For those who feed the raw diet to your pets and claim
that they do not need vegetables and fruits in their diets,
I beg to differ. Let's examine the actual "diet" of the
wild canines and felines. They do, indeed, hunt their meat "on the hoof," as it were,
but they do not, I suspect, empty the stomach contents of
their prey, nor the bowels of their prey, before consuming
it. At least, not entirely. That is one of their sources of vegetable matter. You think they don't need it? Have your dogs ever eaten the feces of other animals? Why do you suppose that might be? Because they crave the vegetable matter, perhaps? Many years ago, we had a beagle-terrier mix that ran loose.
She was free to eat the kibble dog food we provided, or
hunt. We know that she hunted rabbits, squirrels and other
wild prey. But, I was amazed to see her, one day, laying
in the field in front of our house eating something. I got
closer and she was eating a windfall apple. This was in a
time before mankind was filling all our foods with hormones
and preservatives; when wild and domestic meats were more
'organic.' So, why would this dog be eating apples by choice? Perhaps
because that was a part of the natural diet of the species?
Have you ever observed your cats and dogs eating grass? It
is commonly thought they do that to settle their stomachs
for some reason, but I suggest that they do that as a part
of their natural diet. Just as humans need a variety of
sources of vitamins and minerals, I cannot imagine that the
canines and felines in our lives don't need the same. Research indicates they do. I am not a veterinarian, nor a scientist, simply an
observer of my companion animals. The mother of my current
Border Terrier gave me a mystery in 2003. I had planted one single tomato plant in my little garden plot, thinking that it was only for me. As the tomatoes ripened, I noticed that several came up missing. I thought that someone walking along the road was stealing them. What I observed, finally, was this Border Terrier bitch
eating my nearly ripe tomatoes. While I do not feed a raw
diet, I do feed a decent premium kibble that has chicken
and rice as the first two ingredients. Rice is known to be
one of the less allergenic of the grains. I suspect that
the other grains are allergenic because of the things that
mankind does to them before they are fed to any animals, in
any form (and humans). While I don't disagree that a raw diet of natural meats
would be beneficial to dogs and cats, I do disagree that
they do not need fruits, vegetables or carbohydrates as
part of their natural diet. What they don't need, and neither do we humans, are the
chemicals and hormones added to the feed of commercially
raised animals. It is my sincere belief that these
additives are not only detrimental to their health, they
are detrimental to our own. C. Rogers Upson is a published author on several websites
and in several anthologies. This article can be published
on your website or in your newsletter, so long as the
resource information is intact and nothing is changed. Her
website is http://www.edragonmarketing.com and she has a training tips blog at
http://dogpotentials.blogspot.com.
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