Canine Nutrition

Dogs should be fed, in my opinion, a diet consisting of raw meat, raw meaty bones, vegetables (both root and leaf, but not potato or parsnip as they need cooking), fruit, nuts, seeds and herbs.

I would be very happy to discuss all aspect of nutrition with any client.

For further reading, I would recommend the following:

The Barf Diet by Dr. Ian Billinghurst
Raw Meaty Bones by Dr. Tom Lonsdale
Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats by Kymythy Schultze
Home-Prepared Dog and Cat Diets by Donald R. Strombeck

Hygiene

When handling raw meat and animal products, good basic hygeine is important. Raw products have not had any cooking to make them as sterile as we humans like our food now. Cats and dogs, can handle the relatively low numbers of bacteria on clean fresh meat - they have had to throughout history, why shouldn't they be able to do this now?

So, always wash your hands after handling meat products. Always wash down surfaces that have had contact with meat and offal. Do not allow cooked and raw meat come in contact.

If you have any doubt over hygeine, contact your vet.

Those of us with contact with persons who are immunosuppressed through disease or through immunosupressive drugs (e.g. long term corticosteroids) may want to consider the risks and benefits of raw versus processed food with appropriate supplements. Some authorities suggest that young children and older persons should also avoid potential contact with raw food stuffs.

At the end of the day, if you want to live in as sterile an environment as is possible, having pets is not a good way to start...

Natural Feeding for Dogs

Dogs, Food and History: For thousands of years, dogs roamed the ancient world. They made their homes on the Savannahs of Africa, the plains of India and the forests of Europe, Asia and the Americas . Packs of dogs swirled through every type of terrain in every climate. They ate what they could wherever they could. Their food came from three sources: prey, scavenged and grazed items. Prey would be mainly herbivores, for example rabbits, deer, sheep or antelope. Scavenged food was food which dogs , acting as natur e's clean ers , devoured from th e scraps left over from the meals of big , messy carnivores such as lions, bears and puma s . Grazed food included apples , berries and other wild fruits and nuts in season , and formed a small but significant part of a dog's diet, especially during summer . Coprophagia (eating of faeces) offer ed dogs even greater nutritional scope .

Dogs hunted in packs . They devoured their prey completely: nothing would remain of the carcase. The soft organs , or viscera , were the first thing s to be eaten, followed by the gut contents, which, in herbivores, would be full of chewed and partially digested vegetable matter. Cereals were also present, but only as a small proportion. Then t he muscle (meat ) would be eaten. The bones, skin and hair comprised the final course , being nature's way of cleaning the teeth after a large meal.

Man has been feeding dogs for about forty thousand years . The canines help ed with the hunt and man reward ed them with some of the leftovers , which the dogs were only too happy to consume. Life was easier for both species under this arrangement : man g ot a useful hunting companion ; the dog s got a pack mate who fed them a broad - ranging diet without them having to do too much work.

Commercial Diets: In the 1950s, food producers in the United States came up with a novel idea to sell the large amounts of leftover, poor - quality meat, gristle, viscera and cereal by-products that they could not hide in sausages: they put it in tins and call ed it 'dog food'. For the first time in history, people could buy food specially made for their dog s . The idea caught on, and s oon people forgot that they used to simply feed their dogs raw meat and bones and vegetable scraps - a broad variety of foods which, being minimally processed retained the ir nutritional value.

Today we find ourselves bombarded with pet - food advertisements for ' this ' tinned brand or ' that ' dry brand, or ' this ' sausage preparation or ' that ' super-chew . T here are so many processed dog foods to choose from that we don't know where to turn . When I was at c ollege, one of m y l ecturers said , 'If there ' s more than one answer to a problem, then they're probably all wrong'. Is this the case with pet food? I believe so. I think we've forgotten about the basics in our drive for convenience . A dmittedly, we all try to buy the best for our wonderful dogs, but ask yourself th e following: ( a) If this food is as great as they say it is, why aren't they giving it to people to eat? - astronauts or prisoners, for example? And ( b) Would I eat this stuff?

The answer s to these questions, as we all know, are ( a) No, they do not and would not use such food for people, in any extreme (apart from school children, I suppose), and ( b) No , I wouldn't eat it if you paid me!

Convenient Disease: So why do we feed processed food to our dogs? I n a word, c onvenience . But how convenient is it when , because of eating processed food, your pet develops a persistent itch , eczema, dental problems , smelly breath, an inhalant allergy , colitis, food hypersensitivity, lethargy, a dull or scurfy coat, kidney disease , or rheumatoid arthritis - to name but a few?

Raw Food: Dogs, in my opinion, should eat, as far as possible, a raw diet : raw meat, liquidised raw fruit and veg , and raw bones. It ' s simple to feed , and, as your own common sense will tell you , it ' s what dogs are designed to eat. Here's how a raw diet works:

The Rules:

Dogs should be fed on a variety of raw meat and bones. Just sticking to one meat source will deprive the dog of nutrients. Do not feed pork. If your dog has a skin or bowel problem, do not initially feed beef ; wait until you 're sure that it w on' t cause hypersensitivity (4 weeks), and then introduce gradually. Raw chicken wings can also be fed as a meat source two or three times a week and are ideal for small dogs and puppies over 5 weeks. Never give cooked bones : they are prone to splinter and can cause internal problems for your pet. Raw bones are easily chewed and digested, and provide much-needed calcium. It is very unlikely , but not impossible, that bones will become stuck in the digestive tract; if you do not give bones to clean teeth, however, poor teeth and general anaesthetic for dental work is very likely . Giving raw vegetable stalks (eg broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower) or whole raw carrots and other fibrous vegetables helps to keep teeth clean.

Daily quantities of raw meat : for every 10kg of body weight, a dog should eat 2-400 g of meat/meaty bones. This is only a guideline to start : i f your dog i s gaining weight, reduce the quantity ; if it is l osing weight , increase it . Chicken wings should be counted as meat, but meaty bones should be fed, in addition to meat, at least twice weekly for teeth cleaning and to supply calcium. Minces with ground bone content (e.g. AMP minces - see later) are an excellent source of calcium. You can feed once or twice daily.

For every handful of meat, feed two handfuls of liquidised raw fruit and veg* - a bit like 'meat-and-two-veg' that we're all used to hearing. Freshly ground-up nuts (any nuts), ground-up seeds (pumpkin, sunflower etc.), herbs (any) should be added to the 'veg' portion. Cooked beans can replace meat occasionally.

Feed fresh viscera once a week instead of meaty bones (heart, kidney, lung or liver). Remember, wild animals as a food source come with viscera (organ meat) as well as muscle meat and bones ; i t ' s a necessary part of a balanced diet, however distasteful it may appear. Vary the organ meat weekly.

Treats can include baked liver cubes, small amounts of freeze-dried meats, fruit and veg portions or dried fruit (not raisins).

Do not feed cereals or rice (mixer biscuits or treats). Do not feed raisins. Buckwheat/Cous cous and Quinoa are good fillers as they are not cereals.

* Take any veges , especially green - leaved ones , fruit and salad items and place in the liquidiser. You can use just one or two ingredients at any one liquidising, but make sure you have variety from week to week. Blend to a rough broth. I f necessary , a dd some water. Pour the liquidised mix onto the meat until you have a meat-to-veg ratio of 1:2 by volume. If your dog is ill or old, you should take a few day s to slowly and gradually switch to the new regimen.

Use a good mineral and vitamin supplement. I recommend to all dogs:

ULTIMATE NUTRITION FOR DOGS

- available from my office (Tel: 01225 48 7778 or email: orders @holisticvet.co.uk)

How to bend the rules:

•  If you cannot bear to feed raw meat, very quick cooking in olive oil to 'seal' the juices is ok. Meat should be rare when served.

•  Liquidised raw veg will last for forty-eight hours in the fridge, so you need only do the blending three times weekly, although it does begin to lose its goodness pretty soon after liquidising. Rice is fine in small amounts, but pasta is not good as it is made from wheat. An oven-baked mixer biscuit can be used to fill out the diet once or twice weekly: feed one-third meat, one-third veg and one-third high-quality biscuit, such as Natural Choice Holistic Dog Food (01278 652 184). Do not use any cereals if you are trying to avoid allergy due to grains .

•  If you really can't bring yourself to feed raw bones or chicken wings, frozen-meat suppliers AMP(0800 0183 770) offer minces in their Prize Choice range which contain 4% finely ground bone and thus provide valuable calcium. Chews could be given to clean the teeth if no bones are fed. AMP do supply turkey necks - these are very good to start dogs on to help clean teeth.

Further Reading : The best book on the subject is 'The Barf Diet' (ISBN 0 958 592 1 9) by Dr Ian Billinghurst , an Australian vet with more than twenty five years' practice experience. It can be purchased from several UK-based mail-order houses or via the Internet. If you can't find it, contact me and I can send you a copy. This sheet was inspired by Dr Billinghurst and other author's (Schultz, Lonsdale, Volhardt and Strombeck) books.

Scares: Certain authorities are concerned about feeding dogs raw meat. They claim, without substantial supporting evidence, that such a diet can lead to the dogs becoming infected with bacteria, some that can be passed to people. In my experience, dogs are naturally able to cope well with the level of contamination that is present in all uncooked meat. I believe that they can eat such food and be no more of a threat to human health than dogs fed a commercial diet; indeed, my experience leads me to believe that, if a dog is fed a raw-food diet, it will be healthier and better able to cope with bugs that are transmissible to people. If you have any concerns, or you have very young, very old, or immuno-deficient people in your household, then you would be best advised to talk with your doctor or other health professional.

Frozen raw meat suppliers to pet shops and private delivery: AMP - 0800 0183 770 .

It may appear difficult at first, but many people pick up the basics of natural feeding

very soon after starting.

Give it a try; with the positive difference it will make to the health of your dog, they will thank you - for years and years to come.