems such as; allergies, skin dryness, poor
quality coats and discolored teeth, when switched to a raw food diet, likely experience an improvement in
their conditions. Already healthy animals placed on a raw diet are likely to avoid some of the illnesses
that are now becoming common in our companion animals. Lifetime picky eaters, when given the diet
designed by nature, may suddenly turn into chow hounds. Raw diets for almost every animal significantly
reduce, or even eliminate the need for common veterinary dental work such as tartar and discolored
teeth. While you are spared the cost of that dental work, additionally your animal will not be subject to the
risks of the associated anesthesia.
7319 South 2050 East - South Weber, Utah 84405-7734 - Office (801) 476-9457 - (801) 710-1633 cell
Eagle-Eye K-9
To Feed or Not to Feed … Grains
The following is a reprint from HEALTHY PETS
By Russell Swift, DVM
At the recent American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association Conference, I discovered that I am not the
only one questioning the use of grains in commercial and home-prepared pet foods. Grains, such as
oats, wheat, rice, barley, etc., are composed mostly of complex carbohydrates. They also contain some
protein, fiber B-vitamins and trace minerals.
However, they are NOT part of the natural diet of wild dogs and cats. In the true natural setting, grains
hardly exist at all. Wild grains are much smaller than our hybridized domestic varieties. This means that
even a mouse of other prey animal is not going to find much of its nutrition from grains. Therefore, the
argument that ‘dogs and cats eat animals that have grains in their digestive tracts’ doesn’t hold up to
scrutiny. Prey animals that live near farms or other ‘civilized’ areas are likely to have access to grains.
This is not a truly wild diet.
What other clues do we have that grains are not necessary for carnivores?
1) Dogs and cats do not have dietary requirements for complex carbohydrates.
2) Grains must be cooked or sprouted and thoroughly chewed to be digested. Carnivores do not
chew much at all.
3) The other nutrients in grains are readily available from other dietary ingredients. For example,
B-vitamins found in organ meats and trace minerals come from bones and vegetables.
(Unfortunately, modern farming has striped many trace minerals from produce and
supplementation is usually best.)
Why have grains become so ‘ingrained’ in pet feeding? To the best of my knowledge, grains were
mainly introduced by the pet food industry. The high carbohydrate content provides CHEAP calories.
In addition, grains assist in binding ingredients. We have become so used to feeding grains to dogs
and cats that most of us get nervous when we decide not to use them. I know people who have been
‘grain-free’ feeding and doing very well. My own cat is one example.
What are the negative effects? I believe that carnivores cannot maintain long-term production of the
quantity of amylase enzyme necessary to properly digest and utilize the carbohydrates. In addition,
the proteins in grains are less digestible than animal proteins. As a result, the immune system
becomes irritated and weakened by the invasion of foreign, non-nutritive protein and carbohydrate
particles. Allergies and other chronic immune problems may develop. The pet’s pancreas will do its
best to keep up with the demand for amylase. What does this pancreatic stress do over a long time?
I don’t know, but it cannot be good. I suspect that dental calculus may be another problem promoted
by grain consumption.
Currently, I am making grains optional in my general feeding recipes. I am going ‘grain less’ in more
pets as I explore this area. I recommend trying to feed without grains if your pet is not improving on
your current protocol.
Note: Our 11-year old German Shepherd developed Enzymatic Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI) at age 3.
Before a confirmed diagnosis of the problem she had been slowly starving to death regardless of the
amount of kibble we fed her; losing more than 10% of her body weight. Since that time we have been
required to add pharmaceutical enzymes extracted from swine pancreas to her food. The food then must
set for 20-minutes allowing the supplemental enzymes begin the process of digesting her meals. We
strongly feel the kibble diets we naively fed back then were essentially responsible for the breakdown of
her pancreas’ functions. - dl
7319 South 2050 East - South Weber, Utah 84405-7734 - Office (801) 476-9457 - (801) 710-1633 cell
Eagle-Eye K-9
What should we feed our dogs
When deciding what to feed our dogs we must consider their evolutionary path. Evidence has shown
domestic dogs (canis lupus familaris) are directly descended from the Wolf (canis lupus). Humans have
bred for temperament, working ability, and appearance. Genetically these qualities are known as
phenotypes. We have not however, changed their genotypes, or those qualities that make the dog,
canine.
Canines belong to the order carnivore. They are Carnivores with simple digestive systems, and while
wolves and dogs are opportunistic feeders (when prey is not available, they scavenge anything they can,
including insects, wild fruit, old kills, grasses, tree bark, and feces of other animals.) they are not true
omnivores. Their jaws move in only one plane and their teeth have thin enamel. They were not meant to
grind raw grain and cellulose into a digestible form but rather to rip and tear flesh and crush and break
bones. Their saliva contains no enzymes to aid digestion, but acts as a lubricant when swallowing large
pieces of flesh and bone.
They occasionally eat the contents of their preys’ digestive systems but it is predigested by the herbivore
and is composed of leaves and grass not grain and vegetables. They produce their glycogen from
glycogenic precursors present in animal protein, fat and bone. They produce both omega-3 and omega-6
fatty acids from leolinic acid present in animal fat.
Also the percentage of plant material to meat, bones and internal organs is very small. Certainly much
smaller than the ratio of grain/vegetables to animal protein present in most commercial dry dogs foods. It
is important to remember grains and vegetable products were added to dog foods to reduce the foods
cost and facilitate its manufacture. The higher the percentage of non-animal protein in any dog food the
cheaper it is to produce. It is not possible to produce dry dog food, both kibble and pellets unless grains
and vegetables are added as binders.
Wild canines are very adaptable which has enabled them to survive throughout the centuries in varied
ecosystems. It is one reason they have been able to live with humans. Because we have accepted
canines into our lives we must accept the responsibility for their nourishment.
The question is this: Do we give our canines their genetically preferred food … raw meat, fat and
bones, or an artificial mix of cooked food products which the pseudo-science of dog food companies tells
us our dogs need? We humans have abandoned our ancestral diets in favor of a more convenient, highly
processed one and are paying the price, suffering a multitude of life-style diseases. We believe we must
not impose this fate upon our dogs.
Humans have changed the appearance of the domestic dog but not their digestive systems. We have not
produced a dog with teeth to chew grass into a pulp or multiple stomachs to digest cellulose like a bovine.
Cooked pet food was developed, not for the health of our companion animals, but for profit; as a great
way to sell the by-products of the human food industry and for the convenience of pet owners.
So what should we feed our dogs?
What they can exist on? - cooked meats, grains, vegetables, mill by-products, pseudo-tasty gravy, and
cellulose?
Or what they flourish on? - raw meat, raw bones, raw fruit and raw eggs? The benefactors of this
knowledge have been captive Canines in zoos across the country. Now your pet can join this elite group.
7319 South 2050 East - South Weber, Utah 84405-7734 - Office (801) 476-9457 - (801) 710-1633 cell