Natural Diet, What Do I Feed My Dog and Cat?

The cat and dog have for thousands of years, evolved its nutrition as a CARNIVORE, (meat-eater) rather than an OMNIVORE (such as man, whose needs require meat, vegetables, fruit and cereal.) Yet commercially, the pet food products sold are ones geared for omnivore needs.

If you will look at the structure of the teeth in your dog and cat, as compared to your own teeth, you will note that they have a different anatomical structure from yours. Dog and cat's teeth are made for tearing and shearing of raw meat, sinew, bones and tissues. The last molar of the dog does have a grinding surface allowing some grinding of cereals and veggies; however for the most part, dogs are more of a carnivore than an omnivore and cats cannot survive an omnivore diet. Man's teeth are made for grinding of cereals and raw vegetables, which make up a high percentage of his diet. Meat is protein; cereals and vegetables are carbohydrates. The stomach of the dog and cat makes up 63% of the volume of the digestive system. The stomach of the carnivore has an acid content ph of approximately 1.0, which is extremely acid to digest tissue, fiber and bones; and the small intestine makes up 23% volume of the digestive tract (this is where carbohydrates are digested). An omnivore (man) has a stomach, which makes up 14% of his digestive system with a much less acid ph (3.0) than the carnivore’s stomach for protein digestion and the small intestine makes up approximately 45% of his digestive tract for carbohydrate digestion.

Protein is needed by the body to maintain the proper health of muscle mass, skin hair, nails, hormones and all organ tissues. Carbohydrates are needed for quick energy or stored as complex carbohydrates (glycogen) in the muscles for future energy needs. Proteins must be in two forms for maximal utilization by the body:

1. High biological value, which means it contains all the essential amino acids required by that body.

2. High digestibility, otherwise you may be feeding your pet one- dollar's worth of food and cleaning up ninety- nine cents worth from the yard. Commercial dog and cat food sadly do not fulfill these requirements--even so-called "High Protein" canned and kibbled products contain no more than 10-28 percent protein, and are of poor biological value (mostly made from cheap source vegetable plant protein that the body has to work hard to convert into essential amino acids) or poor grade organ meat by-products again of low biological value and digestibility. More important is the disastrously high percentage of carbohydrates to protein ratio fed which do not meet the body's requirements for good health. This puts a great burden on the pancreas to metabolize and digest these high ratios of carbs, and leads to poor organ function, allergies development, hormonal, enzyme and mineral imbalances. I believe it is the basis of the increasing incidence of Diabetes Mellitus seen in cats and dogs today. It contributes to development of other chronic degenerative diseases: kidney, heart, and liver failure; allergic dermatitis, and with the toxic chemical pollutants contained within the formulations lead to tumor and cancer formations.

Processed dog and cat food (including pet treats) contain dozens of pesticides, herbicides, drugs, growth-inducing hormones, heavy metals, red and yellow food coloring, white granulated sugar and chemical preservatives to enhance longer shelf life. We have a product produced by the Pet Food Industry that no way visually, chemically or nutritionally resembles the real thing. The solution is obvious--- feed your pet clean, fresh vegetables, grains and meat that you prepare at home. It need not be expensive; you can buy in bulk, or even feed left-overs from your own dinner. In my house of one husband, one child, 1 cat and 2 dogs, I make a BIG pot of food daily to feed all of us, but the dogs and cats get a greater proportion of the protein than we do, for their protein needs are greater. It is not difficult to cook or prepare for your pet. You prepare the same nutritious balance of foodstuffs for yourself, don't you? Many times I cook large volumes and freeze several daily portions ahead of time, if I know I am going to be very busy, because I am acutely aware of the disease-producing affects of the pesticides, herbicides and chemicals in our food chain, I profess one further precaution detoxification of the "so-called fresh" foods we buy in the market, before preparation and eating. When you purchase your meat, vegetables, grains, and fruits, detoxify them first using the color clearing technique of Blue-Green colored clear cellophanes (see Newsletter #7). This has the added value of being able to detox packaged or dried foods (like oatmeal, rice, etc.) You need not take them out of their package. The food is now ready for storage or preparation. Before feeding I charge the food and water on my flat, plasticized Crystal Mandala Chargers for 20 minutes. You will find this process will make your food taste fresher, last longer in storage and will be much healthier for you and your pet.

HOW MUCH TO FEED OF WHAT?

How much food to feed a dog or cat and of what? A handy rule of thumb is: feed approximately 1 ounce of food per pound body weight of animal. This is for the average daily needs of an adult animal.

For growing young animals, or pregnant, lactating females you would feed a little

more for the increased caloric, protein, and extra calcium /magnesium supplementation needs. This rule of thumb should be adjusted to maintain even an adult animal’s weight. It is only a guideline.

The diet should be as close to that of a carnivore in the wild state, and be compatible to the physiological make-up of the carnivore's digestion system:

60% protein: dairy products such as milk, cheese or cottage cheese; meats such as chicken, turkey, veal, beef, lamb, or fish, legumes (beans such as kidney, black, red, pinto, navy or lima) and eggs.

NOTE: in cats, the protein MUST be in the form of meat flesh, due to the cat's unique requirement of carninine, an essential amino acid only to be found in meat protein.

I RECOMMEND ALL RAW FLESH MEATS AND EGG PRODUCTS BE COOKED THOROUGHLY BECAUSE IN THIS COUNTRY THEY CAN BE HEAVILY CONTAMINATED WITH SALMONELLA AND E. COLI BACTERIA. THESE TWO BACTERIA CAN CAUSE BLOODY DIARRHEA, VOMITING AND DEATH. DO NOT FEED RAW!!! BEWARE OF BARF DIETS.

20 % grated or chopped vegetables (carrots, beets, cabbage, kale, spinach celery, etc.) always include a sulfur containing vegetable (cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower) with each meal as they chelate out heavy metals naturally. I lightly steam the veggies.

20% cooked cereals (oatmeal, brown rice, rye crackers, whole wheat, and barley).

In addition to the basic natural food groups above, include several nutritious packed food supplements to insure the proper vitamins and minerals needed for good health. Unfortunately, although many books on natural nutrition for dogs and cats suggest bone meal, kelp, Chlorella, blue green algae, and super green (cereal grasses) supplementation, I do NOT recommend these if they are of a source from this country. My testing of several sampling (even those sold in health food stores for human consumption) have shown contamination with heavy metals, especially aluminum, lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury, that are very damaging to the health of both animal and man. Cod liver oil extracted from cod taken off the Norwegian coast (which is the main source), is so heavily contaminated with mercury that it has caused progressive chronic toxicity in animals. See Newsletter #1 Heavy Metal Contamination of Food and Water.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (which is not contaminated with chemicals used in extraction processes of other oils); is a good source of unsaturated fatty acids necessary for many body functions.

SUPPLEMENTS:

Natural Vitamin E (Feed only the D-alpha tocopherols which is the natural source vitamin E. dl-alpha tocopherols are a synthetic form.) Give the daily dose of Vitamin E: cats and small dogs, 400 IU, medium dogs, 600 IU, large dogs 800- 1000 IU.

Vitamin C in the form of Ester C which is 4 times more absorbent that regular C (a very important vitamin to keep your pet healthy, build strong ligaments, tendons and connective tissue, and be able to cope with stress). Cats and small dogs, 250 mg, medium dogs, 500 mg, large dogs 1000-1500 mg. For giant breeds of dogs who are prone to Hip Dysplasia such as Newfoundlands, Great Pyrenees, as well as Labradors, Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds etc. require massive daily doses of Vitamin C. There is scientific data that suggests Hip Dysplasia is an inherited lack of vitamin C or inability to metabolize this vitamin properly. The researchers have made experiments breeding known Hip Dysplastic dogs that in the past produced Hip Dyplasia in their puppies. They have taken these same breeding pairs and supplemented them with massive daily doses of Vitamin C several months prior to breeding and found the puppies produced to be free of Hip Dysplasia! I suggest for these dogs that you start with 1500 mg of Vitamin C and increase each daily dosage by 500 mg until diarrhea is produced, then reduce by 500 mg. This now is the required daily dosage of Vitamin C for that individual animal. It’s referred to as finding the “bowel tolerance” dosage of Vit C.

For needed Vitamin A found in Cod liver oil, I recommend Beta Carotene equivalent to 25000 IU Vit A for dogs. Cats who are unable to convert carotene to Vit A, must be fed a diet that contains some organic chicken livers and cooked green leafy vegetables like chard, spinach, kale, etc. or you can buy natural source Vit A capsules.

For the sexually altered animals (spayed females and castrated males) I include a glandular supplement of the missing sexual organ either ovary or testicle powdered in capsular form. Animals missing these glands have an imbalance in the endocrine system due to lack of these hormones and predispose to obesity, poor energy levels poor hair coat and skin health. I believe the whole gland is more important to supplement than the hormones estrogen and testosterone because I believe there are many more unknown factors contained in the whole gland that may play an essential role in health.

I also recommend the homeopathic Male or Female Total Organ/Endocrine Balance/Immune Stimulant 100C daily.

The simplest way to give supplements is with the meal. Capsule supplements can have the ends snipped off to sprinkle the contents into the food, tablets can be broken up.

For dogs, the supplements vary with size unlike the cat. If your pet refuses the taste of the food, you can give separately, tablets ground up, capsules emptied into small amount water and give with dosing syringe daily.

MEAT, GRAIN AND VEGGIES MENU

6 ounces cooked lean meat and 2 teasp. Oil (or 6 ounces hamburger)

2 ounces cooked brown rice

2 ounces combination grated carrots, celery and onions, green leafy veggies

1 tablet Pet Tabs Plus (dogs) or Favor (cat).

1 capsule Natural Vit E, Ester C, and Bovine Colostrum

For animals weighing more than 10 #, you would increase the amounts of protein (meat etc.), veggies, and cereal by fractions of ten; for example: for a 15 # animal, you would multiply by 1 ½. For example 6 oz of meat x 1 ½ =9 oz of meat. ; 2 oz. of cereal or veggies x 1 ½= 3 oz of cereal and 3 oz of veggies.

For Cats, to above Menu I add 1 capsule Vitamin A 10,000 IU. I vary the hamburger with 6 oz. raw organic chicken livers or fresh or frozen raw ocean fish, prawns or scallops

For breeds of dogs prone to Hip Dysplasia: add the indicated extra Vitamin C,

For spayed females, I recommend my Female Total Organ/Endocrine Balance/Immune Stimulant 100C daily.  For castrated males, I recommend my  Male Total Organ/Endocrine Balance/Immune Stimulant 100C daily.

For older animals (over 5 years old), or weak animals recovering from illness, I suggest adding Rainbow Light’s Advanced Digestive Enzyme system (all the required essential digestive enzymes plus herbs that support weakened digestion). The daily dosage is empiric depending on need of individual animal. I would suggest for cats and small dogs, 1 capsule; medium dogs 2 capsules; and large dogs 3 capsules. You will have to monitor your animal’s stools to see if the dosage needs to be increased. If your animal is putting out large amounts of stool, more than 3 movements a day or if the bowel movement is frothy or fatty looking, you will have to increase the digestive enzymes by ½ capsule daily until stools look normal and your pet has only 1-2 movements a day. Also add Kyo-Dophilus (Waukanauga Of America Co.) cats and small dogs ½ capsule; medium dogs 1 capsule; large dogs 2 capsules daily for 1-2 weeks for improved digestion (a must if your animal has been on antibiotics which kill all bacteria in the intestinal tract and lead to improper digestion).

For animals with allergies (skin problems), autoimmune diseases arthritis, heart, kidney, asthma, almost any illness prone animals I have found a miracle supplement (for people too) and that is organically produced Bovine Colostrum (New Life) from New Zealand. It is Mother Nature’s miracle food packed with immune stimulating proteins, factors to kill pathogenic bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites. It has growth promoting factors that help heal injured or dead cells anywhere in the body and helps potentiate other forms of therapies. It increases energy and decreases aging. Many holistic practitioners have rediscovered this marvelous healer that was used before the advent of antibiotics and steroids (which can be so damaging to the immune system). In depth discussion of the research and results of Colostrum therapy in resistant degenerative diseases and the purchase of this product are available in our electronic store. Because our atmosphere has decreased oxygen content since the industrial revolution, I advocate adding oral liquid oxygen as a preventative and treatment regime for your pet’s good health. I recommend Aerobic O7—diluted with bottled spring water: 7 drops once daily in 1 cup water as preventative to illness; 15 drops in 1 cup water 2-3 x daily as needed for treatment regime.

All products mentioned can be ordered online. For more detailed information on Natural Diet for your pet, you can purchase the Newsletter #4 Your Pet’s Natural Diet.