We Are What We Eat!
It all starts with our diet as obligatory carnivores – we are what we eat – and mom says these words are truer than ever these days.
Lately in casual conversations with other pet parents, she frequently hears about how their cat or dog throws up regularly, or has recurring diarrhea, or is overweight and has developed diabetes…or worse, it has cancer.
She says there is an epidemic of human ailments affecting pets in much of the same way as our human parents – and a lot of it leads back to the individual’s diet. And it’s the same for us pets!
What Is The BARF Diet?
When mom hears of these health problems, she always suggests the BARF diet – Biologically Appropriate Raw Food – as an opportunity to heal the pet from the inside out, and help ensure its wellness with a life free of fillers, chemicals and preservatives.
The BARF diet is a species-specific diet - made up of fresh human-grade whole muscle meat, bones and organs made by smaller, transparent pet food producers. It comes packaged frozen, freeze-dried or dehydrated…nothing baked or commercially processed.
Why is raw food better than commercially processed food?
Raw human-grade animal proteins naturally have enzymes, amino acids and intracellular moisture which all lead to improved health and well being for your pet.
Processed and baked foods lose those 3 important nutritional categories through the cooking and processing of the food at high temperatures. In effect, the processing de-natures the protein. And they have to artificially put those nutrients back in.
The biggest issue is the intracellular moisture – intense hydration from the inside out – all vets say hydration is #1 for all cats, particularly us male kitties because of a UTI…but many of us cats do not drink water as we get our moisture naturally from our carnivorous diet which only a raw diet can offer. We kitties never drink water from the bowl even though mom puts out a fresh bowl of filtered water everyday.
How do we get enough water?
We get all of our moisture from our food and mom has always added some more water to the meal. And if you are a weekly reader, you will know that our vet has amped up our intake of water and mom now adds an additional ½ cup of water in our food for every meal. Beau, Bouvier and I are now drinking a cup of water a day. Our meals look like soup with chunks of raw food – and we lick our bowls clean!
The future of cat nutrition...
Mom believes that the movement towards the BARF diet is growing and being adopted by many pet owners who see the health benefits – and lower vet bills over the long term. We have been a raw food home for over 7 years and when Mom started me on the raw food diet initially, it was considered "far-out" and on the fringe. Now it is becoming mainstream for many pet households.
“Big Pet Food” sees the trend too and is trying to participate with grain-free and limited ingredients. It’s a step but all those foods are still baked and processed with chemicals and preservatives – and kibble for cats is simply "death nuggets" in our opinion.
There is a big European pet food company doing studies on cats living only on a carbohydrate diet, and there are others pushing a vegan diet for cats as a healthy alternative…mom says both are ridiculous – all pets should be fed the ancestral diet – the BARF diet.
We believe that the raw diet in some form (raw/frozen, freeze-dried or dehydrated) is the proactive way to help us cats have a healthy and long life.
Just remember - we can not choose for ourselves. We depend upon you to choose for us the best diet possible given all the facts!