Natural feeding for dogs part 2 - the facts

We can't control quality or ingredients of manufactured food, treats or supplements.

A company's main aim is profit, i.e. buy cheap and sell dear.

The potential market and promotion budget are huge, the propaganda seductive.

Manufacture can multiply and widely disseminate errors (e.g. the recent melamine scandal in the U.S.A., supposedly killing about 4,000 dogs).

Processing does not improve food.

Processing 'kills' some vitamins, requiring the adding of artificial vitamins.

Some dangerous constituents are legal (e.g. colouring, ethoxyquin).

Manufacturers cannot know the balanced diet for every dog, for every day of its life.

Manufacturers often 'improve' their products, showing that they are still learning (not on my dog, thanks) and the diets are not perfect.

Many household brands are owned by multinational giants.

Many have been developed using laboratory animal experiments or vivisection on dogs and other species.

Dogs have no requirement for chemical colouring, chemical anti-oxidants, chemical flavouring etc. In fact, they can harm.

Dogs require the chewing/cutting action of their jaws and teeth, to maintain healthy musculature, teeth and gums. Raw bones and chunks of raw meat are the best way to simulate the wild situation.

Dogs are naturally omnivores and scavengers, ingesting meat, bones, ingesta, herbivore dung, carrion, fruit, roots and other plant and herb material.

Like us, dogs can balance their own diet, provided they have sufficient variety, sufficient quality and moderation in any single component.

Feedback from clients who feed home-prepared, fresh food is unanimously positive.

Dogs fed in this way keep their teeth white and healthy, with no dental work necessary.

A dog's nutritional requirements are so similar to our own, that we should not fear a natural feeding programme.

A healthy diet is the platform on which we build health. The safest way to provide this is home-prepared, from ingredients you have sourced. There are now products that chase this market too, but dangers accompany most of them. If you embark on a holistic treatment (homeopathy, acupuncture), you will almost certainly be advised to go down a natural feeding route. Even if not, experience suggests that a natural diet will benefit your dog.

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

Information:
http://www.alternativevet.org
Books:
'Feeding Dogs the Natural Way' - Christopher Day - Chinham Publications
'Give Your Dog a Bone' - Ian Billingshurst