What you feed your pet is extremely important to its health.  Processed pet foods have been in use for about the last 30 years.  In that time we have seen a deterioration in the health of animals, animals are aging at a faster rate than ever.  We now see cancer in 3 year old dogs, liver and kidney dysfunction in 8 year olds, and many immune related disorders.  Dry pet food, or kibble, is processed through various stages.  This processing called "rendering" has various stages that the product goes through to kill potential contaminants.

In my experience, animals do significantly better on a "real food" diet.  Real food means unprocessed food.  This can be in form of cooked meat and veggies, and a calcium supplement like bone meal ash.  Or it may be in the form of a raw food diet such as raw meat, blenderized vegetables nd raw bones.

***Be very careful with bones, not all bones are safe to feed to your pet. When feeding your pet a real food diet, balance is very important. For dogs, 75% of this should be meat and 25% should be vegetable matter. For cats, 90% should be meat and 10% should be vegetable matter. Your pet should be fed at least 100g of food per 10lb of body weight. Increase this amount by 50% if the animal is young (less than 2 years) or has high energy requirements (hyperthyroid, lots of exercise, cancer etc.)  If a cooked diet is being fed, the amount fed should be the total weight after cooking.  If fish is the meat option chosen, increase the meat portion by 25%.

Switching to a Raw Diet:

A pet digesting a raw food diet requires a different stomach environment than a pet eating dry pet food.  A high level of acid in the stomach is required to digest raw food, but a pet eating dry dog food has very low levels of stomach acid.  Because of this, if the pet¹s diet is switched too suddenly, the pet will be unable to digest the raw diet and may become ill.  So the pet must be switched very gradually to a raw food diet, allowing enough time for the stomach acid to adjust. If you decide to feed your pet a raw diet, get the meat from a reputable pet raw food company.  I do not recommend purchasing raw meat from the grocery store to feed your pet as this meat is often a few days old, and has a high bacterial count.  In addition, raw meat should be frozen at some point to kill parasites.  For this reason it¹s much safer and more economical to buy pet raw meat from a reputable raw meat pet food company. Pets should ideally be fed twice per day.

Meat options:

1. Chicken (organic if possible), Turkey, Beef, Buffalo, Ostrich, Salmon, Kangaroo, Venison. Never give raw Pork/Ham as this contains too many parasites.
2. For dogs with allergies, the red meats (Beef/Buffalo/Venison) may be too 'rich' and should be avoided at the beginning.  Ostrich and Turkey are nice alternatives in this case.
3. Organ Meat:  Some organ meat is required for proper nutrition supplementation.  This can be in the form of hearts, liver, kidney, etc.  Organ meat should be given  2-3 times per week.

Vegetables:
These must be easy to digest.  Hard vegetables (squash, zucchini, yams etc.) need to be steamed first.  Other veggies need to be minced or pureed to be digestible.

1. Good veggies: Parsley, Cilantro, Green Beans, Squash, Zucchini, Snap peas, Bok Choy, Kelp.
2. Possible veggies: Yams, Sweet Potatoes
3. Not Recommended: Potatoes, corn, carrots, tomatoes, eggplants, root vegetables (beets, radish, parsnips, turnips), peas, sweet peas. Avoid broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, kale and cabbage as these are from the "goitrogenic" family and block Iodine uptake, especially if the pet's thyroid function is already low. Nightshades like eggplants, tomatoes are not recommended. Some breeds are prone to hypothyroid like Labs and Golden Retrievers, and in these cases, goitrogenic vegetables can lead to further problems.
4. Poisonous foods: Onions, grapes, raisins, chocolate, avocadoes, tomatoes, garlic.

Foods to Avoid:
Rice, wheat, pasta, flour as well as other forms of starch like polenta, kamut, couscous etc.

Dogs:

Converting From Dry Pet Food
It will take approximately 3 weeks to convert your pet from dry dog food to a raw meat diet. Initially change the diet from dry kibble to cooked food (cooked meat and veggies) and vegetables over a 7 day period. The meat should be cooked without added oils. Either bake, boil or grill the meat. Add veggies (see veggie instructions above). Gradually add more of the cooked meat/veggies to the dry kibble over a few days, so that on day eight the pet¹s meal is completely cooked meat and veggies. If your pet gets loose stool or has a sensitive stomach, cut back on the cooked food (more dry kibble) and make the transition slower. Keep the pet on this cooked food only diet for seven days more. After this, slowly add raw meat to the cooked meat (keep the veggies the same). Begin with small amounts, for example: 1 teaspoon per meal for small dogs, and 1 tablespoon per meal for big dogs. Slowly increase the amount, so that in approximately ten days your pet is completely on a raw meat/veggie diet.  Remember it will take approximately 24 days to change your pet from dry dog food to a raw meat diet.  The raw meat for this transition period should be boneless, and then once your pet is used to the raw diet, you can feed meat with bone ground in. This is important as your pet needs a consistent supply of Calcium in their diet. However, you may want to at first alternate the ground in bone meat with the boneless meat, so that your pet does not get constipated.

Converting From Wet Pet Food
Change the diet from wet canned food to raw meat (chicken/lean meat) and vegetables (see list above) over a 14 day period.  Do this by slowly adding raw meat (without bone) to the canned pet food.  Begin with small amounts, for example: 1 teaspoon per meal for small dogs, and 1 tablespoon per meal for big dogs. Gradually increase the amount over 14 days. The raw meat for this transition period should be boneless, and then once your pet is used to the raw diet, you can feed meat with bone ground in. This is important as your pet needs a consistent supply of Calcium in their diet.   However, you may want to at first alternate the ground in bone meat with the boneless meat, so that your pet does not get constipated.

Cats:

From Dry Pet Food:
Start to introduce canned food and decrease the dry kibble by as soon as the cat is eating the required amount of canned.  After this put a very small amount of dry into the bowl for a week, then stop adding dry.  After your cat has been eating canned food for a month, add 1 tsp of raw meat (do not add veggies or cooked meat) to the canned every day and slowly increase this amount so that over three weeks or so your cat is completely on raw meat and veggies. The raw meat for this transition period should be boneless, and then once your pet is used to the raw diet, you can feed meat with bone ground in. This is important as your pet needs a consistent supply of Calcium in their diet. However, you may want to at first alternate the ground in bone meat with the boneless meat, so that your pet does not get constipated.

From Wet Pet Food:
Change the diet from wet canned food to raw meat over a 3 week period. Do this by slowly adding raw meat (without bone) to the canned pet food. Begin with small amounts, such as a teaspoon per day, and gradually increase the amount over the three week period

Bones:

Your pet must be completely on a raw meat diet for about a month before bones should be introduced.  You can introduce bones in the way of ground bones in the meat (chicken carcasses which are ground), as well as bones to chew on.  In order to digest properly, bones should be extremely fresh and raw (NEVER cooked).  A bone can be given 2-3 times per week and can be given in place of a meal.  Initially the bone should be given once per week **

**For small pets (cat, small dogs):  chicken necks. For small dogs we recommend holding onto the neck at first to be sure they are chewing it. When it is less than 1" long, throw it out.

**For big dogs: turkey necks, femur bone, knuckle bones.  Once they are the size of a golf ball discard!

**when introducing a bone to a pet, always monitor your pet carefully.  If your pet tends to be 'greedy' and may swallow a large piece of bone, then remove the bone before this happens, or do not give bones. Use your judgement. You know your pet and can determine if this will be a problem. Other options for keeping teeth clean are 'bully sticks'.  We do not recommend raw hides or other non-digestible items like pigs ears or greenies.

**bones must be fresh.  Do not feed bones which have become dry (from sitting outside or indoors) as this makes it possible for them to splinter and is dangerous for your pet.  Never feed your pet cooked bones.

**if your pet has white, or very hard stool, or is straining this could be a sign of too much bone.  In this case decrease by 50% the amount of either:
     1. the 'ground in bone' raw meat (replace by boneless raw meat), or
     2. the number of times a raw bone is fed.