healthy for life
This site is for anyone who Would you like to understand their pets and work alongside the nature. It is for anyone who wants to do their best for their pets. at any age.
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It is focused on pets diet which allows them to thrive and heal. The ability of healing is based on life science called natural hygiene. More about Natural Hygiene.
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''Health is given for free and the only duty we have is to look after it. It doesn't come with a manual because it functions on it's own and it doesn't need any intervention. We need to provide the body with the right material in form of species appropriate food and understand the science of digestion and healing called natural hygiene''
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Optimum health can be achieved only if we remove the cause of disease. by providing appropriate diet and stop all toxic waste that the body is unable to digest and has to work really hard to filter out. Often this is in food supplements, medication, vaccination and cleaning products. more about disease
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In dogs and cats, there’s one primary factor that influences health much more than any other and that is DIET. No matter how much vets want to blame disease on genetics and bad luck, it is mis-feeding, primarily commercial feeding, that causes disease to be the norm among them.
Despite their claims and credentials, vets actually know very little about diet and even less about how to create the conditions of health and remove the causes of disease. Even holistic vets know far less than we assume. They very often make disease worse with their remedies intended only to suppress symptoms. Holistic practitioners claim that the substances they use “assist” or “allow” the body to heal, but this is not the case. Herbs are not as harmful as drugs. It is their toxic effects that cause a dog’s body to desist its symptomatic expression in favor of eliminating the foreign chemicals.
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Pets diet
In dogs and cats history they didn't have chance to mix different type of food or cook their food. Their stomach has only one chamber and so only one chemical environemetn can be created at a time to digest the given meal. Therefore it is crucial to provide only one type of food per meal and follow through on the given day.
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So to follow the biological facts we serve meat alone and follow with fasting and plant food
on a separate day to replicate the wild model as close as possible.
For cats as obligatory carnivores, we only serve meat,
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The natural dog diet is based upon what a wild canine would naturally eat according to their anatomy and physiology. Feeding our dogs in alignment with their true nature puts the conditions of health into place that lead to a long life, as well as the prevention and reversal of disease conditions.
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WHAT TO FEED
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FRUITS
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Any fruits you can eat your dog can also eat Most dogs will take to ripe bananas, papaya, melons, mangos very quickly Dogs can eat oranges but many will not eat them If your dog is a gulper be mindful of pits, especially the larger pits like mango, dates and avocados. Remove pits as needed. Frozen defrosted fruits are okay to feed as well but fresh fruits should be the primary foods.
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MEAT
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Bone is essential to your dogs health. We cannot omit bones when feeding raw meat. Chicken and Cornish hen are the most suitable choices for the primary meat for most dogs. We want to feed as close to the size of prey they would be feeding on in the wild. Pork, Beef, Goat, Fish, Turkey, Duck, Rabbit and various wild game are also good options. When choosing bones to feed avoid weight bearing bones that would be difficult or impossible for the dog to break with their teeth. If a bone has been sawed and it is too thick to digest then it could become an obstruction or choking hazard. Stick to smaller bones in proportion to the size of prey your dog would naturally be able to hunt easily.
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FASTING
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Fasting is an important part of a natural eating cycle. Fasting is rest and rest means more energy for healing processes. Dogs are binge and fast eaters who would naturally eat a very large prey meal, up to 20+% of their body weight and then fast for several days until the next prey is caught.
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How to feed
Our dogs only have one stomach, which means the body can only release one type of digestive enzyme at a time. The body cannot digest a protein and a carb at the same time. Carbs and Proteins require different types of digestive enzymes to be released into the stomach cavity. When we mix foods of different primary types the body is confused and the end result is poor digestion of all substances. Keep meals simple and always feed carbs on separate days or at least at separate meals. Feeding one meal a day is the ideal for maximum health. Dogs are binge and fast eaters, meaning they kill a large prey and can eat up to 20+% of their body weight in one meal and then go several days before eating again. This is their normal pattern in nature and we should strive to move closer to this pattern of feeding over time. If you are currently feeding 3 meals a day you can just eliminate one meal. Once down to two meals you can move the two meals closer together over a few weeks and then switch to one meal a day.
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Feeding is flexible but there are a few basic guidelines you need to follow. Fruits digest quickly, meat digests slowly. Feed fruits early or on a separate day. Feed meat late or on a separate day. Ideally a fasting day (full 24 hours between meals) is included after a meat day and before a fruit day to allow the slow moving meat to be fully digested before fast moving fruits enter the system.
Puppies can handle more meat than senior for sure but there is no benefit of overfeeding meat, in nature they range between 60% fruit to 40% meat and 70% fruit to 30% meat most of their life and significantly reduced during senior years.
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Puppies
It is advised to introduce fruit and fasting early. Main difference in feeding puppies remains in feeding multiple times a day. 4times per day 2-6 months, 3 times 6-9 months, twice from 9-15months, once from 15 months.
MONDAY - MEAT DAY
TUESDAY - MEAT DAY
WEDNESDAY - MEAT DAY
THURSDAY - MEAT DAY
FRIDAY - FASTING
SATURDAY - FRUIT DAY
SUNDAY - MEAT DAY
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Tips and important notes
Blend or grind bones till 3 months and start with suitable size bone to introduce in regular meals. Always be present when feeding meat with bone as whole.
Feed single fruit on fruit days and single protein on meat days.
Young dogs & highly active dogs (suitable for puppies as well)
MONDAY - FRUIT DAY
TUESDAY - MEAT DAY
WEDNESDAY - MEAT DAY
THURSDAY - FASTING
FRIDAY - FRUIT DAY
SATURDAY - MEAT DAY
SUNDAY - MEAT DAY
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tips and important notes
Fasting is biological rest allowing maximum cleaning, healing and lifespan. Fasting between meat days and Fruit days allows the meat to be fully digested and eliminated before fast digesting fruits enter. Keep meals simple 1-3 fruits per Fruit meal 1-3 proteins per meat meal for best digestion Proteins can be mixed. Chicken wings can be paired with boneless beef or pork to meet bone requirement. Meat meals - remove skin and trim as much visible fat as possible. Fruit is hydrating while kibble is dehydrating. Fruit days require extra potty breaks, plan accordingly.
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Wild model - closest to the whild life
MONDAY - FRUIT DAY
TUESDAY - FRUIT DAY
WEDNESDAY - MEAT DAY
THURSDAY - FASTING
FRIDAY - FRUIT DAY
SATURDAY - MEAT DAY
SUNDAY - FASTING
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No fasting (IMPORTANT: Feed meat meals early in the day and fruit meals later the following day to allow more digestive time between meals.)
MONDAY - FRUIT DAY
TUESDAY - MEAT DAY
WEDNESDAY - FRUIT DAY
THURSDAY - MEAT day
FRIDAY - FRUIT DAY
SATURDAY - MEAT DAY
SUNDAY - FRUIT day
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Good for senior dogs and healing
MONDAY - FRUIT DAY
TUESDAY - FRUIT DAY
WEDNESDAY - FRUIT DAY
THURSDAY - FRUIT DAY
FRIDAY - FRUIT DAY
SATURDAY - MEAT DAY
SUNDAY - FASTING
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Long work days? Optimize potty breaks with this meal plan - for seniors add an extra fasting day.
MONDAY - MEAT DAY
TUESDAY - FASTING
WEDNESDAY -MEAT DAY
THURSDAY - MEAT day
FRIDAY - FASTING
SATURDAY - FRUIT DAY
SUNDAY - FRUIT DAY
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How much to feed
While most people are used to feeding a scoop of kibble or just filling the bowl, feeding naturally does require a little bit more thinking and effort on our part, but not a whole lot. Just a little bit of common sense will get you there. Dogs have different activity levels, from sedentary to highly active. Your dog's activity level and current weight or ideal weight determine how much you feed. If your dog is already lean and highly active then they will likely need a larger portion, those that are less active will need smaller portions. Portions may need to be adjusted up or down as they lose weight and become more active when they are feeling better.
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Alternatively you can determine the amount by hand feeding. This method takes in consideration the activity level and the ability to digest both meat and fruit.
Very small dogs&puppies 0-13 pounds (0-6kg) up to 6 months feed 7-10% of body weight
Small dogs 13-30 pounds (6-13kg) feed between 6-8% of body weight.
Medium dogs 30-70 pounds between 3% and 5%
Large dogs 70 and up between 2% and 4% of body weight.
The formula for determining amount in ounces is: dogs weight x 16 (converting to ounces) x percentage being fed = serving size in ounces.
So a 6,5 pound dog getting 8% would be 6,5x16x.08= 8.32 ounces. A 48,5 pound dog getting 4% would be 48,5 x 16 x .04 = 31 ounces (1.9 pounds) Or 48,5 x .04 = 1,9 pounds
The formula for determining amount in grams is: ideal dogs wight x percentage fed = gm
3kg dog getting 8% would be 240g. 22kg dog getting 4% would be 880g.
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If you have any questions please don't hesitate to get in touch and we can discuss in more details. Contact page
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GETTING READY TO TRANSITION
When transitioning your dog to a raw natural diet, bear in mind that foods digest at different speeds and can cause problems if they encounter each other in the digestive tract.
This is especially true of commercial kibble and raw meat. That's why it is important to make sure no remnants of the dog’s previous diet remain in the digestive tract before feeding raw meat as these will hold up the digestion of the raw food. Putrefaction of the raw meat will ensue, and although dogs can handle these poisonous by-products much better than humans, it will often cause the body to quickly eliminate it, either by rejecting the stomach contents (vomiting) or moving water into the large intestine to effect bowel movement (diarrhea). Some dog owners who have combined the two in an attempt to transition their dogs slowly have discovered this fact first-hand. Often people who claim to have tried feeding raw without success think there’s something wrong with their dogs when they just made the mistake of feeding raw food too close to the last commercial dog food meal.
Therefore, the new diet should be preceded by one full day of fasting on water only or minimally, a day of veggies and fruits only, to clean out the system and make the first raw meal more appealing. Feeding colorful cooked tubers like yams is a good choice because the telltale orange poops the next day will signal the all clear.
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WHY DO OTHER RAW FEEDING MODELS LIKE B.A.R.F, P.M.R, AND R.M.F. FAIL TO HEAL OUR PETS COMPLETELY?
If you have been researching a raw food diet or natural food diets for dogs and cats you may have come across the Prey Model Raw (P.M.R.) or Biologically Appropriate Raw Food (B.A.R.F.) diets both of which market themselves as the natural diet for our canine companions. They have significant differences but both have their proponents who argue each is the natural model. In this chapter, we will look at both and compare them to nature to see what best mimics the natural diet. If you have dug further you may have come across Rotational Monofeeding (R.M.F) which is closer to the natural model, but still strays from nature on a few points, we will discuss the pros and cons of this model as well.
If you venture into social media groups of P.M.R. and B.A.R.F. feeders you will find post after post of people having issues with their dog’s health and looking for recommendations for treatments to deal with these issues. Their digestion, healing from serious conditions and chronic disease, allergies, itchy skin, and eye discharge all lead pet parents to seek out treatments that ultimately will lead to less-than-ideal health.
While both P.M.R. and B.A.R.F. are huge improvements over kibble and canned foods and they get a lot of things right, it is the small mistakes in observing nature that lead to health issues over the long term and digestion issues over the short term.
While they are one of the closest marketed diets to a natural feeding model both make fairly significant errors which over time lead to symptoms of disease. First, let us lay out the basics of each model and then we can discuss where they have gone astray from nature.
THE BASICS:
Prey Model Raw focuses on feeding a rotation of raw meats, excluding all plant foods. The B.A.R.F. feeding model is similar to P.M.R. however they also include some plant foods. R.M.F is a lesser-known model which stands for Rotational Monofeeding and is built on the concept of feeding plants and meats separately and in closer alignment with the natural model.
P.M.R. MODEL:
According to Perfectlyrawsome.com, “the Prey Model Raw (PMR) diet eliminates processed foods and provides dogs with a natural diet that mimics what their ancestors and wild cousins consumed. A complete PMR diet is based on whole, wild prey animals and does not include plant ingredients.”
WHAT DO THEY GET RIGHT?
The PMR model encourages whole prey, raw meat, and bone. They eliminate all grains, cooked foods, and processed foods and for the most part, they seem to stay away from oils, although some adherents include fish oils. The model has done a good job of eliminating a large number of burdens that commercial dog foods supply. Since disease conditions grow relative to the burden the body is under, switching from kibble or canned foods to a PMR model diet will for many dogs result in a relative increase in health. However, there is still an excess burden in this diet compared to what we observe in nature and full and complete health will not be achieved with this excess burden.
WHAT DOESN’T ALIGN WITH NATURE?
When we look at wild dogs, coyotes, and wolves we see that they all consume between 20 and 80% fruits and other plant matter. (See “Evidence that Canids eat Fruit in the Wild” Fruits are a large part of the wild canid diet. Removing this important source of nutrition leads to a burden of excess protein on the PMR diet or protein poisoning. Unfortunately, at some point, humans simply assumed that wolves and coyotes are exclusive meat eaters and that information has led to the idea that our dogs should feed exclusively on meat. In the short term, taking a dog from a kibble diet to an all raw proteins diet will alleviate a considerable burden and allow for improvements to overall health, but long term that excess of protein is going to catch up with our pets and their health will begin to slide downhill again.
B.A.R.F MODEL:
According to Perfectlyrawsome.com “the recommended guidelines for a BARF diet consists of 70% muscle meat, 10% raw edible bone, 7% vegetables, 5% liver, 5% other secreting organ, 2% seeds or nuts, and 1% fruit.”
WHAT DO THEY GET RIGHT?
The B.A.R.F model also promotes a fully raw diet with raw meat being the predominant food. They eliminate all grains, cooked foods, and processed foods. They incorporate some plant materials, predominantly vegetables using the rationale that the only plant matter that would be eaten in nature by dogs is the stomach contents of their prey, which would be predominantly grasses and vegetable matter. The B.A.R.F. model has also done a good job of eliminating a large number of burdens that commercial dog foods supply. Switching from kibble or canned foods to a B.A.R.F model diet will for many dogs result in a relative increase in health in the short term due to the burden they are lifting. However, just like the P.M.R. model there is still an excess burden in this diet compared to what we observe in nature.
WHAT DOESN’T ALIGN WITH NATURE?
The B.A.R.F. model has many of the same issues as the P.M.R. model and a few issues unique to their model. As mentioned above, wild dogs, coyotes, and wolves consume between 20 and 80% fruits and other plant matter. That means the average dog in the wild is eating a meat meal once every 3 to 7 days, not every day. They are grazing upon fruits and other plants between their prey meals. While B.A.R.F incorporates plant matter into the diet they do not incorporate it on a scale that matches the natural model. The reasoning behind incorporating plant matter is to stimulate the stomach contents of the prey animal which would be a very small fraction of the plant matter eaten in the wild. Additionally, this plant matter in the stomach and digestive tract would be predigested. In nature, wild dogs, coyotes, and wolves are eating fruits directly from trees, bushes, and vines in large quantities.
The next issue we run into with the B.A.R.F. diet is food combining. Dogs, like humans, only have one stomach. This means that their stomach is only capable of digesting one type of food at a time. All foods require digestive enzymes to be broken down and assimilated by our bodies. Different types of foods – starches, proteins, fats, sweet fruits, acid fruits – all have different enzymes that break the material down into its usable parts. Some of these enzymes also neutralize other enzymes. If we combine two food types that have enzymes that neutralize each other we end up with neither of the food types in the stomach getting properly digested. Instead, the food either ferments (fruits/carbs/starches) or putrefies (meat). When this occurs the body is not getting full use or benefit from the meal and as a result, the body may need to expel the food rapidly through an expulsion process like diarrhea or vomiting to get the putrefying or fermenting substances out of the system. This is because the ferment creates alcohol a cellular poison and the putrefaction creates ammonia an even stronger cellular poison. While the B.A.R.F model adds in a small amount of plant matter, they are not taking into account the natural physiological processes of digestion and therefore they are creating more burden on the body than simply feeding the proteins alone.
The next issue is in the bone ratios. B.A.R.F. recommends 10% raw edible bone, the problem with this is when we look to the natural prey animals our dogs would be hunting if left to their own devices we often find that the ratio of bone to meat is much higher than 10%. Small birds like cornish hens are roughly 39% bone, chickens are roughly 32% bone. Feeding a whole cornish hen or a whole chicken with intact organs is going to be a much closer approximation to nature than trying to recreate that piecemeal. Wild prey has a wide range of bone content so our dogs are built for some variety meaning this is a relatively minor issue, but one worth noting as we look at the whole picture of each feeding model. Rigid adherence to a specific bone percentage is not in alignment with the variety found in nature.
Whole Chicken…32%
Whole Quail…10%
Guinea hen…17%
Squab (pigeon)…23%
Wild Duck…38%
Pheasant whole…14%
Cornish Game Hen (cleaned)…39%
Whole goose…19%
Dove whole…23%
Mouse whole…5%
Rat whole…5%
Guinea pig/cavies…10%
Rabbit Whole (cleaned)…28%
Rabbit Whole prey, unprocessed, with fur…10%
Turkey whole (cleaned)…21%
Whole duck (cleaned)…28%
Source: https://www.rawpetsrule.com/bone-percentage-guide.html
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The last issue we find with the B.A.R.F model is 7% vegetables, 2% seeds or nuts, and 1% fruit.” Since evidence from the Voyageurs Wolf Project shows us wolves eating up to 83% of their diet from fruits during heavy fruiting periods (See: https://youtu.be/0-QzCFs6-SY) and Coyote feeding studies confirm seasonal fruit consumption ranging from 20% to 60% (See for example: Seasonal Coyote Diet Composition at a Low-Productivity Site Morgan B. Swingen, Christopher S. DePerno and Christopher E. Moorman https://bioone.org/journals/southeastern-naturalist/volume-14/issue-2/058.014.0219/Seasonal-Coyote-Diet-Composition-at-a-Low-Productivity-Site/10.1656/058.014.0219.short ) we can be confident that fruits are both a suitable food and necessary to maintain the health of our dogs.
What we do not have support for though is the evidence of vegetables. Vegetables are the fare of herbivorous animals which have flat molars for grinding and breaking down the tough cellulose found in vegetables. Dogs are not equipped with grinding teeth and they lack the starch-digesting enzymes that would be necessary in lieu of those teeth to allow for proper digestion. Cooking of vegetables breaks down the starches into sugars and weakens the cellulose allowing for some increase in digestibility, however, we are then returning to the same question “Who has ever seen a dog turn on the stove?” Cooking also damages foods, so any benefit in digestibility is countered by the loss of nutrition and the alteration of the food as well as the creation of carcinogens such as acrylamide that increases based upon the cooking temperature.
Based upon our observations of nature and our knowledge of physiology and chemistry we should therefore rule out vegetables as a source of food for dogs but significantly increase fruit consumption to better match the natural model.
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WHERE BOTH P.M.R. AND B.A.R.F MISS THE MARK
Where both diets missed the mark is again in fat content . The raw meats available to us in the grocery store come from commercially raised animals. These animals are fed an unnatural diet which creates excess fat on the body of the prey animal so even if you feed raw the meat you’re getting from the grocery store is going to be far higher in fat than natural wild-raised prey.
As we can see in the photo below, the wild rabbit (right), eating its natural foods, has almost no visible fat. Compare this to the commercially raised rabbit (left) with its large deposits of fat at the bottom end and also a coating of fat on the ribs.
In nature, eating their wild prey, our dogs would be consuming very little fat. Most of us however require to get our meat from the local grocery and as such we are left with a product that has an excess of fat. Over time this excess fat that our companions are consuming will overwhelm the body and slowly lead to less ideal health and eventually into chronic disease as our companion’s age.
When we buy commercially prepared raw foods there is often even more fat being supplied as the meat is first trimmed for sale to humans and then the leftover carcass of mostly bone and fat is what is ground into raw prepackaged foods for dogs and cats. Whether you are preparing the food at home from the grocery store or buying a pre-made PMR or BARF model raw food product the fat issue is going to cause issues in the long term.
R.M.F. MODEL
According to RMFPets.com, “RMF diet is based mostly on the wild model and partly on what has been observed to work in domestic dogs. It essentially involves the feeding of raw meat and bones on some days and plant-based meals (some cooked, some raw) on other days. The dog owner determines how many days of each, based on the dog’s age and other factors.”
WHAT DO THEY GET RIGHT?
The R.M.F. model is far and away the closest to a natural model. They incorporate plant meals that are both separate from the meat meals as they would be found in nature and they incorporate plants in a high enough rotation to mimic nature. R.M.F. also recognizes the issue with fat consumption, saying on the RMFpets.com website that “The high animal fat content of commercial dog foods and even some home prepped diets is the most common cause of the health problems that dogs experience.”
R.M.F.’s focus on raw meat and bone alternated with plant meals eliminates a significant amount of burden on the body of our animals, far more than the P.M.R. and B.A.R.F. models thanks to the reduction of meat meals in exchange for low burden plant meals. However, there is still an excess burden in this diet compared to what we observe in nature.
WHAT DOESN’T ALIGN WITH NATURE?
No animal in nature cooks its food. Over 700,000 species exist on this planet and only the chronically ill human species cooks our foods.
Humans are the only species capable of creating fire and setting fire to our food and the consequences of that decision have led to the epidemics of chronic disease we humans experience and now put on to our pets. The RMF model continues this tradition by including cooked foods including cooked sweet potatoes, cooked quinoa, and certain cooked vegetables. While these are not absolute requirements of the diet, it is evidenced in the online support group that these cooked foods are used heavily, often in lieu of fruits.
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