Our goal is to provide the most health-supportive experience for the animals that visit the Kennel. Their well-being is our highest concern.
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Dogs who are fed a fresh food diet, whether raw or lightly cooked, have found to be much healthier and live longer than dogs fed a dry food diet. In order to process the dry food bits, the original ingredients have to be cooked at such a high temperature that all the nutrition is cooked out. Then, after the fact, synthetic vitamins and fats are sprayed on the bits to make it palatable and food coloring may be added. Contrary to popular belief, dry food does not clean teeth. Imagine eating a box of cookies. Do your teeth feel clean afterwards? With this in mind, we no longer offer our own dry food while boarding cats or dogs. If your dog or cat eats a dry food diet at home, please bring it while your furry stays with us. We are happy to consult with you on how to feed a fresh food diet to your dog and/or cat.

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Dogs are carnivores who do best on raw muscle meat, organ meats like heart, liver, and kidney, raw bones (we suggest feeding necks, as the bones when raw are completely consumable), and (optionally) a little bit of well-cooked vegetables, fresh fruits such as berries, watermelon, or banana, and occasionally a bit of soaked and slow-cooked grains (but not too much). It may be more convenient to feed dry food, but it is NOT healthier for their teeth and gums or their vitality. But wait? Doesn’t feeding dry kibble to my dog keep their teeth clean? Kibble to a dog is like eating a cookie to a human. If you eat a box of cookies, do your teeth feel clean? Mine don’t. That’s the first myth. The second is that kibble, (whether it is a $4 bag or a $80 bag) by design, is a highly processed non-food whereby the process to extrude the small shapes takes all the nutrition and vitality out of the food. Then, flavoring and nutrients (that have been processed out) must be added back in. Yuck.

Take a moment and look at your dog or cat’s teeth, especially those molars in the back. If you are feeding kibble, there is a very good chance that you will find tarter and possibly even bleeding gums. That is not a healthy animal. Sure, you can pay a veterinarian to put your dog (or cat) under anesthesia to clean those teeth (and pay $$$) OR, you can feed a species-appropriate diet that will be nutritious whole food without the need for sprayed-on flavoring and synthetic supplements. Feeding kibble to your dog is like eating fast food, every day, without the benefit of a toothbrush.

Cats are obligate carnivores, which means their biology, tooth structure, and digestion are only able to process meat and fat. No vegetables, no fruit, and especially no grains. A mouse is the perfect ratio of meat and fat to bone to fiber that a cat can eat. Cats lack the salivary amylase enzyme to digest carbohydrates. Plant-based proteins do not contain the full spectrum of amino acids (the building blocks of protein), and cats need them to thrive. In addition, cats do not have a high thirst-response; which means that they obtain the majority of their water intake in the form of their prey. So cats fed a dry kibble diet typically will not make up for the lack of moisture by drinking enough water, which in turn leads to serious consequences down the road, including kidney and urinary tract issues. Even feeding a high-quality canned food is preferred, as the canned food has a higher moisture content. https://feline-nutrition.org/

 

For more information on how to feed your cat a proper species-appropriate diet, check out:
Cat Info Common Sense, Healthy Cats by Lisa A. Pierson, DVM
Feline-Nutrition A wealth of information on the care and feeding of your feline

Kibble is a convenience food. Convenient for the humans, but at what cost?

Black Mesa Kennels, LLC

(505) 570-4770 text