Sunday 6 May 2012

Immunity & proteins

Any mammal's inherant immunity is reliant on many factors, 'The Compliment System' being one of the first and most important.
'Compliments' bind to anti-bodies, creating a catalyst to speed up an immune response and faciliate anti-bodies in targeting certain bacteria.
These 'compliments' are to do with proteins.
Proteins are vital for cellular repair, cellular membranes and as building blocks.
It is therefore vital that every animal obtains the correct amount of amino acids from protein in order to keep these cells and therefore the immune system healthy.

Cooking de-natures proteins. (Pond, 2003)

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Scare tactics regarding bacteria in raw food

Pet food manufacturers educate veterinary surgeons to tell you that there are major risks involved in feeding raw food with regard to bacteria. Thier scientists have identified bacteria in pet food and in the faeces of those pets fed it, however they do not inform you that a dog on a fully raw, non-grain diet does not get affected by these bacteria, here is why:

Bile and pancreatic juice released into the duodenum are

bactericidal for :

  • E.coli
  • Shigella
  • Salmonella 
  • Klebsiella

bacteriostatic for:

  • Coagulase (+ & -)
  • staphulocci
  • pseudomonas

and inhibit candida albicans

National Research Council (2006) Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats. Washington DC The National Research Academic Press

Reasons not to feed corn or soy to your dog

Corn & Soy are made up of short-chain fatty acids, that are known to inactivate lipase, hydrochloric acid & pepsin (Brosey et al. 2000), this inevitably has a negative effect on digestion, especially of proteins and therefore the amino acids necessary for mood regulation.

Here's another scientific article about how feeding a high protein, no-grain diet, has a positive effect on behaviour: http://www.animalmedcenter.com/news-and-press/article/the-influence-of-nutrition-on-aggression