FEEDING NOTES

Some uncomfortable truths about feeding companion animals.

Nutrition is probably the most important factor for good health. One regrets therefore that most dog owners have surrendered the responsibility for the feeding of their animal to the manufacturer of industrial animal feeds. It requires less effort and is must easier to purchase a bag of feed and believe what the manufacturer prints on the bag than to involve oneself with the intricacies of correct feeding.

The negative result of feeding these cereal-based products has become more and more pronounced. This is evident in the frightening increase of diseases in the overall dog population. Cancers, allergies, pancreatitis, pancreatic insufficiency, skin problems, kidney and liver afflictions, decreased immunity, fertility as well as growth development disorders are being diagnosed in increasing numbers and cannot simply be explained by in breeding.

It takes an organism at least 10,000 years to adapt to a complete change in nutrition. “Complete” feeds have been on the market for 60 years and in these 60 years, the overall health of our dogs has declined. Non-species specific nutrition is another causative factor for the deterioration of our dogs’ health.

Many owners, breeders and veterinarians are convinced that ‘complete’ feeds are the main cause for bad health and have started to look for alternatives. A valid alternative established by many protagonists all over the world carries the acronym BARF. It stands for bones and raw foods or biologically appropriate raw foods.

BARF, therefore, describes a feeding method whereby a dog owner uses fresh and uncooked ingredients to make up a ration for the dog thereby trying to imitate a feed of carnivorous animals living in the wild.

By and large, this feeding method has proven to be beneficial to the overall health of the animal despite dire warnings of feed manufacturers and veterinarians alike concerning raw meat and bones. In their estimation, raw meat is dangerous because it is full of salmonellae and parasites. They also lobby that bones are dangerous and that only complete feeds could cover the requirements of the animal.

But scientifically speaking, we all know that the digestive system of the dog is one of a carnivorous animal or, put simply, the whole metabolic system of the dog is designed to digest raw meat and bones with ease. Its stomach acidic fluids contain percentage wise ten times more hydrochloric acid than in man and neutralises easily any bacterial contamination.

However, breeders of large and of heavy breeds such as St. Bernard, Bernese Mountain Dog, Irish Wolfhound, Mastiff, etc., have expressed a need to cover the mineral requirements in puppies and growing young animals for correct skeletal development in the early life stages. These breeds have been selected over many generations for size and rapid growth. They looked for a product that would fit in specifically with their approach to biologically appropriate foods and they found it in the Swiss product CANZOCAL+BMP^Th’. This product is manufactured in Switzerland from young biologically highly active juvenile bone and cartilage material, the starting materials for which are sourced in Sweden, a country that has never had a single case of BSE.

CANZOCAL+BMP~ contains specific bone proteins, bone minerals in the correct physiological ratio and components stimulating bone cells. It comes as fine dustless and odourless granules that are easily mixed in the feed.

The essential bone minerals, calcium and phosphorous are available in the product in the molecular form of hydroxyapatite. This is the microcrystalline structure under which such minerals are deposited in the bony matrix.

Hydroxyapatite has a very low molecular weight. This has an immense advantage as these minute particles can be absorbed in the gut without further metabolic processes.

‘Throw your dog a bone and the animal will be happy for hours’. This is certainly true for an adult dog but juvenile animals in full growth will benefit tremendously with the regular use of CANZOCAL+BMP~. The product has proven to be surprisingly efficient in preventing irreparable damage to the skeleton and locomotor apparatus of fast growing young companion animals, in particular, young dogs of the large and giant breeds when supplemented from early weaning onwards.

For supplies and information, please contact

Eleanor Murphy B.Sc.

PO Box 94l,

Carbury,

Co. Kildare.

Ph. 087-7964135