Dogs were in existence long before the creation of kibble. So how could they have possibly survived? In the wild, a dog will catch it's food and devour nearly all of it...the flesh(good source of protein), fat (a good source of energy), bone (good source of calcium), muscle and organ meats, and the stomach with its contents (a good source of enzymes, minerals and pre-digested plant material consisting of herbs and grasses).
Whether you wish to admit it or not, dogs, both domesticated and wild, are members of the carnivore family. Anatomically, they are built for it. No one describes this more eloquently than Juliette de Bairacli Levy in her book, The Complete Herbal Book for the Dog A
Handbook of Natural Care and Rearing:
| "...the dog is a meat eater, from the teeth fashioned for tearing and crushing, the powerful jawbones and muscles, the small, very muscular stomach, the short intestines (to avoid putrefaction of flesh foods), and above all, the very powerful digestive juices peculiar to the carnivorous animals - digestive juices that can dissolve even lumps of bone. In health, the dog's juices, both of mouth and stomach, are strongly antiseptic, and thus "high" meat and even flesh from diseased animals - food which would kill a human being in a day - can be eaten without harmful effects." |
Ms. Levy's philosophy of raising dogs is called Natural Rearing and it means just what it says - raising the canine in such a way as to reproduce the way they would exist in their natural state.
Natural rearing diets, such as NR (Natural Rearing) or BARF (Bones And Raw Food), are based on fresh foods such as raw meats, raw bones, raw vegetables and herbs. Because dogs in the wild would not eat every day, one day of fasting (only for adult dogs) per week is also recommended. This allows the animal to cleanse it's body of toxins.
Cooking breaks down many of the proteins and amino acids in raw meat, thus destroying much of it's nutritional value. The canine being not only a hunter, but a scavenger as well, will be able to exist on a diet of cooked food, but it will not be in optimal health. I guess a similar comparison would be to place a human being on a strict diet of only MacDonalds hamburgers and fries for the rest of his/her life!
Raising your dog on poor diets will eventually have its effect - disease, immune deficiencies, short life span, high vet bills, the list is endless. Thanks to the works of Juliette de Bairacli Levy, Dr. Ian Billinghurst, Wendy Volhard and Dr. Kerry Brown, a step in the right direction (back to nature) has been taken. Their books have been and invaluable source of information for all dog owners.
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