What You Need to Know About Dog and Cat Nutrition

Raw vs. Cooked Food

Today, the dog and cat caregiver has many feeding options.Choices include mass-produced commercially-formulated diets and home-prepared diets, either raw or cooked.For most of our evolutionary history with dogs and cats (at least 14,000 years or more for dogs and at least 3,000 years for cats) guardians have formulated diets in the home and/or shared their own food with them.More recently, pet food manufacturers have produced products ready-made in dry, canned, and semi-moist form which some people find extremely convenient to use.

But, as the famous nutritionist Dr. Bernard Jensen once said “There is no right way to do the wrong thing.”Convenience, nor price, of commercial diets does not necessarily insure that they will provide species-appropriate nutrients in forms that our animals can best utilize for good health.One must consider that dogs and cats have thrived in good health on real, raw food for many thousands of years.Only recently have we fed them foreign commercial food products and, with the increase in animal illness, we must in good conscience and logical reason, consider the correlation.It is recommended that much research be done to determine which type of diet is correct for each individual animal.

Special Life Stages

Puppies and Kittens

Newborn pups and kittens should be encouraged to nurse soon after they are born to receive their mother’s colostrum.Colostrum, rich in protein, is the first fluid secreted by the mammary glands and contains important immune and growth factors.If the young must be hand-reared, supplemental colostrum may be purchased and added to formula.There are many formulas and recipes for feeding orphans.

(Continued on next page)