Analyzing the healthfulness and safety of raw diets of your dog

Steve Brown, after attending one of our Training Camps in the late 80s, turned his passion for canine health into a career developing leading-edge products and educational programs to improve canine nutrition. Brown is an inveterate researcher and author of nutrition books for dogs. In his new book Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet: Healthier Dog Food the ABC Way (Dogwise Publishing), Brown states that many of the newer raw diets provide most of their calories from fat and may not have enough protein to meet the National Research Council’s (NRC) standards for puppies.

He also notes that commercial raw diets often are given a 13-month shelf life even though the USDA says that ground meat only has a 3- to 4-month shelf life. Add in the ground veg-etables, fish oils, and mineral amino acid chelates (that accelerate oxidation), and the shelf life of the foods is shortened ever further. In addition, the way many commercial raw diets are handled, with big temperature swings and freeze-defrost cycles, the oxidation of the fats is further accelerated.Dry natural and organic foods are now adding DHA, EPA, and other fragile fats that don’t remain stable enough after the bag is opened, so by the time the dog eats through to the food at the bottom of the bag, many of the fats are rancid.

If you choose one of the numerous natural or organic dry foods, raw, frozen, or dehydrated dog foods currently being offered, our advice is to refrigerate them when you get them home.

And to be on the safe side, avoid buying in bulk and buy small, fresh quantities unless you can freeze the food.

Polyunsaturated fat is found in vegetable sources such as flaxseed oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, wheat germ oil, olive oil, and corn oil. Your dog needs polyunsaturated fat for a healthy coat and skin. Lack of polyunsaturated fat in your dog’s diet can cause

 ✓ Coarse, dry coat

 ✓ Extreme itching and scratching

 ✓ Horny skin growths

 ✓ Improper growth

 ✓ Poor blood clotting

 ✓ Skin lesions on the belly, on the inside of the back legs, and between the shoulder blades

 ✓ Skin ulcerations and infections

 ✓ Thickened areas of skin

  Linoleic acid is one of the three essential fatty acids that have to be provided daily in your dog’s food. Safflower and flaxseed oil provide the best source of this acid and are the least allergenic. Flaxseed oil is fragile and can become rancid quickly if not stored correctly, however. These oils are better than corn oil, which contains only a tiny amount of linoleic acid. We advise refrigeration after the oil has been opened.

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