To be at their optimum health, our dogs and cats must eat live food just as coyotes, wolves, bobcats, and mountain lions do in the wild.
My Nutrition Program for preparing meals for all kittens/puppies and cats/dogs is 90% chunks of raw meat and 10% boiled or steamed vegetables that have been mashed to the consistency of baby food or junior food before mixing with the raw meat…and lots of butter in the vegetables.
To prepare one cup (8 ounces) of 90/10: 7 ounces of raw meat to 1 ounce of vegetables.
There isn’t one pet food on the market that is fit to feed…none…no exceptions…this includes the companies that are selling raw pet food. Those foods are not fit for human consumption. They have ground bone, some have the wrong vegetables, some have fruits, some have herbs that should not be fed daily. You have two choices: 1) Feed Pat’s Recipe or 2) Prepare your own.
For those of you in Greater Los Angeles, Cheri Slater and Harold Jackson have started their own business preparing, selling, and delivering Pat’s Recipe. Give Cheri a call: 714-673-7612
In order to have healthy dogs and cats, those of you who are not in the LA area, you must prepare the food yourself. I have found that Costco is one of the places that has the best quality meats and vegetables, and best prices. For my dogs I am feeding Costco beef chuck, chicken thighs with skin, lamb leg roasts, and pork butt…sometimes called pork shoulder.
For vegetables from Costco: zucchini, celery, broccoli, green beans, and cauliflower. Of course, if you happen to live in an area where you can buy directly from farmers and ranchers who are raising meat and vegetables organically, then you are the lucky ones.
Presently I am feeding Pat’s Recipe from Cheri & Harold.
Previously when I prepared my own food for my dogs I prepared the following meats: beef chuck, chicken thighs with skin, lamb leg roasts, and pork butt/shoulder.
For vegetables: zucchini, celery, broccoli, green beans, and cauliflower. Whether you prepare large amounts of food for several cats/dogs or for one small dog or cat, the meat and vegetables are the same.
You may prepare sufficient amounts for your family of dogs/cats on a daily basis or you may prepare large amounts and freeze it in packages containing enough for their daily food.
I steamed the vegetables in salted butter and covered with water on very low heat in my cast iron skillet until they were soft enough to mash to the consistency of baby food.
Whether you use my method of steaming, or you boil the vegetables; whatever, I’m sure there aren’t two people preparing their cat or dog’s food in the same way…and that’s fine. Whatever works for you. What is important is that you start with whole meats, cut the meat up in chunks, that the meat is raw, and the vegetables are cooked and mashed.
You may have a cat/dog that eats 1 tablespoon a day or you may have one that consumes 6 cups or more a day. No matter what size your animal, the 90/10 proportions remain the same.
PROTEINS, the best to feed are: beef, lamb, chicken thighs, pork, turkey thighs, buffalo, venison, elk, emu, ostrich, quail, duck, all fit for human consumption. Be sure to rotate proteins. It is best to feed a different protein each day; however, on occasion if you have food left over, you may feed the same protein two days in a row, but do not feed the same protein more than two days in a row before rotating to a different protein.
With every meat that you buy, it is to be the fattest meat. For instance, Beef chuck, Lamb leg roast, Chicken thighs, Turkey thighs, Pork butt/shoulder; the other meats I have listed are very lean, so you will have to add lots of butter to those meals. Dogs and cats need 30% fat; people need 10% fat.
For your cats and dogs’ health, all meats must be whole and cut into chunks which are a convenient size for your particular animal. I am opposed to feeding ground meats for their meals, because cats and dogs in the wild swallow their small prey whole, and when they catch a larger prey, they bite off chunks. Felines and canines do not eat ground meat in the wild. It is important to stay as close as possible to what your animal would eat in the wild.
ORGAN MEATS: If you have access to organ meats (heart, liver, kidney), then my suggestion is to feed 10% to 20% organ meat whenever available. If you don’t have easy access to organ meats, then when you can get them, feed them as treats. When adding organ meats to the food, it must be the same organ meat as the muscle meat; in other words, if you are feeding beef, the organ meat must be beef; if you are feeding chicken, the organ meat must be chicken, and so on.
I am opposed to feeding tripe because many dogs/cats cannot tolerate it. For one thing it contains Lactobacillus acidophilus, which they cannot digest and utilize; therefore, causing diarrhea and/or constipation, as well as aggravating the entire gastrointestinal system.
VEGETABLES, the best to feed are: broccoli, zucchini and any other winter or summer squashes, celery, cauliflower, green beans, asparagus, and occasionally pumpkin. (Even canned pumpkin is fine as long as the label says 100% pure pumpkin.) Do not feed pumpkin every day as I have heard that some are doing. Dogs and cats need a variety of vegetables just as they need a variety of meats.
Dogs and cats should not be fed root vegetables such as carrots and sweet potatoes. Root vegetables by nature have too much sugar and starch. Dogs/cats do not produce sufficient amylase which is the enzyme that breaks down carbohydrates.
Greens: Spinach, kale, dandelion, et al, should be fed only occasionally because all greens are high in oxalates. Oxalates reduce the body’s ability to absorb all minerals, especially calcium and iron.Cats and dogs should not be fed any vegetables that have a hull such as peas, corn, or dried beans, because again, they do not have the necessary enzymes to break down those hulls. Green beans are the one exception to beans. Green beans take a long time to cook, and they need to be mashed well.
In preparing your own food, here are some recipe suggestions: Recipes
No dried or freeze-dried foods or treats are to be fed.
SUPPLEMENTS: You must add two basic supplements to your animal’s food program:
BIO-8-Powder and CLO-3-Pearls. The BIO-8-Powder goes in their morning meal.
The CLO-3-Pearls are given as a treat later in the day. Two slices of salted butter with the CLO-3 soft gels in between. I call this their Butter Sandwich. Dogs and cats need 30% fat…we need only 10%...so be generous with the butter. Of course the grass-fed and/or organic butters are best. They are readily available now.
The dosages for each of the supplements are on the labels of my products and/or you may email me for help in deciding their dosages.
ORDER SUGGESTIONS: BIO-8-Powder for your dogs and cats, BIO-8-Capsules for you & CLO-3-Pearls for both of you. BIO-8 & CLO-3 must both be taken for a complete and balanced nutrition program.
Other supplements may be needed for dogs/cats who are ill; however, they should be selected with great care, because often you could be feeding and/or giving energy to the very bacterium, virus, or fungus that your cat or dog's body is fighting.
You may email me for help in deciding whether your cat or dog needs additional supplements. There is no charge for nutrition information or advice.
The only foods that should pass your cat or dog's lips are raw meat, cooked vegetables, BIO-8, and their Butter Sandwich. CLO-3/Butter Sandwich
Any food labeled for animals cannot be trusted. Even the companies producing raw foods for dogs and cats have filler ingredients. Do not believe the marketing ploys of animal food companies.
The following is a list of No-No's for dogs/cats:
NO grains, cereals, bread, rice, pasta, dairy, fruit, yeast, rabbit (except from organically raised from a farmer/rancher you know personally, and no ground rabbit that includes the bones), soy, ground bone, bone meal, egg shells, alfalfa, kelp, canned/dry foods, freeze-dried, dehydrated foods, commercial dog treats, milk bones, rawhide, pigs' ears, nylabones, etc.
No herbs of any kind should be in their food. Herbs are medicinal; they are to be given for specific reasons, and specific times and dosages.
NO fruits of any kind.
NO vegetables with hulls (peas, corn, beans, etc).
NO root vegetables: carrots, sweet potatoes, etc.
Green beans that have been thoroughly cooked and mashed are the one exception to beans; in fact, they are of exceptional value for diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and cancer.
NO nightshade vegetables: white potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, or iceberg lettuce or raw spinach.
NO drugs, chemicals, or poisons, including vaccines, frontline, advantage, advantix, program, heartgard, antihistamines, antibiotics, rimadyl, benadryl, flagyl, steroids, etc.
Natural solutions to all of these drugs, chemicals, and poisons are available.
There are always exceptions to the above No-No's, so if you have any specific questions, I am happy to answer them for you.
Email pat@patmckay.com
For free nutrition information and advice, email Pat McKay
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