What Should Your Dog and Cat eat?

 Dogs have been man’s best friend and companion for approximately 130,000 years.  Yes, you read that right.DNA evidence suggests dogs were domesticated from wolves over 130,000 years ago. The incredible relationship between dog and humans has transcended cultural differences, crossed borders, and has remained intact through all the changes in society and tests of time. Yes, dogs are still our best friends (maybe cats are too)  and it’s comforting to know this is likely never going to change.  They are our guides, our companions, our soul mates, our workers, our confidantes, our family members, and their love and loyalty are endless.  Their love represents the true definition of “unconditional”. 

Because of this strong relationship and friendship, we continue to try to do the best we can for them.  We love them, walk them, pet them, groom them, exercise them, talk to them, play with them, show them off (post a great dog or cat photo on facebook or instagram and your photo can go viral).  Despite all of this attention to their needs, when it comes to making decisions about feeding our dogs, we easily get lost in the plethora of commercial foods and the advertising out there promoting these foods.

Over the past few decades, we have become a health and wellness obsessed society.  We have learned what foods and supplements are needed for every possible body change or issue.  Walk through any grocery or large superstore and you will see aisles of products and dietary options in many varieties for promoting our own health.   However, walk through the pet food aisle and that is where the variety ends.  Sure you will see many beautiful bags with bright colored and bold marketing slogans such as “All Natural”, “Complete and Holistic”, “Organic” , “Wellness”, etc.  Many of the packages have gorgeous healthy dogs shown as their models.   Who wouldn’t want their pet to look like that?   You will even see packages claiming their food is what our dog’s ancestors ate.  Really?  Take a look at any ingredient list and tell me that wolves found these same ingredients in their prey animals.  Most ingredient lists leave the consumer very confused and concerned. We end up wondering how much we really know about our dog’s nutritional needs.  

Thankfully, here is what we know to be true.  It is a fact that all animals can survive and thrive on the diet they were designed to eat.   We know that dogs and cats are carnivores and that they were designed to eat a very high protein diet of meats, bones, and organs. This is not a debate. That is how their digestive processes and dentition were designed.  We can look through the actual structure of their mouths,  teeth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine etc...and see that they were designed to eat meat and bones.  So why then did we feel the need to go against that and feed carbs and other ingredients that are actually harmful to dogs? 

The pet food industry is a $75 BILLION dollar industry.  That’s why.  There is nothing more to this than the profits these companies are raking in.   It is cheap to manufacture these dog and cat foods and let’s face it, the public is buying. The marketing works!Sadly,  this has led to many chronic illnesses we see in epidemic proportions today. Obesity, Diabetes, Cancer, Auto Immune, Arthritis….doggy odors, huge smelly stools, impacted anal glands, peridontal disease…..All come from being fed an inappropriate diet.  That’s right.  Dogs on a raw diet, as nature intended, do not suffer from these problems in most all cases.  

 Feeding a species appropriate diet is feeding your cat or dog how nature intended!  It’s actually a perfect design. In our Holistic Carnivore Nutrition course, we can show you how to feed, what to feed, and we will open your eyes to the pet food industry’s secrets. Exposing so many facts in the industry that they don’t want you to know. We will also shed light on why most vets do not recommend raw. Thankfully this is slowly beginning to change though as many holistic vets are now seeing the tremendous benefits to keeping their client’s pets healthy as opposed to having a revolving door of chronically sick animals and knowing they are in great part responsible. Also, we will address the many myths out there.  Did you know that the only dog food salmonella transmission to humans in this country was from kibble?  Yes.   True!   Raw food has never caused any salmonella issues. Learn the facts and you will change the way you look at your pet’s food.  Your pets will thank you. 

ENROLL IN A FREE TRIAL OF OUR CARNIVORE NUTRITION COURSE

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Jennifer Thackery has been active in the veterinary and equine nutrition arena for over 27 years. Working as a veterinary technician, teaching at the local business college in their veterinary assistant program and developing their accredited equine program and also teaching those classes along with small animal courses. She studied Naturopathy and Holistic Nutrition in graduate school long after her Bachelors Degree in Biology with an emphasis on pre-veterinary science. She also volunteered as the only local large animal humane agent for 9 years and she worked for the city as a small animal humane agent. Jen resides in northern Minnesota with her husband on a beautiful 40 acre farm along with their 4 horses, Caz (a little Lustiano rescue), Serene (an Andalusian rescue mare), Siroco (an Andalusian gelding) and Gio (Georgian Grande). They also love and care for 2 rescued Greyhounds, Smoke and Tris, a formerly feral kitty named Snickers and 2 guinea pigs.