How to Feed Raw in an Isolated Setting

Living in such an isolated place, I work hard to provide a raw diet for my seven dogs and litters of puppies.

Locally, I have a friend who runs a catering company and allows me to order large quantities of meats via her restaurant supply accounts. I normally purchase cases of pork ribs, fish fillets and chicken backs via this source.

At our local grocery store, I special order cases of turkey necks and buy family packs of ground beef. I also get fresh yams, fresh greens, plain yogurt and cottage cheese.

When I go to the specialty store in the Lower Mainland, I buy flats of green beef tripe, ground whole duck, ground lamb, lamb hearts, beef heart, lamb necks and lamb bones.

At Walmart when I visit the city, I buy frozen pork bones, cans of sardines, cases of canned vegetables and frozen goat meat.

In hunting season, we receive scraps from friends when they butcher their game. This has included mostly deer and moose.

Where there is a will, there is a way.

Pet Food Recall of 2007

Photo by Rodney Habib

 It's been almost 7 years since the discovery of the intentional contamination of dozens of brands of pet food in North America.  You see, most of the common pet foods are manufactured at centralized plants which blend up the recipes and just put them into different bags, pouches and cans.  Ingredients are the lowest quality, at the lowest price, and sourced from the lowest bidder.  Big Brand pet food has been reduced to a mix of by-products, fillers, artificial flavour and chemical preservatives.  We are merely fortunate that somehow our companion animals can exist on it, as it is not the diet that nature intended for them.

Many of the ingredients in commercially produced dog food are of questionable origin.  There is a requirement from the FDA in the USA for pet food to contain certain amounts of protein, fibre, and crude fat.  Sadly, this equation can be achieved even by mixing leather, wood shavings, and used crank oil.  There is very little thought to the well being of animals, such has the pet food industry been reduced to.  As the rise in toxic, chemical-laden human food occurs, so does the same for our pets. In the case of the Melamine recall, the ingredient which contained this harmful, chemical plastic was the 'vegetable protein' coming from manufacturers in China.  The Chinese companies intentionally added melamine to the rice protein, corn and wheat gluten.  Why?  So that it would contain a higher protein level, satisfying industry standards and import requirements.

We cannot trust the brands advertised during our favourite TV programs to ensure the safety and well-being of our beloved fur family members.  These are giant food conglomerates simply interested in turning a profit.  It really is time to take their nutrition into our own hands.  For more information, check out the following titles, and the documentary link below.

Carina MacDonald- Raw Dog Food- Make it Easy for You and Your Dog

Kymythy Schultz- Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats

Tom Lonsdale- Raw Meaty Bones

Ann N. Martin- Food Pets Die For: Shocking Facts About Pet Food

Dr Ian Billinghurst- The BARF Diet (Raw Feeding for Dogs and Cats Using Evolutionary Principles)

CBC

Doczone's Documentary A Dog's Breakfast