Ah Ton's Diet

We've always been taught a kibble diet is the best for our dogs. They're nutritionally balanced & fortified with all the vitamins & minarals they need. These are little nuggets baked to rock hard so they have teeth cleaning properties. Supposedly, they chip the calcified plague off. Ton Ton started being picky with his kibbles early on, probably when he was 1 year plus. Like all other dogs, he would get very excited at meal times, only to sniff at the kibbles & walk away. We were taught (by books on dog training) to remove the food 20 mins after setting it down. Starve them a few days & they will learn to eat what's been served.

I couldn't do it & gave in after 5 days. A friend who's a groomer & very into natural health for dogs inteoduced me to BARF which stands for biologically appropriate raw food. Chinese culture says eating raw meat will make the dog blood thirsty & aggressive. My parents were totally against it. For a period of time, I gave him home cooked food instead. Not scraps. But measured & rotated menu.

The rationale behind the BARF diet is that dogs are descendants of wolves. Wolves have always hunted & ate raw animals. Cooking also destroys most if not all of the vitamins & minerals in the food. Lastly, you know exactly what you're feeding your dog. Companies producing kibbles have been exposed to use rotten road kills, unedible animal parts & fillers like corn which dogs do not need. But what had me sold is the fact that when you turn any commercial dog food or treats over, it'll say, "Not fit for human consumption." If it's not fit for our consumption, then why is it fit for my dog?

Feeding raw is expensive. Way more than kibbles ever will, especially if, like my groomer friend, feeds only organic or at worse, free range meat to her 3 dogs & 1 cat. It's also difficult to get it nutritionally balanced. I recently bought a book on canine nutrition. Very few vets will promote feeding a BARF diet. Pet shops tried to psycho my dad that eating raw food is detrimental to their health. (If everyone feeds raw, they'll be out of business you see.) I believe what I've read & learnt becoz it tallies with what I've learnt regarding human health.

Ton Ton's diet now consists on 120g of muscle meat, 1 section of chicken neck (to fulfill the raw meaty bone need), a piece of offal & the occasional recreation bone for teeth cleaning. His supplements include organic green superfood powder, ground tumeric (for anti inflammation properties & hence cancer prevention), organic chia seeds (for omega 3), krill oil with glucosamine (for joints) & organic unrefined virgin coconut oil (for anti bacterial, anti fungal & anti viral properties). I also give him a little drizzle of TA30+ Jarrah honey occasionally. What I've yet to add is milk thistle which detoxifies the body & is good for cancer prevention.

So the dog eats better than me right? A lot of thought & effort goes into his food preparation. If I buy a whole chicken or duck, I have to spend the time deboning it. Then I have to rotate the meat so he gets the best of everything & is more balanced. I hope everything I've done will help him achieve health & longevity. He's not just a dog. He's my best friend.