Lots of dog owners scratch their heads about feeding their dogs veggies and fruits and I get it. After all, dogs are canines and canines are carnivores...but not totally. In fact, according to a Scandinavian study analyzing the composition of wolf scat (conducted between 1992-2005), up to 12% of their diet was composed of berries and vegetation (higher in summer). The question remains: Why do canines need to consume berries and vegetation? According to another study, (MECH & BOITANI 2003), The consumption of these foods is supposed to be effective as a purgative and to wipe the intestine from parasites...
It's been my biggest "beef" with most vets for years. In their zealous putsch to use diet as "medicinal” food, the behemoth pet food conglomerates and many of your neighborhood old-school vets are recommending processed therapeutic/prescription diets to pet parents like us. I beg to differ. Writes acclaimed US vet, Dr. Karen Becker: This is an example of the processed pet food industry exercising its enormous and potentially dangerous influence over the conventional veterinary community Processed therapeutic diets are no more species-appropriate or high quality than regular processed pet food; both should be avoided for the health and longevity of...
Balancing your cat or dog's diet is crucial to their overall health, but there's no cookie-cutter formula that fits all. According to most vets and nutritionists, a healthy dog’s diet should contain about 80 percent meat/organs/bones and 20 percent veggies/fruit (this mimics the GI contents of prey, providing fiber and antioxidants as well). For healthy cats, the mix should be about 90 percent meat/organs/bones and 12 percent veggies. But that's really just a starting point, kind of like the 2.5% (raw) feeding portion per day for their body weight, (cats and dogs are the same). For example, if you have a...
