As we consider what sort of diet to feed our furry domesticated animal companions, it’s vital that we understand their innate anatomical and physiological characteristics. Is it possible that the best dog food is homemade? Is making cat chow even realistic?
It’s these qualities that determine, to a very great extent, the kind of food their bodies were naturally designed to eat, many eons ago, by Mother Nature.
Feeding our pets a species appropriate diet, which is based on the kind of raw, animal-based foods nature created their bodies to consume, provides our pet cats and dogs with the best opportunity to thrive, enabling them to live the longest, healthiest lives possible.
All Cats Are Obligate Carnivores
There’s absolutely no doubt whatsoever, scientifically speaking, that all felines on the planet – whether they be huge cats like lions and tigers, or smaller ones such as ocelots, servals and yes, domestic house cats — are what are known as obligate carnivores.
Obligate carnivores are “true carnivores,” meaning these animals’ bodies are specifically designed to consume the flesh and bones of other animals. Such carnivores are virtually solely dependent upon the nutrients found in animal based foods, which they absolutely require to maintain their good health.
Felines are among the most successful predatory animals on the planet, and their anatomy and physiology are very clearly that of a hunter. As such, cats have virtually no need for plant based food or carbohydrates, although they may consume small amounts of plant based materials occasionally, usually as a medicinal to induce vomiting. In fact they have so little use for dietary vegetative matter, that their digestive systems actually lack the physiological ability to effectively either process or assimilate any plant based foods whatsoever.
Please bear this in mind the next time you look at the ingredients list on a bag of commercial kibble and see things like soy, corn, rice, wheat, or other plant based items on that label!
Dogs Are Carnivorous Gray Wolves on the Inside
Regardless of variations in their size, coat texture, ear shape and/or other superficial, external differences, all breeds of domestic dogs are members of the same species, and are known as Canis lupus familiaris.
All domesticated dogs are direct descendants, and are also technically a sub-species, of the gray wolf, Canis lupus. As a result, internally, in terms of their dentition as well as their internal digestive anatomy and physiology, dogs are essentially identical to gray wolves.
Both dogs and wolves are members of the Canidae family of the mammalian order Carnivora, which means they are meat eaters, or carnivores.
Gray wolves are predatory animals whose primary preferred prey are large ungulates such as deer, elk, caribou and other large herbivorous creatures. However since they’re not obligate carnivores like cats, gray wolves along with their domestic canine counterparts are opportunistic carnivores. This means that when large game is unavailable they have the ability to subsist by consuming a modicum of plant matter. However it’s important to understand that doing so is an emergency survival mechanism, and that these animals’ bodies were truly designed to thrive on the consumption of the raw meat, bones and organs of herbivorous prey-type animals, most particularly those of large grazers.
Characteristics of Carnivorous Canines and Felines
There are a number of anatomical and physiological qualities that are shared by all mammalian carnivores, including domestic cats and dogs. Familiarizing ourselves with these characteristics can help us better understand the reasons why it’s so important to feed our pets a diet consisting of whole, raw, animal based foods. These are the sorts of foods their bodies were truly designed many millions of years ago to consume, and it is upon such a diet that they best thrive.
Below is a list of some of the most important and relevant carnivorous characteristics common to both cats and dogs:
Very sharp teeth — which are designed for grasping, ripping and tearing raw flesh and crushing raw meaty bones.
Premolar and molar teeth called carnassials — the uppers and lowers of which come together when the jaw closes like the sharp blades of a scissor to very effectively shear, slice and dice raw food into pieces that are just small enough to fit down the animal’s throat.
Jaws that move exclusively up and down in a vertical plane — including a lower jaw that is utterly incapable of moving side to side (unlike the lower jaw of an herbivore such as a cow or sheep, which moves side to side horizontally, contains large, flat molars, and is made for lengthy and often repeated chewing and grinding of plant matter.)
Extremely strong stomach acids — designed to quickly and effectively neutralize any potentially harmful bacterial loads that might be found on raw meat.
Relatively short digestive tracts — designed to quickly and efficiently extract the concentrated nourishment found in animal based foods.
Rapid digestive transit time — for minimizing the amount of time bacteria laden raw food remains in the body, thereby reducing the chance of any potentially harmful bacterial colonization.
Some other traits shared by dogs and cats that earmark them as carnivores are their keen senses of smell, hearing and vision, their forward facing eyes, their intelligence, and their innate predatory instincts such as stalking, chasing and pouncing.
Feeding our pets a diet of whole, raw, animal based foods has myriad benefits, most particularly including the promotion of excellent oral health.
The many benefits of feeding a diet of whole raw foods to our pets will be the subject of my next guest post here on The Healthy Home Economist.
Helpful Links
http://www.rawfedcats.org/carnivores.htm
http://rawfed.com/myths/omnivores.html
Sources and More Information
Choose Another Pet Food if Yours Has These Ingredients
How to Switch Over to Raw Pet Food
Fast and Easy Fix for a Stinky Cat Litter Box
Love Dr. Becker!!! So pragmatic and willing to think outside the box! Hurrah! So great to have some vets out there who are in the know!!
Any tips on feeding a 5 week old kitten? We just rescued the little guy who will be a barn cat for us. His mama was caught by a coyote and the woman who had him was feeding him kibble. I have switched him over to a kibble that is grain free soaked in raw goat milk but can I just feed him a bit of ground beef or chopped up raw chicken instead? Our other barn cat consists of a diet of mostly the rats and birds he catches on our property supplemented with a small amount of grain free kibble but I’d like to swtich him over as well to something raw. Since it is just a small supplement to what they are already getting in the wild would a bit of ground beef be good enough as a supplement for the adult cats as well?
Please check out the Practical Guide section of my website, as well as the page entitled Nature’s Prey Model. These articles should give you a good foundation for understanding how, why and what to feed your kitten.
http://rawfedcats.org
I quit feeding my dog any dog food years ago when I found it gave her constant rashes and ear infections and other various problems that completely disappeared once she no longer consumed dog food. At first I cooked the meat adding some vegetables thinking I would get her healthy and transition her to raw food, but I have never been able to do that. She just does not tolerate it well as a big part of her diet and never has gotten used to eating the bones and such without constantly injuring herself in various ways with them. So now I slow boil the chicken, beef, or lamb with the bones, whatever I can get inexpensively, the same as I do our own broths. I through in all our vegetable scraps and am left with a gelatinous food that I pull the bones out of and freeze in weekly quantities. She does fabulously on it and no one can believe how old she it as she is over 10 and romps and plays with the young pups at the dog park. We just give rabies shots and nothing else and she never gets fleas, ticks, or heartworms (we do test periodically) despite never taking anything to prevent them and being outside a lot. I don’t know if she was never able to transition to all raw because her digetstive system was too comprimised by the time we adopted her, or if some dogs have been domesticated/bred enough (or whatever the correct terminology is here) so that they don’t do well all raw, but ALL dogs certainly are healthier on whole foods diets, just like us!
Be careful feeding your dog cooked bones! They break down differently than raw bones do and can splinter and cause intestinal perforations. Raw bones do not splinter; most are easily crushed by the teeth and jaws of the dog. If your dog is a gulper, feed a larger meaty bone, one that he cannot down in one gulp. This will force him to sit and chew on it for a while, which is not only very good for their teeth, but it is a satisfying jaw workout for them as well!
You can feed the dogs the chicken bones if you have made a good stock with them and boiled them until they crumble. The beef bones won’t crumble, but they don’t spliter either.
None of our 3 dogs are particularly fond of crumbly stock bones for some reason. I suspect it may the residue of vinegar they can smell that I can’t. And none are particularly fond of raw bones, either.
I think the only vaccination that you *have* to get pets is the rabies shot….atleast in Ohio.
I’ve really wanted to transition my 3 golden retrievers to the BARF diet but I’m so nervous about the bones part! My one golden woofs his food down…that wouldn’t work well with a bone. Also, I don’t know how to get organized and how much of what I should include. I was wondering if I could make bone broth and kefir for them and give them raw meats and eggs and the other ingredients-skipping the bones 🙂
You certainly can, we do and our dogs are very healthy. One of our dogs has never done well completely raw and does not handle the bones well either. Dogs should NOT eat too many raw egg whites however. They don’t digest them well and it harms one of their organs if they eat too many although I can’t remember which one now, kidneys maybe? Raw yolks are great however and if I have eggs to get rid of I just throw the whites in their broth to cook them. We cook the bones just like our own broths and try to go 70/30 with the meat/veggie ratio as our sensitive dog does not do well on all meat either. If the meat is fresh and from a good source I’ll mix it in raw, if not we cook it in the broth. We don’t add any rice or grains, they don’t need them and it makes our dogs fat and gassy. I often add extra kefir grains and even kombucha scobies we may have to thier food also.
Awesome! I’m going to try that route. How do I know I’m giving them enough and that it is balanced with everything they need?
My golden mix wolfs down her food too. We’ve even given her the frozen chicken with the bones and she can eat those. Tough jaws on that girl! We buy WM chicken in the 10lb bag since it’s cheap and rinse it off. Don’t worry about the bones. Since they haven’t had raw before, it might be hard for them to work on it at first, and they may decide they don’t like it then you have to mix it with the food they do eat. My cat can eat a chicken leg bone.
Could you recommend a good quality dried food for dogs? My roommate has a golden retriever puppy and I’m trying to get her to change the diet. Unfortunately, raw food is just not realistic right now.
In my opinion, “good quality kibble” is an oxymoron.
My suggestion is for you and your roommate to start doing some research. You may find that feeding your pup raw is not as challenging as you think!
I have done research. I’ve read the BARF diet and other good online resources. But the dog is not mine and my roommate is not open to feeding her raw food. So I’m trying to compromise and find a decent dried brand. There has to be some that are better than others. I would appreciate a few options.
To be honest, Craig, as much as I would really love to help you, your roommate and especially that puppy, after all the research I’ve done over the past nearly 7 years and all the damage I’ve witnessed being done to the health of pets by feeding them commercial junk pet food, I personally cannot in all good conscience recommend any brands of kibble whatsoever. To the best of my knowledge ALL brands of kibble are of extremely inferior quality. They’re all highly processed, they all contain ingredients that are inappropriate for carnivores to consume, and they’re all in a form that’s utterly and completely unnatural and unhealthy for these animals to eat.
If kibble is the only food your roommate will consider feeding her new puppy, I’m sure that with the knowledge you already have you can do your own research to find a brand that is at least free of grains and contains primarily animal products.
I’m sorry for not being able to help you more and hope you understand where I’m coming from.
The prime directive of my work is all about educating, informing, raising consciousness, expanding awareness, and empowering my fellow animal lovers with knowledge about how we may improve the ways in which we feed and care for our pets. As a result, recommending a brand of kibble that’s a ‘lesser evil’ is not a part of my vernacular and is simply not something I’m willing to do.
In order for things to change for the better for the health of the domestic pet population at large, there must be those among us who are willing to be uncompromising and to hold the hard line.
For better or worse, it just so happens that I have become one of those people.
The bottom line is that I do what I do FOR AND ON BEHALF OF THE ANIMALS, which are completely innocent creatures that are solely dependent on us humans to feed and care for them properly.
Great article! The only thing I would change is replacing the word “designed” with the word “evolved” everywhere it appears. 🙂 However, that is simply my opinion. I have been feeding my dogs this way for over 5 years now, and people marvel at the white teeth, shiny coats, and the overall vitality of my girls!
I also don’t vaccinate or put any toxins on them or into them, such as flea and tick meds, or heartworm. We live in GA, where that stuff can be pretty ruthless on a dog with a taxed immune system, but if you build up their natural immunity by feeding raw over a long period of time, combined with removing everything that taxes their immune system, you will find that your dogs don’t have infestations like vaccinated, kibble-fed dogs.
Great article, and I really wouldn’t change a thing! I am curious about your opinion on vaccinations. It is a very confusing issue these days and I have NO trust for the folks who make drugs…so, what are the good vaccines for dogs? Thanks!
My opinions on pet vaccines can be found on my website here:
http://www.rawfedcats.org/vaccinosis.htm
For those interested in learning more about the contraindications of giving vaccines to our pets, please check out the links section of my website.
You may also consider joining the excellent resource TruthAboutVaccines Yahoo group:
Stephanie – I agree with changing designed to evolved but that might have something to do with my atheism.
I feed my cat a grain free dry cat food from animals that are pastured at least that’s what the sales lady told me about the food. I also give my cat blood, broth and meat but not every day. He loves, loves, loves butter, too!
You certainly are on the right track Tina. You may want to investigate the dry food a little more. While I’m sure it is far better than grocery store cat food, anytime a food is processed you lose nutrition. A dried food, unless it is a dehydrated meat like jerky, is first cooked. Not only does the high heat destroy nutrition but it also causes the fats to become rancid. If any fats survive that heat it will become rancid during storage with time and warm temperature.
I first started reading about the species diet for animals several years ago. I had first started buying my cat some very good bagged food and saw a great change in her with a softer coat and more energy. Then we moved here to FL and ended up getting another puppy and I started her on raw chicken (Yes, with the bones. Raw is ok) and some vegetables. She has been on this diet since (4 1/2 years) and is doing great! We a;sp have a 2 year old Bassett hound that we got at 7 months. Both are trim, not over-weight, never sick, active, and have soft fur. They have never been to the vet and their teeth are as white and clean as can be. The like bannanas, carrots, apples, watermelon and especially broccoli stems. They don’t get a lot, but it’s fine.
However, I do have one question. They both are probably due for rabies shots. I don’t vaccinate my kids or pets, but because of the “law” I have to get them vaccinated. What do the rest of you do with vaccinating your pets? I really don’t want to.
Thanks!
Stay under the radar as best you can. If you are put in a position where you have no choice go to a homeopathic vet who will also give remedies to help counter the assault on their bodies. No vaccines and a raw diet really make a huge difference. We just put one of our dogs down at the end of March at the age of 17 1/2. She had not been vaccinated since she was about three years old and had been put on a raw diet a year or two after. Her mother died at the age of 12 having been vaccinated and fed processed dog food for 2/3 of her life. Average life span of that breed is 12 – 13.
what a great post! and the pic of that pup is so adorable!
Now that I am getting stronger I am making species appropriate meals for our 6 cats. When I was sick we gave them kibble which was easier on my husband who had to take over all my duties plus take care of me.. am still not up to 100% homemade as I still give them canned Evo 95% Chicken and Turkey. The difference has been astounding in just a matter of days. Coats are shiney, more playful, temperaments are even, and their poops are tiny as they are absorbing more nutrients. Wow, we owe it to them. It is more expensive, but so are vet bills which will become less and less. Besides, if a good diet keeps them with me longer then we all win.