Top Health Benefits of Feeding Raw Food to Pets

Raw Pet Food – Top Health Benefits of Raw

There are a number of reasons to consider switching from kibble or can foods to a RAW diet for your dog or cat.  But is feeding RAW pet food right for you and your pet?   Hopefully you will find this brief introduction to the Top Health Benefits of Feeding Raw Food to Pets a helpful guide to deciding if Raw is right for you.   Some of the areas we will be highlighting over the coming weeks when feeding your dog or cat a Raw diet include: Better Digestion, Less Waste, Healthier Coat, Allergies, Cleaner Teeth and Healthier Bone Structure.

First, I would like to say that feeding Raw is not for everyone.  Personally, it took us a while to transition from feeding regular dry food to even considering raw as an option.   You may have your reasons for being hesitant to switching to raw as well and are hesitant to make the transition due to a number of reasons.  Maybe the thought of cutting the meat is too messy and repulsive or maybe the cost of buying raw seems too expensive.  Both are great reasons and actually are some of the reasons why we took so long to introduce our dogs to raw pet food.   There is good news, with the growing demand for feeding pets a raw diet many companies are starting to offer Raw food lines.  One of the great benefits to this is not only having more availability to raw food options but the costs of feeding raw food to your pets is coming down.  Also, there are companies now that are introducing freeze dried raw foods for dogs and cats that helps reduce or even alleviate the messy raw aspects altogether.

Steve’s Real Food has been kind enough to share 6 Top Health Benefits of Raw and today I would like to share with you two of the 6 we will be sharing over the coming weeks.  These are not in any particular order but we thought we would list them in number format to make it a little easier to highlight.

Benefit # 1
Better Digestion – Unlike us (humans) our canine friends have a much shorter digestive tract then we do.  This allows dogs to process the food they eat much quicker.  If food is not fully digested then your dog is not getting all the benefits and nutrients from the food.  On top of this, pets can not digest grains due to not having the digestive enzyme called “amylase” which is needed to properly breakdown and digest grain.

What does this mean then for your dog?  Basically, when we feed our dogs food rich in grains as the primary ingredient or as part of the ingredient your dog’s pancreas has to work overtime to process something it is not meant to breakdown.  “Improper digestion can create toxin-producing bacteria in the lower bowel and lead to liver and kidney problems. Which leads us to the second benefit of less waste.

Better Digestion = less waste

Benefit # 2
Less Waste - Who likes cleaning up after their pets?  If you have ever scooped a back yard or scooped a litter box, I think you know the answer to this one.
So how does Raw make cleaning up a little easier?  Because Raw does not have grains, food is better digested and better digestion = smaller waste.  Dogs that are on a Raw diet are eating wholesome foods that can be fully digested leading to minimal waste.

Bottom line: Better Digestion = less waste which leads to picking up less mess.  In addition to less mess, if left out in the sun, the small ashy logs will turn to dust. Wow, so much for pet waste business.  But more to the point, there will be less mess and even less smell because the raw pet food is fully digestible.

The Bottom Line:
Raw Pet Food uses only ingredients that are 100% bio-available for your pet.  This means that everything put in it can be digested and all the nutrients can be used.

To find out more about feeding your pet raw be sure to visit Natural Pet Grocer for more details.   Also, pickup your copy of the Free e-Book on “An Eco-Friendly Guide to Raising a Happy, Healthy Dog”.