What is Biologically Appropriate Raw Food for Dog's Cat's or Ferret's?
The Raw diet for dogs, cats, & ferrets is a way of feeding your furry family members in a manner more consistent with what they would naturally eat. Basically it is the process of replicating a diet of their wild ancestors. We try to recreate a prey animal for them using meat, organs, bone, & some fruit & vegetables.
The benefits of feeding your animal a natural diet that is more inline with their internal physiology becomes clear when they naturally start to lean up and become more active, their breath will become fresh, no body odor, they produce less stool and the stool is firm and without strong odor, skin becomes clear and fur is soft and shinny. Elderly dogs will often experience a rejuvenation.
Many common health problems will clear up or become much easier to manage when your dog, cat, or ferret has been on raw for just a few months. Skin issues are often a sign of internal problems. This is a perfect condition for raw to benefit. Our 20 year old Mykey had awful skin sores from what was thought to be an allergy to chicken. At a point he had so many skin sores they seemed to be everywhere.
After switching Mykey to raw over 5 years ago he not only gained a second "puppy hood" but his skin sores cleared up after 6 months. We found out that Mykey was not allergic to chicken, he eats it all the time and loves it. He is however allergic to grain. The smallest amount of grain will bring on sores and scratching in Mykey.
Mykey's problem with grains is not all that uncommon. Dogs are not fully capable of digesting grains. They were never meant to eat grains in any significant amount and lack the ability to digest them properly. The only time a dog, cat, or ferret would encounter grains in the wild would be in the stomach of a prey animal. There it would be pre-masticated (chewed) and partially digested. This process would allow for a carnivorous animal to accept the grains. Unfortunately this process, and all other natural process's, are not replicated in kibble or canned commercial pet foods. This is the cause of a great many of the health problems faced by your furry family member. That and the fact that the foods they produce are over processed and months old by the time of sale.
At MomoFood we strongly believe that the best food for your companion animal is fresh food. The best meals for your companion animal would be the properly balanced fresh made meals you would make yourself, at home, for your furry family member. However most people do not have the extra time or energy it requires to make these fresh balanced meals. That is where MomoFood comes in. We make food fresh to order for your companion animal with the same high quality ingredients you would use if were making the meals.
For those that have the extra time and energy to prepare meals for your companion animal, we can help. MomoFood offers several products like ground organic chicken bone, and pureed organic fruit & vegetables. Both are essential in making balanced meals and will save you lots of time. We also sell cut chunks of raw green tripe. Tripe is an organ meat (unprocessed intestinal lining of a cow) that is most prized by all dogs, cats, and ferrets. They absolutely love this stinky stuff! Nature has embedded in side your furry family member a deep craving for raw green tripe. It is the single most healthy thing you could possibly offer them, period.! They love it so much that it can be used as an appetite simulator when they are sick and not wanting to eat, but need to eat to get better.
A good basic recipe for raw dog, cat, ferret food would follow these guidelines: Fresh mussel meat will make up the majority of the meal. You will also need as many different types of organ meat as you can find, ground bone material, ground fruit & vegetables. At MomoFood we feel it is best if the meat are hand cut chunks and not ground into mystery meat. Ground meats will promote a loss of jaw mussels in your furry friend. Chunk meat provides them something to chew and is more natural for them.
For dogs this would be a basic recipe: 75% Meat, (25%)organ, (20%)bone, 25% fruit & vegetables. This would approximate a prey animal. You can use any types of muscle meats, try to find a diverse a mix of organ meat as you can. Different organs are high in different properties. Bone material is important to provide calcium and other mineral and vitamins. It also acts to firm up stool and keep stool consistent. Often it is easiest to find chicken bone and use that. Beef bones are not sold in a ground form, and are far to hard to grind at home or with anything less than a very large industrial bone grinder. There are alternatives like using bone meal/gelatin however that is not ideal and lacks many of the qualities of fresh bone. The fruit and vegetables need to be pureed or your dog will not get the full benefit of them. The ratio of protein to fruit and vegetable can be changed. Some people go as low as 60/40 and as high as 85/15.
For cats & ferrets you can use all meat/organ/bone or a mix of 90% meat/organ/bone with 10% fruit & vegetables. At MomoFood we believe that 95/5 is the best mix. A cat or ferret would get some although limited amount of fruit and vegetable matter in the stomach of a prey animal. However both cat's and ferret's are true carnivores and do not require any fruit or vegetable matter in their diets. Cats do have a requirement for taurine and so it is best to make sure you use a good amount of heart organ meat in their meals. Heart meat is rich in taurine.
