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Ask Jesse — Holistic Health For Dogs and Cats

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Dogs and cats deserve a wholesome raw meat diet

Is Feeding Chicken With Bones A Good Source of Calcium, Iron and Potassium?

Is bone–in chicken ground in a meat grinder a good source of calcium, iron and potassium?

Jesse's Answer

What you need to worry about is the calcium to phosphorus ratio.

Unfortunately, all bone is high in phosphorus and so when you feed meat and bones, you are still getting more phosphorus than calcium.

Bones should be considered a mineral supplement, not a calcium supplement.

In nature, the best source of calcium for our pets is the blood. In lieu of blood, we use ground egg shells which are high in calcium and low in phosphorus to help balance the calcium to phosphorus ratio.

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The following are testimonials shown in random order. In addition to reading these testimonials, you may also want to read The Sick Pet Project.

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In Just 6 Days

2010-06-10

Here’s our story.

We have 2 rescue Chihuahuas, one is a mix, we believe, with Jack Russell Terrier. His name is Lucky and he is approximately 8 years old. We rescued him 3 years ago. Our other little guy is Chico and he is about 2-3 years old. We rescued him November, 2008 and they said he was 2 but we think he was younger, just looked older and acted older because he was undernourished. We have been feeding NutroMax and Iams dog foods, which we believed were on the better side of commercial grade pet food.

Lucky has lost some teeth and recently developed allergies with wheezing and coughing. The vet gave us 2 medicines for him to give twice a day. On Saturday, May 29, 2010, he came to his breakfast, sniffed the food, shook and shuddered and walked away. I thought that was weird!, but when he gets hungry he will eat. Saturday night he did the same thing and also Sunday morning. By now my husband, Robert, and I are getting a little concerned. Lucky is a little chunky, but not obese, so missing a few meals probably wouldn’t hurt him as long as he was drinking his water, which he was. Well I tried giving him the canned food, which he ate for a couple of meals and then did the same thing as he did with the dry. Sniffed, shuddered and walked away. Well, for a week I tried several things, canned chicken, cut up chicken (sautéed) and then on Friday, June 4, 2010, I started searching the internet for homemade pet food. Praise the Lord! I found your website. I immediately switched both dogs to raw food on Saturday morning. I happened to have thawed a chicken breast, cut it into small pieces and they both chowed down!

Saturday I bought some ground meat, turkey and some beef (lean), and have been feeding them both raw meat mixed with some chopped frozen veggies ever since. The immediate improvement (within 6 days) in both dogs has been just short of miraculous. Lucky is not wheezing and is back to his old bouncy self. He gets the bounce from the Jack Russell side of his family. He hasn’t had his meds since he quit eating because we thought they might have been part of the problem. Chico is more relaxed and not as fearful, which is a strange benefit, but I’m loving it. We believe he was quite abused in his former life and even after being with us for 1-1/2 years still acted fearful. Both their coats are smoother already and their bowel movements are much better, still firm, but not hard. Believe it or not they are even getting along better with each other. I guess just generally feeling better overall.

I am so excited about their new diet, oops, new life style change, and am telling everyone about it and giving them your web site info and a copy of the condensed version of your book.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for being there when we needed you.

God bless you and keep up the good work taking care of His creation that give us so much love. And isn’t love the key to everything?

– Hazel

The Transformation Speaks For Itself...

2010-08-19

I am writing to tell you of the transformation in my pets since they have started eating all raw meat.

I used to have to clean up cat vomit on a pretty much daily basis. Sometimes they would even vomit right into the kibble bowl. From DAY 1 on raw meat, none of my cats has vomited with two exceptions — someone fed one of the cats a piece of cooked ham, and one of them got up on the counter and ate some pancake batter. No surprise those foods made the cats sick.

They are all acting years younger. Neko (12, neutered male) has gone from hissing at everybody all the time to climbing in laps. Bitty (6, spayed female) is as playful as a kitten, and has already started losing unhealthy pudge. Ed (9, neutered male, king of the cats) is being a bit of a bully with the other cats (nobody is getting hurt) but he is being affectionate and playful with us humans.

Ed took to eating meat right away, but Bitty and Neko are still adjusting. They seem unable to believe the meat is really for them, and act like they are afraid to get caught eating it. An unexpected side benefit — I saw Neko eating a bug today. Don't worry, our home is not treated with pesticides, and that palmetto bug was a healthy snack for a too–skinny cat.

I can't thank you enough for making this information freely available. It surely leaves no doubt that your motivation is love for animals. Thank you for helping me to re–connect with my pets.

Sincerely – Virginia

One Word — Fantastic

2005-08-15

We thought we would write to let you know how our cats are doing on the fresh food diet. In a word — fantastic! We have four feline companions in total, ranging in ages from 5 months to 9 years. All are healthy & full of vigour now. When they were eating canned and dry food they often had diarrhea (we fed vet recommended food), would throw up regularly after meals and had constant problems with hairballs (we brushed them a lot). All that is stopped now. One of our males, part Russian Blue, had recurring FUS (feline urological syndrome). With this natural way of feeding it has completely cleared up. Another remarkable thing is they almost never drink water now (we always leave fresh water out), all they need is provided in their food. We feel a lot better about feeding fresh meat and such rather than man made food with preservatives and chemical additives, etc. We want our cats with us for a long time and feel with this diet they will enjoy lengthy and healthy lives.

Thank you for introducing us to the feeding of fresh wholesome food the way Mother Nature intended. It did take a little while for them (and us) to get used to it, like asking kids not to eat junk food, but now they attack their meals with gusto! Thanks again.

— Lori and Russ