A holistic vet's guide to healthy dog feeding

I have been on a quest, ever since the major pet food recall two years ago, to find great food for my dog. Sometimes I get lazy and feed him the same food for too long, when I know that variety is healthier.

After a recent visit to the vet, we were told to start replacing 1/3 of Mr. Blue’s food with veggies. The results were great. He had had two lumps on his back end that turned out to be “fat pockets.” After a few weeks of adding veggies into his food, the lumps are at least 50% smaller. That was a great inspiration in finding other options for him.

Today I was at the pet store and noticed Evanger’s 100% meat canned food, which is meant to supplement your dog’s usual meal or add as a topper. I almost purchased some, but then I thought I might as well just give him fresh meat from the store rather than canned. Then I went home to research Evanger’s and found Dr. Marty Goldstein, a holistic vet who has appeared on Oprah and has a radio show, “Ask Martha’s Vet,” on Sirius’ Martha Stewart Living Radio.

 

I was very impressed by Dr. Marty’s feeding advice and wanted to repost it here. I am currently feeding my cats raw food–both pre-made and actual raw–but haven’t done that yet for my 70 pound dog for cost’s sake (he gets Nature’s Variety Instinct grain-free dry and canned). This advice, however, is the perfect encouragement to get me on a better path for him, step by step. Here is Dr. Marty’s chart, which flows from most to least healthy:

The chart below outlines how our feeding choices for our pets (companion carnivores) can affect their health. The closer to the upper level choices, the better the chance for optimal health. You will likely be in the middle ranges most of the time. That is fine, as long as you always press toward the ideal.

Ideal – Healthiest

1. Hunted, raw prey (not realistic in modern society)

2. Fresh raw meats, bones, organ meats with very small amounts of fresh vegetables. Include a well-rounded vitamin/mineral mix and omega 3 essential fatty acids (salmon oil). You can prepare your own raw diet using meat/bone pieces and parts, or you can use pre-prepared ground products such as Bravo! and Nature’s Variety.

3. Fresh cooked meats, calcium, organ meat, with very small amounts of fresh vegetables. Include a vitamin/mineral mix, and omega 3 essential fatty acids (salmon oil). There are several books on the market that help you create your own home-cooked diet. It’s best to follow the recipes in these books.

4. Ultra Premium commercial canned foods and augmented with some fresh, raw foods. Canned foods, which are lower in carbohydrates, are much better for your pet than dry kibble. Some of the brands I like are Nature’s Variety, Merrick, and Evanger’s. These products are mostly meat, are usually grain-free, and very low in carbohydrates. The meat they use is human quality and they do not use by-products or chemical preservatives.

5. As in #4 above, but adding fresh cooked foods

 

6. Ultra Premium canned commercial foods WITHOUT fresh raw or cooked foods added

7. Super Premium canned foods are very much like the brands above, but they use more grains. They still use good quality meats and don’t contain by-products. Brand examples: Solid Gold, Innova, Pet Promise.

8. Super Premium grain-free dry food (kibble) like Instinct by Nature’s Variety

9. Premium canned foods. These brands use substantially less meat. Water is often the number 1 ingredient (in the Ultra Premium brands meat is the number one ingredient), they use meat by-products (poor quality waste parts) and they usually contain significant amounts of grains and chemical preservatives. Often, if all the grains are added together, they would equal or exceed the meat. The meat quality is OK, but just barely.

10. Super Premium kibble like Innova, Prairie, Canidae, and Timberwolf

11. Grocery store brands – canned or dry. These contain very little meat, are made with substantial amounts of meat by-products, and primarily consist of grain and grain by-products. The rendered meat used in these products came from condemned animals, ie – animals that were deemed unfit for human consumption. These products normally contain artificial colors, flavors and chemical preservatives.

Worst – Unhealthy