March 25, 2019 • 20 mins
Kymythy Schultze shares what she's learned about canine nutrition and why for many dogs a raw food diet is the best way to go.There's a lot of talk about raw food diets being the best way to go for dogs. After all, it's what they eat in the wild. But it's not right for every dog or every dog owner. On this week's "Good Dog" episode, Joanne Greene speaks with Kymythy Schultze, author of “Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats", about canine nutrition and how to determine the best diet for your particular dog.
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(00:00):
Smarter Podcasts dot com delivering sound advice. Perhaps the most controversial topic I've covered
on the Good Dog Podcast involves dognutrition. Surprised I certainly was. I
(00:20):
focused on the topic twice prior totoday, once in the aftermath of the
tainted dog food debacle and then againin short features with a veterinary nutritionist.
After publishing these episodes, I heardfrom listeners in both cases who disagreed with
the experts that I had interviewed andasked that I devote a show to feeding
dogs a raw food diet. Hi. I'm joe Anne Green, and welcome
(00:42):
to Good Dog, where today Iwill do just that. My guest is
Kimothy Schultz, clinical nutritionist and animalhealth instructor. She's the author of Natural
Nutrition for Dogs and Cats, TheUltimate Diet, and the Natural Nutrition No
Cookbook. Welcome, Kimothy, Anna no cookbook that's really appealing in terms
of cooking for myself. Oh well, you know it came about for that
(01:06):
very reason. Oh and by theway, I wanted to mention my latest
book is Natural Nutrition for Cats.That's because cat people, those those of
people that don't have dogs. Ihave dogs and cats, but for the
people that don't have dogs. Theywanted their very own book. They probably
want their own podcast too, butthey're not getting it from me. I
am a dog person all the way. Cats make my eyes itch and swell
(01:30):
up, So I stake stare clearof you're talking to the right person.
I've I've had Newfoundland's in my heartand home for the last thirty years,
and I can't remember a time inmy life I didn't have some canine in
my life. But you know,the natural Nutrition No Cookbook came about because
I give all these seminars on nutritionfor animals, and at the end of
(01:51):
the seminar, people would say,gee, I should us as well as
my animal's fun and I'd say,yes, you should, And so I
wrote this no Cookbook. And thereason it's called that is because it's a
bunch of really yummy, really healthy, don't tell anyone healthy recipes, but
you don't even have to cook,so you're essentially assembling ingredients. I truly
(02:13):
believe in keeping it as simple aspossible. Okay, the kicker to it
is because I'm an animal lover.You're an animal lover. I know that.
You know. As we're sitting watchinga movie at night, we sneak
little goodies to our canine pals.And so even you knew, you knew,
imagine that popcorn in particular, AndI know it's not the best thing
(02:36):
to feed them, well, butno matter what, we do it,
you know, and you know I'ma dog trainer too, but it doesn't
matter. We'd like to share.It's a bonding thing, it's a love
thing. And so even though thisnatural nutrition no cookbook is full of human
recipes, I made sure that allthe ingredients are safe to share with your
dogs. Oh that's nice. SoI understand that your interest in nutrition grew
(02:59):
out of a purse experience decades ago, you know, isn't it. It's
kind of awful that that often isthe way it goes. Is pain is
a great motivator to learn. Yeah, And I was brought into this life
with a lot of health problems andit was looking pretty bleak. I had
(03:20):
gone through so many doctors and reallywas in bad shape when I finally hit
upon a doctor who changed the waythat I ate. And it wasn't anything
bizarro. It was just eating fresh, real food. And this was a
long time ago, because now it'slike, well, of course, that's
good for you. But at thetime he was a real pioneer in nutrition.
(03:42):
He simply taught me how to eatbetter for my body, and it
was truly a miracle for me.So lots of fresh fruits and vegetables,
good meat, good, good,yeah, good veggies, and more of
them, because you know, Igrew up in a meat and potatoes kind
of house and my mother didn't likegreen vegetable, so we didn't need the
help. And so, I mean, just an example was I had been
(04:05):
diagnosed with MS, was in awheelchair when I went to see him,
and was in pretty short order outof the wheelchair, walking around, taking
hikes, and this was a miracleto me. And as a really good
example, I had been diagnosed withfibercistic breast disease. And I hear so
many women during my lectures will comeup and say I've been diagnosed with that
(04:30):
too, or a friend has.And for those in your audience that don't
know, it's extremely painful lumps andbreasts, and more and more women are
being diagnosed with this. And Ihad been to my guynecologist who diagnosed me
and said, yep, we don'tknow what causes it. We don't know
how to cure it. It's goingto get worse and worse, more and
more painful. You'll probably end upwearing a broad of bed. Learn to
(04:51):
live with it, like, oh, gee, thanks, that didn't work
for you. Yeah, And whenI went to this doctor that was pioneer
nutrition. I mean, that wasn'teven my main issue. It was a
fact that I couldn't walk. Butafter he changed my diet, I remember
day ten, it was every lumpwas gone from my breast and I was
(05:15):
pain free. And to me,it was like, oh, thank you
Jesus, thank you Jesus. Right, But which is not to say that
this would work for everyone, butshifting one's diet to eating more healthful foods,
fresher foods is never a bad idea. What it showed me is what
a difference food can make in yourlife. And that started me on the
(05:36):
quest to learn everything I could,and of course that's ongoing because education never
ends. And it started me ona path to learning everything I could about
human nutrition and be nutso about myanimal friends, well, of course I
had to learn everything I could abouttheir nutrition as well. Timothy, why
do you believe there's so much disagreementand controversy on what's best to feed our
(06:00):
pets well, you know, becausethere is about what to feed ourselves too.
You know, there is a lotof different opinions. Some of it
is unfortunately a money thing, becauseyou know, if we all decided to
make homemade meals for our animals likewe did for most of our relationship with
(06:23):
them, where there wouldn't be abig business for the commercial foods out there.
On the other hand, when Ispeak with veteranary nutritionists, they say
that the premier or I guess they'recalled premium dog foods are really the best
way to go because a lot ofstudy has gone into you know, the
various compounds that are in there formaximum health, and you're better off not
(06:46):
altering their diet once they're established witha particular food. Do you disagree with
that? Yes, I do totally, And actually it's not just my opinion,
but it's anybody can look up thefacts around that subject. If you
actually go to like the NRC andthe AFCO books the guidelines for how to
(07:11):
formulate these products, you will seethat those guidelines are actually very honest and
forthright insane and in print it says, we don't know the optimal nutrient requirements
for dogs. And when you gothrough and in my books, I give
you the address and contact info soyou can get a copy of the same
(07:36):
book that all the brands of dogfoods go to when they want to formulate
a diet. And it will say, and I respect them for saying,
right there in print, your readers, your people will see in print it
says that even though we know andI don't have the book in front of
(07:56):
me this second, but it says, basically, I'm paraphrasing, even though
we know that such and such mineralis required by dogs, we don't know
the right amount. So what doyou feed your dogs? Keimothy. I
feed them a homemade diet of realfoods, and they have been doing so
for a couple of decades. Andthe reason I do so is because I've
(08:16):
seen the difference it makes in theirhealth. I've raised Newfoundland dogs for over
twenty years, and of course theywere fed the best, most expensive premium
brands for at least a decade,and then when I learned about nutrition,
I switched them over when I learnedabout ammal nutrition, and so I've kind
of had a good comparison. Sowhen you say fresh good foods, what
(08:39):
specifically do you feed them? Meat, bone, veggies, just you know,
foods that I can get at thegrocery store. Cooked raw, I
do raw, But I feel thateven a homemade cooked diet been well prepared.
You know, you can't just gowilly nilly. You do need to
do some education. But it's notdifficult because Joannes, think about it,
(09:00):
before the commercial foods were invented,which was a blink in time about sixty
years still years ago, for thousandsof years, folks like you and I
fed homemade diets to our dogs.So really, when you think about it,
the new fad diets are the commercialdiets. That is a way to
look at it. So when yousay raw, you give your dog a
(09:22):
slab of raw meat and some rawvegetables. Actually, I'm taking a look
at my ten year old Newfoundland dog, Deacon, bless his heart, And
you know, according to the NewfoundlandClub of America, a new should be
dead at seven. That makes meso angry. And he's ten and going
strong. Don't tell him he's supposedto be dead, right because he is
going strong. And you know what'sreally sad, Joanne is when I take
(09:45):
him to a vet and they go, oh, one, it's either one
or both of these. One I'venever seen a ten year old Newfoundland or
two I've never seen such a healthyNewfoundland. Isn't that sad? And you
think it's pretty much because of whatyou're feeding him? Absolutely, because I
raised Newfoundlands on commercial dog foods before, so you've seen the difference. Now
(10:07):
do you specifically advocate a food dietfor dogs? Yes, although I will
say that every dog is an individual, and certainly I mean I do not
only seminars, but a lot ofprivate consultations also, And if I felt
there was a reason to cook thefood, I would be the first person
to say so, because just likewe're individuals, every dog's an individual.
(10:31):
Although I will say across the boardthat you can certainly prepare a food at
home, whether it be cooked orraw, that is probably going to be
much more nutritious than you can getout of a can or a bag.
You just have to have some knowledgeand education behind you. But if people
would read the same information that dogfood manufacturers read and that they're getting their
(10:54):
information from, you will see howmuch nutritional information is lacking, so they
don't know more than we can know. How do you know, for instance,
with your dogs, how much meatto how much vegetable material? Or
(11:16):
do you give them dairy as well? I know my dogs love cheese.
Well who doesn't? I do?You don't like cheese? No? I
love that. I love. That'swhat I mean. Everybody loves cheese.
But no, I don't give mydogs dairy. But the thing is is,
it's a lot easier to control ourdogs diets than it is ours.
I have a lot. I havea harder time passing up that hot fudge
(11:37):
Sunday than I do saying to mydog, no, you can't have a
hot fudge. Say there you go. But no, I don't give my
dogs dairy because you know, wehumans are the only ones that continue to
have any dairy products past weening.Naturally, a dog or cat, you
know, wouldn't have any dairy productspast weening, and and most dogs have
(11:58):
a very difficult time I'm digesting itproperly because past weening, the enzyme that
is needed to digest that milk sugar, isn't really pleasant in them because hey,
the way their body is designed,they wouldn't normally have milk pass weening.
So what kinds of meat do yougive your dog and what kinds of
vegetables? Well, let me tellyou what deacon might have tonight. I'll
(12:22):
play matter d What is on themenu this evening for deacons. He might
have some beef and that could bemixed in. If I were feeding bones,
I would feed raw bones with thatfor dessert, or if I felt
uncomfortable feeding raw bones, I wouldinclude bone meal and I would mix that
(12:43):
all together and I put in Personally, his favorite veggie is broccoli, although
sometimes we can mix in some otherthings too. He's not overly picky,
so we can mix in some broccolitoo. So we've got meat and some
bone meal and some broccoli, andthen I've got what pretty much covers all
vitamins and minerals we know of,and ones that aren't even included in formulated
(13:07):
commercial foods, and that would becoming from some kelp, maybe some spirialina.
I mix that together and throw ina pinch of that and maybe some
essential fatty acids. Although Deacon hasshown me that with these fresh foods,
he doesn't even need extra oils added. So you don't feed him grains or
(13:28):
fruits. I will feed him fruitsas a treat. I like to feed
them away from his main meal becausefruits I have a lot of moisture in
them and a lot of fruits sugarin them, and so they tend to
be digested very quickly. They gothrough the digestive system very quickly. We
know what happens if you and Ieat too much fruit, Well, the
(13:48):
same thing can happen to our dogs. And do you feed him twice a
day or just once? He's anadult dog and he doesn't have any major
health issues that would dictate that Ifeed many times a day, So he
gets once a day, and that'sactually very good for him because it allows
his digestive system to rest and notjust be digesting all the time. We
(14:11):
actually have scientific studies that show thata dry dog food will take up to
sixteen hours to be in my dog'sbody. That's a lot of energy and
a lot of work being devoted todigestion, whereas a properly formulated raw food
diet takes about six hours. Iimagine there aren't any risks of feeding one's
(14:35):
dog raw vegetables, But what ifany of the risks of feeding raw meat.
Well, actually, let me goback a little bit, because one
of the biggest imbalances I see inpeople who have they have in their heart
good intentions in feeding a homemade diet. But you know, Joanne, one
of the biggest imbalances I see ispeople feeding too much vegetables. Interesting because
(14:56):
I think it's because we have beentold by our mothers, eat more veggies,
eat more veggies, right, right, right, and we think that
it's harmless, right, And actuallywe're we're feeding a carnivore, and a
carnivore doesn't eat a lot of vegetables. And when we take a look at
their short digestive system, veggies actuallytake a long time to digest, and
(15:18):
they do best in a long digestivesystem. I mean, think of a
cow or a horse. They havea very long digestive system to break down
that cellulose wall of those veggies.Our dogs don't. They have a short
digestive system. So meat really isthe primary mainstay of your dog's diet.
It is a very important ingredient.And a lot of vets will sometimes say,
(15:43):
oh, a meat diet will hurtyour animal, And yes, if
you were to feed an all meatdiet, that would be very harmful because
as we know, you know,out in the wild, there are certainly
no chunks of pot roast running aroundon four legs. That's not a natural
diet. There are other things included, much as bone, such as a
little bit of very broken down plantmaterial. And I want to go back
(16:07):
to saying that oftentimes I see peoplemaking the diet very unbalanced by giving too
much vegetables, because we think ofvegetables as so healthy, and they are,
but they are not actually a bigpart of a canid's natural diet.
And in fact, when I studiedwild animal nutrition, which I did for
(16:30):
quite a while before I started feedinga natural fresh food diet to my dogs,
I studied wild canids and their diets, and I studied with some of
the most well known biologists out therethat study wolves and such, and I
found it very interesting that what wehear, which is a slight misconception,
is that wolves will go for stomachcontents first and that's where they get the
(16:55):
grain in the veggies. Well,actually they have their personal preferences, and
it also matters where you are onthe pecking order. But what a lot
of wolves do when they get tothe stomach is shake out the contents,
so they're not going yum yum vegetablematter. Usually they shake out most of
the vegetable matter and then they'll leavethe stomach lining the tripe. So to
(17:17):
feed a diet like you're feeding yourdog, and like you advocate people feed
their pets, I have to believethat the costs are more than buying premium
dog foods. But maybe I'm wrong. Actually, you know, and I'm
feeding big dogs too. Actually it'sless for a few reasons, and that
is one. They eat so muchless. I am blown away when I
(17:40):
am with my fellow dog lovers andthey tell me how many cups of commercial
food they're Newfoundland's eat, because Ithink, oh my gosh, my dogs
could never eat that amount of foodwithout exploding. Because the foods I'm feeding
are so nutrient dense, and becauseeverything is actually utilized, I have to
(18:02):
feed less for them to get thesame amount of nutrients. And what is
so great, Joanne, is somuch less comes out the other end.
Well, that is nice, particularlywith a large dog. I have tiny
little Lulu, so not so muchof an issue here. When you say
you feed meat, do you feeda range of meats, chicken as well
hamburger. What kind of nice is? Yes, I like variety, but
(18:25):
you'll find that your individuals have individualpreferences too. What happens when they like
phile mignon, Well, if theylike beef, then I'll feed them more
beef. Okay, I don't havewhat's great too, is I don't have
to feed them the most expensive cuts. I can feed them the stuff that
humans don't like as much, whichtends to be cheaper. And let me
go back to one thing that yousaid, and when you said that,
(18:48):
I advocate that all people feed thisdiet, and actually I don't, even
though I feel it is best formy dogs, and even though I feel
that a well prepared, made rawdiet is best for most dogs, what
I really advocate the most is thatpeople feed what fits their comfort zone because
they have to be responsible and consistentabout it. I mean, I can't,
(19:11):
and I think that's just fabulous thatyou say that, And I want
to really stress that to good doglisteners because the fact of the matter is,
if you're going to buy raw meatand then let it sit in your
refrigerator for too long because you're afraidto feed it or because you got caught
up in whatever and then you feedit to your dog. You're not doing
your dog any good. And ifyou're not comfortable putting down that bowl of
(19:33):
food, you know, if you'vegot your finger on you know, speed
dial through the emergency vet as you'reputting down that bowl of food, you
should find something else to feed yourdogs. Gotcha. You need to feed
something that you're knowledgeable about, which, let me state again, it isn't
hard to get knowledgeable. They canfind my books at Kimothy dot com,
kymydhy dot com. They need toeducate themselves and that's not hard. It's
(20:00):
actually very very simple to do.But they need to have some background and
that way they're going to feel comfortableabout it. They're going to be able
to tweak it for their individual dog, and they're going to know if they're
not comfortable with it. And thenI say, thank you very much for
your interest in helping your animal becomehealthier, and please find something that fits
(20:25):
your comfort zone. Excellent, Kimothy. I'm glad you gave your web address,
But I also want to let gooddog listeners know that they can order
natural nutrition for dogs and cats.The ultimate diet and also the Natural Nutrition
No cook Book, Right to trythe Care of Fudge recipe yummy. Okay,
Kimothy, thanks so much for beingon the Good Dog podcast. And
I wanted to just add if peoplewant a private consultation, because sometimes that
(20:48):
fits their comfort zone better good mywebsite Kimothy dot com. I'll do my
best help them
Smarter Podcasts dot com delivering sound advice. Perhaps the most controversial topic I've covered
on the Good Dog Podcast involves dognutrition. Surprised I certainly was. I
(00:20):
focused on the topic twice prior totoday, once in the aftermath of the
tainted dog food debacle and then againin short features with a veterinary nutritionist.
After publishing these episodes, I heardfrom listeners in both cases who disagreed with
the experts that I had interviewed andasked that I devote a show to feeding
dogs a raw food diet. Hi. I'm joe Anne Green, and welcome
(00:42):
to Good Dog, where today Iwill do just that. My guest is
Kimothy Schultz, clinical nutritionist and animalhealth instructor. She's the author of Natural
Nutrition for Dogs and Cats, TheUltimate Diet, and the Natural Nutrition No
Cookbook. Welcome, Kimothy, Anna no cookbook that's really appealing in terms
of cooking for myself. Oh well, you know it came about for that
(01:06):
very reason. Oh and by theway, I wanted to mention my latest
book is Natural Nutrition for Cats.That's because cat people, those those of
people that don't have dogs. Ihave dogs and cats, but for the
people that don't have dogs. Theywanted their very own book. They probably
want their own podcast too, butthey're not getting it from me. I
am a dog person all the way. Cats make my eyes itch and swell
(01:30):
up, So I stake stare clearof you're talking to the right person.
I've I've had Newfoundland's in my heartand home for the last thirty years,
and I can't remember a time inmy life I didn't have some canine in
my life. But you know,the natural Nutrition No Cookbook came about because
I give all these seminars on nutritionfor animals, and at the end of
(01:51):
the seminar, people would say,gee, I should us as well as
my animal's fun and I'd say,yes, you should, And so I
wrote this no Cookbook. And thereason it's called that is because it's a
bunch of really yummy, really healthy, don't tell anyone healthy recipes, but
you don't even have to cook,so you're essentially assembling ingredients. I truly
(02:13):
believe in keeping it as simple aspossible. Okay, the kicker to it
is because I'm an animal lover.You're an animal lover. I know that.
You know. As we're sitting watchinga movie at night, we sneak
little goodies to our canine pals.And so even you knew, you knew,
imagine that popcorn in particular, AndI know it's not the best thing
(02:36):
to feed them, well, butno matter what, we do it,
you know, and you know I'ma dog trainer too, but it doesn't
matter. We'd like to share.It's a bonding thing, it's a love
thing. And so even though thisnatural nutrition no cookbook is full of human
recipes, I made sure that allthe ingredients are safe to share with your
dogs. Oh that's nice. SoI understand that your interest in nutrition grew
(02:59):
out of a purse experience decades ago, you know, isn't it. It's
kind of awful that that often isthe way it goes. Is pain is
a great motivator to learn. Yeah, And I was brought into this life
with a lot of health problems andit was looking pretty bleak. I had
(03:20):
gone through so many doctors and reallywas in bad shape when I finally hit
upon a doctor who changed the waythat I ate. And it wasn't anything
bizarro. It was just eating fresh, real food. And this was a
long time ago, because now it'slike, well, of course, that's
good for you. But at thetime he was a real pioneer in nutrition.
(03:42):
He simply taught me how to eatbetter for my body, and it
was truly a miracle for me.So lots of fresh fruits and vegetables,
good meat, good, good,yeah, good veggies, and more of
them, because you know, Igrew up in a meat and potatoes kind
of house and my mother didn't likegreen vegetable, so we didn't need the
help. And so, I mean, just an example was I had been
(04:05):
diagnosed with MS, was in awheelchair when I went to see him,
and was in pretty short order outof the wheelchair, walking around, taking
hikes, and this was a miracleto me. And as a really good
example, I had been diagnosed withfibercistic breast disease. And I hear so
many women during my lectures will comeup and say I've been diagnosed with that
(04:30):
too, or a friend has.And for those in your audience that don't
know, it's extremely painful lumps andbreasts, and more and more women are
being diagnosed with this. And Ihad been to my guynecologist who diagnosed me
and said, yep, we don'tknow what causes it. We don't know
how to cure it. It's goingto get worse and worse, more and
more painful. You'll probably end upwearing a broad of bed. Learn to
(04:51):
live with it, like, oh, gee, thanks, that didn't work
for you. Yeah, And whenI went to this doctor that was pioneer
nutrition. I mean, that wasn'teven my main issue. It was a
fact that I couldn't walk. Butafter he changed my diet, I remember
day ten, it was every lumpwas gone from my breast and I was
(05:15):
pain free. And to me,it was like, oh, thank you
Jesus, thank you Jesus. Right, But which is not to say that
this would work for everyone, butshifting one's diet to eating more healthful foods,
fresher foods is never a bad idea. What it showed me is what
a difference food can make in yourlife. And that started me on the
(05:36):
quest to learn everything I could,and of course that's ongoing because education never
ends. And it started me ona path to learning everything I could about
human nutrition and be nutso about myanimal friends, well, of course I
had to learn everything I could abouttheir nutrition as well. Timothy, why
do you believe there's so much disagreementand controversy on what's best to feed our
(06:00):
pets well, you know, becausethere is about what to feed ourselves too.
You know, there is a lotof different opinions. Some of it
is unfortunately a money thing, becauseyou know, if we all decided to
make homemade meals for our animals likewe did for most of our relationship with
(06:23):
them, where there wouldn't be abig business for the commercial foods out there.
On the other hand, when Ispeak with veteranary nutritionists, they say
that the premier or I guess they'recalled premium dog foods are really the best
way to go because a lot ofstudy has gone into you know, the
various compounds that are in there formaximum health, and you're better off not
(06:46):
altering their diet once they're established witha particular food. Do you disagree with
that? Yes, I do totally, And actually it's not just my opinion,
but it's anybody can look up thefacts around that subject. If you
actually go to like the NRC andthe AFCO books the guidelines for how to
(07:11):
formulate these products, you will seethat those guidelines are actually very honest and
forthright insane and in print it says, we don't know the optimal nutrient requirements
for dogs. And when you gothrough and in my books, I give
you the address and contact info soyou can get a copy of the same
(07:36):
book that all the brands of dogfoods go to when they want to formulate
a diet. And it will say, and I respect them for saying,
right there in print, your readers, your people will see in print it
says that even though we know andI don't have the book in front of
(07:56):
me this second, but it says, basically, I'm paraphrasing, even though
we know that such and such mineralis required by dogs, we don't know
the right amount. So what doyou feed your dogs? Keimothy. I
feed them a homemade diet of realfoods, and they have been doing so
for a couple of decades. Andthe reason I do so is because I've
(08:16):
seen the difference it makes in theirhealth. I've raised Newfoundland dogs for over
twenty years, and of course theywere fed the best, most expensive premium
brands for at least a decade,and then when I learned about nutrition,
I switched them over when I learnedabout ammal nutrition, and so I've kind
of had a good comparison. Sowhen you say fresh good foods, what
(08:39):
specifically do you feed them? Meat, bone, veggies, just you know,
foods that I can get at thegrocery store. Cooked raw, I
do raw, But I feel thateven a homemade cooked diet been well prepared.
You know, you can't just gowilly nilly. You do need to
do some education. But it's notdifficult because Joannes, think about it,
(09:00):
before the commercial foods were invented,which was a blink in time about sixty
years still years ago, for thousandsof years, folks like you and I
fed homemade diets to our dogs.So really, when you think about it,
the new fad diets are the commercialdiets. That is a way to
look at it. So when yousay raw, you give your dog a
(09:22):
slab of raw meat and some rawvegetables. Actually, I'm taking a look
at my ten year old Newfoundland dog, Deacon, bless his heart, And
you know, according to the NewfoundlandClub of America, a new should be
dead at seven. That makes meso angry. And he's ten and going
strong. Don't tell him he's supposedto be dead, right because he is
going strong. And you know what'sreally sad, Joanne is when I take
(09:45):
him to a vet and they go, oh, one, it's either one
or both of these. One I'venever seen a ten year old Newfoundland or
two I've never seen such a healthyNewfoundland. Isn't that sad? And you
think it's pretty much because of whatyou're feeding him? Absolutely, because I
raised Newfoundlands on commercial dog foods before, so you've seen the difference. Now
(10:07):
do you specifically advocate a food dietfor dogs? Yes, although I will
say that every dog is an individual, and certainly I mean I do not
only seminars, but a lot ofprivate consultations also, And if I felt
there was a reason to cook thefood, I would be the first person
to say so, because just likewe're individuals, every dog's an individual.
(10:31):
Although I will say across the boardthat you can certainly prepare a food at
home, whether it be cooked orraw, that is probably going to be
much more nutritious than you can getout of a can or a bag.
You just have to have some knowledgeand education behind you. But if people
would read the same information that dogfood manufacturers read and that they're getting their
(10:54):
information from, you will see howmuch nutritional information is lacking, so they
don't know more than we can know. How do you know, for instance,
with your dogs, how much meatto how much vegetable material? Or
(11:16):
do you give them dairy as well? I know my dogs love cheese.
Well who doesn't? I do?You don't like cheese? No? I
love that. I love. That'swhat I mean. Everybody loves cheese.
But no, I don't give mydogs dairy. But the thing is is,
it's a lot easier to control ourdogs diets than it is ours.
I have a lot. I havea harder time passing up that hot fudge
(11:37):
Sunday than I do saying to mydog, no, you can't have a
hot fudge. Say there you go. But no, I don't give my
dogs dairy because you know, wehumans are the only ones that continue to
have any dairy products past weening.Naturally, a dog or cat, you
know, wouldn't have any dairy productspast weening, and and most dogs have
(11:58):
a very difficult time I'm digesting itproperly because past weening, the enzyme that
is needed to digest that milk sugar, isn't really pleasant in them because hey,
the way their body is designed,they wouldn't normally have milk pass weening.
So what kinds of meat do yougive your dog and what kinds of
vegetables? Well, let me tellyou what deacon might have tonight. I'll
(12:22):
play matter d What is on themenu this evening for deacons. He might
have some beef and that could bemixed in. If I were feeding bones,
I would feed raw bones with thatfor dessert, or if I felt
uncomfortable feeding raw bones, I wouldinclude bone meal and I would mix that
(12:43):
all together and I put in Personally, his favorite veggie is broccoli, although
sometimes we can mix in some otherthings too. He's not overly picky,
so we can mix in some broccolitoo. So we've got meat and some
bone meal and some broccoli, andthen I've got what pretty much covers all
vitamins and minerals we know of,and ones that aren't even included in formulated
(13:07):
commercial foods, and that would becoming from some kelp, maybe some spirialina.
I mix that together and throw ina pinch of that and maybe some
essential fatty acids. Although Deacon hasshown me that with these fresh foods,
he doesn't even need extra oils added. So you don't feed him grains or
(13:28):
fruits. I will feed him fruitsas a treat. I like to feed
them away from his main meal becausefruits I have a lot of moisture in
them and a lot of fruits sugarin them, and so they tend to
be digested very quickly. They gothrough the digestive system very quickly. We
know what happens if you and Ieat too much fruit, Well, the
(13:48):
same thing can happen to our dogs. And do you feed him twice a
day or just once? He's anadult dog and he doesn't have any major
health issues that would dictate that Ifeed many times a day, So he
gets once a day, and that'sactually very good for him because it allows
his digestive system to rest and notjust be digesting all the time. We
(14:11):
actually have scientific studies that show thata dry dog food will take up to
sixteen hours to be in my dog'sbody. That's a lot of energy and
a lot of work being devoted todigestion, whereas a properly formulated raw food
diet takes about six hours. Iimagine there aren't any risks of feeding one's
(14:35):
dog raw vegetables, But what ifany of the risks of feeding raw meat.
Well, actually, let me goback a little bit, because one
of the biggest imbalances I see inpeople who have they have in their heart
good intentions in feeding a homemade diet. But you know, Joanne, one
of the biggest imbalances I see ispeople feeding too much vegetables. Interesting because
(14:56):
I think it's because we have beentold by our mothers, eat more veggies,
eat more veggies, right, right, right, and we think that
it's harmless, right, And actuallywe're we're feeding a carnivore, and a
carnivore doesn't eat a lot of vegetables. And when we take a look at
their short digestive system, veggies actuallytake a long time to digest, and
(15:18):
they do best in a long digestivesystem. I mean, think of a
cow or a horse. They havea very long digestive system to break down
that cellulose wall of those veggies.Our dogs don't. They have a short
digestive system. So meat really isthe primary mainstay of your dog's diet.
It is a very important ingredient.And a lot of vets will sometimes say,
(15:43):
oh, a meat diet will hurtyour animal, And yes, if
you were to feed an all meatdiet, that would be very harmful because
as we know, you know,out in the wild, there are certainly
no chunks of pot roast running aroundon four legs. That's not a natural
diet. There are other things included, much as bone, such as a
little bit of very broken down plantmaterial. And I want to go back
(16:07):
to saying that oftentimes I see peoplemaking the diet very unbalanced by giving too
much vegetables, because we think ofvegetables as so healthy, and they are,
but they are not actually a bigpart of a canid's natural diet.
And in fact, when I studiedwild animal nutrition, which I did for
(16:30):
quite a while before I started feedinga natural fresh food diet to my dogs,
I studied wild canids and their diets, and I studied with some of
the most well known biologists out therethat study wolves and such, and I
found it very interesting that what wehear, which is a slight misconception,
is that wolves will go for stomachcontents first and that's where they get the
(16:55):
grain in the veggies. Well,actually they have their personal preferences, and
it also matters where you are onthe pecking order. But what a lot
of wolves do when they get tothe stomach is shake out the contents,
so they're not going yum yum vegetablematter. Usually they shake out most of
the vegetable matter and then they'll leavethe stomach lining the tripe. So to
(17:17):
feed a diet like you're feeding yourdog, and like you advocate people feed
their pets, I have to believethat the costs are more than buying premium
dog foods. But maybe I'm wrong. Actually, you know, and I'm
feeding big dogs too. Actually it'sless for a few reasons, and that
is one. They eat so muchless. I am blown away when I
(17:40):
am with my fellow dog lovers andthey tell me how many cups of commercial
food they're Newfoundland's eat, because Ithink, oh my gosh, my dogs
could never eat that amount of foodwithout exploding. Because the foods I'm feeding
are so nutrient dense, and becauseeverything is actually utilized, I have to
(18:02):
feed less for them to get thesame amount of nutrients. And what is
so great, Joanne, is somuch less comes out the other end.
Well, that is nice, particularlywith a large dog. I have tiny
little Lulu, so not so muchof an issue here. When you say
you feed meat, do you feeda range of meats, chicken as well
hamburger. What kind of nice is? Yes, I like variety, but
(18:25):
you'll find that your individuals have individualpreferences too. What happens when they like
phile mignon, Well, if theylike beef, then I'll feed them more
beef. Okay, I don't havewhat's great too, is I don't have
to feed them the most expensive cuts. I can feed them the stuff that
humans don't like as much, whichtends to be cheaper. And let me
go back to one thing that yousaid, and when you said that,
(18:48):
I advocate that all people feed thisdiet, and actually I don't, even
though I feel it is best formy dogs, and even though I feel
that a well prepared, made rawdiet is best for most dogs, what
I really advocate the most is thatpeople feed what fits their comfort zone because
they have to be responsible and consistentabout it. I mean, I can't,
(19:11):
and I think that's just fabulous thatyou say that, And I want
to really stress that to good doglisteners because the fact of the matter is,
if you're going to buy raw meatand then let it sit in your
refrigerator for too long because you're afraidto feed it or because you got caught
up in whatever and then you feedit to your dog. You're not doing
your dog any good. And ifyou're not comfortable putting down that bowl of
(19:33):
food, you know, if you'vegot your finger on you know, speed
dial through the emergency vet as you'reputting down that bowl of food, you
should find something else to feed yourdogs. Gotcha. You need to feed
something that you're knowledgeable about, which, let me state again, it isn't
hard to get knowledgeable. They canfind my books at Kimothy dot com,
kymydhy dot com. They need toeducate themselves and that's not hard. It's
(20:00):
actually very very simple to do.But they need to have some background and
that way they're going to feel comfortableabout it. They're going to be able
to tweak it for their individual dog, and they're going to know if they're
not comfortable with it. And thenI say, thank you very much for
your interest in helping your animal becomehealthier, and please find something that fits
(20:25):
your comfort zone. Excellent, Kimothy. I'm glad you gave your web address,
But I also want to let gooddog listeners know that they can order
natural nutrition for dogs and cats.The ultimate diet and also the Natural Nutrition
No cook Book, Right to trythe Care of Fudge recipe yummy. Okay,
Kimothy, thanks so much for beingon the Good Dog podcast. And
I wanted to just add if peoplewant a private consultation, because sometimes that
(20:48):
fits their comfort zone better good mywebsite Kimothy dot com. I'll do my
best help them
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