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DESERT RAW
​DOG BLOG

An Evolutionary Perspective on Cat Nutrition

3/26/2018

1 Comment

 
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This article originally appeared in Pets and the City Magazine - By Aspen Anderson
Did you know cats share over 99% of their DNA with their larger counterparts like lions, panthers, and tigers? While their outward appearance varies greatly, anyone with a cat knows that sometimes they have the self-confidence of cougars! We know the ancient Egyptians worshipped cats, beginning a cultural phenomenon that continues today, but how did that come to be?
DNA comparisons show that cats were domesticated about 10,000 years ago, from wildcats. Archeological evidence of the first civilizations does not go back much further. Coincidence? Absolutely not. The two phenomena are intertwined because of grain storage. Without an abundance of food, there is no time for scholars, and without scholars, science, technology, mathematics and the study of stars, forms of writing, etc. cannot be developed. 
Cats became beneficial to the human goal of food storage because they don't eat grain, but they do eat the rodents who eat the grain. So humans provided shelter to cats, who protected the food while not posing a threat to the grains themselves, and a mutually beneficial relationship began.
What does that mean for our Tabbies, our Ragdolls, and our pampered fur babies who no longer serve the purpose of rodent protection? Well, first off, it means feeding them dry kibble filled with corn, wheat, and soy makes no logical sense. Despite the marketing, most dry foods are low in meat and even lower in quality, and extremely dry for a species that evolved getting their moisture from their food. It also explains why it can be so hard to get cats to drink water – that’s not their natural source of hydration.
From this evolutionary perspective, the concept of dry food becomes illogical. It makes sense, then, that many common diseases can be better managed with a moisture-rich diet of meat, preferably high-quality raw:
- Obesity is a major problem in cats and can lead to diabetes, joint problems, thyroid concerns, etc. A high-carb diet is difficult to digest and creates insulin resistance, disrupts gut bacteria, and leads to weight gain. A low-carb diet of meat is easy to digest, promotes healthy weight, and avoids complications.
- Urinary, kidney, and bladder issues can often be traced back to a lack of moisture. Because of their desert evolution, cats don't have a well-developed sense of thirst and live in chronic dehydration. This puts stress on the kidneys and makes it difficult to move bacteria through the urinary tract. They need more moisture in their food!
-Cancer feeds on sugar, and refined carbohydrates are basically digested as sugars. Again, a low-carb diet rich in moisture will drastically reduce the likelihood of cancer appearing.
- Dental disease can also be better managed when you move away from dry food. Kibble does NOT clean teeth – if that were true, you wouldn't need nearly as many expensive dental cleanings for yourself! In fact, carbohydrates stick to the teeth, leading to inflammation and expensive surgeries. You have to get ahead of your cat's teeth before they become inflamed, and a raw diet of meat and bone do better at exfoliating the teeth and keeping them clean naturally. 
- The last common health issue I want to discuss is vomiting. It is very commonly a result of dry food. When cats are young their stomachs can stretch to accommodate the food they eat. But without moisture to soften the food, dry food irritates the stomach lining and over time it begins to harden so the cat begins to throw up excess food instead of being able to keep it down. Adding moisture (and a good probiotic) can go far in addressing this concern.
By looking back to what cats ate before pet food became an industry in the early 1900s, we can identify many of the ways modern feeding has strayed from the way cats were biologically programmed to eat. Let's use that information to make our cats healthier, happier, and quirkier than ever! 


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What Bones are OK to Feed My Dog?

3/12/2018

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This post originally appeared in SALT Magazine, January 2018
What Bones are OK to Feed My Dog?
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There are many health benefits to giving your dog a bone. They include:
  • Building muscle in the neck and spine
  • Providing mental stimulation
  • Naturally cleaning teeth
  • Freshens breath
  • Keeping them entertained
  • Healthy source of calcium and other nutrition
However, there are a lot of things that can go wrong with feeding bones. Feed the wrong kind, the wrong size, or a cooked bone and you could end up with broken teeth, blockages that require expensive surgeries, constipation or diarrhea, or an internal puncture. Here is what to know:
  1. NEVER feed a cooked bone, rawhide, or bones with nylon. Cooked bones can splinter and cause puncture wounds internally, rawhide is full of nasty chemicals, and nylon is not a food!
  2. Soft bones, like uncooked turkey necks, chicken backs, or chicken necks are safe to feed whole, as long as you are monitoring your dog or cut it up into small pieces to make sure they don’t choke. The cartilage is soft and easily digestible, so it is a great way to get some good nutrition into your pet.
  3. Hard bones, or weight-bearing bones, are for recreational use only and should be monitored, especially for large, aggressive chewers. Uncooked hard bones are usually hard enough your dog will enjoy the marrow or cartilage without being able to break pieces off of the bone, but if they do it is usually ok, just watch for signs of distress through the night.
A relaxing afternoon in their favorite sun spot, chewing a bone, can keep a dog entertained, happy, and healthy with the right bone. So give your dog a bone!

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CBD for Pets

12/8/2017

5 Comments

 
As you know, Healthy Hemp Pet is our #1 selling supplement here at Desert Raw. Here is a little bit of information from greencamp.com about why phytocannabinoids are so great for dogs!*
*Note at the bottom that the dosing information and where to by info is geared towards places where medical marijuana is legal and the product contains THC as well as CBD. Healthy Hemp Pet does not contain THC and is legal to purchase in Utah and at Desert Raw. :-)
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5 Comments

New Hours in 2018

12/1/2017

1 Comment

 
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More Time for Baby

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Hello to all our wonderful customers! I am writing to announce that beginning January 2nd, 2018, we will be adjusting our store hours to fall more in line with other similar stores that close at six. Now we have a baby at home adjusting our hours will give us more flexibility in our personal lives that now revolve around our future dog-lover.


Our new hours of operation will be 10-6 M-F and 10-5 on Saturdays. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We love our customers and we will continue to strive to provide the best service possible. Remember we offer deliveries and special orders, so if our new hours don't work for you we can still strive to meet your needs. Thank you so much. ​
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1 Comment

An Infographic on The State of Pet Health Today

11/27/2017

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I came across this infographic from petlifetoday.com. It is so sad to me that literally every single one of these conditions can be healed entirely or at least improved by feeding a raw, wholesome diet. There is no need for all this sickness! Take a look and share with your friends who may not be feeding raw yet. Then have them come talk to me!
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Desert Raw's Response to KSL and Fox 13 news stories about Hemp Pet Products

9/1/2017

1 Comment

 
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KSL August 30th
Fox 13 August 31st
It has been a busy week here at Desert Raw Holistic Pet. Foothill Drive opened again, bringing back our usual foot traffic, we brought home our amazingly beautiful Preemie baby boy, Pippin, who turns 2 months old tomorrow and wasn't due until September 21st, and we were on TV - twice! 
Above are the links to the articles that aired on KSL and Fox 13 this week, two nights in a row. This is the second time both channels have interviewed us and our wonderful supplier, Healthy Hemp Pet, about their local products. You can find the originalwww.ksl.com/?sid=43343858&nid=148 KSL article here and the original fox13now.com/2016/11/09/salt-lake-city-company-finding-success-with-cannabis-for-canines/Fox 13 article here. I want to note that anything I say in this blog are my personal opinions and mine alone, and are not necessarily reflective of Healthy Hemp Pet's opinions. Their understanding of these topics far exceed my own.
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Read my original blog on CBD for Pets
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Because we are getting a lot of response from these, I wanted to come out and explain what can't be described in a 2 minute TV blurb. 
We did receive a letter from the DOA and have been in contact with them. At this time, there are important distinctions between products that are considered "supplements," products that are considered "feed," and products that are considered "health products." Depending on the way a product is labeled, whether it makes health claims, and whether it uses words like "treat" or "chew" determines whether the product falls under the jurisdiction of the DOA or the FDA or other organizations. Since the letters were sent out, the DOA has had a meeting and decided that until they get further clarification from the FDA, they are not going to be taking any action. Based on my conversations with them, they are open to the idea that hemp products are safe and have medical benefits, but they want to make sure that claims that can't be substantiated are not being made, for the protection of the consumer and the pet. 
For the moment, they have told us we do not have to take further action until they get clarification. So until a further date, all the hemp products on our shelves are safe and will continue to be sold.

I find it interesting that the same day the Utah DOA held their meeting, Senator Orrin Hatch put forward legislation intended to make cannabis research easier to obtain. I met with Senator Hatch's office in March, he is well-known as a strong advocate for the human supplement industry, so this bi-partisan legislation is in line with the advocacy work he has done to make natural remedies more easily available for those who want them while also protecting the consumer from false claims and ineffective products. We hope that this legislation will pass, and that in the coming years medical cannabis will be available to anyone who can benefit, pet and human alike. 

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1 Comment

The Money Gets Spent Regardless

6/3/2017

3 Comments

 
I am naturally a very compassionate and empathetic person, sometimes to a fault. So I try to be very careful when talking to customers to not say anything that might make them feel badly about the nutritional choices they are making for their pets or have made in the past. 
After all, you only know what you know when you know it, and the mainstream methods of feeding pets is so incredibly messed up - but that is not exactly the consumer's fault, is it? So I am very careful about expressing a certain sentiment that I truly believe, because it could come across rather insensitively, especially for someone new to the holistic approach:

You can spend your money on the food now, or you can spend it at the vet later. 

I truly believe this. Of course, the expense can be prohibitive to many people, which is why I try to offer alternatives like Sojos and Honest Kitchen that can fall into the financial middle-ground of kibble prices, so that even if a pet family can't afford raw they can still likely avoid kibble. But today I was reminded of how the money is going to leave your pocket in an incredibly forceful way, and I really hope the individual facing this situation doesn't mind that she left an impression on me.

A woman came in with a 12 year old dog that she clearly loved very deeply. This dog has been through the ringer, and I feel so badly for what she and the dog have been through the past four months. The 55lb dog was diagnosed with cancer in the digestive tract back in February. It took multiple visits to the ER, multiple biopsies, and several tries to get the issue diagnosed. The results were some of the worst they could be, with two types of incredibly difficult cancer. The chemo protocol began, and this dog turned out to be part of the 5% or so of dogs who have poor reactions to the medication, so back to the vet they went. After two rounds of chemo, the results came back that it hadn't had an effect. Another round of different medications has now begun. She has struggled to get the dog to eat, and joked that her house looks like a pet store with how filled it is with different products - expensive kibbles and canned foods - trying to tempt the dog to eat. 

She was at our store because several people had recommended Healthy Hemp Pet, our #1 selling CBD oil from a local Park City company. When she came in I mentioned that we had other natural products that could help with appetite, inflammation, discomfort, and some that even had extensive research out of Japan indicating potential for the management of free radicals and tumor reductions (which CBD has also been extensively studied for). 

But the first thing I asked her when she told me her dog had cancer was if the dog was on a raw diet. While cancer is one of the few things that a raw diet may be contraindicated for (if the dog is undergoing chemotherapy and has a weakened immune system some fear the potential for bacteria to be a risk), removing the toxins, fillers, and simple carbs often found in kibble can be key to cancer management because the cancer cells feed off of those things, especially sugars. So while a raw diet definitely won't cure cancer, it may be able to help lower the risk of it spreading. 

Her response was indicative of the attitude of so many people: "Oh, but raw food is so expensive."

I am definitely not judging her for that statement. It is expensive. But as our conversation went on, I learned that she had spent literally $7,000 at the vet in the past four months. 

$7,000. At this point, there is no improvement and the dog still suffers and struggles daily. While I 100% honor her dedication to her pet and her willingness to dedicate her resources to the dog's well-being, I desperately wish that more people saw this mental block and were able to move past the financial fear of a raw diet - because the alternative is to spend the money treating a suffering dog, or cut the dog's life short unnecessarily. 

I did the math. For a 55lb dog, it would cost on average $45-$60 a week to feed a commercial raw diet. That isn't cheap, by any means, but for $7,000, you could feed a dog a raw diet for over 2.5 years. Even accounting for a holistic cancer management protocol of Turkey Tail Mushroom, Raw Goat's Milk, Turmeric, CBD, etc., you could still stretch your budget for almost two years and with potentially much better results than chemotherapy, which can be wildly ineffective - even in this case the diagnosis WITH the chemo was a life expectancy of 12-14 months IF remission happened. 

Six million dogs are diagnosed with cancer every year in the US. This number, as with the human population, is spiking dramatically. This is a CHRONIC disease, meaning it is the result of lifestyle factors. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the food we feed our pets is directly correlated to their chances of having cancer, their life expectancy, and their health. The money will be spent, whether spread across the dog's life, or in a desperate attempt to salvage it while it is suffering. The choice seems obvious to me, and the more people we can share our holistic message with, the more we can change the story for the next generation of beloved pets. 


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Pancreatitis in Dogs

11/11/2016

2 Comments

 
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This article originally appeared in SALT Magazine.

While your family is out shopping for Black Friday sales (pick me up a TV, will you?) many veterinarians will be working hard at what some call the “National Day of Canine Pancreatitis.”
Pancreatitis simply means inflammation of the pancreas, but the consequences can be far from simple. Chronic pancreatitis can develop slowly over a long period of time, and can be traced back to processed foods that tax the pancreas and other internal organs of our pets. Acute pancreatitis occurs when a dog develops symptoms very quickly, because of an overindulgence of fat that overburdens the system. This second form is why vets see so many cases the day after Thanksgiving. When the family adjourns after dinner to the living room for football, they may leave the dishes on the table or wait to clean up the kitchen. Unattended, dogs can find their way to the best parts of the turkey, and trust me - they will go nuts and overindulge much as you just did. The turkey skins can do the most damage because they are high in fat. The dog’s pancreas is overwhelmed and it begins to overproduce the enzymes it needs to digest the fat, and bad things can start to happen. Within a few hours, you may see loss of appetite (obviously) vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy, or signs of dehydration. The abdomen may appear hardened and the dog may not like you touching it. If these symptoms appear, take your dog to the vet immediately. After the emergency has passed, there are easy ways to prevent it, including feeding a low-fat, species appropriate, all natural diet.
Don’t be afraid to feed your dog a few pieces of white turkey meat as you enjoy your holiday - but avoid feeding stuffing (especially if it has raisins which are toxic to dogs) and other foods, especially the turkey skins and drippings - these are extremely fatty. Don’t leave food on the table, kitchen, or in the garbage where your dog can get into it. Finally, come visit us during our extended Black Friday hours and learn about how a species-appropriate diet can help you avoid this life-threatening chronic disease in the future. Happy Holidays!
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Hemp and Anxiety

7/1/2016

10 Comments

 
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I belong to several Facebook groups for pet parents, and this week the same question is being asked over and over again - "My dog has anxiety, what do I do?"

July always sees a spike in dogs turned into the shelter because fireworks and thunderstorms can trigger their fight or flight response in a big way.  Pet anxiety can be dangerous for everyone - dogs run away, they jump in front of cars, they get aggressive - so knowing how to deal with it is going to help make your summer celebrations run much more smoothly.

There are a lot of things you can do, but I want to talk specifically about hemp products.  Like many things mother nature has provided us, hemp is one of those blessings that used to be commonly used  but was replaced and forgotten by modern medicine's imperfect imitations.  

Industrial hemp  contains a component called CBD, or  Cannabidiol.  Both pet and human brains contain what are called Cannabanoid Receptors, and they received this name because of how perfectly several cannabanoid compounds bind to them.  These receptors are found throughout the body and promote homeostasis, or balance. Therefore, when they bind to cannabanoids, they are promoting balance throughout the body, and support health in a myriad of ways.  

Many people are beginning to use CBD products to regulate pain, anxiety, and  even seizures and cancer. It is a homeopathic alternative to literally hundreds of medications that can't do the job as well as nature can.  What is really great about using it for pets is that they actually have almost twice as many cannabanoid receptors as humans do, so if it works well for people, you know it is going to work wonders for pets. 

Want to know more?  If you read THIS article  you can get super sciency, but honestly it was a little over my head, not being a scientist.  If you want more information on hemp for pets, our favorite brand Healthy Hemp (local to SLC)  has some great LINKS on their website  you can use for further research.  There is a reason Healthy Hemp  is the number 1 seller at Desert Raw!

Steve's Real Food (also a locally-based company) has a hemp product we carry in the store that also has raw goat milk.  The article describing their success with pet anxiety can be found HERE.

We also have other great items, including our Farm Dog Natural's RELAX tincture.  

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​In the long term, training and  coping mechanisms, exposure therapy, and more can help relieve dog anxiety, but if you need something to get you through the summer holidays, our hemp products will all be 10% off through July 4th. We want your pets to be comfortable during the holiday, and  we strongly believe this is a great option.  

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Exhausted but Excited...

5/31/2016

1 Comment

 
I guess it says something about the type of person that I am when I take a break from prepping for the move-in tomorrow and decide to relax and write a blog. I believe the term is 'workaholic' but I prefer 'passionate and dedicated'.  

It's true. We are moving into our space in Foothill Village tomorrow.  I've been running around like crazy painting, preparing decorations, adding and pricing inventory, and doing things like creating an evacuation plan and scheduling building inspections.  All the while, my animals are dancing around me, distracting me with their cuteness or mischeviousness.  Case in point:

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Our cat Magic. We had a beast of a time getting him switched over to a holistic diet, but the rewards have made it so worth it! He has lost about 4 pounds (he was a fatty) and we are seeing him become more interactive with us and the other animals now that he is feeling better. A few days ago we actually watched him climb a tree like the panther he is, chasing a squirrel!  It was amazing to watch, and I am so happy my cat is enjoying a better quality of life.
In the meantime, the store is running our lives 12 hours a day. We just celebrated our first wedding anniversary - road tripping to Denver to pick up product.  We spent the 1 year anniversary of moving into our new home doing trainings, and the 1 year anniversary of our dog Asa entering our lives receiving inventory.  Luke turns 30 next week, and we celebrated early because we knew three days before the store opens we wouldn't have time to mark the occassion.  I guess that is the life of a business owner, but I think we have a lot to be grateful for.  After all, we aren't opening just any business. We are opening a store we can truly feel passionate about, with a mission that creates a drive that is keeping us going through the exhaustion of starting up. We want to help your pets. We want you to see the same changes we have seen, have the same joy, and be able to feel good about your pet's quality of life.  If that means a few sleepless nights and a lot of hard work, it is worth it!  See you all soon!
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    I may sell pet food, but I also have a Master's Degree in History. Anyone want to talk British Navy stuff? No? You just want the pet food stuff? Ok...

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  • Welcome to Desert Raw
  • Educational Center
    • The Good Stuff
    • Not All Pet Food is Equal
    • Resources we Love >
      • Dr Karen Becker
      • Rodney Habib
      • Dog's Naturally Magazine
  • Contact
  • About
  • Blog
  • Special Orders and Delivery
  • News and Events
  • Pet of the Month!