For many years my first cat absolutely loved to eat the crunchy commercial pet foods, even when I supplemented that with lots of fresh meat, fish, eggs, and cheese. So, I decided to find her the healthiest dry cat food on the market that I could find. I came across one brand, made with lots of high quality ingredients and natural preservatives, that is produced in Canada and promoted by leading holistic veterinarians from around the world. With delicious items like real chicken, chicken livers and fat, turkey, salmon and whitefish, eggs, alfalfa, kelp, and other fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs, this cat food's ingredients was like a gourmet degustation menu.
At that time, however, there were a number of laws requiring certain imported foods to be irradiated upon entry into the country. While both human and animal foods are irradiated, the pet foods are irradiated at levels 5-10x higher than safe human limits. Yet, because this process makes foods toxic, many cats and other animals end up getting poisoned by eating the irradiated foods. Very often, cats that eat these irradiated foods develop irreversible neurological diseases and must subsequently be euthanized.
I, unknowingly, included these foods as about half of my cat's daily meals. As a result, she became another of those cats afflicted with the irreversible neurological conditions. She began having great difficulties swallowing food, had trouble urinating and defecating properly, and developed wobbly hind legs-all of which contributed to a serious loss of weight. When she started having trouble simply breathing, I really began to fear the worst. In the end, she was not responding positively to any treatments, and the veterinarian suggest that she be euthanized.
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. The producers of these commercial brands market them as the optimum, healthiest choices for your pet, though this certainly is not accurate. Evidence shows that as the use of these "premium" pet foods have increased, the overall health of our pets have dramatically decreased. There are many uncontrollable factors, such as over-vaccination and poor genetics, that contribute to pet health problems, by far the most important factor is an insufficient diet. Improper nutrition can be linked to the majority of increasingly common pet health problems, such as skin disease, arthritis, teeth and gum disease, obesity and diabetes, renal failure, anal gland blockages, even epilepsy and cancer. 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.
Clearly, a balanced, natural diet made from real food is the healthiest choice if you want your pet to be optimally healthy. I now prepare my pets' food myself using tasty, easy-to-prepare recipes with any number of the following ingredients: raw chicken necks or wings for cats, whole raw chicken carcasses for dogs, raw fish, raw organ meats from beef, lamb, and chicken, raw eggs, and also yogurts and cheeses. Because providing greens is also important, I will also add parsley or wheat-grass, broccoli, carrots, sweet potato, apple, pear, pineapple, and whatever other fruits and vegetables I have available. Using seaweeds like kelp powder or nori flakes, I am able to add further vitamin and minerals to their diet. I much prefer to use organic, quality foods that are good enough for human consumption.
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.
At that time, however, there were a number of laws requiring certain imported foods to be irradiated upon entry into the country. While both human and animal foods are irradiated, the pet foods are irradiated at levels 5-10x higher than safe human limits. Yet, because this process makes foods toxic, many cats and other animals end up getting poisoned by eating the irradiated foods. Very often, cats that eat these irradiated foods develop irreversible neurological diseases and must subsequently be euthanized.
I, unknowingly, included these foods as about half of my cat's daily meals. As a result, she became another of those cats afflicted with the irreversible neurological conditions. She began having great difficulties swallowing food, had trouble urinating and defecating properly, and developed wobbly hind legs-all of which contributed to a serious loss of weight. When she started having trouble simply breathing, I really began to fear the worst. In the end, she was not responding positively to any treatments, and the veterinarian suggest that she be euthanized.
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. The producers of these commercial brands market them as the optimum, healthiest choices for your pet, though this certainly is not accurate. Evidence shows that as the use of these "premium" pet foods have increased, the overall health of our pets have dramatically decreased. There are many uncontrollable factors, such as over-vaccination and poor genetics, that contribute to pet health problems, by far the most important factor is an insufficient diet. Improper nutrition can be linked to the majority of increasingly common pet health problems, such as skin disease, arthritis, teeth and gum disease, obesity and diabetes, renal failure, anal gland blockages, even epilepsy and cancer. 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.
Clearly, a balanced, natural diet made from real food is the healthiest choice if you want your pet to be optimally healthy. I now prepare my pets' food myself using tasty, easy-to-prepare recipes with any number of the following ingredients: raw chicken necks or wings for cats, whole raw chicken carcasses for dogs, raw fish, raw organ meats from beef, lamb, and chicken, raw eggs, and also yogurts and cheeses. Because providing greens is also important, I will also add parsley or wheat-grass, broccoli, carrots, sweet potato, apple, pear, pineapple, and whatever other fruits and vegetables I have available. Using seaweeds like kelp powder or nori flakes, I am able to add further vitamin and minerals to their diet. I much prefer to use organic, quality foods that are good enough for human consumption.
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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