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A
NATURAL DIET
Dogs in the wild would hunt and kill small mammals, empty
their stomach contents, mainly consisting of semi-digested
grains, herbs and vegetables. They would then often bury the
rest of the prey to let it “ripen” and come back
some hours or days later, depending on how hungry they are.
Chasing, hunting and killing are natural instincts in every
dog. These we can simulate by letting the dog chase and “kill”
toys, or by doing agility. Equally important is the actual
eating of the prey, crunching up the bones and chewing hard
on the meat. With the modern dog foods, this is almost lost
and I am sure that many behaviour and physical problems can
be attributed to the lack of natural food being available
to the dog.
Nature
never gave the dog a tin opener or a tooth brush!
Any
change to a dog’s diet needs to be made gradually and
if there are any health problems only after consultation with
a vet.
The
disadvantage of feeding a natural diet is that it takes more
time to prepare and is not as easy to take with you on holidays.
However it is no more expensive than a commercial dog food
diet and the advantage is that you know what your dog eats
and will soon be able to see an improvement in general vitality
and coat condition.
There
are many books on the market on natural diets, a couple I
recommend are:
“Give
the dog a Bone” by Ian Billingshurst and
“Keep your Pet Healthy the Natural Way” by Pat
Lazarus.
Alternatively
you can make up your own grain feeds which I do. Ask me if
you need to know how!
There
are various feeding charts available for feeding raw meat.
Some feed meat every day. I personally only feed meat about
4-5times per week as again if dogs were left to their natural
habitat, they would not be able to hunt and kill every day
and the tendency is to overfeed.
I also feel it is good for the digestive system to have a
break for a couple of days. You may find if you do this that
on the meat free days, your dog is even more energetic, as
he feels really good!Below an example of a diet, but there
are many others and you will soon find what suits you and
your dog, but you should include the various types of meat
etc. so he gets all the nutritional requirements. You can
be imaginative and add other things, like scrambled or raw
eggs, cottage cheese, grated cheese, grated mixed vegetables,
sardines, cooked turkey (meat only not the bones, as cooked
they can be harmful)
Pilchards, mackerel etc. especially on meat free days, garlic
, vine vinegar, parsley etc .
The
example below is for a medium sized dog. Chicken wings are
minced including the bones. Not many butchers are prepared
to do that,but we have a butcher who supplies various club
members .Alternatively you can buy a mincer from
http://www.northerntooluk.com/product search and do it yourself.
It
is important to do thorough research into natural feeding.
Many dogs who have been on a commercial diet for years, will
not recognise raw foods as edible and many vets are against
natural feeding.
To
satisfy the natural requirements natural diets are given in
two stages. The grain food and the meat meals are given separately
with as much time in between as possible. Dogs should never
be exercised after a meal. Giving a small grain meal in the
morning after exercise or at lunch time and then the meat
meal last thing at night is a good way of doing this.
A
company called Green-Ark delivers the grain food directly
and reliably to your door. All you have to do is soak the
food overnight or for three hours and feed to your dog. At
the beginning you may have to mix in a little grated cheese
or similar because your dog may not think it is “food”.
If
you send a large SAE to
Green
Ark Animal Nutrition,
Pendle House Barn, Burley,
Pendle,
Nelson,
Lancs.
BB9 6LQ.
They will send you a Diet Booklet and price list.
Or telephone or fax 01282606810
e-mail greenark@zen.co.uk
website www.greenark.co.uk. |
