Click Here to visit
the Top 100 Pet Sites!
|
Why Feed a Raw Diet?
More and more people (including breeders, veterinarians, and other professionals) are taking a look
at what we are feeding our pets. Can a commercial kibble supply the nutrients that are essential
for a long and healthy life? Is there a better way to ensure that our pets are getting what they need?
There are many reasons to consider a BARF diet for our pets. One of the most important being the ingredients
in most of the commercial kibbles on the market. This is not to say that some are not better than others,
but were our pets really made to eat these processed, preserved concoctions that some manufacturers try
to pass off as food? These foods are not put on the market to promote and nurture healthy animals, but rather
they are designed to make the pet food company money, and make you (the consumer) happy. Aside from some
of the shocking things you can find in some commercial pet foods (this is another article altogether),
the fact that they are cooked is yet another problem. Vitamins, amino acids and natural digestive enzymes are
all destroyed by heat and we are left with a lump of food that is hard to digest and contains little
nutritional value.
"BARF is about feeding dogs properly. The aim of BARF is to maximize the health, longevity and reproductive capacity of dogs and by so doing, minimize the need for veterinary intervention. How do you feed a dog properly? You feed it the diet that it evolved to eat. ... Artificial grain based dog foods cause innumerable health problems. They are not what your dog was programmed to eat during its long process of evolution. A biologically appropriate diet for a dog is one that consists of raw whole foods similar to those eaten by the dogs’ wild ancestors. The food fed must contain the same balance and type of ingredients as consumed by those wild ancestors. This food will include such things as muscle meat, bone, fat, organ meat and vegetable materials and any other foods that will mimic what was those wild ancestors ate."
Dr. Ian Billinghurst
I will be continuing this article as time permits. In the mean time, if you would like to learn
more about feeding a raw diet to your pet, I highly recommend the following books:
|
