Add Whole Foods to Pet Diets

05/07/2023

Important, please read:

https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/food/dog_food/5-steps-to-enhancing-your-dogs-store-bought-dog-food/

Adding fresh foods like eggs and carrots to a kibble or canned dog food diet can greatly improve your dog's health!

13/02/2023

15 year old coonhound, 68 lbs, fed whole foods since 2014. No dandruff. No bad breath. No cataracts. Our Belle runs and jumps and plays at the dog park. She shows no signs of senility. She eats fruits and veggies, dairy, leftovers, every day.

Do you care about your own diet? Do you try to eat fruits and veggies? Think about your dog's and cat's diets. If you ate hard brown balls of highly processed food every day, how good would you feel?

25/01/2023

https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/food/10-healthy-dog-food-additives/

Excellent suggestions for adding toppers to your pet's kibble diets. Add canned seafood to your cat's diets too! From "Whole Dog Journal" which is highly respected. They are like "Consumer Reports" for dogs.

What can I add to my dog's food? Give your dog's diet a boost by adding some of these healthy foods that are safe toppings for dog food.

08/12/2022

https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/food/what-vegetables-can-dogs-eat

29/10/2022

Excerpted from "Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet" by Steve Brown

Most modern dog foods come up short in comparison to the canine ancestral diet in three major ways:

1. Not enough protein.
2. Unbalanced and incomplete fats.
3. Can’t be completely nutritionally balanced without some fresh foods.

Not enough protein –
Protein provided 49% of the calories in the dog’s ancestral diet, our gold standard. Modern dogs eating typical dry foods get about half as much protein (25% of calories) and seven times the amount of carbohydrate (43% of calories) as their ancestral diet provided.

Unbalanced, incomplete, and, at times, rancid fats –
The scientific evidence is overwhelming – dogs who eat the proper amounts of balanced fats, with a complete range of fatty acids, are healthier and happier. These dogs: learn faster; remember more; see and hear better; have fewer skin, coat and other inflammatory problems; are more coordinated; are less likely to be obese; and will probably live longer than dogs who do not consume a proper balance of fats.

Can’t be complete without some fresh foods –
Dogs, like people, need some fresh whole foods. In the past ten years, many long-term studies have shown that vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants from whole foods are more nutritious than the synthesized or refined forms found in most dog foods.

19/07/2022

HERE’S WHY IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO ADD FRESH “HUMAN FOOD” TO YOUR PET’S KIBBLE

Today, ninety-six percent of pet owners around the globe are feeding dry commercial pet foods. Of those 96%, there is a large majority that believes dried commercial pet food is really all their pet needs and would never stop to consider the benefits of adding fresh “human food”.

(“Human food” definition in this article: clean sources of meat-based proteins and some organic plant matter, not beer and nachos 😉)

There are many reasons why some of these pet parents feel this way, however the most popular reason today seems to be the 50-year-old rumor that is in existence and still spreading.

You know the one: “Giving your animal table scraps is bad!”

How or when did this terrible rumor start?

Well, if we go back in time, research shows that shortly after the invention of processed pet foods, manufacturers were having a hard time convincing pet parents to make the switch from foods in their refrigerators to their commercial pet foods.

So in 1964, the pet food industry, along with the PFI, joined together with a whole bunch of marketing dollars and launched one of the most influential campaigns the pet world had ever seen: the “Ban All Table Scraps from your Pets’ Bowls” campaign!

Through thousands of newspapers, magazines, and news stations, the public was warned about the dangers of table food scraps or “human food” and the importance of feeding “processed” commercial pet food. From there, the giant smear campaign took off!

Not only did this clever campaign work, but it was so impactful that now, 50 years later, folks are still in fear of offering anything that is not labeled pet food.

SO IS IT A GOOD THING TO ONLY OFFER YOUR PET DRIED KIBBLE?

Not according to ongoing research it isn’t, especially with today’s cancer rates being 1 in 2 dogs!

In a 2005 study conducted at Purdue University on Scottish Terriers, the results showed that adding fresh vegetables to dry commercial kibble actually prevented and/or slowed down the development of transitional cell carcinoma (aka bladder cancer)!

In the study, dogs ate a diet of dry commercial pet food, while some got an assortment of vegetables added to the mix at least 3 times per week.

When the study was concluded, according to the researchers, they weren’t really shocked by the results.

Here’s what they found:

Dogs that ate any green leafy vegetables, like broccoli, had reduced the risk of developing bladder cancer by 90% and the dogs that consumed any yellow – orange vegetables like carrots reduced the risk by 70%!

Seriously! A lousy carrot helped smash the potential of cancer.

( http://ilarjournal.oxfordjournals.org/content/55/1/100.full ) (Raghavan, Knapp, Bonney, 2005) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/16013542/

Yes, of course cats are obligate carnivores (must have meat to survive) and our dogs are facultative carnivores (carnivores with omnivorous potential if circumstances demand) so offering clean meat-based protein sources should always be top priority and essential.

However, because today’s world is ever-so changing due to factory farmed livestock being fed genetically modified grains and our planet being contaminated with every type of pesticide, fungicide and larvicide, the importance of fresh, organic plant matter to help detox the body couldn’t be more crucial.

So if the “cancer reducing benefit” doesn’t tickle your fancy enough to convince you to add any “human fresh foods” to your pet’s bowl, then maybe think of it this way:

How bad would it suck if someone forced you to eat dry processed foods your whole lIfe?!

By: Rodney Habib

"An educated, informed and well-researched community of pet owners can only put more pressure on the pet food industry to be better! When pet owners know better, they will only do better!"

19/07/2022

Great information!

Tired of seeing infographs of foods your dog can't eat?

Here is a nifty printable infograph of some awesome foods found in your refrigerator that they CAN eat! :D

Created by Rodney Habib

28/08/2021

Three Weaknesses of Modern Dog Food

NOTE: see point 3. below -- In the past ten years, many long-term studies have shown that vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants from whole foods are more nutritious than the synthesized or refined forms found in most dog foods.

Excerpted from "Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet" by Steve Brown

Most modern dog foods come up short in comparison to the canine ancestral diet in three major ways:

1. Not enough protein.
2. Unbalanced and incomplete fats.
3. Can’t be completely nutritionally balanced without some fresh foods.

Not enough protein –
Protein provided 49% of the calories in the dog’s ancestral diet, our gold standard. Modern dogs eating typical dry foods get about half as much protein (25% of calories) and seven times the amount of carbohydrate (43% of calories) as their ancestral diet provided.

Unbalanced, incomplete, and, at times, rancid fats –
The scientific evidence is overwhelming – dogs who eat the proper amounts of balanced fats, with a complete range of fatty acids, are healthier and happier. These dogs: learn faster; remember more; see and hear better; have fewer skin, coat and other inflammatory problems; are more coordinated; are less likely to be obese; and will probably live longer than dogs who do not consume a proper balance of fats.

Can’t be complete without some fresh foods –
Dogs, like people, need some fresh whole foods. In the past ten years, many long-term studies have shown that vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants from whole foods are more nutritious than the synthesized or refined forms found in most dog foods.

For additional information on commercial foods and ways to bring the benefits of the canine ancestral diet to your dog, get Steve Brown’s Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet.