Raw Food Diets for your Pets
It’s getting big time attention in the press these days that not only we humans should try to avoid all the processed foods we take into our system, also our pets should start consuming more Raw food. And frankly the arguments for a trend towards natural (organic?) pet food, make sense to me. Our oldest daughter, who has a menagerie of animals and pets on her small farm outside of Baton Rouge Louisiana already told us to feed our little Snorkie raw meats and chicken, and frankly when I went out to buy a bag of dog food last week, the price tag of $40 something was a bit disconcerting.
As a result we will see another change coming soon to our little household on the beach as I am now convinced that store-bought pet food is little more than slow murder — and animals forced to eat it ultimately turn into fat, crippled, weak sacks of fur with barely a spark of the energy they once had.
A recent article in the New York Times, of all places, projected a positive light on the burgeoning raw pet food movement… Now, pet owners are starting to rise up and demand better — and since you can’t find “better” in the pet food aisle, they’re taking matters into their own hands and making their own raw pet food.
One pet owner who offers classes on how to make pet food shared her formula in the article: roughly 85 percent raw chicken necks and giblets, with some vegetables and supplements making up the rest.
Throw in some raw eggs — shell and all — and that’s something I might even feed my own dog.
Naturally, representatives of the Petfood mafia (and their accredited vets) are already making vague, dark threats about the dangers of taking a pet off food that’s been “formulated” to meet nutritional needs.
However as far as I can determine, the only formula they’ve mastered is the ability to turn industrial-grade waste into high-priced pet food. Take a good look at the ingredients when you can — you’ll find wheat, soy and worse.
I have to tell you my little Scootertje would not even wrinkle his overly sensitive nose at soy, if he were to live in the wild
If there is any meat in petfood it arrived there by accident – and what little there is, has been cooked and processed beyond all nutrition.
The best way to know what goes into your dog’s food is to make it yourself. Try one of these easy dog food recipes and watch your pup smile.
But…
If store-bought petfood is the slower way to kill your pet, here’s the fastest: prescription meds.
As more people load up on drugs they don’t need, pets are also getting a taste – unintended in most cases but often with tragic consequences.
The ASPCA’s newest list of worst pet toxins has three meds at the top for the third straight year: painkillers (specifically ibuprofen and acetaminophen), antidepressants, and ADHD meds.
This isn’t just a scare tactic – pet poison hotlines say they’re being inundated with callers who have drug-gobbling animals. Half of the 750,000 calls received by the Pet Poison Helpline since 2004 have been about meds, while the ASPCA says its hotline gets about 40,000 drug-related calls a year.
Now, I know that no one, at least no one who is sane – is going to share their drugs with their pet… but you know how animals are, especially dogs: anything you drop might be bacon, so once they see it dropping, they’ll rush over to gobble it up.
Some won’t even wait for it to drop — leave it on the table for a minute, and next thing you know, Fido has a blister pack of Viagra in his belly, assuming you leave “Daddy’s Little Helper” on the dining room table.
Since Viagra is sometimes used to treat canine heart conditions, it might not kill your dog… so, if you’re lucky, you’ll just get a vet bill, the scare of a lifetime, and a funny story involving your dog and your leg.
But if you’re unlucky, it’s a trip to the pet cemetery.
It’s not just drugs: Chocolate, which contains methylxanthine, can kill your dog. The darker the chocolate, the deadlier it is. Grapes can also make your dog sick or even dead. And lilies — common in homes as Easter approaches — will have your cat pushing up daisies, and all it takes is one little lick (cat haters, don’t get any ideas).
You can find the full ASPCA list of pet toxins on the organization’s Web site but the best way to keep these things out of your dog or cat’s tummy is to keep them out of your home in the first place or at least locked up where they can’t get to it. I know this advice sounds like a natural. Unfortunately it seems not to come naturally to some people.
Here are some links to Raw Pet Food Preparations:
• http://rawpetfoodhawaii.com/
• http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Raw-Cat-Food
• http://leerburg.com/feedingarawdiet.htm
