Pets Need Wholesome Food Also
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Healthy Food — Healthy Pets

What Is Natural Homemade Pet Food Made With — Love

Dogs and cats deserve a wholesome raw meat diet

What Organ Meats Can Be Fed To Dogs and Cats

Heart, liver, kidneys, pancreas, gizzards and brains are probably the most common or more easily obtainable organ meatsHeart, liver, kidneys, pancreas, gizzards and brains are probably the most common or more easily obtainable organ meats.

But you can also feed lungs, stomach, gallbladder, eyes, various glands (adrenals, thyroid, pituitary, etc), testicles, ovaries, etc.

  • There are two approaches to feeding organ meat:
    1. Feed organ meats in larger amounts twice per week.
    2. Feed organ meats every day but in smaller amounts
  • Organ meats are a nutrient dense source of food and too much organ meat is not good. As an example, liver is high in oil soluble vitamin A (not to be confused with the vegetable source of vitamin A also known as beta carotene). If you feed too much liver then you will actually cause liver stones because liver stones are created when the body gets too much oil soluble vitamin A. In fact, the Inuit are well known for eating Polar Bear liver and as a result, a lot of Inuit suffer (especially in the past) from liver stones.
  • If you choose option 1 and thus feed organ meats twice per week, then the organ meat should be approximately 50% of the meat source. So let's say, as an example, you were feeding 1 cup of meat. In this situation you would then use approximately 1/2 cup organ meat and 1/2 cup muscle meat.
  • If you choose option 2 and thus feed organ meat every day then approximately 10% of the meat source should be organ meat. So let's say again, as an example, that you were feeding 1 cup of meat. In this situation you would add approximately 1/8 of a cup as organ meat and the rest as muscle meat.
  • My personal favourite is heart because of its high taurine content and since it is usually available.
    • Taurine is an essential amino acid.
    • A lot of people who have cats worry about not providing their cats with enough taurine. This is because taurine is an amino acid that is specifically needed by cats. In fact, many commercial pet foods now say on their packaging taurine added to help increase sales from concerned cat owners. But the reality is, to ensure your cat is getting enough taurine, all you need to do is feed raw meat!
    • Some vets will unfortunately use some fear tactics by saying you must make sure your cats are getting enough taurine when feeding a homemade diet. The reality is that the only reason why commercial pet foods say on their labels taurine added is because commercial pet foods are not a good source of taurine and thus taurine must be added. When you feed a wholesome raw meat diet then the taurine is naturally added by Mother Nature herself in the form of wholesome nutrition.
    • Any organ that has electrical activity is high and/or a concentrated source of taurine. This includes the heart, brain and eyes.
    • Although heart, brain and eyes are high in taurine, the reality is all meat contains taurine. When you feed muscle meat, there is also taurine in the meat, just not as high.
    • The feeding of eyes doesn't sound that appealing but many pets will enjoy eyes. Sometimes fish eyes are available.
    • It has been said that mice provide the highest source of taurine!
  • Some butchers will sell brain. While not on the top of most people's list of things to buy, many pets do enjoy eating brain.

Organ Meat Should Not Be Confused With Piano Meat

Okay, I know that was a horrible joke. There is no such thing as piano meat. But I thought it was funny!

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Testimonials

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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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Rocky's Comeback

2008-09-14

I took on a dog that was very, very skinny, extremely stressed, and sick with a major cold and diarrhea caused by an intestinal parasite that he picked up at an overcrowded animal shelter. That was August 22, 2008. He was only the second dog I've had, and I didn't feel all that equipped to handle him (I'm still learning!).

I was scared to death he was going to die on my watch. But I immediately ditched all commercially prepared food and started feeding him by hand, scrambled eggs, rice, and cheese. I started doing research and found your book, which I enjoyed and printed. I've employed its recipes (for the most part — I still have a cultural need to just sear the meat before serving, still mostly raw, and I still include rice), but the results have been phenomenal. I bought a $20 food chopper at Wal–Mart to chop the vegetables and the organ meats, and for most things it works just fine. I use cheese as training treats. And this was while he was on medication, which as we all know can hinder weight gain.

Now he's a happy bundle of energy, more than I can handle, actually. We go out for long, energetic walks and today I bought my first set of running shoes in over 15 years. We may wind up saving each other here!

Because of his poor health, I took pictures of him every day to examine his progress in detail to make sure I could tell for sure whether he was improving or getting worse. They wound up being great before and after testimonials for the power of healthy food for your dog. These pictures are only 10 days apart! Except for the last, which is 3 weeks from the first, I think. I'm allowing him to stay lean and energetic, and we're working on building up muscle.

Thank you for your very helpful website – Nancy

Rocky Rocky Rocky Rocky

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

Soft Fur, Shiny Fur, Bright Teeth

2006-02-20

Our dogs fur is very soft and shiny, their teeth are getting whiter, and they are so much more relaxed. Seeing them play again with each other like puppies is the most wonderful endorsement.

– Ms. Weber