The following is reprinted from the April, 2010 newsletter from A Dog's Life.

Feed This, Inc! is about to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. We've been feeding clients' pets raw food for over 10 years and personally feeding raw for over 15 years.

People still ask "what IS a raw diet and how will it benefit my pets?"

A proper raw diet consists of what an animal would eat in the wild. A raw diet has no cooked ingredients, especially grains, yeast, or dairy. It does include meat, bones, fat, organs and some plant matter. No preservatives, no colors, no soy, no tapioca, etc. We also do not include nightshade veggies (potato, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, etc) for nutritional reasons.

Feed This, Inc! was created because Cathy's dog Taylor had IBD and had soft stools for her entire life (at the time she was 3 years old). Tiffani suggested that raw would resolve the issues. And it did!

With Cathy's marketing background, Tiffani's nutritional background and our combined veterinary background as well as a firm belief that this was "IT", we started our business in the basement of Cathy's Forestville home. Since then we have seen the most amazing results with our own pets as well as our client's pets who we have come to know as our "Feed This family".

Problems such as IBD, arthritis, allergies, ear infections, dirty teeth - you name it, we've seen it improve with a raw diet. First hand we've seen aggressive cancer go into remission then disappear completely. Tiffani's dog Tabasco was diagnosed with Hip Dysplasia almost 15 years ago - and she is still acting like a pup most of the time. Sick young kittens dumped and rehabbed exclusively on raw are some of the healthiest cats around. A fresh, raw diet can help any ailment because it supports the whole body. It supports the immune system and it allows the animal's body to do what it was made to do... thrive.

Raw works because the body recognizes it. Kibble was created as a quick and easy way to feed your pet...kind of the same scenario as fast food. Its easy... yes... it's cheap... yes... but (as you just learned in the previous article) NOT always healthy. That "cheapness" comes with a price, and it is usually paid to the veterinarian. We could go in depth about the problems with kibble but there is a great book called "Food Pets Die For" by Ann Martin that is available which can answer many of those questions.

Since raw has become so popular you will see the word "raw" on a plethora of kibble bags; they are trying to fool you. Raw meat does not keep in a bag... it just can't! Then there are the raw foods that are created by chefs who want to put everything but the kitchen sink into the food. Some of the additives are carcinogenic... some trigger seizures. We keep it simple. We have a short list of ingredients, we rotate veggies on a seasonal basis, and pulse herbs that are beneficial. We do this (not to pad our ingredient list or add as filler) because your pet can use the nutrients to be happy and healthy and live longer lives.

Many vets don't know about raw because pets on raw pets generally aren't in the vet office as frequently as pets that are on kibble. That is just a fact. We have veterinarians regularly call us to ask questions about raw foods and how we can help certain health issues. Additionally, veterinarians are inundated with statistical research about kibble and there isn't anyone financing studies on raw because people can make it at home... there is no "big money" to be made on raw so why spend money on studies? Veterinarians who 10 years ago discourage raw feeding are now feeding their own pets raw with the help and education of companies like ours who can properly balance a diet and insure the freshness of ingredients.

The bottom line is that fresh food is best - and a proper raw diet is a great way to introduce fresh healthy food to your furry family members.