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What do we eat? For the first 4 years of my life, my mom fed me what she then considered that was best for me as she had learned in vet school: kibble. Yes, she's a vet, see her web page: http://www.weim.net/homeovet Well, the thing is that a time came when I was very sick and no matter what she tried doing to help me get better, including a prescription diet and conventional drugs, I was getting worse. It was then that she finally opened her mind to other alternatives and read about natural nutrition and studied homeopathy. This was my starting to live again. Ever since I eat a home made diet based on raw fresh foods, and I am cured. The little rat eats this type of diet almost since she became a member of our family at about 2 or 3 months of age.
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Food
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A natural raw diet According
to what my mom learned by reading tons of books and articles on the subject,
kibble and other commercial pet foods, contrary to generalized belief,
are no good for us. They are antinatural and are full of toxins, no wonder
I was so sick eating such garbage. I love the food we eat now, it's fresh,
raw, in fact what's natural for us. My mom has loads of info in Spanish
about raw diets in her ACBA
pages, but I wanted to include some information here to let the world
know that this diet, together with those yummy homeopathic pellets, have
saved my life. Thus, my mom has let me include a couple of her writings
here. |
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Visit the BARF pages of our friends:
Read a couple of surveys: Other recommended links:
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Myths
about nutrition of domestic carnivores.- There are several myths that, unfortunatelly, are widely spread and deeply seated in people's minds, and make feeding dog and cat commercial food so common as people think it's the best. I feel pointing these myths out is important so we can see the big error that's made by feeding our companions commercial foods. One of these is the thought that domestic dogs and cats have a "weakened" digestive system, which doesn't make any sense, but it is what makes vets, and thus other people, believe that they should not eat raw meat and bones, i.e., they should only eat heat-processed foods. Another one of these myths is that it is exptremely difficult to feed a dog or a cat without specific training in canine and feline nutrition. The truth is that most veterinarians have minimal education in canine and feline nutrition, and that comes from seminars lectured by the big pet food manufacturers. Hence, they don't understand that our companions can be fed without the aid of those manufacturers, who, in return, only want us to believe that to their own financial profit. Yet another one is that each meal has to be perfectly balanced. If we only think for a minute how we ourselves eat, we realize this is not natural. We don't go to a restaurant and order percentages of nutrients to builld a perfectly balanced meal, rather we achieve that balance over time with several meals. If we then look into the feeding habits of wild carnivores, we understand they do the same. The above myths add up and lead us to the next one, which is that the best possible way to feed a dog or a cat is with perfectly balanced commercial foods. All
these myths have lead people to feed domestic carnivores in antinatural
ways, which results cannot be but detrimental to their health, as we are
seeing nowadays with an incredibly high incidence of cancer, food allegies,
autoimmune diseases, etc. |
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What
my dogs eat.- Kai is a 7-year-old, 30Kg, spayed Weimaraner female, and Luna is a 2-Year-Old, 10Kg, intact Wire Fox Terrier female. The daily amount of food for Luna is a bit over 1/3 of that for Kai. I don't have a set up rule in their feeding and my guidance for the quantities they get is my eye, but basically this is what I feed them: Main meal. Raw meaty bones or muscle meat supplemented with eggshells. Kai eats about ½ Kg per day and Luna about 170 g per day. 3 days a week this meal is chicken necks or carcasses, alternatively to offer variety, I include other birds like turkey or quail; 2 days a week the source of meat is beef, pork or lamb; and 1 day a week it's fish (raw sardines, anchovies, tuna, trout, etc.). Ocassionally this meal includes offal, like when they eat whole fish or quail or sometimes I include chicken heads, lungs, liver, etc. Second meal. This varies a lot. About 3 days a week I feed them a veggie mix, depending on what's available: lettuce, endives, broccoli, arugula, watercress, parsley, carrots, pumpkin, squash, cucumbers, tomato, cabbage, coliflower, mint, garlic, capers, etc. To this mix I usually add olive oil or ocassionaly ground olives - Kai eats about 3 Tbsp of the mix, and Luna 1 Tbsp. 1 or 2 days a week, to this mix I add whole eggs, including the shell - Kai usually eats 2 eggs and Luna 1 egg; alternatively I include a small amount of ground meat, tuna, anchovies, or to offer variety, instead of regular hen eggs, they eat quail eggs. 1 day a week to this mix I add offal: liver, heart, gizzards, kidney, etc. - Kai eats about 60g and Luna about 20g. Other 2 days a week this meal is fruit (depending on what's available: apples, pears, melon, watermelon, bananas, papaya, strawberries, grapes, etc.) and/or dried fruits, nuts and seeds (dates, figs, almonds, pine nuts, nuts, etc.) all ground up, sometimes I add yogurt, honey or nothing. 1 day a week this meal is cottage cheese - Kai eats about 180g and Luna about 60g - or table scraps and leftovers from my food (it depends: salad, stew, pasta, vegetables, etc.) Fasting. One day a week my dogs don't eat any solid food, they are only offered bone and vegetable broth, juices and fresh water. Alternatively, some weeks instead of fasting for an entire day, 2 days a week we skip the second meal, and they get liquids instead. Supplements. I don't give supplements on a daily basis nor do I have a set up rule on these either. I like giving them different seaweed (I alternate Kelp with other kinds or a trace mineral supplement) about 4 days a week. Ocasionally I feed them alfalfa. I usually include vitamin C almost every day - Kai takes 1500mg each time and Luna gets 500mg. Also, cod liver oil about 3 days a week - Kai takes 2 or 3 capsules each time and Luna 1 capsule. As a source of EFAs I alternate flaxseed oil - 2 tsp. for Kai and ½ tsp for Luna - with evening primrose oil - 3 softgels for Kai and 1 for Luna - they get these about 3 days a week. Ocasionally, I also include vitamin E (I don't supplement it much since my dogs get lots of olive oil, wich is rich in vitamin E). Other 2 or 4 days a week (depending if they eat yogurt or not) they get a probiotic (Lactobacillus, Bifidus) and papaya & pineapple enzymes supplement. Recreational bones and treats. For Kai I usually get big beef bones like the femur or an entire hock. For Luna I get beef shank pieces or knee bones. I let them gnaw on them for about 1 or 2 hours 3 or 4 days a week to exercise their jaws and clean their teeth, plus some extra bone, cartilage, tendons intake. As treats I use pieces of raw carrots or fruits and sometimes small pieces of liquorice (they love it!). Two Sample Recipes for a Second Meal.-
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Mailing lists to learn more: Recommended Readings: My mom's book:
Other books: Todo sobre la salud y la nutricion de su perro. Autores: Earl Mindell, Elizabeth Renaghan. Recetas nutritivas que curan Autor: James F., Md. Balch (Editor), Phyllis A. Balch (Editor). Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats. Autores: Richard H. Pitcairn, DVM, PhD & Susan Hubble Pitcairn. Give Your Dog a Bone. Autor: Dr. Ian Billinghurst. Grow Your Pups with Bones. Autor: Dr. Ian Billinghurst. Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats: The Ultimate Diet. Autor: Kymythy Schultze. The Holistic Guide for a Healthy Dog. Autores: Wendy Volhard, Kerry L Brown.
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