When I was younger I used to feed my first cat a diet that included commercial pet food along with a lot of supplements of fresh meat, fish, eggs and cheese, and she was still quite fond of her "crunchies" many years later. Because I loved her, I wanted to find the best and healthiest dry cat food that was offered on the market. I was able to find a highly recommended brand from Canada with lots of high quality ingredients and only natural preservatives. Much like a degustation menu for humans, this cat food had fresh herbs, fruits, and vegetables like alfalfa, kelp, and pumpkin, in addition to real fish, chicken, and other quality meats.
The AAFCO label is the first element the consumer should look for on a dog food package. The AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) develops and implements laws, regulations, standards and enforcement policies for regulating the manufacture, distribution and sale of animal feeds. The AAFCO certificate is a guarantee that the product has been controlled and approved as being safe for dogs. Dog food bags also display the list of ingredients they contain in order of quantity, which should be indication of whether or not they are going to meet your dog's needs. To conform to the AAFCO regulations the label should display the ingredient which has the highest percentage of the total weight first. Another AAFCO requirement is that the names of the ingredients be stated with precision and not grouped under generic names.
Unfortunately, my cat's diet consisted of about 40% of this gourmet dry food. She was one of those that developed neurological problems, all because of my ignorance. As she developed wobbly hind legs, and as she was having great difficulties swallowing, urinating, and defecating properly, my cat began to lose a whole lot of weight. When she started having trouble simply breathing, I really began to fear the worst. Since she was not responding well to any of the treatments we tried, her veterinarian advised me to euthanize her and give her relief from any pain and discomfort she was experiencing.
Since then, I have become more passionate about ensuring pet owners provide their pets with the most natural and balanced diet possible for their pets. Although I will very rarely recommend a few acceptable commercial food brands, I most often advise my veterinary patients to give their pets real, home-prepared foods.
Despite what most of the research suggests, there are still many vets that discourage homemade pet foods and recommend "premium" processed dry foods as the better option. These commercial brands are creatively marketed as the healthiest diet options for your pet, even as the companies know this not to be true. Evidence shows that as the use of these "premium" pet foods have increased, the overall health of our pets have dramatically decreased. Even with inadequate lifestyles, over-vaccination, and poor genetics, the primary cause of most pets' health problems are caused by inappropriate diets. Because of improper diets, our pets are increasingly diagnosed with life threatening illnesses, including skin diseases, mouth diseases, diabetes, digestive disorders, as well as epilepsy and cancers. It should now be clear that an obscene number of our pets' health issues are directly attributable to the consumption of such mass-produced, processed pet foods.
If you want your pet to enjoy a long and healthy life, it is essential that you provide it with a balanced, natural diet made with fresh, real foods. Learning from my earlier experiences, I now provide my pets with my own homemade recipes made with any number of fresh ingredients, from raw fish and raw chicken wings, to the raw organ meats from beef, chicken, and lamb. It is just as important to include fruits and vegetables, like broccoli, celery, beetroot, cauliflower, apple, pear, or pineapple. Using seaweeds like kelp powder or nori flakes, I am able to add further vitamin and minerals to their diet. I make sure that all of the foods I use are organic, whenever possible, and are also of human-grade.
Whatever your lifestyle, providing your pet with a healthy, natural diet does not have to be a long, expensive, nor difficult process. Providing your pet with such life-extending nourishment, you can take joy in knowing your pet will be around that much longer to love and care for.
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