Let’s talk a little bit about the benefits of raw feeding. This is mainly geared for our newbies whom are just starting the brilliant journey of feeding their pets a raw diet. However, it will also help those pet owners that are just beginning to explore these options.
Each pet has different requirements based on its individual needs so consult your vet. For those of you looking to make the switch to raw but you’re still wobbling on the edge, try speaking to other pet owners that have made the change over, to get their views.
If you’re using our food products, they’ve been carefully formulated to give your pet a delicious species appropriate diet (BARF) and the proper nutrition it needs to thrive, not just survive.
What Are the Benefits of Feeding My Cat and Dog Raw Food?
One of the main benefits your pet will get from eating natural or raw food is excellent health.
Many pet owners that have made the switch find that their pet becomes free of allergies and other health issues. Some of the more obvious signs are shiny softer coats, cleaner teeth, fresher breath, odourless poo and generally a healthy happier pet. Nature is the source of all things healthy so think of a raw diet as a fast track to vibrant health and happiness.
It provides pets with a stronger immune system that helps protect them against disease and allergies. It can improve the life expectancy of your pet and goes a long way to improving their reproduction ability.
Aside from healthier teeth and gums, they develop much strong jaws, shoulder and neck muscles from all that chewing of raw meat and bones. 1 Eating raw food is a natural anti-inflammatory that helps balance the pet’s body pH (acidity/alkalinity), so you’ll have the equivalent of a bionic pet
As Dr Becker states “Food is just food. There is no ‘dog food,’ ‘people food,’ ‘bird food,’ ‘cat food.’ It’s all just food, with the balance and ingredients differing depending on the species. A fresh food diet is best for all living beings. A fresh species appropriate diet (BARF) provides support for the body to maintain a vibrant state of being for many years.”
To understand the importance of raw feeding for your pet’s health and well-being, look at our Why Natural? It answers some of the basic questions around why feed raw and Is raw feeding safe?
5 Benefits of a Raw Diet You’ll Immediately See;
Ciao Smelly Poo!
Raw food is much easy to digest so one of the first things you’ll probably notice is the change in your pet’s poo. For more details on this topic, pop on over to our blog “Rank Your Poo.” to find out how your pet’s poo should look for optimum health.
Feeding your cat or dog a raw diet is more nutritional, so the pet’s body automatically eliminates less waste as it takes from the food all the nutrients and minerals it needs.
The general consistency of the poo on a raw diet is that it becomes much smaller and crumblier. And you as the pet owner, have the added bonus of not only having to pick up less, but because raw food is cleaner, the poo has a much less smelly odour, so no more gagging when you’re cleaning up the poop!
Svelte and Sophistication
Feeding your pet a raw diet means that your pet’s body will naturally find it’s ideal weight. Those that make the switch to feeding raw notice that their pet begins to lose weight and/or change body shape. Basically what your pet is naturally doing is shedding the excess fats they’ve gained from eating too many carbohydrates (such as grains, rice and corn) added to commercial pet food and increasing their actual muscle mass.
It also works in reverse, for example with cats that seem to always be hungry no matter what time of day or night, switching to a raw diet increases their satisfaction as they get the proper nutritional requirements they need from food and they stop begging for food all the time.
Feeding raw healthy food increases your pet’s metabolic rate and this has a direct impact on their activity levels and lifespan. 2 It’s like you switching to eating more salads, raw veg and fruit, you naturally lose weight because you’re no longer filling you gut with processed food and sugars, the weight gainers.
Through healthy nutrition the body naturally absorbs more goodness, stores less fat and coupled with proper exercise your pet will positively shine.
To learn how to start feeding your cat or dog on raw food use our beginners guide to how to get started feeding a raw diet
Pearly Whites
One of the main issues a non-raw feed pet suffers from is bad teeth and therefore bad breath.
A whopping 75% of dogs aged just 6 years old will suffer from gum disease which, later in life, has a direct link to heart disease. (click here to read the research)
85% of cats by their time they’re 6 years old, will have some form of gum disease and begin losing teeth. (Research conducted by the Cornell Feline Health Centre)
Eating raw helps clean the whole digestive system including the pets mouth. Feeding your cat or dog a raw diet virtually eliminates the common dental diseases suffered by pets fed on a grain based diet. A straightforward and natural way to helping your pet keep his pearly whites, is to allow him to start eating raw bones once he gets used to his new raw food diet. Bones help break down plaque, tartar and strengthen not only the teeth but the gums too.
As Dr Syme from Vets All Natural said, “Raw bones are natures toothbrush. Your pet’s teeth have been designed to rip and chomp through meat and carcasses. One of the simplest ways to prevent diseases later on is by allowing your pet to eat a more species appropriate diet.”
To check out how to feed your cat or dog a raw bone, click this link.
Fur Coats and Diamonds
Along with the poop change, coat shine will be one of first things you begin to notice. As quickly as three days into a raw food diet your pet’s fur coat will begin to change, by about 14 days you’ll notice that not only is its coat shinier, it’s much softer to the touch, has less odour and your pet’s eyes will take on a natural diamond like sparkle. For cat’s they too have much softer shinier fur but they’ll also shed a lot less and have less problems with hairballs.
A lot of the common skin issues and allergies pets suffer can be dealt with by switching to a raw diet. Pet’s digestive systems are not designed for eating grains and cereals, neither do they have the ability to digest the additives and preservatives found in commercial food.
These three things alone can have a massive impact on your pet’s health, skin and coat. Grains and gluten are one of the biggest sources of allergies in our pets.
Super Powered Immune System
Raw feeding helps the body balance towards it’s natural pH, this both normalises and strengthens the immune system as the body finds its real equilibrium. Through eating healthy food full of real proteins, essential fats, nutrients and minerals it resets the body’s immune system and helps reduce drastically and eliminate, both inflammatory conditions and infections.
Raw food is naturally moister than dry food, having around 60-80% natural water content. When cats are feed a dry food diet they can suffer urinary tract infections because they aren’t getting enough moisture from their diet. Cats and dogs alike, when feed on raw food rarely if ever have problems with urination or dehydration.
Feeding a raw of BARF diet, can also have a huge positive impact on older pets as it helps reduce the effects of degenerative diseases and arthritis and gives them much more mobility.
With your pet having to chew through the raw meat and bones its slows down the time it takes for the food to reach the gut. This simple act of your pet chewing its food as opposed to just gulping it down, means the body has time for the gastric juices to digest the food to truly absorb what it needs. 3
Bone gnawing is an excellent mental stimulant as well for your pet, when they eat raw bones they have to work out how to rip, tear and crunch through the bone. Some say a bone for a dog is like a meditation or like us sitting down to read a good book.
Feed your dog a raw bone and just watch. If it’s the first time she’s ever had a raw bone, she’ll probably look to you and cry, not knowing what to do. Leave her to it and let her work it out. Once she gets into it, you’ll see her start using her whole upper body to hold the bone in place whilst she rips it apart. Afterwards your dog will be so super happy she’ll rub herself against anything they can find, cushions, the sofa, curtains you name it, to show her absolute delight.
Try it with your cat, he’ll curiously touch it with his paw before he begins to sniff and then cautiously begin to lick and chew his way through it. With time you’ll see your cat’s natural instinct kick in where he’s craving the raw meat and bones as part of his daily diet.
Our raw feeding guide will help you get started today.
Eating raw works at a such a cellular level it’s the fundamental component to a long healthy life in your pet. It also works for you too! It literally gets rid of all the crap that has been stored up in the body causing an endless number of both minor and major issues. It’s so powerful that both human doctors and vet doctors alike, know that changing to a more raw or species appropriate diet is a major component in turning certain diseases around. Raw is nature’s miracle answer for super health.
NOW, we’d love to hear what changes you’ve noticed from a feeding a raw food diet. LEAVE A COMMENT and feel free to share this with people you think will love it.
