Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats (9 page)

Try ground meats.
This is especially good for cats, because you can readily blend in other ingredients, and the cats can’t pick out the meat and leave the rest. If you have a
food processor, you can grind chunks of meat along with the other ingredients to make a nice texture; otherwise, buy it already ground or ask the butcher to grind it for you. (Chunks of meat have benefits, too, because chewing them exercises an animal’s jaws, which helps condition the gums.)

Feed meat raw whenever possible if the
animal will accept it.
I make this recommendation on the basis of research, clinical practice, and the natural habits of predators since the beginning of time. My clients have been feeding their pets this way successfully for more than 25 years. All the meats listed in the recipes in this book may be fed raw. If, however, you substitute by using a little fish, rabbit, or pork now and then, you should cook them first to kill parasites like tapeworms or trichinosis organisms, which these foods can carry.

You should be aware that most veterinarians oppose feeding raw meat because of concern about diseases like salmonella or
Escherichia coli
. After more than 25 years of experience in recommending this practice, I can attest to seeing no problem with infections from these diseases. On the contrary, I’ve observed an improved level of health. This is not to say that animals can never become ill from eating raw meat, but they certainly seem to be less susceptible to it than people are. Perhaps this is because dogs and cats are natural carnivores and raw meat is their natural food. They have much stronger stomach acids than people, and this likely protects them from a multitude of these problems. If you are uncomfortable about feeding raw meat to your pet, feel free to cook it, of course, but remember, the nutritional values (given for raw meats) will be compromised to an unknown degree.

Tip:
If your time is really limited, or you’re very concerned about feeding raw meat, you might substitute tofu, which is also easier for your pet to digest. It does, however, cost about the same per gram of protein as most commercial meats. With a little flavoring like low-sodium soy sauce or meat drippings, most dogs will accept tofu.

The Threat of Mad Cow Disease

“What about Mad Cow Disease?” you may ask. A 1992 English study of 444 dogs that showed symptoms suggesting this disease found brain abnormalities similar to those discovered in cattle and people. A consultant microbiologist said it was “absolutely certain that the presence of scrapie-(the name for the “mad cow” disease in sheep) associated fibrils shows these dogs had the disease.” In 2000, in Norway, an 11-year-old golden retriever died from spongiform encephalopathy (Mad Cow), and a link was established to pet food brought in from England. Cats are also affected by this disease, and at least 75 of them have already died from the feline version of the disease in England.

Spongiform encephalopathy (Mad Cow Disease) originally became a problem because of the practice of feeding lamb meal—rendered tissues coming from sheep—to cattle. Yes, strange as it is, these animals that
live on grasses and plants are being fed tissue from their own kind. No wonder these strange illnesses pop up. In hindsight we can see this was a completely avoidable problem, and the only reason for this cannibalistic way of feeding livestock was to reduce costs and to find a way to use rendered animal parts.

Cattle in the United States are fed the same way. “For years,” reported the
New York
Times
in 2004, “calves have been fed cow’s blood instead of milk, and cattle feed has been allowed to contain composted wastes from chicken coops, including feathers, spilled feed and even feces.” These rendered animal materials are especially likely to be fed to dairy cows because intensive milk production requires more protein and fat in the diet. According to Tom Cook, president of the National Renderers Association, most of the meat and bone meal produced in the 240 plants in the United States and Canada, which process about 50 billion pounds of animal remains a year, is used in feed supplements for animals. As he was quoted in the
Times
article, 43 percent goes to poultry, 23 percent to pet food, 13 percent to swine, 10 percent to cattle, and 11 percent to other uses, such as feed for farmed fish.

Though Europe tests 25 percent of their cattle for this disease and Japan 100 percent, in the United States only five or six in a million cattle are tested. Even so, Mad Cow Disease was found in Canada in May 2003 (7 percent of the beef consumed by Americans comes from Canada) and in cattle in Washington state in early 2004. We can see the possibility of this becoming a significant problem in our future, and there is no indication that the feeding of animal tissue to cattle and sheep will be curtailed. Even if it is, cooking meat does not kill the disease. The only way to avoid this with any certainty is to not eat meat—not a choice for obligate carnivores like cats. It might be prudent to avoid beef and lamb, which are the major sources right now, though this restricts the choices considerably. We don’t know whether chickens, turkeys, or farmed fish will be susceptible to this disease. They are fed the same kind of material that has spread it in livestock, so the risk is certainly there. There are also many other animals that have developed similar diseases, such as antelope, mink, and ostrich.

I think the best defense against such diseases is a healthy body, which is an additional reason for feeding your animals the most natural and nutritious diet in the first place.

Storage

We have tried to formulate the recipes in this book for convenient quantities of meats, as purchased in pounds. If you’re feeding a large dog or several animals, you will probably use up all the meat you buy before it spoils. But if you have one small animal, you will need to take a different tack: Either divide the meat into recipe-size portions and freeze them for future preparation, or make up the whole recipe at once and freeze any part of the mixture that your pet won’t eat in the next two to three days. This will also reduce the time spent in preparing your pet’s diet.

Undoubtedly, freezing the meat destroys some of its fresh qualities, but defrosted raw meat is still better than cooked meat and far superior to the meat by-products in commercial food.

You will probably need to freeze extra meat more often for cats than for dogs. Because dogs are natural scavengers, they can tolerate, and even relish, meat that is too gamy for human consumption. Cats, however, are truer carnivores. That’s why they are very selective about the freshness of their meat and will readily let you know when their daily fare has aged beyond its time.

Tip:
Reuse your soft plastic dairy and deli containers to freeze extra portions when you make up a recipe. Thaw each container in the refrigerator 24 hours before you want to serve it. If the food is not completely thawed, simply add a little hot water and use a fork to break it up in the serving bowl. Hot water also increases the palatability of any food just removed from the refrigerator. Try to use up frozen meat within three to four months.

If you are going to use the microwave to heat up the food or to thaw it, then remove it first from plastic containers and don’t cover it with plastic wrap. Studies have shown that microwave heating of food releases toxic material from the plastic into the food. Warming food taken from the refrigerator needs only about 10 seconds time.

E
GGS
AND
D
AIRY
P
RODUCTS

Besides meat, dairy products are good sources of protein. We recommend raw eggs and cottage cheese in the diets because they are economical, convenient sources of dairy protein. Yogurt and cheese are relatively expensive and less-concentrated protein sources than eggs. They are fairly balanced foods, however, so feel free to feed them (and milk, too) on the side.

About eggs:
Eggs are a complete protein and are a good source of preformed vitamin A. I recommend the no-hormone, no-drug, free-range eggs often sold in natural food stores. The extra cost is worth it. Eggs are such a good protein source that the cost for the “natural” variety is about the same per gram of protein as that of most factory-farm-raised meat in supermarkets, in some cases even cheaper.

Opinions are divided about whether adult dogs and cats can digest raw eggs properly. For example, one study concluded that raw egg whites can cause a biotin deficiency. But this condition has only been seen in experiments in which egg whites were fed to rats in great excess, making up almost their entire diet. Personally, I have never seen the biotin problem. I think it’s important to remember that predators in the wild rely on raw eggs as part of their fare. As a change, you can lightly scramble or boil the eggs occasionally. It also works well to add eggs to freshly cooked grains; the heat sets the egg just enough to improve food texture.

The threat of salmonella poisoning is also a common worry where raw eggs are concerned. In all my years of practice, however, I have not seen a dog or cat affected by this organism
in connection with eating raw eggs. If it were to happen, it would affect those animals that are weak from illness and have digestive problems; if this is your situation, then cooking eggs may be the smart thing to do.

Digestion of milk products:
Some people believe raw milk and raw cheeses should form the bulk of a cat’s diet. Others say that cats, especially Siamese, do not digest lactose (milk sugar) properly, and that drinking milk causes gas and diarrhea in cats. Based on the feedback from my clients, I do not find that milk causes such problems in the great majority of cats. (In addition, my experience is that if cats are sensitive to milk, proper treatment can eliminate the sensitivity.) So I suggest feeding milk to cats unless it is obvious it does not agree with them.

Pasteurization, however, does alter the chemical structure of protein and can destroy beneficial enzymes and bacteria found in milk, making it less digestible. So if your animal has a problem, try feeding it fresh, raw milk. Ordinarily, cottage cheese, yogurt, and goat’s milk are also easily digested. But if your cat still has difficulty, omit milk products from the diet.

Please do not presume that feeding your pet milk with every meal means you can omit the bone meal or other calcium supplements in the recipes. To be used properly in the body, calcium must be provided in a specific ratio to phosphorus. Cats and dogs require such high amounts of calcium that the amount in milk is just about enough to balance the phosphorus in the milk itself. But that level of calcium is not enough to balance the high phosphorus levels in meats and grains. Bones provide much more extra calcium, and they are the natural way that predators achieve this balance.

G
RAINS

Whole grains are a very cost-effective and environmentally sensitive way to provide the mainstay of your pet’s diet. Not only do grains supply carbohydrates and an array of vitamins and minerals, they are inexpensive sources of protein as well. When one type of grain is combined with other grains, the biological effectiveness of its protein is greatly enhanced because the balance of amino acids is more complete. According to official standards, carbohydrates may properly supply over half of the diet for dogs and cats, on a dry weight basis.

Grains are one group of foods that definitely should be cooked. Because the intestinal tracts of dogs and cats are much shorter than those of cereal-eating animals ,like cows and horses, grains fed to dogs and cats need some pre-digestion (in the form of cooking). Once prepared this way, they are completely utilizable by the body. Usually, wild carnivores eat these foods only if they appear in the stomach of their prey, thus the grains are partially digested already.

To save both time and energy, we emphasize quick-cooking and economical grains—oatmeal, cornmeal, millet, and bulgur. They are well-accepted by most dogs and cats and are high in nutrition. Oats and bulgur, for
example, are loaded with protein, and millet is rich in iron. Larger grains like rice and whole wheat berries or barley are best used with dogs; unless these larger grains are mashed, cats tend to pick them out. Crumbled whole-wheat bread is a quick and convenient ingredient when preparing food for a cat or small dog, but it’s too expensive to use regularly for feeding large dogs. Amaranth, whole-wheat couscous, buckwheat, quinoa, and spelt—all highly nutritious grains—are beginning to make their way into the American diet. They are usually costlier, but use them if you wish, substituting them in amounts similar to those for bulgur.

Each recipe in the next chapter suggests several grain substitutions that provide comparable or greater nutritional value. Amounts are provided, but you might need to refer to the “Recommended Grains” table above for cooking instructions.