What is a Raw Diet?A raw diet recreates the way our pet's ancestors have eaten in the wild for thousands of years. Dogs and cats are carnivores. Left to their own devices, their typical daily diet, like that of their wild cousins (wolves and the big cats), would involve catching (or finding) and eating another animal. A raw diet returns our pets to this more natural and healthy form of nutrition, as if they had hunted and caught their "perfect" dinner.
Bravo! formulates all of our products to include some or all of these ingredient groups. The specific product you select should be based upon how you prefer to prepare your pet’s food (from scratch or serve a prepared complete and balanced formula right from the package) or on the specific needs of your companion animal. For example, pet’s with highly sensitive digestive tracts or those suffering from allergies may want to fee a selection form the
or
product lines, while those without these issues may do well on a complete diet formulated to include more of the five ingredient groups. For these
animals, a selection from the or product lines might work best. |
With Bravo You Can Choose The Formula that’s Right for Your Pet
One of the most important differences in a Bravo! raw diet is the absence of any grains or preservatives typically used in kibble. In fact, most commercial grade kibble use little to no real meat in their formulas and low percentages of quality protein. There are, however, a variety of kibble brands that are grain free and made with a high percentage of quality protein and other beneficial ingredients. The key is to become an educated label reader. For more information about how to read a pet food label click here to download a pdf of How to Read a Pet Food Label, an article from Animal Wellness Magazine on this topic. More about kibble . . .Until recently, many people thought kibble (grain-based dry food) diets were the best food to feed their pet.. They are readily available, easy to store, convenient, reasonably inexpensive and most pets seem to enjoy them.However, within the last 15 years, concerned owners began to notice an increase in certain diseases among pets. More pets seemed to be suffering from diseases like diabetes, cancer, joint disorders, skin issues and dental problems. Evidence of these diseases was also appearing at a much earlier age. There had to be a reason. One of the primary suspects was diet. The old adage, “you are what you eat” seemed to apply. Natural diets were replaced with highly processed pet food diets based on grain products (kibble), rather than meats, organ meats, bones and vegetables. That's what had changed so dramatically and the change coincided with the increase in these diseases. Most dry commercial pet foods are at least 50% (or more) grain because the carbohydrates are needed to hold the food together. But as The Merck Veterinary Manual tells us, dogs and cats have "no dietary requirement for carbohydrates". Does it make sense to feed our companions diets made of 50% or more of a substance they don't even need? Additionally, carbohydrates are metabolized by the body to glucose (sugar), which is known to feed cancers, diabetes, and some of the other disorders that now seem to be commonplace among our pets. As well, most kibble has a low percentage of the high quality meats, organ meats, bones and vegetables a pet needs for good health. Yes, meat and other proteins are added to most kibble formulas, but at a much lower level than is available in a good raw diet. Unfortunately, many commercial products also use poor quality meats as the protein ingredient in their formulas and they are processed at very high temperature under very high pressure, which further reduces the nutritional value.Will an all-kibble diet satisfy your pet's immediate hunger? Yes. Is an all-kibble diet good for the long-term health of your pet? No. Dog and cat owners who have already switched to raw, as well as a small but growing number of veterinary professionals now feel that kibble may sustain life, but may not promote health. They believe that whole, natural foods are the most likely to result in:
Yes, the pet will survive on a kibble diet, but they will not thrive. Does this mean you should stop feeding kibble?Not necessarily. Feeding an all raw diet is the ideal. However, if you cannot feed all raw, feeding some cooked, canned or kibble foods is fine, so long as they are a high quality, grain-free brand of pet food. Just aim for the ideal as often as is possible. Whether you decide to feed 100% raw or a combination, the idea is to feed a variety of high quality foods, including all five of the main pet food groups important to better pet health. Read about your raw diet choices in
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