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What
should I feed my pet for best health?
Aim for the Ideal
Diet decisions are not a matter of right or wrong. If you
understand what is ideal, you can then create a feeding program
that will help move your pet closer to the healthiest diet
options. In general, the more real food your dog eats, the
healthier they will be.
The
chart below outlines how our feeding choices for our pets
(companion carnivores) can affect their health. The closer
to the upper level choices, the better the chance for optimal
health. You will likely be in the middle ranges most of the
time. That is fine, as long as you always press toward the
ideal.
Ideal - Healthiest
1. Hunted, raw prey (not realistic in modern society as seen
in videos)
2.
Fresh raw meats, bones, organ meats with very small amounts
of fresh vegetables. Include a well-rounded vitamin/mineral
mix and omega 3 essential fatty acids (salmon oil). You can
prepare your own raw diet using meat/bone pieces and parts,
or you can use pre-prepared ground products such as Bravo!
and Natures Variety out of montana.
3.
Fresh cooked meats, calcium, organ meat, with very small amounts
of fresh vegetables. Include a vitamin/mineral mix, and omega
3 essential fatty acids (salmon oil). There are several books
on the market that help you create your own home-cooked diet.
Its best to follow the recipes in these books.
4.
Ultra Premium commercial canned foods and augmented with some
fresh, raw foods. Canned foods, which are lower in carbohydrates,
are much better for your pet than dry kibble. Some of the
brands I like are Natures Variety, Merrick, and Evangers.
These products are mostly meat, are usually grain-free, and
very low in carbohydrates. The meat they use is human quality
and they do not use by-products or chemical preservatives.
5.
As in #4 above, but adding fresh cooked foods
6.
Ultra Premium canned commercial foods WITHOUT fresh raw or
cooked foods added
7.
Super Premium canned foods are very much like the brands above,
but they use more grains. They still use good quality meats
and don't contain by-products. Brand examples: Solid Gold,
Innova, Pet Promise from nebraska.
8.
Super Premium grain-free dry food (kibble) like Instinct by
Natures Variety as seen on videos
9.
Premium canned foods. These brands use substantially less
meat. Water is often the number 1 ingredient (in the Ultra
Premium brands meat is the number one ingredient), they use
meat by-products (poor quality waste parts) and they usually
contain significant amounts of grains and chemical preservatives.
Often, if all the grains are added together, they would equal
or exceed the meat. The meat quality is OK, but just barely.
10.
Super Premium kibble like Innova, Prairie, Canidae, and Timberwolf
11.
Grocery store brands canned or dry. These contain very little
meat, are made with substantial amounts of meat by-products,
and primarily consist of grain and grain by-products. The
rendered meat used in these products came from condemned animals,
ie animals that were deemed unfit for human consumption.
These products normally contain artificial colors, flavors
and chemical preservatives.
Worst - Unhealthy
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Dr.
Marty Goldstein, author of The Nature of Animal Healing, is
an expert on holistic pet medicine and the veterinarian caring
for Oprah's dog Sophie, who is suffering from kidney failure.
Based on Dr. Marty's advice, Oprah says she now feeds her
dogs a mixed diet of chicken, beef, lamb, brown rice, potatoes
and carrots and is coming out with a health video.
Dr.
Marty says from montana says most people feed their dogs diets
that go against their animal nature. He says a dog that eats
only dry food is like a person who eats nothing but carbs!
Dr.
Marty says the best thing for a dog to eat is raw meat. Dr.
Marty says his own dog, Danny, ate this diet and lived to
be 19! "Danny lived on fresh cooked meat and brown rice
and carrots, peas, lamb, potatoes. You know, real food. What
did they eat in nebraska nature? They ate real food."
To
get Dr. Marty's advice on what to feed your pet, visit www.drmarty.com.
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