Balanced Pet Nutrition

"100% complete & balanced nutrition"

The concept of balance in our pet foods is one that seriously needs to be addressed. This idea is one that was designed and continues to be perpetuated by the pet food companies: "Dogs need complete and balanced nutrition in every meal." This is nothing but propaganda designed to make people buy into commercial pet food. This is NOT how the canine body (or any other body for that matter) —operates! Look at your own diet, for example. Do you eat a complete and balanced meal every time you eat? No, I think not!

The statement "complete and balanced" on a package or can of pet food indicates that the product contains all nutrients presently thought to be required and that they are balanced to the energy density of the diet, but that does NOT mean it's balanced for a dog's individual needs. Feeding trials must substantiate the "complete and balanced" claims, or the food must contain at least the minimum amount of each nutrient recommended according to present guidelines for the words "complete and balanced" to be on the package. That doesn't mean that it actually contains every nutrient your dog needs to thrive. It merely means the food contains those nutrients that will keep a dog alive. Big difference if you ask me!

Imagine going to the grocery store to shop for your family and every shelf contains bags of what is labled as "100% "complete and balanced" processed human food, guaranteed to meet the nutritional needs of all humans... you have no idea what's in the package. Imagine not ever eating any fresh foods or raw fruits. Ever. Imagine having to eat this food day after day for your entire life.

There are currently, several breakfast foods on the market that are advertised as being 100 percent complete balanced nutrition. Now, if that claim were truthful, then we could assume that if you ate only that cereal or bar, and never anything else, you would be healthy. Right? What do you think?

Do you believe that? Does that make sense to you?

Do you understand that the actual base ingredients in that food is NOT what is balanced and actually nutritious? For the most part, the ingredients have been processed to the point that is void of any live,essential nutrients necessary for true nutrition. What is, as they say, "complete and balanced" is the synthetic vitamins and minerals they add to the finished, processed ingredients!

If you are health conscious at all, you eat a variety of foods over a period of days in week or month however, rarely if ever at every meal, every day, and yet your body generally does very well and exhibits no signs of nutritional deficiencies. The same holds true for dogs and if anything, it holds MORE true... They do not need "complete and balanced" nutrition at every meal. If they did, then any time they did not receive complete and balanced nutrition their bodies would get out of whack and problems would suddenly develop. This is not how it works. This is where we need to see the concept of "balance over time" developing.

In the wild, wolves, coyotes and wild dogs are not always able to make a kill every day and sometimes go without for days. When they do find and are able to kill their meal, it maybe a rabbit one day and a deer the next. If the pack is large, there may not be enough of every part of the animal to go around so one wolf might be able to feast on the intestines and vital organs while the others might only get a little muscle meat and bone. They derive their nutrition over time, over the days and weeks, rarely if ever all in one meal/kill.

This is the principle that I believe is adequate to explain how all living things obtain the proper nutrition. Nutritional needs are met over a period of time, and balance is achieved through time as the animal eats what it needs at the time it needs it or whenever it can get it. The nutrients the body MUST have and cannot synthesize for itself are supplied in sufficient amounts in the food the animal eats. Nutrients are stored within the body when they are eaten and are not needed, but when the need arises, they are essentially pulled out of storage and used. This is what allows animals (and humans!) to safely fast for sufficient periods of time without starving or dying. We and our dogs not only have fat reserves and protein reserves in our muscles, but stored up nutrients and vitamins in our tissues (fat soluble vitamins, for example, like A, D, and K).

You can logically ask: 'What is balance, anyway?' Balanced vitamins and minerals, carbohydrates, fats, and proteins?

Can we ever conclusively know what proper balance is?
No...
This concept of balance is a myth. We can hypothesize, guess, and draw up faulty food pyramids in attempts to define 'balanced' diets, yet as a society we are still plagued with obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and 'rare' bowel diseases like Crohn's disease that are becoming more commonplace (oddly enough, vets are seeing the same things occurring in our canine and feline counterparts which were never seen 40 - 50 years ago).

Have you noticed that the food pyramid is always being revamped? How many times have you have bought pet food over the years or even recently for that matter that stated it was 100% complete and balanced; only to buy the same food a year or so later to see it now in bold print say "New or Improved"? A new vitamin has been added or a by product removed. This is a frequent occurrence with pet foods and even so called "full-spectrum" vitamins. Someone is always trying to get it right.

Dr Randy Wysong has to say about a "complete and balanced diet:
"A 100% complete" processed diet requires:

1. 100% complete knowledge of food.
2. 100% complete knowledge of nutrition.
3. 100% complete knowledge of #1 & #2 requires 100% complete knowledge of every science.
4. Since #1,2 & 3 are not possible, the 100% complete processed diet is a myth."

Specialists argue about appropriate 'balanced' diets, which only further illustrates the truth that we do not know what balance truly is!

AFCO or Food Standards
The standards for balanced pet food are approximated (and incorrect, I might add, since the so called standards are based on the myth that a dog is an omnivore AND then, vitamins and minerals are added at the end of processing (in excess by the way) to compensate for the decreased bio availability of these nutrients in these over cooked/processed foods.

Dogs are then fed what the pet food industry calls "balanced" proportions of fats, proteins, and the carbohydrates that they have no need for whatsoever. Come on now, have you really ever heard of an essential carbohydrate? There are essential fats, essential amino acids (obtained from protein), but no essential carbohydrates.
Yes, an animal's body needs glucose to function, but glucose is easily made naturally from amino acids via gluconeogenesis. Carbs in the form of grains or vegetables are not necessary for our carnivorous pets, they are not naturally equipped with the enzymes necessary to digest grains or vegetables! And yet, they are listed as part of a 'balanced' diet on the label of the pet food.

We can go even one step further with this concept of balance. Let's face it, no one, except the creator, God who created us and the animals; conclusively knows exactly what is needed and in what proportions. So why don't we look to nature? Years of "evolution" should be sufficient enough to show any naysayer that the diet nature provides for the creatures is precisely what they need to function, thrive, and survive. No one but God and His creation/nature knows exactly what the animal can actually use and absorb. We, can only guess.

So forget the idea of "complete balance" of any kind when it comes to feeding our pet carnivores. Think wild, think "carcass". "Carcass" is what sufficiently sustains wolves, dogs, wild cats, and ferrets, and that is what nature has perfectly provided for them.

"Not only is feeding the same processed food day in and day out a formula for disease, it is a cruelty to pets. It is one thing to take them from their interesting and active wild setting and confine them, but to not even offer them interesting natural meal variety is really quite inexcusable. The answer, like everything else good in life, is a little attention and common sense. Knowledge is the best beginning point". Dr Randy Wysong

Recap: "Balance" is nothing but an insufficient human term, a vague concept that pet food companies employ to make people buy the foods for their pets. When feeding your pet carnivores, always remember the concept of "carcass". Knowledge is the best beginning point.

A consultation is highly recommended before any preventative program or treatment is started. A consultation includes a personalized diet and holistic program suggestions that are custom-tailored to your own dog's individual and personal needs.

Resources:
Dogs Are Carnivores
Grains in Commercial Pet Food
Kibble Is Kibble Is Still Kibble
Raw Feeding Myths

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