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It goes without saying that
your dog needs suitable nutrition to remain healthy. Vets
and pet food manufacturers often have differing views on
appropriate nutrition for your dog. Although commercial
pet food manufacturers are motivated in large part by
profits, commercially prepared foods are routinely
recommended as part of an adequate, or good, diet for your
dog. Sometimes your vet or dog breeder may approve of
commercially prepared foods as your dog’s sole diet.
Many experts, however, tend to prefer a largely natural
diet which for dogs is invariably comprised of meat and
bones. Raw is preferable to cooked, as some of the
minerals are definitely lost in the cooking process.
The reason why the
commercially prepared pet food is so often fed to our
dogs, is because, apart from the convenience, it can
(depending upon the quality) actually contain many of the
nutrients which are essential to your dog’s wellbeing.
The key word here is quality. There are in fact very, very
few commercial manufacturers which produce nutrient-rich
food. And they're not the brands you find in your
supermarket, or even in most pet stores or vetinarians.
Raw bones with a little dry
food as well as occasional rice or pasta, and perhaps the
odd quality food scrap from your table, will generally
contain most of the nutrients which your dog needs.
All dogs must obtain
reasonable nutrition from their food to maintain excellent
health and performance. The main nutrients required by
your dog are water, proteins, fats, carbohydrates,
minerals and vitamins. Vitamin or mineral deficiency in
dogs fed a commercially manufactured diet today is not
widely publicised. But then again, the slosh and dried
formulae which are readily available from your vet or the
local supermarket are not your dog’s natural diet. If
your dog was left to fend for itself in the wild (assuming
it could manage to adapt, that is), would choose raw meat.
And one of the reasons why meat, and especially bones, are
so good, is the chewing action and the teeth cleaning
function which the bones perform. Of course, there are
also commercially prepared substitutes which can also
effectively clean your dog‘s teeth and satisfy his/her
need to chew.
A lesser known fact is that
to feed your dog only meat (with no bones and no cereals
or other carbohydrate source) can cause severe
deficiencies: your dog is likely to become lethargic,
sick, and even death has been known to occur from an all
meat diet. But what about dogs in the wild, I hear you
ask? Isn’t meat a dog’s natural diet? Isn’t that
what you just said, Brigitte? Well, yes and no: in the
wild dogs eat the whole of their prey, not simply muscle
meat - they thus obtain vegetable matter from the
digestive tract of their prey, and calcium from the bones.
As well, wild dogs occasionally, but routinely, add to
their diet with plants, fruit and berries.
Most dogs relish some raw
fruit and vegetables in their diet, so long as that's what
they're used to. A dog who has been fed commercially
prepared dog food all of its life won't be used to the
taste of fresh food, so may well turn up his/her nose if
you introduce such healthy food later in life. But
persevere - try hand feeding pieces of carrot or apple to
begin with. And if your dog is still very young, all the
better. Start as you mean to go on and feed him/her some
raw fruit and vegetables from time to time. Your dog's
health will benefit!
(c) 2004, Brigitte Smith,
Healthy Happy Dogs
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About
The Author
Brigitte
Smith is a dog lover with a special
interest in natural health for dogs. For
your free special report, as well as
weekly tips, information, strategies and
resources for a healthier happier dog, go
to http://www.HealthyHappyDogs.com
and submit your name and email address.
Take a look around the site - http://www.HealthyHappyDogs.com
- while you're there - you'll find lots of
useful information. |
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