http://www.darwinspet.com - This presentation discusses the differences between prey animals

1. How Are Prey Animals in the Wild Nutritionally Different From Food Animals in a Modern Raw Diet?

2. There are important nutritional differences between the prey animals that ancestors of our dogs and cats would have eaten in the wild and the domesticated food animals used in a modern raw food diet.

3. Domesticated food animals have: What does this mean for your pet?

4. If you're trying to mimic the ancestral diet, as most raw feeders are, this means that food made from commercial food animals, even whole animals, may not provide sufficient protein, minerals, antioxidants, and may also have poor fat balances.

5. That’s why I think it’s important to mostly feed the lean parts of food animals, and to add nutrients to ensure a more natural and complete diet.

6. There are few fat prey animals in the wild. On the other hand, modern food animals are intentionally fattened up, often with low-cost grains. More Fat, Less Protein After all, the more the animal weighs, the more money it's worth. This means domesticated animals provide more calories from fat and fewer from protein.

7. A Different Balance of Fats

8. Wild prey animals also have a different balance of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats than domesticated animals of the same species.

9. The differences are due to the sometimes dramatically different diets, and the sedentary nature of food animals.

10. For example, ruminant meats like beef, lamb and venison are very high in saturated fats, and low in polyunsaturated fats.

11. Fewer Minerals and Antioxidants

12. Prey animals have a higher mineral content than domesticated commercially-fed animals. This is primarily because domesticated animals are fed to lower mineral standards than the prey diet.

13. Free-range meats also have a lower mineral content than does the ancestral diet, partially due to their higher fat content. And domesticated animals are low in antioxidants as well; they eat what they are fed and rarely eat antioxidant-rich foods.

14. On the other hand, wild animals appear to prefer antioxidant-rich foods, according to recent studies.

15. Darwin's Formula Adjustments

16. One company known as Darwin's Natural Pet Food has adjusted their formulation for each meal to account for the differences between wild prey animals and domesticated food animals, which exist even in the high quality, free-range or human-quality animals they use. Each meal's formula optimizes the nutritional balance for its specific meat source by adding small amounts of vital minerals and balances omega-3 and -6 fats by adding flax seed oil to the duck meal and hemp seed oil to ruminant meals.

17. Switching your dog to a raw food diet is the healthiest and most responsible decision you can make for your dog. Learn more about making the switch at: www.darwinspet.com