Dixie's Raw Kitchen

29/09/2020

A little (true) story.... Around 2010 I flew to Brisbane, Australia to see first hand the effects of switching a large group of dogs from dry to raw. The differences in the dogs were so obviously incredible on so many fronts (training to health to kennels to form) that it was like the clouds...

23/07/2020

Digestive biscuits are the most boring biscuits in the world but I accept some people like them. Dogs certainly do. With the obesity crisis raging in pets, I need to highlight that when you give a 10kg dog a biscuit it's the equivalent of giving an 80kg human 6-8 biscuits. That is going to pile on the pounds, particularly in an animal already struggling to maintain body form on an ultra-processed diet of more than 50% bread. Can you imagine going to the gym on that sort of diet?!

Get your dogs lean guys. It's crucial to their health. It massively reduces inflammation in the body so old dogs will get a new lease of life as their joints begin to move again and now those joints will last longer. They will be more agile, encouraging more exercise. They will be less prone to diabetes and cancer. They will live longer. All this can be achieved quickly and easily by feeding them appropriately.

The answer is NOT feeding them less pizza, or feeding them magic low-calorie pizza at grossly inflated prices under the entirely false marketing claim of "prescription" (it has no medicinal properties whatsoever, in this case its the same dry food with an extra 10% indigestible plant fibre!), it's cutting the pizza out entirely. This way they can still have nice big tasty meals only they are leaner, higher in protein and fresh fat. Weight will fall off slowly and will be replaced by lean muscle mass. It's cheaper and tastier. What's not to like. More here
https://dogsfirst.ie/health-issues/feed-fat-dogs-fresh-not-less/

[Digestive biscuits, like all cereal-based pet food products made by candy companies, are a desperately poor food choice for your pet. You are wasting your money and their health. Treats are among the worst offenders. Dogs want meaty treats. Here's a two-part article that will help you tease the good treats from the bad and finishes with lots of ideas how you can make your own...https://dogsfirst.ie/why-natural-dog-treats/]

12/04/2020

It's Science Says Sunday! Referential gestures are signals used to draw a person (or other nonhuman animal's) attention to a specific object, individual or event in the environment. It helps us communicate, non-verbally, our needs.

In the past, many non-human primates have been shown to possess an impressive amount of gesturals when interacting with humans. Dogs have a unique relationship with humans that centres on non-verbal communication with frequent interaction, making this study particularly interesting.

The study recorded 47 potential referential gesture events when observing dogs interacting with humans in their home. After analyzing the data, the researchers found evidence of 19 referential gestures performed by dogs during everyday communication with their humans that conform to what has been previously documented as the five features of referential signalling.
doi.org/10.1007/s10071-018-1181-3

12/04/2020

Perfectly Rawsome breaksdown the instances when pets may experience digestive upset & need a bland raw diet while overcoming stomach upset.

05/12/2019

❌ PLEASE LEAVE THEM IN THE SHOPS ❌

The vast majority of these rawhide products and treats come from China.

Their journey starts with the hides being soaked in a toxic sodium sulphide to remove the hair and fat. More chemicals are used in order to split the hide into layers which is then washed with hydrogen peroxide to give the white "pure" look and remove the rancid smell.
Now comes the pretty festive colours and the glue to form cute shapes.

They regularly cause intestinal blockages and choking. The chews go slippery when wet and are near impossible to get hold of to save a choking dog.

Please be safe with your dogs!

02/12/2019

28/10/2019

WHY I DON'T FEED MY DOG MILK BONES (or similar) COMMERCIAL TREATS
Pet Nutrition V/Blogger, Rodney Habib from Planet Paws posted that "according to 2018 global sales, the #1 treat chosen (landslide win) by pet parents is the Milk Bone." That's rather sad to me because with such little effort we can do so much better in the treats we offer our pets.
All the reasons that I don't feed my dog these types of treats fall into 2 categories.
First: there's nothing I consider good in them that I want to feed and many ingredients I choose to avoid. Can't be bothered with the wheat products topping the ingredient list as they are considered low in nutrients and digestibility. The meat and bone meal that come next are something I avoid in general being rendered products of unspecified source. If you understand rendering, then you know that what is allowed to be rendered into pet food ingredients is truly puke-worthy. Ingredients also include synthetic chemical preservatives thought to pose enough of a health hazard that they are banned from food for people in some countries.
Second: why waste good calories on inferior nutrition? Milk Bone recommends 3 small biscuits for my small dog, Chloe; that's 45 calories! Does not sound like much to us, but her daily calorie intake should be about 235 calories given her weight, activity level, and body condition. For those calories, I could treat her with high quality, nutrient dense foods like lean meat, fish, quail eggs, a small chicken neck, broccoli, blueberries, and she will be just as happy getting that kind of treat as she would a carb-laden commercial treat of questionable ingredients. I also source out high quality commercial treats made with ingredients I do want to feed, and I make my own too. With epidemic levels in Dogdom of obesity, diabetes, and cancer, all diseases with food/diet/nutrition-related components, we really need to be rethinking the way we feed our dogs, including treats.
Here's some links if you want to begin researching yourself, including a handful to recipes for making your own treats.
Rodney's post: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156901262822028&set=a.487776152027
Link to a handy aid for looking up pet food ingredient definitions: https://www.tailblazerspets.com/tailblazers-pet-ingredient-dictionary.php
Link to Dr. Karen Becker's article for calculating calories:
https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2010/12/07/weight-loss-tips-for-pets.aspx
Link to Rodney Habib / Planet Paws' video on The 5 Most Dangerous Popular Pet Treats to avoid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYtSr6QqsPA
More on Milk Bones: https://goodnessgracioustreats.wordpress.com/2010/06/12/where%E2%80%99s-the-beef/
Link on Rendering (Dogs Naturally Magazine): https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/rendered-products-in-pet-food/
More on rendering: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/04/what_is_in_pet_food_zoo_animals_sick_livestock_dogs_and_cats_from_shelters.html
Pet Food & Rendering Plants (Truth About Pet Food article): https://truthaboutpetfood.com/pet-food-and-rendering-plants/
More from the Truth About Pet Food on rendering: https://truthaboutpetfood.com/this-is-what-fda-and-department-of-agriculture-considers-food/
Dr Karen Becker's Ground Meat & Blueberry cookies: https://youtu.be/IfF4Wsg1pTU
Rodney Habib's Gingerbread cookies (not just for the holidays!): https://youtu.be/xz0_hAJnm6E
Dr Karen Becker's Pumpkin Almond cookies: https://youtu.be/BpaHiE0V7QI
Dr Karen Becker's Parsley Liver Cubes: https://youtu.be/SJyJGCngjVA
Link to Dr Karen Becker's Homemade Treats for healthy Dogs (free e-download): https://healthypets.mercola.com/ebook/homemade-pet-treats.aspx

25/10/2019

RE-POST: this one originally went up a year ago, but as advocates for maximizing fresh and minimizing processed in the diet, this is one that's important to us, worthy of a regular re-share:
Colors in pet foods can come from artificial food dyes, not from the food used to make the nuggets. The color does not matter to your dog. Dogs do not even see colors the same way we do. Nor is a dog enticed into eating by the way the food looks like a person might be. But the manufacturer is banking on you feeling better about feeding a highly processed product if it has been dyed to seem more food-like. Is that visual appeal worth a potential health risk to your pet?
Start researching and you'll find just as many claims that artificial colors are dangerous as you will claims deeming them to be safe. Contradiction abounds. Sometimes the safety claim comes with qualifers such as that they are safe at certain levels, or when used as approved.
Safe or not, potential, small risk, more study needed, certain levels, banned here, not banned there ---whatever. Here's the thing for me ----why bother with them at all when it comes to pet food?
The only reason to include these dyes of highly debated safety is to make the food more appealing to the people feeding it, not to the dogs eating it. Why risk it at all?
Links to get you started learning more on the topic:
Planet Paws Video on "painted" pet food: https://www.facebook.com/PlanetPaws.ca/videos/1960941847561949/
Truth About Pet Food blog on the topic: http://truthaboutpetfood.com/food-dyes-called-rainbow-of-risks/
Report from the Center for Science in the Public Interest: https://cspinet.org/resource/food-dyes-rainbow-risks
A Summary from Healthline: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/food-dyes
Slate's Perspective: https://slate.com/technology/2016/07/food-coloring-is-bad-for-us-but-the-fda-wont-admit-that.html
Highlights in a Wellminded blog post: http://www.wellmindedpets.com/blog/2013/11/25/the-dangers-of-artificial-dyes-in-pet-food
Tailblazers unique page of pet food ingredients (red-yellow-green) including the dyes: https://www.tailblazerspets.com/tailblazers-pet-ingredient-dictionary.php
How Dogs See: https://youtu.be/A0_uj_Fglys

21/10/2019

Happy Monday 🙃☕️🐶

Anyone else?! ☕️ 🐶 🤗

08/10/2019

10 reasons to make the switch to raw: https://bit.ly/2Z4YjUt 🥩