[nagdu] freeze-dried dog foods

[Raven Tolliver]

Kerri,
Below is a post I wrote for my naturally-reared guide dog list. This
post was on synthetic nutrients.

Synthetic vs. whole Food nutrients
Now that you know what whole food supplements are and where to find
them, I would like for us to dive into why whole food supplements are
healthier than synthetic multivitamins, and even naturally-derived
multivitamins. You might be considering taking a multivitamin
yourself, or supplementing your dog’s home-cooked or raw diet. If you
feed commercial dog food, there are vitamin and mineral supplements in
the food. However, most multivitamin supplements are synthetic
nutrients in the form of cheap pills and powders that were concocted
in a laboratory, and not derived from whole food sources.

What You Might Not Know
The body does not processed synthetic vitamins the same way it
processes whole food vitamins. Multivitamins contain vitamins and
minerals as isolated chemicals. That means these nutrients are
isolated from their natural synergistic blends found in fresh foods.
Nutrients are meant to be processed alongside enzymes, co-enzymes,
antioxidants, probiotics, and other compounds you can only find in
whole foods. No pilled or powdered supplement will contain those
vehicles for nutrients, and so the body does not process synthetic
vitamins and minerals as nutrients.
Synthetic nutrients are derived from chemical nonfood substances, such
as limestone, petroleum, and lye. The body recognizes these synthetic
vitamins and minerals as foreign substances, and does it best to
eliminate or reject absorption of such toxins until it is given the
appropriate compounds to absorb them.

Sources of Synthetic Nutrients
Below are the names of some nutrients, their synthetic forms, and
chemicals used to create them. Following some of the listings is a
paragraph excerpted from an article, detailing the damage done by
these synthetic nutrients. If you are taking a multivitamin or feeding
commercial dog food, check to see if the synthetic names of these
nutrients are on the ingredient lists.

Vit b1 (Thiamine mononitrate): coal tar, ammonia, acetone, and hydrochloric acid
“It is much less absorbable since it isn’t bound to phosphate. It is
crystalline in structure, unlike plant-based vitamins. Many synthetic
vitamins are crystalline. Crystals in our blood stream cause damage
and mineral accumulation where it isn’t needed, like joints.”
Vit B3 (Nicotinic acid): coal tar, ammonia, acids, 3-cyanopyridine,
and formaldehyde.
Vit B6 (Pyridoxine hydrochloride ): petroleum ester, hydrochloric
acid, and formaldehyde
It isn’t readily absorbed or converted and has been shown to actually
inhibit the action of natural B6 in the body. It also has side effects
not normally found with natural food sources of this vitamin.
Vit B12: Cobalt and cyanide
Choline (Choline chloride): ethylene, ammonia, and hydrochloric acid
or tartaric acid.
Vit C (Ascorbic acid): genetically modified and hydrogenated corn
sugar and acetone.
It does not include the flavonoids and phytonutrients that make it work.
Vit E (dl-alpha tocopherol): refined oils, trimethylhydroquinone, and isophytol
It is not as easily absorbed, doesn’t stay as long in tissues, and is
quickly dispelled like a toxin or unknown chemical.
Vit K (menadione): coal tar derivatives, genetically modified and
hydrogenated soybean oil, hydrochloric acid and nickel
It is considered highly toxic and damages the immune system.
Read the article to learn about other synthetic nutrients:

Natural vs. Synthetic Vitamins – What’s the Big Difference?
http://www.sunwarrior.com/news/natural-vs-synthetic-vitamins/

What’s the Alternative?
The nutritional herbs and sea vegetables discussed earlier this week
are the best supplements for any diet. These foods are rich in
essential nutrients in their natural forms and complexes.

Here are the articles on whole food supplements:

1. 5 Nutritious Herbs Every Dog Needs by Joyce Belcher
http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/5-nutritious-herbs-every-dog-needs/

2. Nutritional Herbs Your Dog Shouldn’t Be Without
http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/nutritional-herbs-your-dog/

3. Vitamin-Rich Herbs for Your Pets
http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/vitamin-rich-herbs-for-your-pets/

4. Sea Vegetables and Their Health Benefits for Dogs by Lori Rose Lic
BSH Homeopathic Medicine
http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/sea-vegetables-and-their-health-benefits-for-dogs/

You cannot give sea vegetables to your dog whole, so purchasing them
in capsule or tablet form is best. Two choice websites are
supersup.com and vitaminshop.com.

And of course, there are several more articles below. The fourth
article is extremely lengthy since it is a research paper.

1. The Differences Between Synthetic and Natural Vitamins
http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/synthetic-vs-natural-vitamins/

2. Synthetic Vitamins and Minerals in Dog Foods
http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/synthetic-vitamins-and-minerals-in-dog-foods/

3. All About Where Vitamin Supplements Come From
http://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-vitamin-supplements

4. The Truth About Vitamins in Nutritional Supplements
http://www.doctorsresearch.com/articles4.html

5. The Stunning Truth about "Complete and Balanced" Pet Foods...
http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2010/11/04/nutrition-provided-by-your-pet-cat-food-or-pet-dog-food.aspx

Happy reading!
-- 
Raven
Founder of 1AM Editing & Research
www.1am-editing.com

You are valuable because of your potential, not because of what you
have or what you do.

Naturally-reared guide dogs
https://groups.google.com/d/forum/nrguidedogs

On 9/5/15, Raven Tolliver <ravend729 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Kerri,
> It's great that you want to improve your dog's health.
> To see whether freeze-dried is an option for you, calculate how much
> your dog would consume weekly. Then calculate your monthly dog food
> cost based on her weekly feeding amount and how much food you can get
> out of each bag. When some people do the math, they are completely
> opposed to going freeze-dried, which I don't blame anyone if you've
> got a strict budget to stick to.
>
> The food that Daryl mentioned is a dog food form that combines kibble
> with freeze-dried pieces. This is likely more cost effective for most
> people who want to stay commercial but aren't ready or willing to go
> raw.
>
> Freeze-dried ingredients combined with kibble requires much less
> synthetic nutrients. Synthetic nutrients are harmful because they
> prohibit and slow nutrient absorption, and they are made from foreign
> substances that the body cannot absorb such as coal tar, limestone,
> acetone, formaldehyde, and so on. All of the nutrients in kibble are
> synthetic unless freeze-dried ingredients are added. It's from natural
> sources, yes. But all things natural are not good for us.
>
> Let's take a look at what is a bad ingredient list and a better
> ingredient list, in my opinion according to copious amounts and hours
> of research I've done.
>
> For the bad ingredient list, here's the one for Science Diet Adult Large
> Breed.
> Chicken, Whole Grain Wheat, Brewers Rice, Whole Grain Sorghum, Corn
> Gluten Meal, Whole Grain Corn, Chicken Meal, Chicken Liver Flavor,
> Pork Fat, Dried Beet Pulp, Soybean Oil, Flax seed, Lactic Acid,
> Potassium Chloride, Iodized Salt, Choline Chloride, Calcium Carbonate,
> vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of
> Vitamin C), Niacin Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A
> Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement,
> Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Folic Acid, Vitamin
> D3 Supplement), minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate,
> Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), Taurine, Oat Fiber,
> Mixed Tocopherols for freshness, Phosphoric Acid, Beta-Carotene,
> Natural Flavors, Dried Apples, Dried Broccoli, Dried Carrots, Dried
> Cranberries, Dried Peas.
>
> All that stuff you saw that is labeled as supplemental is harmful, and
> also unnecessary. If the food was healthy, it would not require the
> addition of vitamin and mineral supplements. A long list of synthetic
> nutrients signifies that the food is cooked to death, destroying the
> majority of naturally occurring nutrients.
>
> Here's the better ingredient list, the one for ACANA Duck & Bartlett
> Pear Singles.
> Duck meal, deboned duck, green lentils, red lentils, duck liver,
> pears, duck fat, green peas, yellow peas, algae, garbanzo beans,
> pumpkin, carrots*, freeze-dried duck liver, kelp, chicory root, ginger
> root, peppermint leaf, lemon balm, mixed tocopherols (preservative),
> dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product, zinc proteinate.
>
> See how much shorter that ingredient list is? That's because it's
> mostly made up of whole foods. Unless the body is malfunctioning and
> in serious distress, the best way for any animal to get nutrients on a
> daily basis is from whole foods.
>
> I also suggest you rotate the foods your dog eats. Food sensitivities
> are often developed due to eating the same foods day in and day out,
> until your body is so bogged down by relying on a large percentage of
> digestive enzymes and processes for the same things rather than
> utilizing and balancing the use of all available digestive enzymes and
> processes.
> Furthermore, a balanced diet is a varied diet. All foods have varying
> amounts, deficiencies and excesses of different nutrients. To balance
> them out, feed variety.
> Variety happens over time, not within a day or week. So switching up
> foods is something you can do monthly, every 3 months, or 3 times a
> year. The choice is yours. Just like microbes, if you expose your dog
> to a variety of foods, it lessens the chances of developing
> sensitivities and harsh reactions to normal foods.
>
> To learn more about the difference between synthetic and whole food
> nutrients, and the importance of nutrient synergy, visit
> dogsnaturallymagazine.com. Find the heading that reads: Find Hidden
> Dangerous Pet Food Ingredients Like A Pro. Enter your 1st name and
> email address and you are sent a link to a video, which is a
> presentation by an animal health expert. You can also download her
> presentation notes.
> There might be a link to buy some literature on healthy dog food
> ingredients or something. I say whatever you can read for money, you
> can also read for free if you can find it  or have somebody search it
> out for you.
>
> If you can go freeze-dried, great. Sojo's Complete and Grandma Lucy's
> are okay. I personally take issue with those foods because you only
> see meat protein mentioned once in the ingredient list. Maybe it's
> knit picky, and it's possible that instead of saying pork meal,
> deboned pork, pork fat, and pork liver, they just say pork once and
> get it over with. I'm not certain that either way of listing an
> ingredient speaks to what percentage of the ingredients comes from
> that protein source.
>
> If you'd like other options, consider Great Life, Acana Singles, and
> Orijen.
>
> I cannot speak to what improvements will occur after switching from
> kibble to freeze-dried. I went from a grain-free kibble to feeding
> prey-model raw. There was no transition. That doesn't mean that's the
> right choice for everyone. If you know your dog is sensitive to sudden
> food switches, then switch slowly. My golden could handle sudden
> switches just fine. It's all about knowing your dog.
> I do think your dog's health will improve because her food with be
> less processed and contain more whole food ingredients. This will
> avail more nutrients to your dog's body systems, and should improve
> their functionality. It might not happen right away, but it will
> happen.
> My dog had chronic ear infections on 5 different kibble formulas. His
> ears detoxed for 2 months after going raw and dropping all toxic pet
> products. Now, I only need to clean his ears once every other month.
>
> The detoxing process doesn't happen to all dogs, but when it does, it
> can be a bit overwhelming and disturbing. If you understand that your
> dog's body is essentially draining out all the sewage that's
> accumulated for the past how many ever months or years, you are glad
> that yucky stuff is coming out and not staying in your dog's body to
> cause future health problems.
> While detoxing, you don't ever want to stop it. You can speed it up
> with homeopathy, or sooth the process with calming herbs, coconut oil,
> etc. Whatever you do, it's important not to suppress the immune
> system.
>
> Hth. Any further questions, feel free to email Ravend729 at gmail.com.
> --
> Raven
> Founder of 1AM Editing & Research
> www.1am-editing.com
>
> You are valuable because of your potential, not because of what you
> have or what you do.
>
> Naturally-reared guide dogs
> https://groups.google.com/d/forum/nrguidedogs
>
> On 9/5/15, Danielle Cyclorama via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> I have fed Grandma Lucy's solely or in combination with kibble to my
>> guide
>> and pet dog for just over a year. I think it is an excellent food for the
>> price and both dogs have been very healthy on it. My pet dog has been
>> allergy free since we switched her diet and my guide has had a noticible
>> decrease in stool volume with better consistency.
>>
>> Do you know how many calories is in your dog's current food per cup? I
>> know
>> the calories are given for each cup of Grandma Lucy's on their website.
>> If
>> you know both pieces of information, it shouldn't be difficult to figure
>> out. Simply divide the number of calories she is eating by the number of
>> calories in each cup of Grandma Lucy's. It will probably be close to two
>> cups, maybe slightly less since this brand is more calorie dense than
>> most
>> kibble.
>>
>> I considered feeding my dog raw, but I really don't have the
>> refrigerator/freezer space in a dorm. I also do not personally enjoy
>> handling raw meat. That being said, I could not bring myself to continue
>> to
>> feed my dog the food he was eating after reading the ingredients list. I
>> decided to feed freeze-dried as about 2/3 of his diet and the remainder
>> Great Life kibble. I would ideally like to feed all freeze-dried but it
>> can
>> get a bit expensive with a very active 74 pound dog.
>>
>>
>> You may want to make the switch over a several day period.  If your dog
>> seems sensative to food changes, making the switch over a week or so
>> should
>> give her adequate time to adjust. I'm not sure if it will make a
>> difference
>> to your pup's breath, but I really don't think it will be worse.  Perhaps
>> she needs more opportunities to chew, if that is something she is
>> interested
>> in.
>>
>>
>> Danielle and Thai
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>>> On Sep 5, 2015, at 6:41 PM, Kerri Stovall via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hello listers,
>>> I remember reading a long, detailed discussion a few months back about
>>> raw feeding versus kibble, and I am seriously considering switching to
>>> a more healthy alternative, and I am considering the different options
>>> available. Have any of you used, or still use, the brand Grandma
>>> Lucy's? What are your experiences with it, and how much should I feed
>>> a 57 pound female? I read the instructions on the site, but still
>>> don't know how much freeze-dried would equal to two cups of kibble, or
>>> thereabouts. I would need to know how much to feed her in the morning
>>> and how much at night, and then from there I can adjust it according
>>> to activity level, etc. But I just need to know the basic meal amount
>>> for a moderately active dog.
>>> I think I heard of someone mentioning this brand on here, but thought
>>> I'd give it a shot to see how many of you that raw feed, use this
>>> particular company and what your thoughts were in general on
>>> freeze-dried versus completely fresh raw food? I don't have a lot of
>>> time to do completely from scratch raw food, but want a better diet
>>> for my dog.  Also, I didn't know that switching foods of the same
>>> brand would cause a stomach upset. For example, I wanted smaller
>>> kibble in more chewable pieces for my dog, and I currently feed her
>>> Science Diet, which is what Pilot had her on when I got her in April,
>>> but her breath was awful even after a teeth cleaning, so I'm hoping
>>> this switch will help, but I changed her over from adult active large
>>> breed to Science Diet advanced fitness, thinking that since it was
>>> within the Science Diet brand, it wouldn't do as much to upset her. I
>>> knoew that switching brands of kibble completely, for instance Science
>>> Diet to Purina, would upset her, but not within the same brand.
>>> However, her stool is soft today, and so is the stool of my husban'd's
>>> dog as well, who also switched from Science Diet adult active, to the
>>> Science Diet advanced fitness formula, which is the smaller bite-sized
>>> pieces. I thought since they were both Science Diet, that they had
>>> mostly the same ingredients and therefore would be safer to switch
>>> more quickly, but I guess they have different ingredients, ore enough
>>> of them to make a difference. Anyway, back to the wraw food. I wonder
>>> if switching her from kibble to raw will upset her, or if I should do
>>> a gradual switch over, and do you all think it will help with her
>>> breath, in addition to her overall general health?
>>> Thank you all for your answers, and I hope everyone's having a
>>> wonderful holiday weekend!
>>> Kerri and Sadie
>>> --
>>> Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near. (Philippians
>>> 4:5, NIV)
>>>
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>>
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