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Welcome to Shima Onida (Northern Inuit Dogs)
Guest Book Blog
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Tue, 22 May 2007
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Feeding Guide (One of many)
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 that which dogs, acting as
nature’s cleaners, devoured from the scraps left
over from the meals of big, messy carnivores such
as lions, bears and pumas. 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) offered 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
things 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 the muscle (meat) would be eaten. The bones,
skin and hair composed 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 helped with the hunt
and man rewarded 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: got a useful hunting companion;
the dogs 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 called it ‘dog food’. For the first
time in history, people could buy food specially
made for their dogs. The idea caught on, and soon
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 their 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. There are so many processed
dog foods to choose from that we don’t know where
to turn. When I was at college, one of my
lecturers 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. Admittedly, we all try to
buy the best for our wonderful dogs, but ask
yourself the 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 answers to these questions, as we all know,
are (a) No, they do not and would not use such
food for people, in any extreme, and (b) No, I
wouldn’t eat it if you paid me!
Convenient Disease: So why do we feed processed
food to our dogs? In a word, convenience. 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 won’t cause hypersensitivity, 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. 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 minerals. 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.
Daily quantities of raw meat: for every 10kg of
body weight, a dog should eat 100–150g of meat.
This is only a guideline to start: if your dog is
gaining weight, reduce the quantity; if it is
losing 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. Ensure
your dog is getting sufficient bones each week in
the mince fed or as bones outside mealtimes.
Minces with ground bone content are an excellent
source of calcium.
For every handful of meat, feed two handfuls of
liquidised raw fruit and veg* – a bit like ‘meat-
and-two-veg’! Freshly ground-up nuts, ground-up
seeds, herbs and cooked beans should be added to
the ‘veg’ portion. If you don’t think you can
feed an ample variety of foods use a supplement
such as Missing Link (from pet shops) or Pet Plus
for Dogs – details below.
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
as well as meat and bones; it’s a necessary part
of a balanced diet, however distasteful it may
appear. Vary the organ meat weekly. Treats can
include baked liver cubes, fruit and veg portions
or dried fruit (not raisins).
Do not feed cereals (mixer biscuits or treats).
Do not feed raisins. Other dried fruit are fine.
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. If necessary, add 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 days to
slowly and gradually switch to the new regimen.
You can feed once or twice daily.
How to bend the rules:
1. 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.
2. 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. If
you cannot give a variety of veg and fruit, feed
what variety you can and ring Sue Penman (01633
612 595) for an excellent supplement called Pet
Plus. It’s a powder made from plant and other
extracts to give a broad cover of essential food
state nutrients. The alternative is to get a very
good supplement called Missing Link – available
from pet shops.
3. 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. Do not use any cereals if you
are trying to avoid allergy due to grains.
4. If you really can’t bring yourself to
feed raw bones, 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 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
is basically a concise simplification of Dr
Billinghurst’s book.
Scares: Certain authorities are concerned about
feeding dogs raw food. They claim, without
substantial supporting evidence, that such a diet
can lead to the dogs becoming infected with
pathogens, 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 uncooked food. 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 vet
or other health professional.
Frozen Raw Meat Suppliers to Pet shops and
private delivery:
Freephone 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.
Posted 18:42
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