Yes, dogs are biologically hard-wired carnivores and share most of the needs and behaviours of wolves. But the pet-food industry, and in large part a compliant veterinary profession, flood our senses with the tidy notion that happiness comes in the form of:
a.) Cuddly toys/guard dogs.
b.) Daily fuel/ maintenance needs met by grain-based products sold
at the supermarket.
c.) For checkups and running repairs consult the vet.

It's been this way ever since Jack Spratt invented dog biscuits in the 1860's and, then aided by Charles Cruft of the dog show fame, promoted processed pet foods to an unsuspecting public. The vets got in on the act when demand for their farm services declined at the same time the epidemics of junk-food induced diseases of pet dogs created need for sophisticated (and costly) diagnosis and treatment.

For those of us who for whatever reason (be it costs, time constraints or just fear of not feeding totally raw properly) who do a 'modified raw diet', i.e., one raw meal a day and one high quality kibble meal per day, are we doing more harm than good? What are the consequences of feeding half and half?? Are there actual benefits to it?

Thanks,
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From: Tom Lonsdale
Subject: Re: QUESTION

Hi...and All,

Thanks for the question. It's an excellent way to kick-off discussion but with a couple of provisos.

Because there are several subsections to your question and because this is a huge topic no single email answer can do full justice. Given the importance of the issues I encourage everyone, pet owner or not, to get a good handle on the five facets of the pet food scam. We all need to be well informed and become empowered to take our own sound decisions based on sound evidence.

Junk food poisons in three sometimes five different ways:

Quoting from Work Wonders Chapter 6:

Whenever we stop doing harm, we take the first step towards doing some good. And junk foods harm the health of a majority of the world’s pet dogs in broadly three, sometimes five, different ways.

1. Soft canned foods and grain-based kibble do not clean teeth. In fact food sludge sticks to teeth and feeds oral bacteria. The result: sore gums, bad breath and bacterial poisons that affect the rest of the body.

2. Dogs don’t have the digestive enzymes in the right quality or quantity to deal with the nutrients in grains and other plant material, whether those materials are raw or cooked. When grains are cooked at high temperatures at the pet-food factory the starches, proteins and fats become denatured or toxic in variable degrees. Once in the bowel of a dog, toxic nutrients are absorbed into the circulation and affect various body systems.

3. Poorly digested grain-based junk food supports a large population of toxin-producing bacteria in the lower bowel. The bowel lining, in constant contact with poisons, may be adversely affected. Some poisons pass through the bowel wall into the blood circulation, are carried to other organs and create further problems.

4. Like Morgan Spurlock, some pets show signs of ill health after a short time consuming junk food. For instance, young puppies frequently suffer from bad skin and diarrhea. Long term exposure to the diet-related toxins listed in 1, 2 and 3 lead to diseases of body organs. Diseased organs produce more toxins which enter the blood stream and add to the toxic load affecting all other organs.

5. Pets affected by the above four categories of poison frequently get taken to the vet. Some vets say: Stop! Stop feeding junk food. Sadly, though, most vets ignore categories 1, 2 and 3. Instead they diagnose diseased organs as mentioned in 4. Treatment usually involves strong pharmaceuticals which then contribute another level of toxic insult.

From the above you can see that stopping poisoning your pets is the single most important thing you can do. It's so effective it's why those who feed table scraps only instead of commercial food often see a big improvement in their pet's health -- they stopped some of the worst poisoning. It's the reason barfers and the producers of junk raw food see improved health in the animals on their dietary regimes (but they mistakenly attribute the health improvements to their vegetables and supplements).

But stopping the serious harm is only the first part of providing the right 'food and medicine' for your canine companions. Ideally that would be whole carcasses of prey animals -- although I recognise the sometimes impractical aspects of feeding whole prey and suggest the diet at http://www.rawmeatybones.com/diet/exp-diet-guide.pdf works well.

So your question about half and half:

Insofar as a correct diet provides both food and medicine then I pose a couple of questions.

1.) Would you follow your car maker's instructions when fueling your car? Or would you mix equal parts petrol/gasoline with waste cooking oil from Macdonalds'?

2.) When using medicines, whether in a treatment or preventative role, is it best to follow the prescription?

My belief is that the daily ongoing medicinal aspect of feeding carnivores as close to the makers' prescription as is possible needs to be constantly kept in mind. Watering down or in other ways adulterating the medicine is not recommended.

I do appreciate your question and the desire to do the best at an economical cost and in a convenient way. I understand the cultural and other pressures you experience and the constant bombardment by advertisements and other sales techniques.

By asking questions I believe you are already a long way towards finding the answers.

Best wishes,

Tom Lonsdale

I have a litter of 5 Bernese puppies, seven and half weeks old now, ready to go to their new homes this weekend. Could you please advise me as to what shall I tell the new owners to feed the puppies - i.e. the four meals per day they are currently having. We are giving them cottage cheese and goats milk for breakfast, raw meaty bones chopped up for lunch, raw meat with pulped veg for dinner (or sometimes tinned sardines), and scrambled eggs for supper (yes, it is cooked food but they just LOVE it...). Is this regime any good and should we advise the new owners to carry on or could you please suggest a better diet?

Thank you so much.
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Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2006 13:01:41 +1100
From: Tom Lonsdale
Subject: Re: QUESTION FOR DR. TOM

Hi ...,

Thanks for the good question.

Broadly speaking, and for ease of access, I recommend the diet at: http://www.rawmeatybones.com/diet/exp-diet-guide.pdf

For a fuller answer to feeding young pups I've copied at the foot of this email a passage from Work Wonders.

However, at 7 and half weeks pups are better tussling with their litter mates over pig's heads, whole carcasses of other animals and the like.

Pups cut their deciduous teeth between 3 and 6 weeks (variations occur). During the teething and thereafter the pups need to make full use of their working parts. (Use em or lose em)

Wishing you and your pups the best of good health,

Tom Lonsdale

Work Wonders Chapter 4 Switching, Grinding, Breeding

Grinding food, is it necessary?

By ripping and tearing at food carnivores keep periodontal and associated diseases at bay. Take away the tooth cleaning function and you take away a major benefit of raw food. You wouldn’t buy watered down medicine, at inflated prices, for your children and similarly it’s not good policy to ‘water down’ the medicinal benefits of raw food.

But seeing as though we are dealing with complex biological systems then very occasionally we need to modify the rules. For short periods of time carnivores can survive perfectly well without bone in the diet. So if a pet is too young or too sick to eat whole raw meaty bones, then the answer is simple ? feed chopped or ground meat and offal. (But remember, for a short period of time only.)

Before three weeks of age puppies do not need solids and after six weeks of age they have teeth for ripping and tearing whole food. During the transitional phase from milk to whole food feeding, wolf mothers regurgitate part-digested stomach contents for their puppies. Only a few domestic dogs regurgitate food in this way. If a dog has plenty of milk and the litter is small then supplementary feeding may not be necessary. However, if in doubt provide chopped or ground raw meat along with chicken pieces. By six weeks of age most puppies show a preference for food requiring ripping and tearing and feeding ground food should be discontinued.

For longer term feeding the old and toothless may need their food ground. But I say ‘may need’. Even toothless or nearly toothless dogs manage to gum their way through chicken frames. They benefit from the mental and physical exercise and tone the gums. Perhaps in the last few weeks of life an elderly pet may need assistance with eating. Ground or chopped meat and offal work well. At that late stage in life, and for a short period, strict adherence to the need for bone in the diet can be relaxed.

So when do adult dogs need ground raw meaty bones? There is one rare medical condition, megaesophagus, which affects an animal’s ability to deliver food to the stomach with resultant pooling of food in the esophagus.2 Finely ground food must be offered. A rare condition of dogs, pyloric stenosis, may prevent food from passing from the stomach to the small intestine.3 An operation can usually resolve the problem, but
until the surgery is performed it’s best to grind the food.

Breeding

Let Nature be our guide. Let the breeding season coincide with a good supply of appropriate food. Yes, it’s as simple as that. Wild carnivores breed at the same time there’s a maximum number of easy-to-catch juveniles of the prey species.

Feed your breeding stock on a diet as close as possible to that Nature intended and they will have optimum fertility, fetuses will be carried to full term and the birth process will be as uncomplicated as can reasonably be expected.

The reasons for this are obvious when we stop to think about it. Healthy males have healthy sperm and healthy females shed healthy eggs. A healthy uterus provides the best environment for growing embryos; strong uterine and abdominal muscles provide the best chance for a trouble free birth.

Breeders report fewer caesarean sections in animals fed raw as opposed to processed diets. Newborn puppies and kittens tend to be slightly smaller but more vigorous than the sleepy offspring of mothers fed processed food. Puppies and kittens suckling vigorously stimulate the milk supply and contraction of the uterus which in turn ensures the wellbeing of the mother. Healthy mothers lick and clean their offspring thus reinforcing the maternal bond and stimulating circulation, respiration and the voiding of urine and feces by the young.

Carnivore mothers ‘clean-up’ after their offspring. I was intrigued to learn that ‘cleaning-up’ may continue longer in those litters fed raw food. No bad odors and mess characteristic of the processed-food fed litters.

Three weeks of age is a good time to start puppies on whole pieces of raw food. Chicken
backs and frames make a good first choice providing there is plenty of meat attached to the bones. First the young suck then tug at the meat and by six weeks of age expertly crunch on the soft chicken bones. Whole rabbit and fish carcasses are another good source of food for young animals. Please bear in mind that puppies readily take to a variety of different foods. Introduce a range of raw meaty bones and carcasses early and your pets will grow up with wide tastes.