There are a variety of reasons that wild game is better for your dog than any other source of food.
HISTORY/BIOLOGY
What is your pup, but a half-step from a wolf! For the last 55 Million years your dog’s ancestors have thrived on a wild meat diet. Meat, not carrots or beets or corn or grains – but red, raw meat. You might hear all kinds of different and confusing stories about what to feed and why, but simply look at your dog’s teeth for the answer. You have even, straight teeth all the way around, with nice flat molars in the back (just like a cow), for grinding up plant matter. But in your dog’s mouth you see fangs up front fangs, with the balance as jagged teeth for tearing raw meat into pieces small enough to swallow. 55 Million years of evolution perfected meat tearing teeth all the way around your dog’s mouth – not a single herbivore tooth to be found! So why are so many dog foods made of kibble? Simply because kibble is really cheap and really easy to feed to a dog – and dogs like it. It’s not good for them, but they like it (I like fries and a shake too!).
OK, WHY NOT DOMESTICATED MEAT?
If you are what you eat, then what do domesticated animals (and pen raised deer and elk), eat? They are fed the cheapest thing possible, to fatten them up as much as possible, in the shortest time possible, to maximize profits at slaughter. They are given growth hormones and primarily fed grains and corn. First, although they are herbivores, corn and grain were never part of their natural diet. Their natural diet is green grass and green plants. If you think that plant matter is plant matter, then ask yourself which is healthier for you, a salad or white bread? Corn causes all kinds of problems like fat and heightened omega-6. To get that corn and grain cheaply, it must be grown from a genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which grow faster, produce more gluten, and are bug resistant. Then that corn and grain needs to be sprayed with pesticides to keep insects from cutting into the production quantity. You wash vegetables that you take home from the store to eat, but the sheer volume of corn and grain fed domesticated animals cannot practically be washed. To further reduce the price, corn and grain that is deemed unfit for human consumption is used to fatten up those animals for slaughter. To help maximize the profits the animals are crammed together in tight spaces, substantially increasing the chances for disease. So they are given antibiotics as part of their regular feeding, because pharmaceuticals are cheaper than spreading the animals around the land as they would be naturally. From a rancher’s perspective none of these issues much matter, since cattle are raised and slaughtered all in about 12-13 months. That is too short a lifespan for the problems to really manifest themselves, but those problems are then passed on to your pooch in the domesticated meat you choose to feed him.
But it gets worse! The large processing facilities process 400 or more cows per hour. To help address the issues of contamination and disease, they will use irradiation and chemical baths on the carcasses[1]. I don’t want to make you sick with a detailed account of what it looks like in a slaughterhouse and the problems they have, but if you have the stomach for it (pun intended), then just google it and look at some pictures. So once all the steaks and roasts, or breasts, wings and thighs have been cut away to go to your grocery store, what do you think happens with the remaining guts, organs, bones, feathers, feet, etc.? Most likely that is what is being fed to your dog! Look at your dog food packaging and read the label. Does it say ‘NY steak’ or ‘beef by-product’, ‘chicken breasts’ or ‘chicken parts’, or does it just say ‘animal protein’? From the perspective of many dog food manufacturers, protein is protein. It doesn’t matter where it comes from, as long as it counts as ‘protein’.
But it gets worse! Have you ever heard of 4D meat? Many dog food manufacturers use Dead, Dying, Disabled, or Diseased animals to get their protein[2]. Ever wonder what happens to that poor dead dog, cat, or raccoon lying on the side of the road? Salvagers pick it up and sell it for pet food protein. How about that cow that died in the field last week, or that horse too old to ride, or that diseased pig, or rabid fox? Same thing. Is that really what you want to be feeding your beloved pet?
HOW IS WILD GAME MEAT DIFFERENT?
First, WILD game is taken in the field, one animal at a time, by hunters who want the meat for their own family. Hunters shoot to kill as quickly and humanely as possible. Not just because it is the ethical thing to do, but because an animal that is harvested quickly, while relaxed, produces better tasting meat. An animal that is stressed or fearful (remember the slaughterhouse?), has adrenaline and hormones raging through its body as part of the fight-or-flight response, which makes for poor tasting meat. So hunters are very careful to be quick and humane in their harvesting of WILD game animals. Then those hunters carefully field dress the deer and elk to remove all the inedible parts, which they leave in the field for other wild animals to eat – unlike the slaughterhouse. Aside from all the nasties involved in domesticated meats which WILD meats don’t have, WILD game meat has other significant health benefits when compared to domesticated meats.
The WILD Deer and Elk’s Food Source
WILD deer and elk eat a natural diet of green grasses, and green plants off the mountainside. Compare that to pen-raised deer and elk (like cows and chickens and pigs), shot with antibiotics and growth hormones and trough fed grains and corn, from GMO seeds, grown in fields sprayed with pesticides. WILD deer and elk live a very active life in the wild, which also contributes to a much better quality of meat.
WILD Meat Helps Reduce Inflammation
Studies show that higher levels of Omega-6 fatty acids increase inflammation in your dog’s body[3]. Why do you care? Because inflammation in your dog’s body brings on a variety of problems, including: rheumatoid arthritis; diabetes; cancer; and just plain being fat. Where do dogs get this heightened Omega-6 level? From the corn and grains – whether fed directly to your dog in kibble or through domesticated meats that were fed corn and grains while awaiting slaughter. WILD deer and elk eat more green things like plants, grass and leaves. Studies show that green plants also lead to leaner meats and have lower omega-6 fatty acid content.
WILD Meats are a Great Source of Lean Protein
For carnivores meat is what it is all about, and WILD deer and elk game meats are a great source of lean protein. For example, a 3-oz. serving of venison provides 22 g of protein, and a 3-oz. serving of bison has 24 g of protein.
The Lean Mean Machine!
WILD deer and elk meat has a lower fat content. Not just because wild animals are more active than some cow stuck in a pen, but because they eat the natural, green, wild diet – rather than corn and grain. By eating WILD deer and elk, which contains less fat, your dog is less likely to get fat. Pretty simple.
Other Fatty Acids
WILD deer and elk have a higher Omega-3 fatty acid than domesticated animals fed corn and grain. Why do you care? First, lower Omega-3 elevates the risk of coronary heart disease and death[4]. But also because a deficiency in Omega-3 impairs learning, memory and cognitive skills. Maybe your dog isn’t really that ‘dumb’, maybe it is what you are feeding him that makes him that way!
Right now there is only one dog food on the market that is truly made from only WILD deer and elk, and it’s called, go figure, Raw Wild®. No other meats are added to their product. There are no growth hormones, no antibiotics, no fillers, no preservatives, no grains, rice or corn (gluten free dog food), no pesticides, no GMOs, no animal by-products (like organs, hooves, ears and tails), no farmed or ranched animals, no domestically or commercially-raised deer or elk, no downed animals (euthanized, roadkill or found dead), no 4D meats. Raw Wild® is 99.4% WILD deer and elk. The meat/bone ratio is 85-87% / 12-15%. There are no organs since they are left in the field when the hunter field dresses the animal. Raw Wild® does not add organ meat from domestically raised animals because of the possibility of contamination from organs (particularly the liver) that concentrate the mycotoxins, pesticides and other contaminants generated from the corn and grains food fed to domestically raised animals, and because of the likelihood of bacterial contamination from slaughterhouse conditions. The remaining 0.6% is a premix of vitamins and minerals, designed by an industry leading expert with over 30 years’ experience in formulating pet foods. The premix is highest quality and all USA-made with the exception of three vitamin sourced from Switzerland accounting for 0.013% of total volume. This because under FDA rules, Vitamins A, D and E cannot be manufactured in the USA at all. The RAW WILD pre-mix consists of:
Minerals: Calcium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Iron, Zinc, Copper, Manganese, Selenium, Iodine.
Vitamins: A, D, E, B12, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine, Pantothenic Acid, Niacin, Biotin, Folic Acid, Choline.
Unlike most dog food manufacturers, Raw Wild® contains NOTHING FROM CHINA.
You’ve always said that you’d do anything for your dog – here is your chance!
[1] http://www.americangrassfedbeef.com/faq-grass-fed-beef.asp
[2] http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/ComplianceManuals/CompliancePolicyGuidanceManual/ucm074712.htm
[3] OSU Linus Pauling Institute: Inflammation. http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/micronutrients-health/inflammation
[4] http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/other-nutrients/essential-fatty-acids#essential-fatty-acid-deficiency