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By Steve Brown and Beth Taylor
Dogs and cats are designed by nature to be primarily meat eaters.
Dogs are scavengers. Their diet included almost any food that provided
calories -- but rarely grain. A major factor in the domestication
of dogs was the food available at the human garbage dump. The "tamer"
wolves, those least afraid of humans, over a period of tens of thousands
of years, became our close companions.
According to a recent study by biologists Ray and Lorna Coppinger,
the natural diet of dogs included, "Bones, pieces of carcass,
rotten greens and fruit, fish guts, discarded seeds and grains,
animal guts and heads, some discarded human food and wastes."(1)
However, cats are more selective about food by nature and anatomy.
Their ancestral diet consisted of small rodents. Their usefulness
to humans had much to do with their eagerness to dispatch the rodents
so plentiful around human habitats.
Almost No Grains
The natural diet of both species includes high levels of protein,
fats and water, and very little carbohydrates. The "recommended"
diet of dry foods, which is the diet of most cats and dogs, is the
complete opposite of this natural diet: High in carbohydrate, low
in protein, fat, and with almost no water.
Dogs and cats do not need carbohydrates, and most veterinary textbooks
agree:
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Canine and Feline Nutrition "The fact that dogs and cats
do not require carbohydrate is immaterial because the nutrient
content of most commercial foods include (carbohydrates).(2)
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Small Animal Clinical Nutrition III, written by the founder
of Science Diet (Mark Morris Sr.) and his son (Mark Morris Jr.):
"Some question exists regarding the need of dogs and cats
for dietary carbohydrate. From a practical sense, the answer
to this question is of little importance because there are carbohydrates
in most food ingredients used in commercially prepared dog foods."(3)
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The Waltham Book of Companion Animal Nutrition: "There
is no known minimum dietary requirement for carbohydrate..."(4)
For more details, see our book, See
Spot Live Longer.
More Grains, More Insulin, More Inflammation
A highly processed, grain-based diet fed to an animal designed
to thrive on a meat-based, fresh food diet is very likely to produce
symptoms of ill health over time. Diets to address disease most
frequently deal with the symptoms that are the result of a lifetime
of inappropriate food, not the true cause of their symptoms. The
optimum diet for a dog or a cat should closely resemble their natural
diet.
A diet balanced heavily toward grain promotes insulin production
and the production of inflammatory chemicals. Over-production of
insulin makes it hard for the body to maintain its correct weight,
and can lead to diabetes and other problems. An overabundance of
inflammatory chemicals means more aches and pains.
Improve the balance of your dog's diet by reducing grain, and you
may not need the dangerous non-steroidal and steroid drugs so commonly
prescribed for dogs. Readers who follow Dr.
Mercola's Total Health Program will agree eating fewer grains
means less inflammation! Toxic drugs certainly make animals more
comfortable, but will shorten their lives too.
A word of caution: Diabetic animals or any other medical condition
making a switch to a more protein-based diet should be under the
close supervision of a veterinarian.
Making the Switch to Meat
We believe the best diet for a dog or cat is a fresh, raw meat,
bone and vegetable diet. Still, we may not always follow that advice
due to financial constraints. Understanding that every step helps,
we hope these suggestions will help you to move toward that goal.
Add meat to promote your pet's health: As you add meat to your
pet's diet, at the same time, reduce the grain content of your pet's
diet.
Add up to 15 percent fresh meat, raw or cooked: This increases
the protein and reduces the carbohydrate content of the pet's food,
but will not unbalance the levels of any essential nutrient in your
animal's diet.
Also, ensure the meat scraps you're adding are mostly meat! Your
doggie bag is likely to have much more fat in it than meat. Fat
is a very important nutrient but one that needs to be kept in balance.
Every fat gram provides double the calories of a gram of protein
or carbohydrate.
Avoid senior, lite and diet foods: These varieties usually have
fewer calories per cup because manufacturers have increased the
fiber and carbohydrates and reduced protein and fat, compared to
adult maintenance diets. This is the opposite of what they really
need, and has no scientific foundation. Older and overweight pets
need meat, not grains.
Add canned food: Good canned food has no grains, and has more protein
and fat than dry pet foods. Two good choices we recommend are Nature's
Variety and Wellness. "Complete and balanced" canned diets
may be fed as an animal's sole diet.
For cats, we highly recommend switching all the way. Cats should
not eat dry foods. Urinary tract problems and kidney failure in
cats have been closely related to dietary water, which has a different
effect on their bodies than the "real" water an animal
drinks. It's much better for the cat to eat her food with the water
in it!
Add a commercially prepared frozen raw diet: As with canned foods,
if these are "complete," they can replace all other food
fed to your animals.
Research proper homemade meat, bone and vegetable diets and supplement
with good dry food to cut cost: Homemade foods can be nutritious
and affordable, but must be made correctly. (We'll write more about
this in a future article.) This option provides the protein and
fat our pets need, reduces the amount of grain they eat, and is
affordable by most people.
Feeding your pet a meat- and vegetable-based diet is clearly the
best choice to protect and optimize their health. By following these
simple recommendations, you will radically reduce the deadly toxins
your dog encounters. Read more of our recommendations in See Spot
Live Longer.
May your Spot live a long, healthy life!
Please feel free to get in touch with Steve
and Beth for more information.
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