Providing a balanced, nutritionally complete diet for our domesticated dogs and cats can be challenging. Most animal professionals recommend dry kibbles calling them a complete and balanced diet. You see fancy commercials all claiming to be the best dry food for your beloved pet. This cannot be farther from the truth.

In fact, in some cases a dry kibble can be the worst possible decision for a pet, regardless of the quality of the food. Some diseases and conditions can be complicated by dry foods (i.e. diabetes, compromised kidney or liver function). While quality dry foods using human-grade ingredients are acceptable, a raw diet is the best way to offer unadulterated nutrients. To understand the value of a raw food diet it is necessary to consider dog and cat physiology.

Breeding has resulted in unique shapes and colors in domesticated dogs. Though different in appearance, the physiology of the animals is the same as their wild predecessors. The International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature has reclassified dogs as Canis Lupis (Latin for “wolf”). Dogs and wolves are classified as the same species because they are genetically identical. They can interbreed and their organs and physiologic responses are identical—which means their nutritional requirements are identical.

Ever see wolves grazing on corn and wheat, or cooking their catch over a hot fire? In a ten-year study on feline nutrition, Dr. Francis Pottenger, MD, compared a raw food diet with a cooked food diet. He conducted his research with two groups of cats over several generations, feeding one group exclusively raw foods, and the other group exclusively cooked foods. By the third generation, the cats consuming cooked foods suffered from allergies, behavior problems, parasites, musculoskeletal problems, organ disease, and immune problems. Some of the cats on the cooked food diet were unable to reproduce by the third generation. Most domesticated pets are fed nutritionally inadequate processed foods, and have been for the last six to ten generations. Evolutionary processes allow a species to adapt, but the process takes at least eighty years.

While a domesticated dog or cat can reasonably digest processed foods, their digestive tracts are geared more towards digestion of raw foods, grains excluded. Instead of forcing your pets to adapt to a diet that lacks the components needed for health and vitality, why not offer them the diet that they have been thriving on for thousands of years—raw food diet. A raw diet should include small amounts of organ meat, raw bones, raw vegetables, and supplements. Raw bones are a great source of calcium, and are pliable and nutritious. As a bonus, they function as a natural toothbrush. (Never feed your pet cooked bones, which become brittle and sharp and can cause serious choking and digestive problems.)

Source: Becker, Karen Shaw, DVM. “The Worst to Best Foods You Could Feed.” 2002 – 2006. 2 Nov. 2006.www.drkarenbecker.com/nav_sets_04/set04.htm