Feed your pet a human diet or a wild animal diet?

Question

Would you rather feed your pet a diet that consisted of foods that you would eat yourself (anthropomorphic diet), or would you rather feed your pet a diet that consisted of foods that your pet would eat if it were a wild animal (natural diet)?

Would you rather feed your pet a diet that consisted of foods that you would eat yourself (anthropomorphic diet), or would you rather feed your pet a diet that consisted of foods that your pet would eat if it were a wild animal (natural diet)? By this I mean commercially available pet food diets that are formulated to mimic either anthropomorphic or natural dietary conditions.

Answer 1

Actually, commenting on one of the other posts in here, dogs do very well on a natural diet -- the same goes for cats. The last 50 years (about the time that commercial pet food was introduced) have seen more and more animals dying of human diseases. The crap, pardon my language, that goes into pet food is disgusting. When a bag says chicken by-products, what it's actually saying is that it's made from meat that's unfit for human consumption. Things like beaks, feet, etc. One of my cats nearly died last year. After much heartache and alot of money, I learned that I was going to have to keep him on this "special" cat food for the rest of his life. Well, being the cynic that I am, I began researching WHY something like this would happen in the first place. Guess what I found? Yep, commercial cat food was the one and only culprit. Cats are obligate carnivores and need raw meat. Not by-products that are cooked at high temperatures with chemicals added for flavour and vitamins that just pass through the body without being used. The same can be said for dogs, although they are not complete carnivores, they still require meat in their diet.

My four cats have been on a raw diet for nearly a year now and LOVE it. They wouldn't eat "kibble" now for anything. My one cat who "would never be healthy again" is like a whole new cat. When they all went for their check up last month, my vet (who I didn't inform about the switch to raw diet) told me that my cats looked amazing and to keep doing whatever I was doing. The clock has been turned back for them. Even my formerly 25 pound boy, who I'd pretty much given up on in regards to losing weight, has emerged a new cat. He sleek, he's shiny, he's full of energy, and he's down to 17 pounds.

I've heard many people say that our "pets" are now domesticated and their needs have changed, blah blah blah. That's a load of garbage. If you take a lion and shrink it, you get a common house cat. Next time you're at the zoo, ask the keeper if they feed kibble to the lions. I can guarantee they'll say, no. Our animals haven't changed, we have. As consumers, we want something convenient, and a bag bought at the grovery store is just that. Unfortunately, it's our beloved pets are paying the ultimate price.

I've added a link below to an wonderful site that talks more about why a natural diet is the best. Take a look at it. I guarantee you won't be dissapointed.

Answer 2

Neither. I would feed them dog food like you are suppose to. Their stomachs have evolved since they were wild dogs and they cant handle people food or raw meats as well as they use to. A diet of strictly raw meat or strictly human food is not very healthy for them. Yes technically they can survive on those diets but they do not live the full healthy life they deserve. So i feed my dogs dog food and a few non toxic human food items (like a piece of bread) but I feed them the human food only very rarely because it is not good for them.

Answer 3

Raw meat only for cats. Cats require taurine which they derive from raw meat, and cooking destroys taurine. And the cat will require some red raw meat as well. Portions depend on the cat; I start by giving them a large portion and observe the cat until it slows down the feeding process. That becomes the standard portion and is added to as the cat grows. If feeding raw the cat should be fed twice a day whilst monitoring it's weight.