Healthy Meat dog treats – The complete guide and science papers references
Balanced raw diets are far superior for dogs than commercial (grain) pellet diets. But meat treats are a way of supplementing regular diets to achieve similar results. We look at all of the main science feeding trials and reasons why meat should a prime part of any dog’s diet, for best health!
Grain or vegetables were never meant to be eaten by dogs or their ancestors (wolves).
Dogs are 90% + carnivores with only a tolerance to grain digestion shown by some analyse enzymes in their stomachs (but much lower amounts in their mouths than true herbivores or omnivores). This article looks at the studies that support the value of meat.
A recent 2008 study by ‘Nestle Purina pet-care research’ (major revenue from grain pet foods), does everything it can to scare pet owners into exclusively eating their rood.
In summary, their proposition is that:
“there appears to be an increasing interest among vegetarians and pet owners regarding use of noncommercial foods for their pets, including homemade and raw food diets”.
Proponents of home prepared or raw food diets cite various benefits including control over
ingredients used
avoidance of artificial preservatives
preservation of natural enzymes and phytonutrients” Ref 1
THEY SAY “However no published data are available to support actual health benefits to pets fed such diets.” It goes on to say that “there have been reports on the development of pancreatitis, fatal salmonellosis and other clinical problems in pets fed homemade and raw diets” Ref 1
The following dot points build the ironclad case for why meat dog treats are so important in a dog’s diet and in particular better than grain treats. We then follow these points with full explanations:
1 Meat can be cooked at high enough temperatures, like our meat based dog treats, to avoid any concerns over ‘bad’ bacteria levels.
2 100% dried meat based dog treats don’t have ANY preservatives or colouring or any additives. If our children can have very negative reactions to these things, why not our dogs?
3 Preservation of natural enzymes and phytonutrients is vital to dog health. Dogs are carnivores and benefit from the enzymes in meat.
4 Why dogs being FACULTATIVE CARNIVORES means they still need much more meat than they currently get in ‘dog food’
5 Contrary to the nestle report ” development of pancreatitis,” is thought to possibly be from GRAIN and not because dogs are fed meat.
6 WHY BIO-AVAILABILITY OF EVERY NUTRIENT IN DOG FOOD IS VITAL TO YOUR DOG.
7 Arthritis TREATMENT and joint pain RELIEF can both be solved by the regular use of shark cartilage and Green Lipped Mussels. We include the links to the dog trial tests below
The truth about meat for dog diets (facts and studies)
The major grain-based (because it’s cheap) dog “food” manufacturers in America are on the volunteer board (aafco) that steers all very grain biased nutrition tables that any dog food maker in the world must reach to be called dog food. It’s based on artificially high vitamins and minerals (that no natural combination of meat or vegetables can reach.
It also has very low protein requirements, to maximise the grain that can be included in dog food (people like to get a big bag for their money). This is one of the reasons why YOUR dog doesn’t have enough meat in its diet, to be at its best.
Things you should know about why meat is the superior food for dogs.
1 Meat can be cooked at high enough temperatures, like our meat based dog treats, avoiding concerns over bad bacteria levels.
A report by Mercola says that ” According to the Animal Nutrition Group at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, studies show drying pet food at 160°C (320°F) to 180°C (356°F) can significantly reduce its nutritional value. In the smaller size kibble used in the study (4 mm or about .16 inch), a drying temperature of 200°C (392°F) lowered concentrations of the following amino acids: Proline, Total lysine, Reactive lysine (lysine that has remained unchanged during processing).
The drying temp of 200°C also decreased concentrations of linolenic (omega-3) and linoleic (omega-6) fatty acids and increased the concentration of oleic acid (omega-9 monounsaturated)” (see our article for a full set of references)
2 100% dried meat based dog treats don’t have ANY preservatives or colouring or any additives.
Whilst we believe natural is best, any treat that is a composite of meat and grain has to have a preservative to stop spoilage. Curiously 100% dried meat jerkies do not, and they last up to a year shelf life in pantry conditions (low light, oxygen and low temps).
Even our composite treats (the very few we stock) are the best on the market for having very low additive amounts. However we recommend you do your own research on colours etc to ensure that you feel that you are happy with such things.
3 Preservation of natural enzymes and phytonutrients is vital to dog health. Dogs are carnivores and benefit from the enzymes in meat. For understanding why we recommend you review this article:
WHY FREEZE DRYING DOG TREATS ISN’T AS GOOD AS OUR SLOW OVEN DRIED METHODS.
This article looks at why freeze drying must be below 70C to effectively kill most of the ‘bad’ bacteria, or if cooked (oven dried) only needs to be above 160C. However dog food is often cooked at well over this temperature to speed up the manufacture process (not to enhance nutrition).
Very High temperatures kill bad (and good ) bacteria but also enzymes required for proper digestions of food – if the digestion enzymes are killed then mal-absorption can occur of the nutrients.
This coupled with low bio availability of grain/ vegetable matter, means that high processing methods of current dog food companies can remove natural enzymes that meat based dog treats such as ours help put back into making your dogs gut healthy again. (there are six references in this article)
4 Dogs might not be OBLIGATE CARNIVORE but they are FACULTATIVE CARNIVORES
” Originally dogs were classed as carnivores (having come from a carnivore class) because of their short intestine and high acid stomach most suitable to digesting meat, not slow extraction vegetables). But because a dog’s intestine is longer than a domestic cat (obligate carnivore) this gave unscrupulous dog food makers the chance to claim dog’s as being non-carnivores. The researcher they quote says that this was incorrect and that it actually about the “coefficient of fermentation.
Herbivores have a high ability to extract nutrition from plant matter as the result of their ability to ferment it, and therefore have a high coefficient of fermentation. Carnivores aren’t equipped to do this and therefore have a low coefficient of fermentation. Interestingly, the coefficient of fermentation is similarly low in both dogs and cats.” (www.vetstreet.com)
5 Contrary to the nestle report ” development of pancreatitis,” is thought to possibly be from GRAIN and not because dogs are fed meat.
” As a holistic veterinarian, I don’t think it’s a fluke or happenstance that the pancreas has become more and more attacked as an organ. We know that the high carbohydrate-based diets that most dogs and cats eat are extremely taxing to pets’ insulin levels, which are, in turn, taxing to the pancreas”. (healthypets.mercola.com)
6 WHY BIO-AVAILABILITY OF EVERY NUTRIENT IN DOG FOOD IS VITAL TO YOUR DOG.
While grain based dog food must reach the minimum aafco table requirements, these are in absolute weights of nutrients NOT the source or the bioavailability. As a rule, vegetable sources of minerals, and veggie proteins are not as bioavailable as those sourced from meat products. This low efficiency conversion within a carnivore dog means that they can’t access the nutrients the tables say is in the food.
“Lysine is of particular importance in canine nutrition because it is the first limiting amino acid in grains, and processing can decrease the availability of lysine. In the presence of reducing sugars and moisture, the free epsilon amino group of lysine forms a Schiff base with the sugar and results in a product of lower digestibility than the entire protein.
“Therefore, the apparent digestibility of nitrogen may seriously overestimate the availability of lysine.” (Assessment of the Nutritional Adequacy of Pet Foods – Through the Life Cycle – JAMES G. MORRIS And Quniton ROGERS. Department of Molecular Biosciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, university of California, Davis, California)
7 Arthritis TREATMENT and joint pain RELIEF can both be solved by the regular use of shark cartilage and Green Lipped Mussels. We include the links to the dog trial tests below
Green Lipped Mussels Dog Treats Relieve Dog Arthritis – Here Are The Amazing Test Results. https://www.healthydogtreats.com.au/green-lipped-mussels-dog-treats-relieve-dog-arthritis-here-are-the-amazing-test-results/
GLM evaluate on the following areas shown to have great efficacy: joint pain, joint swelling, crepitus (a grating sound or sensation produced by friction between bone and cartilage )
Shark Cartilage For Dogs – The Science Test Results For Arthritis Relief
These two articles have reference links to the original papers.
NOTE – If you don’t believe the feeding trial successes for dog joint pain relief, then consider all of the expensive joint relief products you can buy at your vet. On a recent visit to the vet we purchased a 50g granule pack of 4CYTE (for “joint and cartilage matrix support”).
Online 100g of their product costs around $60 in Australia. Or $600 per Kg. in 100 g there are: 40g Green Lipped Mussels, 13g Abalone, 13g Shark Cartilage, 5g Biota orientalis see oil extract.
On our site, $60 will buy you ONE Kg of Shark Cartilage (not 100g of powdered product), or 500g of Green Lipped Mussels. As this 4CYTE product is officially endorsed by vets, you can see who the WHOLE dried natural ingredients we sell, and the arthritis trials we have cited show what amazing value our products are.
CONCLUSION
If you really are worried about bad bacteria in your dog’s food source, you should be aware that in America just as many dogs have been harmed by bacteria on grains than on meat. And that cooked meat (such as in dog treats) typically kills most of the bad bacteria – just as it does in properly cooked grain dog foods.
Its just that dog treat drying methods don’t always use the super high temperatures (for quick processing) that many dog food manufacturers use, so the enzymes in the meat dog treats (well ours) are preserved, for the massive health benefits of the dogs. Many of these enzymes assist digestion of meat and hence why the meat is so bio available for your dog.
Most of this article just uses information already provided for you on this site – each point is usually expanded into a whole article itself with many references concluded at the bottom of these articles.
Studies have been made and the assertions are based on scientific fact and dog food trials. Its just that these studies give counter results to what the big grain dog food makers want you to hear and believe and why they say ‘alternative facts’ are true. Like why something like grain, that no dog would purposely track or eat in the wild, should be fed to a dog instead of meat, the thing that dogs evolved to track and eat.
If you do one thing today for your dog, pick one of the points above and do some research for yourself to see how meat is the only natural conclusion.
