Natural Dog Health

Taking care of your dog's health in a natural way can be simple - if we go back to basics! Here at Pets Natural Health Store, we encourage dog owners to start by thinking about what nature would provide for them, and take it from there!

Foundations for good health, whether we're talking about humans or animals, include quality nutrition, ample exercise, quality sleep and minimising toxins in the body.

Why a raw diet is best

Natural and organic foods are best for dog health. Unless the food is raw, there is little or no nourishment present in it. Raw food contains the essential enzymes, amino acids and nutrients that dogs need to stay healthy.

Canned meat and processed foods can cause your dog to over eat and bloat, leaving them hungry and uncomfortable. With all the goodness gone plus the added chemical preservatives, sugar and salt added, the food is “dead” matter. Over time, lack of quality nourishment can lead to health issues.

How dogs process food

Dogs are part of the “carnivora” order, which means they’re primarily meat eaters. Back in their wild, pre-domesticated state, they were flesh-eaters. Their bodies were set up for it, with sharp teeth designed for tearing, strong jaws for crunching, and a compact stomach. Their stomachs contain powerful digestive juices, capable of breaking down bones. When they dig into chunks of raw meat, it's like a workout for their stomach and intestines and allows them to use their teeth and jaws.

Dogs have smaller stomachs when compared to plant-eating animals like goats or horses, so dogs need their meals on the smaller side.

It’s ideal to feed dogs smaller meals made up of 75% raw meat.

Cooking meat kills the goodness

Cooking meat destroys the vital life force that is present in organic substances. Think of cooked meat as being already partially digested. It artificially and unnaturally breaks down the meat tissues - a task that your dog’s stomach, intestines, and digestive juices are meant to do. So when a dog eats cooked meat, it fails to engage these organs properly. Over time, these essential organs weaken and lose their natural functionality. Your dog’s taste receptors may also become desensitised.

Many dogs are fed a diet of mainly cooked food and sometimes dogs are deprived of meat-based foods altogether. Although these dogs manage to survive, they often become hosts to worms, emit unpleasant odours from their bodies, suffer from foul breath, and undergo rapid ageing. By roughly the age of seven, many dogs fed on such a diet will experience kidney disorders. Their vision and hearing may deteriorate, and their teeth accumulate brown deposits which require regular scraping by a veterinarian.

The benefits of adding herbs to your dog's diet

In the wild, dogs will instinctively munch on leafy herbs and grasses. It's not clear whether they seek out herbs for the flavour, but they do seem to instinctively know that herbs are beneficial.

Parsley, for instance, is full of vitamins and minerals that helps our dogs with digestion. Basil provides anti-inflammatory and antibacterial perks. While there's no documented cases of dogs seeking out turmeric and ginger in the wild, turmeric root known for helping with joints and boosting the immune system, and ginger, known for alleviating nausea.

So, when you add these herbs into your dog's bowl, you're giving them a dose of nature's own health kit, inspired by centuries of traditional herbal wisdom and quite possibly some innate doggy instinct!

What to feed your dog

This is just a quick reference list! View our blog for in depth information on specifics and how to prepare these foods safely and in ideal quantities for your dog - *especially the raw bones!