Natural Feeding otherwise known as holistic nutrition can be summed up in one phrase -

It should be compatible with evolved physiology of the species.

This simply means that the animal should be given food that they should eat and nothing else. Animals fed this way will be kept in optimal health through optimum nutrition. Nature does it all by itself as it always has done.

The ideal food for domesticated animals therefore consists of raw materials that do not confound this principle, most modern foods do.

The natural diet of the dog

The diet of the dog’s wild cousin mainly consists of the carcasses of grazing animals that are brought down by the pack together with smaller mammals that may also be caught without assistance. This means that the diet should consist mainly of meat as well as carbohydrates and herbage, both of which it would get from the stomach of its victim.

As well as this the dog will forage for fruit, roots, nuts, herbs and other vegetable matter.

It is unquestionable that diet and disease are inextricably linked. One of the most important mechanisms, which protect against disease, is the immune system, which suffers badly if the diet is sub-optimal. Because the science of animal nutrition is based on the use of unsuitable by-products, food created this way is based on borderline nutrition, or in other words just enough to do the job.

Although animals fed this way may appear to be in good health and condition, they may have reduced reserves of nutritional vitality. This may reduce the ability of immune system to overcome the challenges brought about through the normal stresses encountered in everyday life. In such circumstances, borderline nutrition can be a predisposing factor in either sub clinical or clinical disease, just as would be the case with outright nutritional imbalances or deficiencies.

The reason why some animals in a group fall ill with some infection while others do not, or are hypersensitive to certain types of food, is a reflection of the state of individual’s immune status. If this is not kept in an optimum state through proper nutrition there will always be health-associated problems.