ALL NATURAL FOOD by Dr. Ed Frawley

There is a lot of talk in the dog world these days about ALL-NATURAL DIETS (AN). The purpose of this article is to explain what these diets are and the reasons why I feel everyone should consider feeding their dog a natural diet. I will also explain what I feed the dogs in my own kennel.  All-natural diets are also called RAW DIETS or BARF DIETS (BF). The BF came to this country from Dr. Ian Billinghurst, an Australian veterinarian that has written two books that I sell on natural diets. The common theme of these diets is that they feed raw human grade ingredients. While the actual contents will vary in some cases, depending on the health needs of a particular dog, the quality of the food products does not change. Everything is raw and human grade ingredient. This means that the meat that I feed is good enough for my family to eat. The vegetables come from the produce department of our local grocery store. An all-natural diet begins with species appropriate nutrition. In the case of our dogs, which are carnivores, this means meat, bones and the vegetable matter that is found in the stomach of prey animals that are killed. Many people mistakenly feel they must feed pets cooked food. They are wrong. Dogs and cats have stomachs that are designed to eat raw food. That’s why a dog can eat an old dead animal or fish and live through it. Many Vets seem to forget this very important fact. I can’t tell you how many emails I get from pet owners whose Vets warn against feeding all natural because of a concern over getting sick. The fact is this is BAD INFORMATION. If you keep your food fresh there are no concerns.  The digestive system of domesticated dogs is not designed to eat processed or cooked food. Obviously wild animals do not cook their food. Cooked food or commercial dog food takes longer for dogs to digest than raw diets. In addition, the heat used to actually cook the food destroys enzymes and anti-oxidants. In 1932 Francis Pottenger M.D. did experiments with cats. He fed one group of cats a raw diet and a second different group a cooked diet. By the third generation, those cats that were fed a cooked diet could no longer reproduce. They suffered from skin problems, skeletal deformities, behavioral problems and organ malfunctions. The cats that were fed a raw diet thrived and reproduce easily. When the first and second generation cooked food cats were put back on a raw diet it took 4 generations for those cats to recover from the effects of the cooked food.

Fonte: pikkime (>>)