Wellness Dog Food Recall Treats

Best food to feed a dog/puppy: premium dry kibble or raw/cooked meats?

Hi, I am the proud owner of two wonderful Chihuahuas and I thought I had put a lot of research into what they were eating. I’ve recently stumbled across the option of feeding them raw food. Right now I feed them Wellness kibble and occasionally mix it with wet food (also Wellness, lamb). My oldest is a year and two months and my youngest is only 3 months old. Initially I chose Wellness because it has no by-products, no wheat, corn soy, artificial colors/flavors/preservatives. Also because I could actually understand 90% of the ingredients I was feeding my dogs. So, I felt confident I had made a good choice. As treats, I give them raw veggies (such as baby carrots).

Wellness does have good quality ingredients, but if those ingredients are not appropriate for dogs then it doesn’t matter how good they are. Most Wellness formulas are around 56% carbohydrates, unless you are feeding Core which is 39%. Meat does not have any carbohydrates. So all these carbs are coming from plant sources. And since plants are not only carbs, they also have protein and fats, a dog food that is over 50% carbs is really almost entirely made from plants. So with the exception of Wellness Core, Wellness foods have a very low meat content. Dogs can handel some plant matter in their diet, but not that much. Meat should be the largest portion of their diet. A natural diet is 20% carbs or less. In fact dogs don’t need carbs to survive at all. So a little bit of carbs is fine, but not 50%.

I started out pretty clueless about dog nutrition, feeding things like Pedigree. So I decided I want to do the best for my dog. I started feeding Blue Buffalo, which is about the same quality as Wellness. I thought it was the best thing out there, until my dog started getting so sick. She was itching like crazy. She would itch so bad that she would get sores all over her body. I spent a lot of money at the vet, and they told me it was allergies that were causing this. Well they were wrong it wasn’t allergies at all. It was the high carbohydrate foods. Carbs feed bacteria and yeast. Bacteria and yeast start growing out of control, and they end up burrowing into the intestine walls, which causes undigested proteins to leak into the body. That is what causes the immune system to freak out, because they want to attack the undigested proteins. And this is where all the itchiness and bacterial skin infections come from. It wasn’t that she was allergic, it wouldn’t have mattered what she ate, she would continue to have a reaction as long as she had the leaky gut. And I think this is a lot more common then people know about. As soon as I got her off the high carb foods, she improved so much. My vet never even suggested changing the food.

So if you want to feed the healthiest most natural diet for a dog, go for high protein, moderate fat, and low carbohydrates, as well as high moisture. Raw diets live up to that. My favorite commercial raw diet is Bravo since it is low carb. Some raw diets are high in carbs as well. Primal and Nature’s Variety are good to with carb levels around 20%. Dogs can handle bacteria very well. They were designed to eat raw meats. Their stomachs are very acidic, way more than a humans. Also their digestive tract is much shorter so bacteria can do less damage, as long as their numbers are low. Also dogs, unlike humans, naturally carry bacteria like salmonella in their guts. It’s normal to find it there. You are more likely to have problems with bacteria from high carbohydrates. Still you do need to be safe. You don’t want to feed raw foods that have been sitting out for a long time, and make sure to wash dishes after every use.

If you are not up for the raw there are some low carb dry food options. EVO, Wysong Epigen, and Canidae Pure Sea are low carb dry foods. And high quality canned foods are usually low carb too. Just remember that dogs need a lot of moisture to process proteins. So if you choose one of the high protein dry foods, make sure to mix in a lot of water, otherwise it could be too harsh on the liver and kidneys. Its not that high protein is bad, its that the lack of moisture is bad.

Right now I am feeding a homemade raw diet following recipes written by a vet and nutritionist. That way I can control the quality and carb levels. My dog is doing so amazingly great on it. Her skin problems are almost completely resolved. It takes a while for the gut to repair itself. She has more energy, I can tell she just feels so much better now. The method of raw feeding I use is a bit of work, but it is worth is because it is super balanced. I know for sure she is getting all the nutrients and minerals she needs. The book also allows for cooking the foods if you really cannot handle the raw. It’s best if its raw, but still homecooked is still better then all the processed stuff out there.

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/real-food-for-healthy-dogs-and-cats-cookbook.aspx

Also here are some videos about choosing the right pet foods from a holistic vet.

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/05/10/my-top-3-pet-food-picks-from-an-upscale-boutique-shop.aspx

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/05/17/the-quality-of-pet-food-ingredients-part-2.aspx

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