Raw Food Diet for Pets - Steve Brown (Part 2)

Source: MercolaHealthyPets 

Related article: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2014/11/08/steve-brown-pet-food-nutrition.aspx?e_cid=20141108Z1_PetsNL_art_1&utm_source=petnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20141108Z1&et_cid=DM59303&et_rid=719759446

Dr. Karen Becker, a proactive and integrative wellness veterinarian, interviews Steve Brown, founder of Steve’s Real Food. Steve has a very interesting background that led to his passion for creating raw diets for dogs. (Part 2).

View Part 1 – http://www.earth-heal.com/videos/viewvideo/4253/raw-food-diet-for-pets-steve-brown-part-1.html

Steve has some suggestions for pet owners for how to help their dog get all the essential nutrients he needs. Let’s say you’re on a tight budget, you have a small dog, and you’re unable to feed a fresh food diet. Steve recommends finding a basic baked dog food in a well-packaged small bag. By “basic,” he means no additives like fish oil or any of the other things processed pet food manufacturers throw in so they can market their product as more special than the competition.

You take your basic dog food and add human food from your kitchen to enhance its nutritional value. Things like eggs, krill oil, sardines, blueberries, and perhaps some leftover vegetables. The people foods you add to the kibble can dramatically improve its nutritional value at no extra cost, presuming you have them on hand or buy them regularly.

The trend in the processed pet food industry is to add more and more “features” to a bag of dry food. Each of those overpriced additives drives up the cost of the food, increases the potential for chemical interactions as we discussed yesterday, and shortens product shelf life. Steve would prefer that manufacturers produce a very basic kibble and let dog owners add in fresh goodies at the time of feeding.

If you’re able to spend a bit more on your pet’s food, Steve recommends feeding a diet containing more fresh meat, either raw or lightly cooked. He recommends maybe one or two days a week of a homemade or commercial fresh meat diet. The rest of the week can be the basic dog food described above, and it’s important to use it up quickly once the bag is open. It’s not a good idea to keep a bag of open dog food for more than two weeks.