Yes! It is truly incredibly easy to add fresh food to your pets bowl daily. As most of our clients know, we truly do not encourage feeding JUST a dry food to your pet. The biggest reason to add a fresh source of food daily to our pets' diets is that our pets really need to be eating foods that are much higher in moisture than just dry food and water. Many of our pets live chronically dehydrated, so absolutely, adding in any source of quality fresh, moisture-based, foods, especially from animal proteins, can significantly help your pet maintain vitality and health over its lifetime. Not only does adding quality fresh foods add a great source of moisture, but real, FRESH foods are loaded with amino acids, vitamins, minerals, and enzymes needed for health maintenance.

So first - start with a high-quality, complete & balanced diet. Be it dry, raw, lightly cooked, freeze dried, dehydrated - as long as it's complete & balanced AND from a high quality source made with real meats, and minimal carbs (not low quality products) - you're on the right track.

Next - choose any add-in (listed below) to mix directly with your pets food. Add it right in. Even raw feeders can benefit from add-ins. Pick one or two and go with those! Then the next week, pick another and go with that. Rotate through the list and mix it up. Variety equals vitality! And your pets will LOVE it! When I write "go with those" I mean add it right to the bowl. For all dogs and cats, starting by mixing in a tablespoon or two a day and increasing to up to 20% of the diet regularly, should be the goal. 

Please avoid additional carbohydrate/starch sources such as rice, potato, oatmeal, and other starchy veggies like peas and carrots. These generally add sources of foods that are very hard for our dogs and cats to digest. And of course, avoid any foods that are toxic to our pets like onions, macadamia nuts, and chocolate (of course)! Also be sure to not add foods that are processed foods from the human food chain. Many contain toxic ingredients like Xylitol, which can kill our pets. So when adding fresh food, go for animal proteins and some veggies and fruits - again, several suggestions are listed below. 

At Wags to Whiskers we stock a wide variety of fresh food add-in options that are easy to just thaw and serve. From milks, to stocks, to bone broths, to veggies blends, and of course, raw/cooked food toppers! Feel free to stop in to the store with chat with us about different options we have available, or if you're not local to the Plainfield IL area, set up a phone or a video consult with Janelle, by clicking here. 

These are some great, and easy options, of what to add to the bowl:

  • Free range eggs (not factory farmed) - raw or lightly cooked
  • Raw Goat's Milk
  • Raw Kefir 
  • Bone Broth (made for pets, not people) 
  • Fresh meats, including organ meats, and canned/frozen sardines with no spices or extra salts
  • Berries (blueberries/strawberries) 
  • Cruciferous veggies (broccoli, kale, spinach, cauliflower).

Just DO it! Do the thing! You won't mess it up and your pets will be better for it!

Reference
https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/healthy-foods-for-dogs/

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