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The Basic Physiology of Dogs
and Cats Remains Unchanged
From Their Ancestors
Domestic dogs and cats no
longer need to hunt for
their food but their basic
physiology remains unchanged
from their ancestors.
They are carnivores
designed to eat raw meat,
bone and plant foods. The
three main reason we know
dogs and cats are carnivores
has to do with their teeth,
small intestines and acidic
digestive system.
Dogs and cats chew
their food just enough to
gulp down large chunks.
Their teeth are made for
ripping and tearing not
matriculating.
It’s the highly
acidic digestive juices that
do all the work.
Their intestines are
short to enable the meat to
go through quickly before it
putrefies. That is why raw
vegetables must be processed
into very tiny pieces the
size of sand or salt in
order for a carnivore to
utilize them.
People have three
times the length of small
intestines in comparison to
a carnivore.
People have time to
break down vegetables and
some grain dogs don’t.
Even people don’t do
well with most wheat
products.”
We Must Add Vegetables As
Well As Raw Meat
“In nature, carnivores would
get predigested vegetation
after a herbivore they
captured had already
digested the vegetation.
So we must provide
raw ground vegetables as
well as raw meat, to have a
properly balanced meal that
is as close to what Mother
Nature would provide as
possible.”
Why Raw rather than
Cooked
Cooking food destroys live
enzymes, amino acids and
essential fatty acids.
All processed foods
for people and animals
have been cooked,
sterilized or pasteurized
which means all the
enzymes that are needed to
digest and utilize the
food are destroyed.
Heat destroys
enzymes not freezing.
Enzymes begin to be
destroyed at 102 degrees
and are totally destroyed
at 126 degrees.
The saying “we are
what we eat” is not
exactly correct.
We are what we
utilize.
Click Here
to learn why the cooking of dog
food can cause allergies and
malnourishment.
Cats and dogs are carnivores, or
meat-eaters. Yet
ALL dry commercial pet foods are
at least 60% (or more) grain
because the carbohydrates are
needed to hold the food together.
But as The Merck Veterinary Manual
(8th ed., pg. 1628) tells us,
dogs and cats have "no dietary
requirement for carbohydrate."
Does it make sense to feed our
carnivores a diet that contains at
least 60% of a substance they
don't even need? Additionally,
carbohydrates are metabolized by
the body to glucose (sugar) which
is known to feed cancers, diabetes
and many other disorders that now
plague our companion animals. If
grains and vegetables were a
primary nutrient source, you'd see
cats and dogs stalking ears of
corn and heads of wheat.
Raw diets simulate the menu that
nature intended carnivores to eat.
When a carnivore eats an herbivore
like a rabbit, the carnivore eats
some meat, some bone, some organ
meats (liver, heart, kidney,
etc.), and some green vegetation
contained in the herbivore's
digestive tract. That's nature's
perfect meal - the meal that raw
diets replicate.
Dogs and cats are NOT humans. They have a very different digestive tract and process.
For example, we can eat all the
onion we want without harm, but
some dogs can get anemic from a
single, small portion of them. We
can eat a pound of baker's
chocolate and merely get fat or
nauseous, while dogs can die from
even a lesser amount. We can get
very sick from raw meat, while
dogs thrive on it as their natural
diet. Again, they are NOT human.
Compared to us,
dogs and cats have a very short
digestive system,
which means that foods are
processed quickly -- before
harmful bacteria have a chance to
multiply and cause problems. Also,
carnivores have a
very high level of acidity
in their digestive systems. This
high acidity, which allows them to
break down the nutrients in raw
meats and bones, is also hostile
to bacteria. We've all seen dogs
eat true garbage (rotten foods,
decaying squirrel carcasses, etc.)
without any ill effects. Nature
did not evolve carnivores to eat a
diet that would kill them. And
remember, we aren't suggesting you
feed spoiled, contaminate foods. A
raw food diet consists of
good quality, USDA-inspected and
approved meats and bones.
A high-quality, raw food diet can
provide the nutrients that will
help insure that
your animals lead a long and
healthy life. Some
animals with existing health
problems, when switched to a raw
food diet, may experience an
improvement in their conditions.
Healthy animals on a raw diet are
likely to avoid some of the
illnesses that are now becoming
common in our companion animals.
Lifetime picky eaters, when given
the diet designed by nature, may
suddenly turn into chow hounds.
Raw diets for almost every animal
significantly reduce, or even
eliminate the need for veterinary
dental work. While you are spared
the cost of that dental work, your
animal will not be subject to the
risks of the associated
anesthesia. |