Natural Dog Food Treats

Posted on February 15, 2011 by Healthy Andy

Everyone loves to spoil their dog… heck, I think that’s half the reason we have dogs, is to see the excited look in primal dog foodtheir eyes when you spoil them rotten with one treat or another.  But there’s no reason why that means those treats have to be unhealthy- there are plenty of natural dog food treats out there so you can keep your little buddy’s tail wagging and still keep them healthy.

Most cheap varieties of dog treats are filled with corn, wheat (since when do dogs eat corn and wheat?), or other, scarier artificial ingredients.  And, just like you would “treat” your kids with healthy things like fresh fruits and sort of thing over unhealthy snacks like candy if they would put up with it, it’s obviously better to treat your dog with natural, healthy dog food treats than with artificial junk.

That being said, here’s a few good products to try on for size and see how your dog likes them.

Paw Naturaw Natural Dog Treats

I mentioned Paw Naturaw in the last post, and they make excellent, high-end natural dog treats in addition to their line of primal dog food.  One of their best is their bully sticks made from free range, grass fed cattle.  They’re great for cleaning the tartar off of your dog’s teeth and they’re not as greasy as something like a pig’s ear.

Overall, they’re given four out of five stars, with the biggest customer compliment being the fact that the product is odorless (unlike cheaper products, which can really stink).  The biggest complaint was price, as they are little on the pricey side. Click here to check them out for yourself.

Zuke’s Dog Jerky Treats

Another alternative that’s less expensive is Zuke’s Jerky Natural Dog Treats.  These are not entirely primal in their make-up, but it’s based on lamb or beef and the other ingredients, like fresh blueberries and carrots, are actually things your dog can digest.  In fact, they provide valuable antioxidants for your dog (just like for people!), so they’re a pretty good addition to any wellness dog food diet.

They’re very well reviewed, as well… five stars across the board.  Here’s a few examples of what  people have to say:

“I have a geriatric poodle… he can’t handle hard treats,but these are soft enough and still provide some workout for his gums and remaining teeth….”   (review summarized for space limitations, see full review here)

“My retriever loves them… chop them into squares if you want smaller pieces.”  (review summarized for space limitations, see full review here)

Last time I checked, you could get them online here for only about seven dollars a pack.

Posted in Primal Dog Food Information | Tagged health food for dogs, natural dog food, natural dog treats, primal dog food | 1 Comment

Primal Dog Food Product Review: Paw Naturaw

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Healthy Andy

So we’ve talked quite a bit about why primal dog food is a vital part of your pet’s health, and now I’d like to go over some specific resources you can use to get your doggie’s diet a bit more natural!

Paw Naturaw is a company that specializes in making organic pet foods, organic pet treats, and organic pet supplements. One of the things I like about the company is they take the time to distinguish themselves from simply “natural” dog food.

Natural Dog Food Might Not Be Organic Dog Food

Here’s why that distinction is important.  Although most people equate the terms “natural” and “organic” paw naturaw reviewtogether, they don’t mean the same thing legally speaking.  The term “organic” must adhere to strict federal guidelines making sure there aren’t pesticides or herbicides involved, antibiotics, or genetic modification.

“Natural”, on the other hand, doesn’t mean squat.  Seriously.  Doesn’t mean a thing. You can call pretty much anything “natural” and not get in trouble for it. 

So, the fact that Paw Naturaw labels its dog food as organic is important to the health of your pet.  But that’s just the first step.

Remember Grass Fed Primal Dog Food?

In a previous article I discussed how primal dog food is best if it’s grass-fed.  The reason, simply put, is grass is health food for buffalo and cows… and a healthy cow makes for a healthy steak. 

More specifically, there are extensive biochemical differences in grass-fed versus grain-fed meat or other animal products.  The one that gets talked about the most is Omega-3 fatty acids; these are necessary fats that are abundant in grass fed beef or bison but absent in grain fed.

But this company goes even futher and uses what’s called “pasture-raised”, which is pretty much what it sounds like.  I can feed cows grass and still keep them cooped up in a little pen.  But if they are allowed to roam and graze freely (or mostly freely, after all, we can’t have them wandering off), it has the same affect as exercise on a human being.  Summed up, they’re healthier, just like an athlete is healthier than a couch potato.

All of these factors combine to create an exceptionally healthy type of dog food.  Health benefits from organic, primal dog food include increased energy, softer and shinier coat, increased immune system, and reduction in stool size. 

How much of this sort of wellness dog food should you give your dog?  The company suggests five ounces of their food to each ten pounds of your dog’s weight daily. 

By the way, if you’re switching your dog to a primal diet, Paw Naturaw recommends you do it gradually over the course of ten days.  Also, for the first week or so, they recommend you add a tablespoon of yogurt into the mix each day to promote healthy bacterial growth in your dog’s digestive tract.

There are bacteria naturally living in a dog’s intestines (just like ours), and diet will effect which sorts will thrive or die off.  Actually, there are some people who theorize that these bacterial levels have a lot to do with overall health- we do know that severe loss of this bacteria can lead to a number of health problems.  So, the yogurt recommendation is a good idea.

Paw Naturaw Reviews

Okay, let’s get into the products themselves.  There’s actually a wide blend of products, and just like with a person’s diet, I recommend you vary up which kind your feed your dog for the best health benefit.

The Paw Naturaw Organic Chicken Diet in 12 ounce tubes seems to be the highest rated and most popular of their products.  Over eighty percent of reviewers give it five stars!

Here’s two examples of what people are saying about the product:

“ ..noticed almost immediately after starting on the raw food my dog was more calm and receptive to training… energy levels are up, coat is improved and she sleeps better…” (review is summarized due to space limitations, read full review here)

“…this food adds calcium in the form of raw ground bones, which is better…my dogs really love this food.” (review summarized due to space limitations, read full review here)

The list price is quoted at $53.88 but you can get it for less here:

There are similar turkey and beef products, both of which are well reviewed (chicken being the best, turkey next, and beef last).  They come in tubes that look like Pillsbury cookie dough tubes.

The company also makes products in medallion (little sausage slice-looking chunks) form, sealed in individual plastic bags.  Of these, the beef medallions are the best rated (four and a half stars).  Looking through reviews of all the types, though, it really seems it was based on individual dog preference, so I’d suggest trying their Paw Naturaw Sample Pack to see which kind your dog is going to go for the most (probably all three).

Okay, this article is getting a little long, so I’m going to go over Paw Naturaw’s high-end products and snacks next time. In the mean time, try out some primal dog food and see if you can tell a difference with organic pet food!

Posted in Primal Dog Food Information | Tagged natural dog food, organic dog food, organic pet food, organic pet treats, paw naturaw, primal dog food | 2 Comments

Should Primal Dog Food Be Grass Fed?

Posted on January 7, 2011 by Healthy Andy

As we’ve already discussed, primal dog food is the best, most natural kind of dog food available for your pet.

primal dog food

This is NOT primal dog food.

But’s let’s get even more specific and talk about grass fed dog food, which you can think of like organic dog food.

Remember in our previous discussion we mentioned how eating a diet of natural dog food keeps a dog healthy?  Well, in today’s era of mass-produced food, it can be tricky to pick out even a truly healthy wellness diet for your dog.  Why? Simply put, livestock isn’t raised the way it used to be.

More specifically, livestock isn’t eating what they were designed to eat.  Just like healthy dogs eat a diet similar to what they evolved to eat throughout the years, so too does healthy livestock eat what is a natural, Stone Age type diet for them.

As an example… cows aren’t meant to eat corn or other grains like that.  They evolved eating grass, mostly.  It’s what keeps them healthy.  But, it’s inconvenient for a farmer to try to graze large amounts of cattle and also keep them penned up.  That takes a lot of space, and effort.  It’s far easier to pen them up and feed them corn.

This also makes them fatter, faster, which leads to more animal at a lower cost.  Sounds great, right?  But cows raised in pens and fed corn get sick very, very easily.  Corn is junk food for cows.  So once again, just like a junk food diet makes people sick, and dogs sick, it also makes cows sick.  Then, the farmers have to stuff them full of antibiotics to keep them alive long enough to sell them.

So it isn’t enough that a dog (or person, for that matter) eats a whole food, primal diet.  The animals they eat should also have eaten a primal diet- remember, you are what you eat.  So the quality of a piece of beef (or any other animal product) is determined by what that animal ate throughout its life.  The closer that animal’s diet was to a natural, organic, old-school diet, they healthier they are for dogs or people to consume.

What Defines Grass Fed Primal Dog Food?

So what constitutes “Grass-fed“?  It’s actually a catch-all term referring to raising an animal in as close to a natural habitat as possible.  Obviously, if it were totally natural, it would then be wild game (which is exceptionally healthy food to eat) and we’d have to chase it down and shoot it. 

Farmers can get pretty close to a Stone Age environment, though.  Cattle are allowed to roam in patures, eat grass, and move around.  Chickens also are allowed to move around, catch bugs, and otherwise act like chickens.  The animals are usually penned in somewhat but have plenty of room to move around, and are usually corralled in at night for protection from predators.

Sometimes their diet is supplemented with grains.  As long as it doesn’t go past 20% of their diet, they’re usually fine and it doesn’t make a noticeable difference.

All this leads to a very healthy animal which is therefore becomes very healthy food for dogs.  The chemical composition of the meat is actually noticeably better with grass-fed animals.  So if you went premium, top-shelf food for your dog, make sure your primal dog food is also grass-fed.

Posted in Primal Dog Food Information | Tagged dog food, grass fed dog food, natural dog food, organic dog food, primal dog food | Leave a comment

Welcome To Primal Dog Food Dot Com!

Posted on January 4, 2011 by Healthy Andy

The most healthy kind of dog food is primal dog food.  Why?

As a natural health care doctor, I’m constantly advising my patients to steer clear of processed foods full of pesticides, additives, hormones, and other, even more sinister chemicals.  The human body is designed to digest WHOLE foods. We used to be hunters and gatherers, eating wild game (think steak, not CHEESEsteak) and forage (think carrots, not carrot cake).  This is often called a “primal” or “Stone Age” diet.

The same goes for human’s best friend.  Dogs didn’t evolve eating dog food; they ate the same kinds of whole foods as us.  Well, before people starting keeping dogs, they ate mostly just wild game, but once they were domesticated, they ate some other scraps that people gave them as well.  But, since the dog was domesticated ten or twenty thousand years ago, like us, they have a long long history of eating this kind of primal dog food.

Why Primal Dog Food?

It has the most nutrients.  It has the least additives or other scary chemicals added in.  It digests most easily and efficiently.  In short, it’s the fuel dogs were designed to eat, in it’s purest form… natural dog food at it’s best.   Dogs that eat primal dog food live longer, stay healthier, and need less visits to the vet… just like people that eat primal get the same benefits (well, swap out “doctor” for “vet”, but you get my meaning).

That said, here’s some great resources and reviews on where to get primal dog food, natural and wellness dog food, and natural dog treats. 

Any chance I get, I’ll post the best products I can find… and if my contacts fill me in on any special coupon offers for you and man’s best friend, I’ll be sure to add those too!

Posted in Primal Dog Food Information | Tagged dog health, healthy food for dogs, natural dog food, organic dog food, primal dog food | 4 Comments