Last week we were in LA with the dogs so we skipped our weekly newsletter. Being away from home and in hotels makes healthy eating difficult for both people and dogs. So while we ate fast food more times than we would like to admit, we also picked up an electric skillet to make sure the dogs maintained a nourishing diet. That $20 dollar investment turned out to be one of the best purchases made in a long time.
Check out the stew we made for the pups hotel dinner!
Or keep it simple with Pup Pot Meals!
Great news. Pup Pot Meals are back in stock! Sorry for the delay we were caught off guard by how quickly they sold out. We now have two flavors — just add beef & egg, and just add turkey (hypoallergenic).
It makes balanced homemade food simple and fast.
If you’re going to be traveling with a dog that eats a homemade diet, this is a great option to take with you. I would have, but we were out of stock. :(
Instead of having to pack and pick up a bunch of ingredients when on vacation like I did, you’d just need to grab some turkey. Pop it in your electric pot (if you’re in a hotel), or on the stove at an Airbnb and it’s done in under 30 minutes.
Your dog doesn’t have to go back to eating kibble when you’re on the road and you don’t have to stress either.
Get your dog some Pup Pot Meals
BARF diet research
This week we are covering BARF diets as we’ve gotten a number of questions on it. Also, we were asked about corn and cornmeal, and since it’s not something we typically use we did a deep dive.
BARF stands for biologically appropriate raw foods which we think is an oxymoron because exclusively eating raw foods isn’t biologically appropriate. We’ve covered that extensively in previous posts, but to say it succinctly, dogs evolved with humans for more than 30,000 years (equivalent to >200,000 human years) and their digestive systems already differ markedly from their wild cousins. For example, dogs have enzymes to digest carbohydrate that wolves, coyotes and dingos all lack.
So what does the research say? Not much. Because BARF diets are relatively new, there are few head to head studies comparing cooked meals with BARF.
What is a BARF diet? According to Dr. Ian Billinghurst’s book published in 2001, he recommends 60% raw meaty bones, 15% crushed vegetable material, 10% offal (organ meats), 5% fruit and the remainder as supplements to mimic feces and soil. Dr. Billinghurst aims to mimic diets eaten by dingos or wolves perhaps forgetting the fact that modern dogs are very different from dingos and wolves. Ultimately, the book lacks citations or scientific back up to most of the claims the author makes. Here’s what we found.
BARF diets are difficult to balance without supplements. As we mentioned previously, balanced meals only matter when pets are eating the same thing everyday. However, because of the specificity of BARF, the chances of long-term dietary imbalances are greater than a highly varied diet. One critical literature review details how raw diets can be either too low or too high in calcium based on the kinds of meat and bone fed.
Raw diets, including BARF, have high microbial loads that get passed into dogs’ stools. In one study 80% of the home made raw diets were shown to be contaminated with salmonella. The authors suggest that raw diets for pets may contribute to both animal and human illness. Furthermore, dogs who consume salmonella contaminated food can shed bacteria for up to 1.5 weeks after contact. Though dogs and cats are more resistant to salmonella than humans, there are several documented cases of death to companion animals after exposure to Salmonella. According to a 2007 study, different salmonella strains affect animals differently, with some showing resistance to multiple types of antibiotics.
An observational study in people from 1999 suggest that strictly raw diets are not advisable long-term. Approximately 30% of women under 45 years old had partial or complete amenorrhea (loss of menstration). The people who consumed greatest proportion of raw foods were the furthest below normal weight range.
Raw diets do show good digestibility, but not better than lightly cooked meals. And surprisingly, one study showed raw resulted in lower microbial diversity than kibble (microbiome diversity is typically considered to be good). Also, according to the same study, raw diets led to lower fecal PH and higher ammonium concentrations than both lightly cooked and extruded food. Lower fecal ph and higher ammonium concentrations are associated with digestive abnormalities.
Ultimately a BARF diet is probably still better for a dog than kibble, but probably not better than a lightly cooked diet with some raw components. If your dog is doing well with BARF than there is no reason to change, but if you’re considering starting something new, the research suggests that lightly cooked food is far better than BARF or any other raw diet. When it comes to food safety for your pets and your family, as well as health measures for your pups, lightly cooked appears to be the way to go.
Is corn good for dogs?
Corn is the biggest food crop in the world. According to Statista, global corn production is more than double that of rice. Because of this supply and lower cost, corn is often used in animal feeds. But is it good for dogs? We dug into the research to find out.
Corn has a strong starch-protein matrix that makes unprocessed corn less digestible to both people and animals. High-temperature extrusion, like that used in making kibble, actually helps to break down the starches in corn and make them more digestible. However, according to this study, both protein and starch from corn-based kibble is less digestible than kibble made with rice.
Another review on pet allergies showed that corn is highly tolerable with very low (zero in this study) incidences of allergies. Conversely, wheat contributed to 15% of allergy cases.
However, mycotoxins (carcinogens made by molds) are higher in grain-based feeds. In one European study every food tested contained mycotoxins. Many brands exceeded daily mycotoxin intake levels, some by up to 12-times. Surprisingly, there was no difference between low-cost and premium kibble when it comes to mycotoxin contamination.
In summary, though corn is not our first choice for grain, corn is probably fine for pups in moderation. We still prefer, oats, quinoa, rice and semolina.
That’s it for this week. Hope you all have a great rest of your week and a wonderful weekend!
All the best,
Joelle and the Precious Team
As always I love your newsletter. The pictures of Edith on vacation, adorable such a sweet pair you have.
Best
Reba , Gia, Oliver
Excited to get our shipment♥️