Why Not Meat-Only
A common misconception in animal nutrition is that true carnivores like dogs and cats, when living in the wild, would eat nothing but meat, meat and more meat. This thinking is complicated by the fact that if a 100% meat diet is offered, they WILL gobble it up. However, such a mono-diet given over a long time would prove disastrous for their health and could even be fatal. This truth is borne out with vivid clarity when one observes nature closely.
Smaller carnivores in the wild never kill, eat and cook a pork chop, nor do they ever ambush a steak nor a skinless chicken breast. What they actually consume are little vegetarians! Quite often birds and rodents. And, in general, they devour the whole thing, the entire animal, maybe spitting out a feather or two. They eat the bones, the skin and hide, organs, and, perhaps most importantly, the contents of the intestine. Sometimes, when a larger prey is killed, such as a deer, large predators will consume the intestines first, then the other parts. What is found inside the digestive tract of a bird or a rodent, such as a rabbit, is semi-digested grains, vegetables and greens. This is the beauty of how nature works. For a predator, these parts combined make up a BALANCED DIET.
It is also well known that dogs and cats will eat some grasses, roots, fruits and even some vegetables in the wild. During the spring, eggs are part of their normal diet. Watermelon farmers always have to protect their ripe crop from roving coyotes! Wild cats love catching insects as well, and can quite often be seen eating grass.
When we humans go about creating a PERFECT DIET for a dog or cat we need to look no further than how nature does it. Our job is to to "build a mouse" or "build a bird". To accomplish this at Restoration Raw Vet Recipe we use fresh raw 100% grass fed beef from Thousand Hills Cattle Company-- lots of human food quality muscle meat, some very healthful fat and, finally, nutrient-rich organ meat -- included as about 10% of the total meat portion, just as is found in a prey animal. To this we then add soaked and sprouted grains in the exact ratio to the total in which the softened, semi-digested plant materials would be found inside the prey animal.
As a safety measure, it is always wise to add micro-nutrients to the mix. This is where extra trace minerals, vitamins, herbs and probiotics fit into the picture. In a perfect world there would be adequate minerals everywhere. However, much of our topsoil has been lost due to erosion and modern farming techniques. Therefore, farm crops, even if organic and naturally-raised, may be short of crucial minerals. So, we augment the meat and plant ingredients with a carefully balanced mixture of naturally-derived micro-nutrients from the highest quality sources available.
