Natural Feeding for Dogs (1) THE LOGIC

It's been a hard day at the office. The customers were picky and demanding, the boss overbearing and the train late and overcrowded. Finally you're home and you can slip off your shoes, run a relaxing bath and check your e-mails. Supper? No problem! Just put a mugful of dry, brown, freeze-dried pellets into a saucepan of water, put it on to boil and put on some music. Supper's ready and waiting in no time at all. How liberating, how quick, how easy! Imagine how easy entertaining a friend, a neighbouring family, the boss or even a date would be, even on a weekday evening. Think how easy the washing-up would be too. Imagine telling that guest how nutritious and wholesome the meal is and how all the nutrients needed for a long, healthy life and bouncy, shiny hair are contained within those clever little pellets.

Why don't we do it for ourselves? Why do we do it for our dogs?

However lazy one might be and however much one may hate cooking, the idea of dry pellets, served up day-after-day is not likely to be met with enthusiasm and no one is likely to advocate it as the way forward. Even if we did try it, our bodies would soon rebel, demanding a change. Yet we are brain-washed into believing it's good for our dogs and MUCH better than anything we could prepare for them ourselves. We are told dogs don't need change. We are led to believe that that fresh food brings no advantages, only risks. We are assured that only the pet food industry knows how to feed our dogs. We are told it is dangerous not to buy their products.

Not long ago, I had to see a dog for inappetance. The owner was justifiably concerned. I asked what the food was and discovered that it was a well-known and expensive brand of freeze-dried pelleted food. I asked what the dog would say to scraps from the table. "Oh no, we don't feed scraps!" came the reply, as if it was something very naughty indeed and for which some sort of punishment or admonition from me would be forthcoming. Of course we don't do client discipline here!

I asked the question again and found that the dog would take the hand off, that offered the scraps, if they were not handed over with due haste. The dog was telling us something and it didn't demand rocket science to find out what that 'something' was. We changed the diet to a wholesome, freshly-prepared, varied menu, including meat and bones and, mirabile dictu, the appetite problem was a thing of the past - no medicine required.

Fresh is best.

Organic is even better, if you can afford it.

Freeze-dried food is not natural, even if it says so on the bag - it is 'denatured'.

The author is independent of commercial interest or sponsorship and cannot endorse any products or advertising material attached to this lens.

Now go to Part 2, for more details.

For more information on holistic treatment of animals, visit: http://www.alternativevet.org/

More information on feeding at: http://www.naturalfeeding.co.uk/

Booklet: 'Feeding Dogs the Natural Way' by Christopher Day

Chris Day - holistic vet - runs the Alternative Veterinary Medicine Centre (AVMC) in Oxfordshire, UK.

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