REAL FOOD BASICS

The best food is real food. That means those foods a creature can eat and digest in their raw state.

For dogs and cats, carnivores, the best pet food would include, as general categories, animal foods primarily, and plants incidentally. Let's discuss each category briefly.

Milk is the first food carnivores eat. Once weaned, they would only consume it if preying on lactating mammals. Milk products for modern pets could include any dairy food, preferably in the raw form. If raw is not available, use organic whole cultured products such as plain yogurt and kefir. Since cultures are growing in these products, they are at least partly living food. Dairy in excess may cause diarrhea due to decreased lactase enzymes in adult animals.

Meats, organs, tripe, bones, and eggs from various species are the premier foods for carnivores. Raw from free range, grass fed, organic sources is best. Compromises can be made from there. Perfection is neither obtainable nor necessary.

Plant foods are rarely eaten by carnivores except as part of the viscera of the herbivores they eat. But pets can be offered a variety of fruits and vegetables and they are capable of digesting small amounts. Tree nuts should be soaked in water for about 12 hours and mashed before feeding. Pets don't chew, they tear and gulp.

Grains are not digestible in their raw form, and are even toxic when raw. They must be either sprouted or cooked. Sprouting is best since when the seed germinates the toxins are neutralized and the nutrients multiplied. Cooked grains should be only a minor part of the diet and should be in their whole vitamin and mineral rich form.

Processed foods containing the above ingredients can benefit but should be in rotation and variety with fresh foods you prepare yourself.

To learn more about how to incorporate these foods into meals to create the best pet food, review the following Wysong publications: How to Apologize to Your Pet, The Truth About Pet Foods, andRationale for Animal Nutrition.

Thought for the day: "There is nothing so sacred as facts; nothing so evil as to ignore them." – William F. Buckley, Jr.

Word for the day: enzymes - noun: Proteins that catalyze chemical reactions and aid in digestion / Wysong applies heat sensitive enzymes and probiotics to products after processing to spare their destruction and ensure their viability.