Dogs and cats have been around for 38 million years, with the first human involvement noted around 8,500 years BC. Human impact then followed with Louis Pasteur's study of heat (cooking) removing bacteria from food and inventing pasteurization.
Our pets used to be quite healthy until commercial pet food was first manufactured in the 1850’s in England and introduced by Uncle Ben's to Australia in 1965. It is no coincidence that over the years that have followed, our pets have become sicker and sicker with diabetes, pancreatitis, dog breath, skin disease, failing hearts, kidneys and immune systems now very common.Unfortunately, today people are programmed to feed commercial pet food.They are under the misconstrued belief that commercial processed food offers a complete diet for different life stages of our pets.Commercial pet food is extremely convenient for us, easy to store, easy to purchase and easy to feed.
If your vet is strongly opposed to natural raw feeding I would suggest you find another vet.Unfortunately, most vets receive very little education on dogs or cats dietary requirements, other than what commercial dog food company representatives teach them. Breeders and vets receive generous kickbacks from promoting and selling a commercial diet and sadly it is the commercial diet that keeps their waiting rooms full.
Listed below are a couple of reasons why I will NEVER offer commercial pet food to my animals.
COOKED / HEAT TREATED
Destroys many vitamins necessary for good heath like the B Group Vitamins and Vitamin C and reduces the protein value.
Denatures protein, destroys enzymes.Enzymes in raw food have two very important functions:
1. They help with the digestion of food and they help slow the ageing process.If our pets are fed cooked food it forces the pancreas to work harder to produce more digestive enzymes to help digest the food, resulting in several diseases so commonly seen in our pets of today including pancreatitis and diabetes.
2. Destroys anti-oxidants.Anti-ageing factors called anti-oxidants are destroyed in the cooking process and therefore the food is less able to slow the degenerative diseases of old age, including cancer, kidney disease, heart disease, and arthritis.
Decreases digestibility and bio-availability: The body has to work hard to digest and little of the food is absorbed (usable to the body). IE: Huge amounts end up as smelly faeces in your backyard.
Sterile food: Low probiotic activity in the gut which is a result of much of the allergies seen in our pets of today.
Omega 3 Fatty Acids are lost but essential to the immune system, the result is an over-active immune system which is the cause of many reactions seen in our pets today. IE: Over reaction to flea bites/dermatitis.
BOWEL TOXAEMIA
Dogs have a short gut, therefore the remains of what is eaten for breakfast should be coming out of the body 6 - 8 hours later, as is the case with a raw food diet. Commercial or cooked sludge can take up to 18 hours to be removed from the body causing bowel toxaemia.
PERIODONTAL DISEASE
If dogs and cats are not fed raw meaty bones they are not able to brush and floss their teeth.The ripping, tearing and crunching necessary to consume a raw meaty bone washes, polishes and scrubs gums and teeth.95% of dogs fed a commercial diet will show signs of periodontal disease by the time they are 4 years old. Periodontal disease is not just a problem in the mouth; it has the potential to affect a number of vital organs in the body.Bacteria associated with periodontal disease can enter the bloodstream and cause serious problems such as affecting the valves of the heart, causing permanent damage leading to heart failure.Likewise bacteria can damage both the kidneys and the liver also resulting in failure.
PRESERVATIVES, ADDITIVES, COLOURINGS AND FLAVOURING
Commercial pet foods are full of ill health promoting colourings, flavourings and preservatives that can cause hypersensitivity reactions, allergies and skin problems at the very least!
HIGH IN CEREALS, GRAINS AND CARBOHYDRATES
Many processed pet food products are over 50% grain and cereal based. The large amounts of cereals and grains in commercial pet food are not chemically or physically suitable for dogs and cats that cannot digest whole grains. Carbohydrates in the diet are digestible if they are cracked or crushed, unprocessed, pre-fermented and make up a much smaller portion of the diet than the meat content, such as the gut content of prey.Large amounts of grains and carbohydrate in the diet are one of the biggest sources of allergies in dogs and cause numerous health problems like obesity, pancreatitis, skin problems, diabetes, dental problems, arthritis, bladder stones and cancer.
Dogs fed kibble instead of a raw natural diet will have their life expectancy reduced by 30%. Kibble typically contains 70% grain products.
EXCESSIVE SALT
Commercial pet food can contain 10 to 20 times more salt than our dogs and cats require.This is very harmful to our pets as it increases blood pressure and can lead to kidney and heart disease.
