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Canine diet
by Catherine O'Driscoll
Copyright February, 2009 -
Nature has developed a diet for dogs that has kept them on the planet for millions of years. Processed pet food, on the other hand, has only been around for just over a hundred years: and it’s now that we’re experiencing chronic illness in our dogs. More accurately, they’re not actually ill: they’re malnourished.
If you want healthy dogs, you absolutely must get the diet right. It’s the foundation of good health.
What Dogs Eat
In the natural state, dogs eat small to medium sized prey. This would include rabbits, birds, fish, rats, mice, and lamb. They would frequently eat the whole carcass, including stomach, intestines, organs, meat and bones.
Dogs also forage for other foodstuffs, such as eggs and fruit. Vegetable matter and grains are provided in the stomach and intestines of prey.
To mimic the natural diet for your dogs (since they can’t go out and catch their own food in this modern world), you can feed:
- Raw meaty bones
- Raw organ meats such as tripe, liver, heart
- Raw fresh eggs
- Fresh raw fish
- Steamed vegetables
- Fruit
- Table scraps
Our own dogs are given raw meaty bones for breakfast, including chicken wings, rabbit chunks (with bone), oxtail, and pheasant. Also, because we live in the country, they often catch their own meals. In the evening, they are given meat such as rabbit, chicken, tripe, beef and lamb, and offal such as liver. To this we add steamed vegetables six evenings a week. They are fasted one morning a week. Occasionally they have table scraps, including porridge, cooked meats, vegetables and fish. They also love the occasional dog biscuit treat.
Why Supplements Might Be Necessary
In the wild, dogs are obviously not given supplements. However, they do have the ability to supplement their own diets by foraging for herbs – which they do regularly by using their own inner wisdom.
It is wrong to believe that the needs of every dog are the same. There is no ‘one size fits all’ diet for dogs, just as there is no such thing for humans. We are all unique. Nutritional needs vary according to the age and health status of the dog.
It’s also worth bearing in mind that modern dogs have been fed processed pet food for generations: they’ve been malnourished for generations. This means that the dog in front of you is not the same as a dog in the wild.
In a famous feeding study of 900 cats conducted by Dr Francis Pottenger, raw-fed cats were found to be healthy in each successive generation. Processed food cats fared less well.
The first generation of processed food groups developed diseases and illnesses near the end of their lives. The second generation of processed food groups developed diseases and illnesses in the middle of their lives. The third generation of processed food groups developed diseases and illnesses in the beginning of their lives and many died before six months of age. There was no fourth generation in any of the three processed food groups. Either the third generation parents were sterile or the fourth generation cats died before birth!
This indicates that the errors of faulty feeding are passed on down the line.
Since nutrients can heal disease, and can be used therapeutically, you should use your dog’s body as a guide, and supplement as your dog himself indicates.
For example:
Vitamin C should always be added if there is a history of hip dysplasia in your dog’s breed or line – since research shows that HD is probably scurvy, also known as vitamin C deficiency. There are several types of vitamin C, and you should choose the type most suited to your dog. For example, Ascorbic Acid is good for alleviating cystitis, whereas Ester C has been proven in trials to alleviate mobility problems in dogs. So if your dog has stiff joints, a vitamin C supplement could well solve that problem.
Although it’s true that dogs manufacture their own vitamin C in the body, individual needs differ. Larger dogs, for example, frequently need more C than small dogs, and dogs under stress also need more vitamin C (since vitamin C feeds anti-stress hormones and can become depleted).
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Catherine O'Driscoll Catherine is the founder of Canine Health Concern, which spearheads research and education by and for dog lovers to promote positive canine health. She is author of the books What Vets Don't Tell You About Vaccines, and Shock To The System, is a guest columnist for Dogs Today magazine, and has helped to popularise natural feeding and complementary healthcare options among dog lovers on a worldwide basis. She learnt Emotional Freedom Technique in 1998 and is qualified as a practitioner and teacher under the Association for the Advancement of Meridian Energy Techniques (AAMET). Catherine is also an ACT (Animal Communication Training) examiner, and a qualified Reiki practitioner.
