Creating a Balanced Diet
There are a few concepts that we will talk about here that are important to ensuring a balanced diet.
Rotational Feeding
Rotational feeding is the practice of alternating the main protein source our pet is consuming on a regular basis. Without variety, the GI tract can become unbalanced. Issues in the GI tract can lead to food sensitivities and allergies. Only feeding one type of protein means your pet is missing out on vital nutrients offered from other sources. Rotational feeding of high quality foods provides many benefits such as:
- never having your pet get bored of its food
- prevention of food intolerance and allergies
- prevention of diabetes, autoimmune disorders and other diseases
- balance of amino acids, vitamins, fatty acids and minerals
- a complete nutrient profile
- more variety = more tolerance to dietary changes
- makes shopping and travelling easier
Feeding raw food allows the opportunity to easily do a protein rotation because of the flexible packaging sizes and ability to mix and match your proteins. By taking advantage of our Variety Cases or building your own multiple protein feeding plan (using 1lb, 2lb or 4ln tubs), you can ensure that your pet benefits from the differing nutrients each protein has to offer.
**For those unable to afford a full raw diet, you have the option to do rotational feeding feeding some raw food with high-quality kibble, providing at least some benefits of raw feeding and rotation. If you choose to do this, you should feed them in separate meals. The canine digestive tract is much more efficient at digesting raw than it is at digesting kibble. Mixing the kibble (which has a high starch content) with raw can cause digestive upset. Try feeding raw food to your pets in the morning, and high-quality kibble in the evening. When you do this, you allow the raw meal to fully digest before the evening meal. Having a high-quality probiotic on hand is a good idea in case of digestive upset.
Balance in the Bowl
Just as important as creating a balance between several proteins, is a balance of what is actually in the bowl at each feeding. The general recommendation is this:
- 90% meat and bone (with 10-15% of that being organ meat, offal and tripe).
- 10% leafy greens and/or vegetables (romaine, beet, kale, chard)
- Include fatty acids, kelp, alfalfa, vitamins and minerals if necessary.
Luckily, Blends tend to include everything to create a balanced diet and come in many different protein types. Pure Meals are great for dogs with allergies or for those doing an elimination diet as it includes only meat and bone. Pure meals give you the option to select which additional supplements, vitamins and minerals you want to add for your pet, taking into consideration any allergies or sensitivities. Some supplements you may want to add are: fish oils or eggs (omegas), kelp powder (iodine), taurine, bone broth, goat's milk, pure pumpkin, powdered bovine bone meal or powdered egg shells (calcium), green tripe, and probiotics. Thrive also provides a supplement called "Fortify" that is a formulation meant to supplement pure protein diets to meet the regulations of the NRC.
Let's focus on tripe for a minute.
The Benefits of Green Tripe: It provides amino acids, natural probiotics and digestive enzymes, calcium and phosphorus in equal ratios, omega 3s and 6s, and countless health benefits for your pets. As you probably noticed, these benefits cover a lot of the items we mentioned supplementing into a diet consisting of Pure Meals. However, tripe is a great addition to any dog's diet, adding it to 2-3 meals per week. It is an all-around wonderful product for ensuring nutritional balance for your dog. You can purchase green tripe in a 2lb tub directly from our site here.