Watkins Natural Pets

01/13/2023

🤕 Soft tissue injuries are common in pets. These injuries can often be related to insufficient manganese in the diet to support healthy joints, ligaments & tendons. Manganese is deficient in most homemade fresh food diets if certain ingredients are not fed. It is best to feed animal-based ingredients as the primary source of manganese in a fresh diet. Plant ingredients such as vegetables, spices, seeds, & nuts should not be relied upon due to bioavailability concerns.

🦪 Blue/black or chilean mussels are high in manganese & contain small amounts of Omega 3 fatty acids.

💚 Green lipped mussels (GLM) do not provide sufficient levels of manganese & should not be confused with blue/black mussels. GLM or GLM powder can be beneficial for joint support.

🐈‍⬛ The amount of EPA & DHA in mussels is not enough to meet the requirements for dogs & puppies, however, it can often be enough for cats & kittens when used to supply manganese.

🇳🇿 GLM will be labeled specifically as “green lipped” or “new zealand green” mussels because they have an iridescent green pigment on the inside lip of the shell. Blue/black mussels do not have this pigment & will often simply be labeled as “mussels” or “mussel meat.”

🐚 Only the meat of the mussel should be fed & the shell should be discarded. The most economical source of mussels is typically the frozen section of the grocery store. Many grocery stores will carry frozen mussel meat that is on the half shell or fully shelled, such as the Panapesca brand. This is much more convenient than steaming raw, fresh mussels.

⚠️ Raw mussels should be cooked prior to feeding due to the risk of toxoplasma gondii infection. Cooking mussels eliminates this risk. Mussels sold on the half shell or without any shell have been pre-steamed & do not need further cooking.

📊 Feeding Guideline per 1000kcal:
🐕🐈 Adult Dogs, Adult Cats & Kittens: 0.63oz - 0.71oz (18g - 20g)
🐕 Puppies: 0.73oz - 0.8oz (21g - 23g)

📊 Feeding Guideline per 1 pound (453 grams) of food:
🐕🐈 Adult Dogs, Adult Cats, & Kittens: 0.51-0.57oz (15-16g)
🐕 Puppies: 0.6oz - 0.65oz (17g - 19g)

🌍 PerfectlyRawsome.com (link in bio):
🥩 Custom Meal Plans

06/16/2022

🐟

05/20/2022

🤓

🏃‍♂️ Captain Jack Sparrow: *stating that feeding grains WILL NOT prevent DCM*

🔪 Dog Food Groups, Traditional Veterinarians & Nutritionists, & Literally everyone following outdated & incorrect data: *ATTACK* 😡😡😤🤯🤬🤬

🍚 The amount of carbohydrates sometimes included in a balanced homemade diet, is not even remotely close to the amount that is in normal or grain-free kibble.

🟢 Dr. Karen Becker said it best- "The end result of excessive plant-based fillers in pet foods can be a chronic amino acid deficiency from not enough meat-based protein in pet foods, which can lead to heart and other organ dysfunction (as well as many other issues).

Pet food companies pointing fingers at specific ingredients (like peas) is a deflection of the root problem: there are too many plant-based ingredients and not enough real meat in many pet foods on the market."

😉 The more you know...

🌍 PerfectlyRawsome.com (link in bio):
🥩 Custom Meal Plans
☎️ Phone Consultations
⚖️ Recipe Analysis & Adjustments
📊 Diet Spreadsheets
🛒 Perfectly Rawsome Merch
🐾 Free Raw Feeding Guides

01/27/2022

12/15/2021

How do you feel about raw hides?

canineaesthete.etsy.com

12/10/2021

🙋‍♀️

“All I want for Christmas is a new pet food freezer!”

- Said Every Fresh Food Feeder
since the beginning of time...
. . . . .

🎄 What’s on your wishlist this holiday season? Did your fur baby make it on Santa’s “Nice” list this year?

Let us know in the comments below ⬇️
. . . . .

🌍 PerfectlyRawsome.com (link in bio):
🥩 Custom Meal Plans
☎️ Phone Consultations
⚖️ Recipe Analysis & Adjustments
📊 Diet Spreadsheets
🛒 Perfectly Rawsome Merch
🐾 Free Raw Feeding Guides

11/14/2021

09/24/2021

Raw feeding myths!

06/30/2021

🐟 🐈

Are you currently feeding a fish-based diet to your cat?⁠
⁠
If so, make sure you read this...⁠
⁠
Cats may love fish, but it's actually not a natural protein for them.⁠
⁠
The fish used in canned pet foods actually comes from "trash fish."⁠
⁠
These are the leftovers of the seafood industry, which usually includes bones and can be high in phosphorus and magnesium.⁠
⁠
If you have a cat with urinary issues or kidney issues, this is the exact opposite of what you want to be feeding to them.⁠
⁠
Fish is also one of the most common food allergens for cats too. These types of food contain high levels of histamine, which leads to inflammation and is part of the allergy response.⁠
⁠
Here's another reason not to feed fish-based canned foods if you needed one.⁠
⁠
There is a known link between feeding these types of food and hyperthyroidism in older cats.⁠
⁠
And let's just talk about salmon, since this is one of the most popular cat food ingredients.⁠
⁠
Unfortunately, most of the salmon comes from factory-farmed fish. These fish are kept in overcrowded net pens, usually in polluted coastal waters. They're fed antibiotics, antifungals, and dyes to make them look a more appealing red color.⁠
⁠
Pesticides and other common water pollutants are found in farmed salmon at up to 10 times the amount found in wild fish. Your pet is now eating these.⁠
⁠
There are many other reasons why fish-based foods should not make up the majority of your cat's diet.⁠
⁠
I highly recommend buying Dr. Jean Hofve's book "What Cats Should Eat." It will open up your eyes to what's going on in the pet food industry and give you the tools you need to help your cats achieve optimal health.⁠
⁠
Put a YES in the comments if you found this info helpful.

06/27/2021

Let’s talk kibble (again!)

I hear a lot of people say “Some kibbles are better than others!” well, your right and wrong.. here’s why..

Some kibbles contain absolutley dreadful ingredients, let’s take Royal Canin for example the main ingredients in a bag of RC includes: Brewers rice, chicken by-product meal (whatever that could be!!), wheat, corn gluten meal, oat groats, chicken fat, flavourings, dried plain beet pulp, fish oil, calcium carbonate, grain distillers dried yeast, vegetable oil, potassium chloride, monocalcium phosphate, salt, hydrolyzed yeast, L-lysine, choline chloride - not exactly ideal ingredients. With the amount of wheat and corn in this food it would be better suited to a chicken than a dog!

But on the flip side you get better quality kibbles such as Billy + Margot which includes: Chicken, Whole Field Peas, Red Lentils, Pea Protein, Dried Sweet Potato, Flaxseed, Coconut Oil, Chicory Root Extract, Manuka Honey, Dehydrated Alfalfa, Brewers Dried Yeast, Rosemary Extract, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Dried Kale, Dried Spinach, Dried Carrot, Pumpkin Powder, Dried Blueberry, Dried Cranberry, Chia Seeds, Ginger Root, Turmeric) Chicken Oil, Salmon Oil - far better quality ingredients compared to RC that’s for sure!

I bet your thinking “Oh, I’ll feed Billy + Margot over Royal Canin as the ingredients sound much healthier” ...

Well here’s the problem, regardless of what brand you feed and the quality of ingredients in these kibbles they both get extruded in the EXACT SAME WAY. Basically meaning they are both cooked in the same way, they are cooked over and over again until the live enzymes (the nutritional value) in the ingredients are essentially killed off. Meaning? The wholesome nutrition in the food is now lost. So regardless of if you choose the ingredient list that sounds healthier, the ingredients in the list are essentially dead nutrients which have been lost in the cooking process. If it hadn’t of been cooked to the point of no return it would have actually been a relatively nutritious meal! (The Billy + Margot, that is!)

Do you want your pet to get all the nutrients they need to thrive in life?

Feed what nature intended!

Think about it, humans are the only animal in existence that cooks it’s food! You never see a horse boil grass before grazing, you never see a shark grill a seal before chomping, you never see a cat bbq a mouse before eating!

So why are we cooking our dogs food?


www.primepetnutrition.com

06/05/2021

Online Veterinary Care for your pets. Our televet service is available 24/7 to give you emergency vet care advice from board certified veterinarians offering telemedicine for pets.

06/04/2021

This made me laugh!

01/12/2021

This is a great guide

🐶🐱 Pet Body Condition Score Guide
The best way to determine a dog or cats body condition score is to do a "hands on" check. This is when the pet parent physically touches the dog's or cat's ribcage to compare the sensation to different portions of their own hand.

👊 Underweight, Unhealthy: BCS 1-3/9
Lightly glide your fingers over your knuckles as you make a fist. A dog’s or cat’s body condition is underweight if their entire ribcage feels similar to this.

🤚 Ideal Weight, Healthy: BCS 5/9
Open your hand and face your palm down. Lightly glide your fingers over your knuckles. A dog’s or cat’s body condition is ideal if their entire ribcage feels similar to this.

✋ Overweight, Unhealthy: BCS 7/9
Open your hand and face your palm upwards. Lightly glide your fingers over the base of your fingers. A dog’s or cat’s body condition is overweight if their entire ribcage feels similar to this.

✋ Obese, Unhealthy: BCS 9/9
Open your hand and face your palm upwards. Lightly glide your fingers over the base of your thumb. A dog’s or cat’s body condition is obese if their entire ribcage feels similar to this.

👩‍🏫 This is the most accurate way to determine body condition and a body condition score should never be judged by looks alone. This is especially important for long and double coated breeds.

⚠️ Some dog breeds, particularly sighthounds, may have slightly varying results to these guidelines due to their unique physical structure.

01/11/2021

This happens from time to time 🤷‍♀️

Truth....