"Let food be thy medicine"

Fantastic article in The Integrative Veterinary Care Journal about whole food feeding of small animals (dogs/cats). The same can be applied to any animal companion in our care, from guinea pigs to horses to humans. The emphasis being species appropriate, whole foods. Proper nutrition is something I often talk about. Nutrition is the very foundation to optimal health and wellness. What we choose to nourish us is more powerful than any medicine the pharmaceutical industry will dispense.~**Inez

"Whole food raw diets are beneficial
From my research and clinical experience, I have concluded that many pets benefit from being fed raw, evolution-based diets, since dogs and cats evolved over millions of years eating such diets. Simply looking at a pet's teeth indicates they are carnivores in every sense of the word. If they had evolved significantly from their wild roots, and now required processed foods, their teeth and jaws would reflect that change. There are many ways to provide a whole foods diet."

" One concern often cited with the above two methods is the possible contamination of the food with pathogenic bacteria and/or parasites. Raw meat products for human or animal consumption are loaded with pathogenic bacteria that are killed when the meat is cooked. Serving these meats raw would appear to pose a danger to pets and their human companions. In my opinion, this danger is overblown. In one recent study, 33% of dry dog food samples and 8% of canned dog food samples tested positive for non-type specific E. coli, and 4% of canned food samples tested positive for cryptosporidium.15 Another report found up to 36% of healthy dogs and up to 18 % of healthy cats shed salmonella in their stool.16 Decades of feeding raw meat diets shows fewer problems than commercial foods with their frequent recalls."

http://www.ivcjournal.com/articles/the-case-for-whole-foods/