HEALTHY
PETS HELP MAKE HAPPY FAMILIES
When our entire family is healthy, happy and energetic, our world becomes
a brighter place. For nearly 65% of the American households whoconsider their pet a family member, the health and happiness of pets plays an important role in family well-being.
With annual routine vet bills averaging around $100 and doggie or kitty surgery likely to cost several hundred dollars, plus extras for x-rays and meds, it also makes financial sense to keep our pets healthy.
Our German-born Rottweiler Max, was the 120 lb family doggie my kids grew
up with. He remained . happy and energetic at age 14 while most of
his Rottweiler buddies were dying of cancers at 8 or 9. He went to a
vet only once his whole life. Let’s look at what it took to keep him
healthy..
The sad truth about most mainstream pet food brands is not pretty. Foods
that are deemed unfit for humans are perfectly legal for pet foods.
These unsavory ingredients include slaughterhouse wastes, diseased
animals, spoiled supermarket foods (sometimes with the packaging
intact), and even euthanized pet and farm animals can lawfully make up pet foods.
Choosing healthy pet foods is not as easy as looking for the words premium or
natural. To avoid choosing a dog food that might contain horrific ingredients,
the best way to minimize the risk is to never buy products made with
generic animal ingredients.
In this case generic means animal based ingredients which do not specify
the source animal. They use non-specific words like “meat” or
“poultry”, rather than the actual species like “chicken” or
“beef”. According to the pet food industry, meat can come from
virtually any kind of mammal. So, unlike beef meal, which must come
from beef, generic meat meal can legally be from road kill, dead zoo
animals, horses, or… dead cats and dogs.
In addition, high quality pet foods will always be made from ingredients
that are USDA approved for human consumption. Furthermore, just like
when you shop for your humans, you should never buy pet products with
artificial colors or preservatives.
The books: Real Food for Healthy Dogs and Cats and Dr. Pitcarin’s Guide to Natural
Health for Dogs and Cats are 2 of the best resources to guide you through the adventure of natural pet care. Based on those books and my own experiences I recommend the following approaches for keeping your pets healthy and your vet bills low.
The best diet you can feed your dog or cat is a homemade, balanced, raw
diet. However it’s fairly costly and time consuming to prepare. A
homemade, balanced cooked diet supplemented with some raw foods would
be next best.
From a practical perspective, feeding your pet high
quality dry kibble made from ingredients approved for human
consumption and adding a homemade “booster mix” should provide
your pet with everything they need to stay healthy. It will be
reasonably priced and quick to prepare.
You can easily prepare a weeks worth of booster mix in about 10 minutes,
then just add some every day to your pets kibble.
Booster Mix Recipes:
2 lbs of raw ground beef, chicken or turkey
1 cup of hemp, flax or fish oil
1 cup of small diced or flaked seaweed
1 cup of chopped garlic
1 bunch of parsley finely chopped
Or substitute
1 qt. of organic unsweetened yogurt or 6-8 cooked or raw eggs instead of the ground meat above
Mix with food processor or by hand.
Adding approx 1 cup booster mix per day (less for smaller dogs) to dry kibble will provide your
special “family member” with:.
Essential fatty acids from the oils for healthy skin, coat, eyes and ears.
Readily absorbable minerals from the seaweeds for healthy bones and joints
Parasite & pathogen protection (including fleas and heartworm) from the garlic
Breath enhancement, enzymes and live vitamin C from the parsley
Frequent use of pet probiotics will boost immunity and improve digestion.
In addition, 1\4 to 1\2 teaspoon a day of Spirulina powder has brought back the “pep in their step” to many family pets in their golden years.
Your whole family deserves to be healthy all year round. Plus in the long
run, healthy pets will save us humans lots of money in vet bills.
Sunshine Recommends And Stocks The Solid Gold Brand Of Dog And Cat Foods, Treats And Supplements
