"People Food" for Pets
“People food” is not necessarily bad for dogs & cats.
Fresh and unprocessed foods are natural foods and are what animals are designed to eat. It is absolutely not natural for them to be eating highly cooked and processed foods and this is one of the many factors leading to more allergies and degenerative diseases in our pets today. In fact, dry pet foods have only been created within the past century and were originally developed for convenience and cost factors rather than health promotion. The pet food industry is now a multi-billion dollar industry and profit has typically been the driving force in the formulation of most pet foods.
Pet owners are advised to read all labels carefully when choosing pet foods, as there is a large discrepancy in quality of products. Many other options to dry pet foods are becoming widely available, including quality canned foods, dehydrated raw, freeze-dried raw, fresh-frozen raw, and commercially prepared baked/home-cooked foods.
Pet owners can also choose to do their own home-prepared diet, but it is imperative to consult with a holistic veterinarian to get educated on how to create a properly balanced diet with variety and appropriate supplementation to provide adequate calcium, minerals and vitamins, etc. In fact, be aware that feeding an unbalanced home-cooked diet is much worse than feeding a dry food kibble diet (even though I recommend fresher options to avoid over-cooked and over-processed foods).
There are many easy additions of nutritious fresh foods that can be used to as toppers or add-ins to any type of diet.
Please look for upcoming weekend class options with Dr. Kangas to get more education on:
FOOD EXTRAS FOR THE OPTIMAL HEALTH OF PETS