Food for dogs AND cats?
Sharna Terese Caceres asks, on our Honest Kitchen Facebook Page: “Do you have anything I can buy that would meet all [my pets'] needs. I have two indoor cats (13 lbs. and 8 lbs.) as well as a little doggy (jack russell/chihuahua mix.) All are at a good weight thanks to a homemade raw diet but I don’t have the time to prepare it and I need to find a one-fits-all since they eat off each others plates. Thanks for your help! Y’all are awesome!
(We were going to edit that last bit out, but what the heck?!)……We don’t typically recommend one universal diet for both dogs and cats. Cats are obligate carnivores and really do need for the vast majority of their diet to be made up of meat. Dogs are omnivores, and while they do need plenty of meat in their diets, the levels found in most good (biologically appropriate) quality cat foods, tend to be rather too rich for canines. Even the protein and fat percentages present in some of the newer grainless kibbles on the market are extremely high at 40 or 50% and up, when you compare them with the percentage of protein in straight fresh meat (18% or so). It’s no wonder many domesticated animals end up with chronic urinary and renal issues.
If you do really have to feed one diet to all pets in a household, a better approach would be to use Embark, Thrive or our New Zeal (all higher protein diets for dogs) as a base, and add some additional meat to it to make it more biologically appropriate for your kitties. In particular, cats need higher levels of Taurine than dogs, in order to maintain proper heart health. Taurine is an essential amino acid for cats (meaning it’s essential in their diets) but is not an essential part of the diet for dogs. Taurine is found in high levels in meat (especially organ meats) and fish. So using an Honest Kitchen diet as the base with a small amount of extra meat for your dog and a larger amount of added meat for the cats, should work. You can make the cats’ meals 50/50 Embark / Meat as a rough guide to make is as biologically appropriate as possible and get the protein level where it needs to be.
Hope that helps!
Lucy
Holistic Care for Puppies
The following natural remedies can help your new puppy through the early, formative weeks and months of life and alleviate some of the troubles associated with joining a new family and growing into a mature, healthy and emotionally strong young dog.
Anxiety
Chamomile Tea can be used to help calm an anxious pup. Simply brew a cup of tea using one chamomile teabag and pour the brew on her food. This can be a useful holistic tool to help take the edge off when crate training and separation anxiety if you serve the tea a half hour or so prior to alone time.
Chestnut Bud Flower Essence assists with learning and helps a young developing mind to form positive associations. It can also help a young pup to think quickly for himself and sharpen his cognitive skills.
Walnut Flower Essence is useful to support a young puppy during a time of change. The essence helps in socialization and dealing with new experiences.
Mimulus and Larch Flower Essences both help with confidence and a sense of emotional security. These two essences are recommended even if a pup doesn’t appear anxious because they can help to alleviate even minimal feelings of nervousness before they escalate.
Elm Flower Essence helps a puppy cope with the sensory overload of moving to a new home – adjustment to a new routine, different surroundings and family members.
Beech and Wild Rose Flower Essences are good remedies to consider for existing pets in the household who may be unsettled by the arrival of a new pup. These remedies help with acceptance and adjustment.
Diet
New surroundings and separation from littermates can make a new pup reluctant to eat, as anxiety plays havoc with his tummy. Avoid hand-feeding or cajoling your pup. Instead, offer small meals and take them away after 15 minutes even if unfinished.
Even if your puppy had been raised on a food you aren’t comfortable feeding, do stick with his original food for a couple of days and then phase in a new diet gradually; start off with a small amount of the new diet and then increase to half and half – eventually phasing out the old food completely after a week or so.
Digestive Upset
Live-culture yogurt (or another source of probiotics) can help to settle the GI tract Honey can be useful for stimulating the appetite in some cases. Both these foods are useful for occasional puppy tummy upsets and diarrhea, too.
Arsenicum album is excellent for GI upset caused by puppy eating something she shouldn’t, such as garbage, food poisoning or simply eating too much. (But if the consumed object is something non-food based, a trip to the vet may be in order to rule out an obstruction which could represent a serious health concern).
Homeopathic Nux Vomica and Ipecacuanha are useful for vomiting. Carbo Vegetabilis is a homeopathic remedy that’s very useful for occasional gas. Hylands makes a good all-round diarrhea remedy called Diarrex, if you can’t decide which single remedy to use,
A 24 hour fast, withholding food and water, is also helpful for cases of vomiting and diarrhea. Withholding just food is usually recommended for cases of diarrhea without vomiting.
Slippery Elm is an excellent herb for soothing an upset GI tract – it soothes and settles inflammation, helping digestive functions return to normal.
Fleas
Brewers Yeast and Garlic supplements, adding to your puppy’s food, can help with more moderate flea problems that don’t warrant topical medications.
Mange
This results from an excessive multiplication of the mites that live normally in a dog’s hair follicles, when a puppy’s immune system is depleted for some reason. This often happens in a weak pup after excessive vaccination, spaying and neutering.
Soaking the affected areas in a mix of Neem oil (about 15 drops in a bowl of warm water) can be helpful but take care to avoid the delicate eye area.
Fortifying the immune system with antioxidants like Vitamin E, as well as Colloidal Silver and a good quality fish oil supplement is also recommended. And a wholesome, natural diet is essential to ensure the immune system is able to restore itself properly.
Puppy Colds
Sneezing and a clear discharge form the eyes and nose may signify a puppy cold. If that’s the case, early administration of homeopathic Aconitum Napellus is useful in the very early stages when symptoms first appear.
Slow Development
Homeopathic Calcium Carbonate is useful for a variety of developmental problems, from slow growth of bones and teeth, joint pain and painful teething to entropion (inverted eyelids) and even anal gland problems and eczema.
Teething
Hylands Teething Remedy for children is an excellent option for pups who are teething and want to chew everything they can get their paws on. This remedy helps with restlessness, irritability and other symptoms related to getting new teeth.
Homeopathic Calcium Phosphate is a mineral-salt remedy that supports the healthy growth of bones and teeth as well as painful joints associated with growth.
Chamomile – some vets recommend steeping a chamomile teabag in hot water and then cooling it in the fridge. Once it’s cold, the teabag can be applied directly to the gums.
Training
Chestnut Bud flower essence helps with healthy cognitive development. Combined with a training regimen based on fair and consistent ground-rules and positive reinforcement, Chestnut Bud can help a pup to think clearly and absorb all the new things he learns.
Vaccinations
Vaccinate minimally. Discuss the specific disease risks your puppy faces through geographic location and lifestyle, with your holistic veterinarian and choose a vaccine protocol that’s most appropriate.
Thuja occidentalis is a homeopathic remedy that can be given before and after vaccines are administered, and helps to minimize the risk of adverse reactions. Thuja has also been used successfully in alleviating vaccinosis and other less severe adverse reactions after they occur – for example lumps that develop and won’t go away after a rabies vaccine is given.
A Word About Water
Did you know that the water you offer your pet to drink, as well as that which you use for meal preparation, can have a profound effect on his long-term health?
Tap water is OK to use, but it is a good idea to use filtered water if possible. As the US Environmental Protection Agency states, “The United States has one of the safest water supplies in the world. However, national statistics don’t tell you specifically about the quality and safety of the water coming out of your tap. That’s because drinking water quality varies from place to place, depending on the condition of the source water from which it is drawn and the treatment it receives.”
Water that has been filtered through a refrigerator-based system is most convenient for many households and helps to ensure that many of the contaminants and impurities including bacteria and heavy metals, are removed.
Many municipal drinking water supplies in certain areas of the United States are now fluoridated and a link has been established between fluoridation in tap water and an increase in the incidence of osteosarcoma (bone cancer) in young men in these same geographical areas. It is likely that fluoridated water also increases the risk of osteosarcoma in dogs, especially neutered males.
Many companies now offer ‘whole house’, ‘under sink’ or ‘refrigerator’ fluoride filters that remove this substance back out of the water. Since the benefits of fluoride are very questionable anyway and many dentists believe that only topical fluoride in the form of toothpaste actually offer any protection against cavities, it may best to avoid fluoridated water for your human family as well.
You can learn more about some of the other contaminants that may be present in your tap water, here
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Organic Foods
The term ‘organic’ refers to ingredients that have been grown without the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, genetically modified organisms (GMO’s), or radiation. Animals that produce meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products do not take antibiotics or growth hormones and must be fed only organic feed, and raised in an environment that meets organic standards.
There are three basic organic definitions set out by the USDA.
‘100% Organic’ means that a product is made with 100% organic ingredients
‘Organic’ means a product has been made with at least 95% organic ingredients
‘Made With Organic Ingredients’ means a product contains a minimum of 70% organic ingredients with strict restrictions on the remaining 30% including no GMOs (genetically modified organisms) Only products with 70% or more organic ingredients may use the term ‘organic’ on the principal display panel of a label.
Products with less than 70% organic ingredients may list organically produced ingredients on the side panel or ingredient statement of the package, but may not make any organic claims on the front of the package.
How is land converted to organic?
Converting land to organic status is a three-year process. There is a two-year conversion process consisting of building up the fertility of the land. Produce grown in the first year cannot be stated as organic. In the second year produce may be stated as “In Conversion”. It is not until the third year that produce may be stated as fully organic. Soil and natural fertility building are important parts of organic farming.
Why do some organic foods cost more?
Organic farmers don’t receive federal subsidies like conventional farmers do. Therefore, the price of organic food reflects the true cost of growing. Organic farming is more labor and management intensive and in some circumstances can be more susceptible to the threat of damaged crops since they are not treated with chemical fungicides, pesticides and so on… Organic farms are usually smaller than conventional farms and so do not benefit from the economies of scale that larger growers get.
At The Honest Kitchen, we are actively working to add more and more organic pet food ingredients to our product lineup. At this time, our oats, rye, flaxseed, kelp, coconut and quinoa are all certified organic.
Raw, is your Dog a Candidate?
Click here to see the pdf.
The Skinny on raw food diets.
There are many factors to consider in choosing whether to move to a raw food diet for Fido. Different vets have different opinions, and online forums and other resources contain a mind-boggling amount of information and opinions on the merits and
pitfalls of food choices. Here’s a simple set of considerations to help you make the choice.
The Pros and Cons of Raw
Pet food can contain many of the same contaminants that may be present in raw meat and fish that people eat. Bacteria such as e-Coli and Salmonella are most effectively destroyed by cooking. For that reason, many experts believe the safest solution is to feed only cooked foods to pets.
However, from a physiological standpoint, Fido has a shorter gastrointestinal tract than his human counterparts. This means that a raw diet can pass through much more quickly, thus reducing the time in which any harmful bacteria could multiply. This allows Fido to excrete the bacteria before it reaches harmful levels. Choosing meat from reputable sources along with safe, proper handling and storage are also essential to risk reduction.
Some raw diets contain whole bones. Avid raw feeders often include whole animals such as chickens or rabbits in their feeding protocols. There is a chance that bone shards can cause medical complications with this type of feeding. As raw food diets have gained popularity, the incidence of veterinary procedures to remove bones from the GI tract has also increased. When swallowed, whole, raw bones or bone shards can obstruct the intestines, cause constipation, lodge in the roof of the mouth and break the teeth in extreme cases. For this reason, a commercially prepared raw diet or an investment in a high-powered food grinder are wiser choices.
Many pet owners who do feed a raw diet, however, report improved skin and coat condition, cleaner teeth, fresher breath, improved resistance to disease and parasites and fewer allergies.
The Pros and Cons of Cooked
Cooking, especially canning and extrusion, which involve very high pressure and extreme heat, can make foods less nutritious. High heat destroys many enzymes and antioxidants. Cooking at high temperatures can also alter the molecular structure and amino acid profiles of food ingredients. Some studies have suggested that cooking under high heat and pressure can also result in the formation of cancer-causing compounds in foods that would otherwise be healthy.
As Fido’s guardian, you need to be comfortable and confident in feeding him fresh raw food.
Kibbled diets (those produced by extrusion) are also linked with bloat—the debilitating and often life-threatening condition that affects thousands of dogs in the U.S. every year. There is some indication that raw-fed dogs do not seem to get bloat, at least not with the same frequency as those who eat kibble.
Many cooked diets contain an abundance of grains and these can increase the incidence of allergy-based health problems, such as itching, ear infections and GI upset.
At the end of the day, you—as Fido’s guardian—need to be comfortable and confident in feeding him fresh raw food (whether commercial or home prepared). But with a little research and a gradual transition, raw food can be a wonderful alternative for many dogs.
