The Perfect Balanced Diet For My Pet

The Perfect Balanced Diet For My Pet

We all have to start somewhere to make improvements with our pet's health and wellness. With The Pet Beastro's many choices you can have your pet eating healthier in no time at all.

Variety & Raw Pet Nutrition

Over 20 years ago, I would never have imagined how my decisions with my pets and my own nutrition would shape my views on how cats and dogs should be fed. Nutrition is key to our vital health including both body and mind. My first experience with changing to a raw diet was with our family Yorkshire Terrier, Max. As his health declined I had no idea he would be one of my greatest teachers. As I ventured out on my own, my first pet Sasha would also continue my journey into natural health and what I had learned with Max. 

The Importance Of Fresh Food

From the start of my journey with Max, I have learned how important it is for our cats and dogs to have fresh food in some way, shape, or form within their diet. This incorporation may be different depending on your beliefs and budget. It could be daily, a few times weekly, a few times monthly, or in treat form. What I can say is that when pet caregivers begin to add some of the fresh food items their pets are healthier, they have more energy, they eat with gusto (great for picky pups), they are excited about mealtime, they crave the hydration from food (I wouldn’t consider it begging or creating a “bad habit”), allergies clear up, itching diminishes, weight control is better, and you nourish the body with whole foods.

The Right Nutrition For A Healthy Life

It’s hard to imagine that we are adding the wrong fuel to the body. Nutrition can be a controversial topic with our pets because they aren’t able to talk and tell us what makes them feel well and what doesn’t. In a more relational story, after you buy a sports car you don’t skimp out on the fuel and add water to the gas tank. If you did, the car would no longer run optimally. The water would sink to the bottom of the gas tank then causing rust to occur in the pipes, hoses, and injectors leading to more complications. If we could see the inner workings of our pets and how different ingredients may cause inflammation or increase the chance of “rust” in the digestive system we would be quick to make modifications. 

Taste The Rainbow 

This leads into my next thought process and might be new to some dog owners. Has it ever crossed your mind to feed your dog from every color of the rainbow? This is a practice we use with our human friends to help get a variety of nutrients into the body or encourage kids to eat a variety of foods. I wouldn’t recommend this for cats as they are obligate carnivores and most often could care less about fruits and vegetables. However, dogs are considered omnivores which is just a fancy word to describe our dogs eating and thriving from a combination of plant and animal food sources.

Hear me out. I’m going to take a trip down the rainbow color wheel of ROY-G-BIV that we learned in our early education classes and list food choices based on color. If we had a weekly goal of adding each of these colors into our dog's meal rotation, how would you rate? 

  • Red - liver, beets, kidney beans, red beans, pomegranate, raspberries, strawberries, tomatoes, cherries, peppers, watermelon, cranberries
  • Orange - salmon, pumpkin, squash, sweet potato, peach, carrots, peppers, apricots, cantaloupe, 
  • Yellow - squash, ginger, lemon, pineapple, eggs, honey, peppers, mangos
  • Green - tripe, kiwi, celery, lettuce, bok choy, kelp, broccoli, parsley, string or green beans, spinach, peppers, kale, zucchini, cucumbers, snap peas
  • Blue / Indigo / Violet - blueberry, elderberries, blackberries, mulberries, fingerling potatoes, purple carrots, cabbage, kale, eggplant,
  • White - whitefish, cauliflower, banana, apple, pear, white potato, goats milk, kefir, mushrooms

Now don’t let this overwhelm you. We all have to start somewhere to make improvements with our companion animals. You can start at home by adding fresh fruits, vegetables, canned sardines, raw eggs, canned salmon, or plain canned pumpkin. If you would like a simpler approach, we have many options at The Pet Beastro that is both affordable and easy to add to your pet's bowl. A few of our favorite products are Green Juju blends, Primal Elixirs, Dr. Harvey’s Veg-to-Bowl, Primal Butcher’s Block Toppers, and Answers Goat Milk. Any of these products are a great place to start if you have never added fresh food to your cat or dog bowl before. 

“Let food be thy medicine, and let medicine be thy food” ~ Hippocrates

If you would like to take your pet's nutrition to the next step, we offer nutrition consultations with an individualized approach based on your goals for your cat or dog. Our team members look forward to helping you add fresh food to your pet bowl. Call The Pet Beastro at (248) 548-3448 and they can help you make an appointment.

Toxic Foods For Dogs & Cats: 

Grapes, raisins, avocado peels, onions, scallions, raw dough, chocolate, mustard leaf & seed, macadamia nuts, persimmons, plums, fruit pits - apricot, peach, cherry, etc.

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