You’re Doing a Lot to Keep Your Immune System Healthy…
Now What About Your Pooch?
“There can be no doubt that carnivores, be they wild or domestic, thrive on the diet prescribed by nature.” –Dr. Tom Lonsdale
Yes, our canine companions have immune systems too! And there are some definite Do’s and Don’ts when it comes to keeping your pup’s immune system healthy.
DON’T feed your pet processed food
Processed food (in the form of kibble) is just as terrible for dogs as it is for humans. Can you imagine eating a “balanced and complete” processed lump food product every day, at every meal, for the rest of your life? Blech!
DO feed your dog raw meat
It’s what they were designed to eat! In general, dogs don’t cook their meat before they eat it, let alone grind it up and then dry it into tasty little nuggets! So, you can feel safe and secure feeding them the real raw meat stuff. Dogs are carnivores! Let me say that again: dogs are carnivores! I don’t know of any carnivores in the wild that cook or otherwise commercially process their food…just sayin’. (Unless burying it and digging it up later constitutes food processing…but I digress.)
DON’T feed your doggie vegetables or fruits!
Let me repeat – dogs are carnivores! You can get into really complex feeding systems with pumpkin…blueberries…kale…cranberries…etc… but dogs don’t really need that stuff. Dogs get plenty of plants that have already been eaten and digested—in the form of herbivores! And they really don’t have the digestive enzymes to digest carbs (read: veggies, fruits, or grains). So, don’t drive yourself nuts trying to figure out what else to feed your dog other than meat…your dog is a carnivore! Your dog eats meat. That’s pretty much the whole story.
DO feed your dog raw bone chunks with meat on them
Have you ever seen a dog eating a bone? A real bone? That is the happiest dog in the world. The sheer joy the dog feels while slurping and crunching on a nice raw meaty bone is the best immune-boost you can give your dog. And guess what…dogs can digest raw bones! Their digestive tracts are much shorter and their juices much stronger than ours, which makes them perfect bone-digesting machines! If the bone is too big for your dog to eat, she just won’t eat it. Not to mention bone poop is much cleaner and less smelly than kibble poop. You’ll have to see the difference to believe it.
DON’T feed your dog cooked bones.
Cooking changes the protein/mineral composition of the bone and makes it much more difficult to digest. You’ve heard of dogs choking on chicken bones? Those were cooked chicken bones.
DO feed your dog fresh organs
You can feed them fresh organs like green tripe, liver, kidney and heart! Dogs love this stuff, and it’s extremely high in delicious nutrients!
I am personally a proud dog owner, and I abide by my own advice. Recently I realized I was not feeding my dogs enough raw meaty bones. I was feeding a nice ground meat/bone/organ blend, that I felt was really healthy. But Binky in particular was developing some stench-y breath. Then I picked up the old classic by Tom Lonsdale–Work Wonders: Feed Your Dog Raw Meaty Bones. Tom was a vet who did lots of mouth surgeries on dogs, soon realized what a processed diet does to them. He pointed out that dogs need bones to clean their teeth. I started giving Binky raw meaty bones every day (along with his ground raw meat fare) and his breath smells much better!
But don’t take my word for it…read the book and then try it for your own pet! You’ll notice healthier poops, shinier coat, no more dog smell, graceful aging, less arthritis, less other chronic diseases…in short…dogs need the food nature prescribed just like we do!
Sincerely, and in health (and your dog’s health too!)
Laura Sheehan
P.S. Cats are carnivores with immune systems too…just look on YouTube and see there is a whole world of information out there about species-appropriate feeding for cats. Hey, I’m a dog owner, so I like to talk about doggies. But just so you don’t feel left out, check out this video of a nice woman feeding her feline fur-babies some fresh rabbit meat! Yum!
