Pet Grub

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A lack of calcium, or the inability to properly assimilate calcium has been known to cause dental facial problems, as an example. Reports, photographs and x-rays made during Dr. Pottenger's 10 year cat study clearly illustrates this fact.

Many of the cats eating a deficient diet, as deemed by Dr. Pottenger, had dental facial problems such as an underbite, cramping of the teeth, and in general, under-developed faces.

Although these problems are irreversible once they have occurred, with puppies and kittens it is important to try and prevent these problems by providing wholesome foods and a quality calcium supplement. With mature dogs and cats, good food and a good quality calcium supplement simply help to provide the calcium needed for living.

There are many other functions and benefits beyond the obvious of minerals like calcium. Calcium not only is important for strong bones, but it also is said to help with blood clotting, activating enzyme action, and helps normalize the contraction and relaxation of the heart muscles.

Don't underestimate minerals. They are the spark plugs of life.

As mentioned earlier, calcium is the single most important supplement that you give your pets. An excellent source of calcium for your pets is finely ground egg shells.

The goal that we want to achieve when providing a calcium supplement is to help provide our pets with twice as much calcium as phosphorus. Our pets require a 2:1 ratio between calcium and phosphorus. This is the ratio I personally follow but others suggest lower ratios, anywhere from 1:1 and everything in between up to 2:1. One reason why I provide or follow the 2:1 ratio is because ultimately it is better to have more calcium than less calcium. If you follow the 1:1 ratio, then your room for error is non-existent. At the same time, the nutritional content of foods naturally fluctuates. So sometimes the food we feed will be naturally lower in calcium and on other days, higher. I also follow the 2:1 ratio as this is what veterinarians such as Dr. Pitcairn and others have suggested.

While it's impossible to purrrfectly obtain this ratio (or any ratio), we can at the very least, get close to creating this ideal ratio for our pets by using finely ground egg shells as a calcium supplement.

When the body is getting the proper ratio of calcium to phosphorus, then this will help prevent a calcium deficiency, will further help prevent calcium related health problems and will also help prevent problems that are indirectly caused by an imbalance in the calcium to phosphorus ratio.

Ground egg shells are extremely high in calcium and contain virtually no phosphorus.

1 teaspoon of ground egg shells contains approximately 1900 mg of calcium. This is a whopping amount of calcium!

Different meats contain different amounts of calcium and phosphorus. Therefore, ideally I would like to provide a specific amount of calcium based on the meat being fed to help create the 2:1 ratio. However, since ground egg shells are so concentrated and the difference in the amount of phosphorus in meats is relatively speaking minute, it would be difficult to make serving amounts for each meat. So for simplicity's sake, I have created 1 chart for all meats.

Based on my evaluation of the nutritional analysis of various meats, the amount suggested is quite close to creating the ideal 2:1 ratio.

Now wait, I know what some of you are thinking! You are thinking... how do I know how much meat I am going to be feeding anyway?

Well, not to worry — Part 3 of my book explains how to make homemade pet food. Additionally, you can read my previous page about how much to feed.

So add the following amount of ground egg shells using the table below:

• Weight of Meat
• Ground Egg Shells

• 100 grams
• 1/4 tsp

• 200 grams
• 1/2 tsp

• 300 grams
• 2/3 tsp

• 400 grams
• 3/4 tsp

• Weight of Meat
• Ground Egg Shells

• 1/4 pound
• 1/4 tsp

• 1/2 pound
• 1/2 tsp

• 3/4 pound
• 3/4 tsp

• 1 pound
• 1 tsp

• Weight of Meat
• Ground Egg Shells

• 1 Jumbo Egg or 1 Large Egg
• 1/8 tsp

• 2 Jumbo Eggs or 2 Large Eggs
• 1/4 tsp

• 4 Jumbo Eggs or 4 Large Eggs
• 3/4 tsp

• 6 Jumbo Eggs or 6 Large Eggs
• 3/4 tsp

• 8 Jumbo Eggs or 8 Large Eggs
• 1 tsp

If you have access to enough egg shells and if you have the inclination, you can make your own finely ground egg shell powder.

Remember, even if you don't have enough egg shells, you can always ask friends, neighbors, relatives and others to save their egg shells for you.

Choose the direction based on the type of eggs you are using...

Free Range Eggs:

1. Simply collect egg shells.
2. Wash egg shells (optional). If you do wash the egg shells, it's easier to wash the egg shells before you crack them than after.
3. Let the egg shells dry on the stove top, in a gas oven (the pilot light will dry the egg shells) or in the sun.
4. Once the egg shells are dry, bake them at 300° F. This helps to make the egg shells even more dry and brittle for easier grinding.
5. Add egg shells to a blender, grinder, etc and grind. Keep grinding until there are no sharp pieces. The egg shells should become a powder although most likely it will not be a fine powder. Use a sifter or strainer to remove large and sharp pieces of egg shells.

Non Free Range Eggs:

1. Simply collect egg shells.
2. Wash the egg shells. It's easier to wash the egg shells before you crack them than after.
3. Let the egg shells dry on the stove top, in a gas oven (the pilot light will dry the egg shells) or in the sun.
4. Once the egg shells are dry, bake them at 300° F. This helps to make the egg shells even more dry and brittle for easier grinding. In addition, this helps to get rid of the mineral oils that have been applied to the egg shells to keep them from drying out in the store.
5. Add egg shells to a blender, grinder, etc and grind. Keep grinding until there are no sharp pieces. The egg shells should become a powder although most it likely will not be a fine powder. Use a sifter or strainer to remove large and sharp pieces of egg shells.

If you are unable or don't have the time to make your own ground egg shell supplement, then you can order a ground egg shell supplement which is found in my online store.

I know that was eggshellent information but there is more to come. Keep reading: