Pets, Protein, Dry Food and Disease

re: Pets, Protein, Dry Food and Disease

Prissy100 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:58:49 GMT

I feed my cat raw beef and leftover cooked chicken whenever I make it for our family. She adores the raw beef the most, more then any canned cat food. When I give it to her now I pretend like I'm giving her a mouse, hee...hee.

Why don't they make mouse cat food?

re: Pets, Protein, Dry Food and Disease

dodgerzdad — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:17:08 GMT

Qoute:

There are the two major problems with an entirely dry food diet.

1. Protein quality

2. Moisture content

I don't even consider dry food, or kibble, as real food. It doesn't even resemble food. This stuff was created in the 1950's purely out of a need for convenience. What you swap for convenience is nutritional adequacy. Can you imagine feeding your kids or yourself the same breakfast cereal three times a day everyday for the rest of your life?

Another problem with dry food that Dr. Becker didn't mention is the high carbohydrate content. Is it any wonder there are so many pets plagued with obesity and diabetes? Cats and dogs primarily need protein, and when they don't get enough, they keep eating and eating until they do. Unfortunately, if they have free access to bowls full of dry food, that means consuming excess carbohydrates. Dry food needs some kind of added starch to keep it bound together. To say a dry food has no grains is a misconception because what is used instead to bind the ingredients together is a substitute starch such as potatoes, tapioca or soy. In other words, dry food, unless it is freeze-dried raw, will always require some kind of starchy carbohydrate. Ideally, a cat or dog food should contain no more than 5% carbohydrate.

Another downfall of dry food is that people tend to feed it to their pets exclusively. There is no need to have every single meal be perfectly nutritionally "balanced". We as humans do not eat perfectly balanced meals every time we sit down to eat. The trick is to vary the diet with a few different protein sources.

Canned foods are superior to kibble, but the problem here is that even the "premium" brands contain all sorts of "mystery" and unnecessary ingredients. One such ingredient that is widespread in all but a handful of canned varieties is carrageenan, a red seaweed extract. This can cause intestinal distress in cats. Commercial raw food does not have this problem. Thanks. Mike at www.dodgerzden.com

re: Pets, Protein, Dry Food and Disease

kimw_203 — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:53:57 GMT

Great story but how does one go about this diet for our pets? We need exact information.

re: Pets, Protein, Dry Food and Disease

CorshamCrusader — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 11:38:40 GMT

Could someone please tell me exactly what raw food i should be feeding my 11 year old Staffie, she has been on James Wellbeloved kibble all her life and i would like to start feeding her raw food but don't know what food or the amount i should feed her. please help

re: Pets, Protein, Dry Food and Disease

darohrer — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:23:38 GMT

Question for Dr. Becker: My cat has urinary tract issues. He sometimes pees in other places instead of his litter box. I feed him 1/4 dry Urinary SO dry cat food (prescription food from the vet) twice a day. Should I be feeding him the Urinary SO canned food instead? Will this help his urinary issues? Domino is 5 years old and about 15-16 pounds (overweight - I know). Can you tell me what I should feed him?

re: Pets, Protein, Dry Food and Disease

clarebear — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 02:35:13 GMT

I had a problem with one of my cats being overweight and constantly stealing food from her thin brother, hungry all of the time, and with terribly itchy skin, scabs covering her body from scratching. The vet gave me some prednisone for her 2 different times with only slight, temporary improvement. The last bottle I see in the cupboard is from march 2007. I read a book by a vet, whose name I can't remember, who talked about raw food being best. So far I have managed to switch them both to Friskies canned food with no less than 11% listed for protein on the label and her weight problems completely disappeared, scratching and scabs gone 98%. My next mission is to gradually get them onto raw food. I have just copied down a recipe from above and will try it out gradually and hope to give them a healthier future. They are both 9 1/2 years old now. I haven't had success with raw foods I have tried in the past but will attempt to mix in with familiar canned a little at a time and see how it goes. Wish me luck.

re: Pets, Protein, Dry Food and Disease

savannahcat — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:47:25 GMT

As a faw feeder of many, many years I must agree with this article. I also do rescue so over the last 5 years I have had experience with hundreds of cats and feeding a raw diet. I also do dog rescue though not nearly as many, maybe on average of 2 per month. They too get a raw diet while they are with me. Dogs I have found to be easier to switch. Aside from toy breeds, dogs can be withheld food from until they "give in" to the dietary change. A dog will NOT starve itself to death. It WILL eventually eat what its given. You just have to hold strong and keep trying. The longest I had a dog hold out was 5 days. That was my dads very spoiled and very fat dog. At teh end of the 30 days he spent with me he was fully converted to a raw diet of various meats and bones and organs (he LOVES stinky tripe!). 3 years later my dad still has him on a raw diet and is quick to tell his friends and co-workers of the benefits. Hes actually more of a "raw advocate" that I am! haha! He loves his dog tremendously (somethings I had thought me then me! j/k) and after he saw the difference the diet made in his older dog, he regrets not doing it sooner. Alex, my dads large, german shep dog is going on 14 years and he looks better then he did 3 years ago. He had begun showing arthritic problems and general fatigue (old age?! as the vet put it) symptoms. My dad is thrilled at how Alex now hops around like a pup and all of his "old age" symptoms vanished.

Anyhow, here are some good websites for those who need more info on raw feeding. None are commercial sites, and none are selling any products. They have been created by concerned pet owners who want to share knowledge.

http://rawfedcats.org/

www.rawfed.com/.../index.html

http://rawfeddogs.net/

hubpages.com/.../Ferrets-on-Raw-diet

Best,

Michelle Rossi

Crescent City Animal Shelter

re: Pets, Protein, Dry Food and Disease

tailwagger1 — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 09:01:38 GMT

I began feeding my 2 female cats a raw diet about 2 months ago & let me tell you my older kitty (Gelsomina is 10 yrs old) has really put on the lbs...

She is getting the same amount of food as my younger kitty (Mia who is 2 yrs old).

Both kitties went from eating both canned & dry of Wellness & Evo (both no grain foods) to 1-2 tablespoons of a raw (dehydrated) food called "Prowl" (from thehonestkitchen.com ) along w/a tablespoon of raw Nature's Variety (cat).

Why the increase in weight w/my older cat??

The cats only eat once per day.

Is the fat content higher in raw foods??

I'd hate to have to cut her portions back since she's not getting that much anyway..

re: Pets, Protein, Dry Food and Disease

GRH — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:08:01 GMT

Hello everyone,

My posts so far have been inquiring about the best "commercial" dog foods for overall health and longevity for my mixed breed lab/beagle/shepard/etc. mixed dog. She is a medium sized dog and kept inside 90% of the time. I went to the local pet mart today and shopped for quality dry and canned foods. I came up with the following:

I had already been feeding her Iams Healthy Naturals (dry) for the past year or so. She is pretty healthy, although she does shed pretty badly during the winter and first part of the spring. Also, I give her vitamin supplements about every other day.

Today I bought 3 kinds of CANNED foods. #1.. "Merrick" brand, Harvest Moon, with Duck, Pheasant, Quail, Sweet Potatoes, Green Beans, & Minnesota Wild Rice.

#2..."Merrick" brand, Venison Holiday Stew, with Venison, Red Jacket New Potatoes, Carrots, Zucchini, Sugar Peas, and Red Apples.

And #3..."Merrick" brand, Wild Buffalo Grill, with Wild Buffalo, Cracked Pearled Barley, Zucchini, Carrots, Snow Peas, & Fuji Apples.

Can anyone tell me if these canned foods, brand and ingredients, are good quality nutrition for my dog?

Also, should my dog has only been fed DRY food for her entire life. Should I introduce the canned food slowly, like maybe a tablespoonful at a time? Or would it be okay to give her more? I don't want her to, all of a sudden, get diarrhea from suddenly having "wet" food instead of the dry she has had her whole life!

Any advice is much appreciated.

Thanks!

Gary :)

re: Pets, Protein, Dry Food and Disease

Dr. Randy — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:22:13 GMT

"Wild animals also avoid many of the degenerative health issues that plague our current domestic pet population."

Wild animals do not live long enough to suffer degenerative health issues. There are no truly "elderly" animals in the wild.

A domestic dog or cat has the genetic potential to live to 25-30 years. I know two cats that are 32 years old (litter mates) and still going strongly. They are, however, indoor cats with nutritional food (even though it's mainly dry), plenty of clean water, no predators and no prey trying to fight them off. They don't suffer injuries like the do in the wild and when they have a problem, they get veterinary care.

To compare pets to wild animals is like comparing humans to Neanderthals. There are similarities, but it stops there. There is no one perfect food and feeding an animal a RAW or BARF diet can lead to nutritional deficiencies. Animals don't eat just muscle meat in the wild. They also eat organ meat, bones, and stomach and intestinal contents. Raw food diets do not provide this.

re: Pets, Protein, Dry Food and Disease

gretagarbosmom — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:40:38 GMT

Dr. Becker, Thank you very much for the time and energy you are giving to healthy pets.

I listened to the video on Pets and Protein as well as Healthy Bladder. I felt like you were cut off on the bladder one, just as you got to the food suggestions. So... here is my story and questions.

Our min. Schnauzer, Greta Garbo, is about 6 yrs. (a shelter dog we've had 2.5 yrs.) She was put on Royal Canin SO14 1.5 yrs ago for Struvite crystals and inflammation. No problems since then, but we took her off of everything else as well. No treats, biscuits, chews, nada. We were buying cheapies, so who knows how many ways we were contributing to the problem. Also, she ws on Science Diet at the time. After listening to you, I am feeling terrible. We want to replace the SO14 and feed her in such a way that she will be healthy and happy. As I said, I felt like the video stopped just short of you addressing the food dilemma, as you were just addressing the prescription diets. Do you recommend something specific to get her off of SO 14, but not cause the crystal problem to return? My husband does not want to prepare raw diets ourselves, and exclusively. But we are willing to supplement. Can you recommend a canned food to use that will not cause the Struvite problem again? Also, What can we give her raw that will not cause bladder problems, or even support that system? She is not very active, but maybe she will be if she gets the right food. My main concern is to change without flairing up the crystals again.

I have been researching for 3 days and have come up with Wellness Core Reduced Fat Dry (which we would wet or add the canned. I can buy the Wellness locally rather than online. "Prime" brand is the only frozen/raw I can get locally.

I found Wysong Archetype Burgers - for supplement - as well as Steve's nuggets or medallions. I'm pretty sure I'll have to order online.

Again, thank you so very much, Patty Shields, Norman, OK.

re: Pets, Protein, Dry Food and Disease

BarbaraRowan — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:38:40 GMT

After having a dog put down because of diabetes-related disease I did my research and found the raw meaty bone diet to be the way to go for my next dog, a german shepherd. I now have a neighbor who's 10-year old dog is going the way of my first dog...losing eye sight and hearing and having little tremors which I discovered were low blood sugar (I had him for a weekend so I did a few tests on him to see what made the tremors stop) He eats Iams!.

I have a cat whic I would like to switch to raw but before I do I would like to put her on canned food and would like a recommendation on which one to use. There are no recommendations on this site but if someone could email me privately as to what they use, yipee!

re: Pets, Protein, Dry Food and Disease

Centipede — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:24:38 GMT

Thanks. Great and thorough presentation. Lots of good information. For several years I was going the cheap route in feeding my cats and not realizing what terrible non-nutritive crud I was giving them. Bad human!! Not until I developed diabetes myself did I wake up to the inappropriateness of serving dry high carbohydrate food. Now I give them good, unpreserved canned cat food and they love it!

re: Pets, Protein, Dry Food and Disease

GRH — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 09:09:04 GMT

swinn,

Thanks very much for the info. I checked out the website you provided and it gives a number of suggestions as to what ingredients to look for in dog foods that are essential for good health. I love my dog and am willing to go the extra mile to ensure she remains healthy and with me for many years to come. But it appears that to find the dog foods with all the ingredients they list for optimal health one would spend hours or days perusing labels of perhaps 100s of different foods that are out there to find the best ones. What I was wondering is whether or not someone could suggest a commercial BRAND dog food that contains the best ingredients already assembled in one bag, can, or pouch? Can anyone suggest such a brand?

Thanks.

re: Pets, Protein, Dry Food and Disease

sagebynature — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:25:32 GMT

Two great books for easy recipes are The Nature of Animal Healing by Dr. Martin Goldstein and Natural Health For Dogs and Cats by Dr. Richard Pitcairn, both published in the 1990's. I believe that they have stood the test of time, and they are both written by pioneering veterinarians.