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Frequently Asked Questions
We hope the information on this page will answer all or most of your questions about feeding a raw diet to your dogs and cats. In addition we hope to answer your questions about My Fresh Pet.
If you do have additional questions or information you would like to see on these pages, please email us at info@myfreshpet.com. We love to hear from you!
Q: Who is My Fresh Pet
Q: Why feed raw
Q: How do I switch my pet to raw? When adding vegetables to your pet's diet, you want to steam or "pulp" them. ulping involves grinding them to a consistency close to applesauce. You can steam them and then run them through a food processor to chop them up really fine. You can also give the occasional fresh vegetable as treats. Most dogs love carrots and are very open to trying other vegetables - broccoli or cauliflower florets, snap peas. When I would give Mini and Casper each a snap pea, Mini would gobble hers up and then grab the individual peas that popped out of Casper's as he bit into his so delicately! I buy those little bags of baby carrots and have them handy in the fridge for a quick and easy treat. When switching any diet for your pet it is important to do it slowly. Some dogs digestive systems adjust more rapidly than others but a week to 10 days is usually an average time frame to switch completely from one type of food to another. (Again, some cats may take longer.) This is true whether you are switching to raw or just switching your brand of kibble or canned. Don't be too concerned if you notice a bit of a softer stool. You can add a bit of canned pumpkin (just the pure pumpkin, not the pie filling). This is helpful with diarrhea and with constipation. It adds fiber and helps balance the digestive system. I give it to my dogs daily. I strongly recommend adding probiotics and digestive enzymes to your pets food. It's great for you as well. Probiotics help maintain the proper balance of digestive flora in the digestive tract and enzymes help to complete the digestion of food. This is an important supplement no matter what you feed your pets.
Q: Are raw diets safe? To further demonstrate the differences between humans and dogs/cats, humans can eat onions and chocolate and not become ill. These would not agree with and could indeed make your pets quite ill. Dogs and cats are scavengers; we have all seen dogs eat real garbage (rotten foods, decaying animals, etc.). In fact, wild dogs in many areas live, at least partially, off this type of diet, but they do not experience ill effects. Dogs and cats have evolved on a diet of raw meat and bones and they will thrive on it. Just to clarify, we are not suggesting you feed your beloved furry family members spoiled or contaminate foods. A raw food diet consists of good quality, USDA-inspected and approved meats and bones, free-range or organic wherever possible the type of diet you will find on My Fresh Pet.
Q: Are there safe handling procedures for raw diets? We recommend using glass or stainless steel dishes. Wash your pets dishes as you would your own, thoroughly with soap and hot water after every meal or in the diswasher. Discard any uneaten food and store raw pet food as you would any raw meat. After thawing the food, we recommend it only be kept in the refrigerator for 2-3 days, jut like you would food for your human family.
You can partially thaw raw meat in the refrigerator and cut it into meal or day size portions with a sharp knife. Freeze those portions and thaw them out as needed.
Q: Raw Feeding Guidelines As a general guideline you can feed normal, active dogs about 2% of their body weight per day. For example, a 50 pound dog would get one pound a day. Very active dogs may require up to 3% of their body weight per day. In our 50 pound dog example that would equal 1.5 pounds of food. Puppies and pregnant or nursing females, and sometimes heavy duty working dogs, can use up to 5% of their body weight per day. If your dog is older or very sedentary, you would slightly reduce the amount of food, maybe to 1.5% of body weight per day.
All raw food should be completely thawed before serving. We do not recommend microwaving. You can add a little warm water (filtered preferred) to the food to melt any ice crystals. What I often do is fill a slightly larger bowl with hot tab water and rest my dog's food bowl inside it and let it sit for a few minutes. You can also put the food in a plastic bag and immerse it in warm (not hot) water. We would encourage you to do your own research, join the email groups for raw feeding and read some of the books on the subject.
Q: Are these raw foods organic? Omega meat and bone products go one step further than human-grade and organic. In addition to being antibiotic and hormone free, they are completely vegetarian, free-range and grass-fed. This means more beneficial Omega fatty acids for your pet! It is prepared fresh daily and fresh frozen immediately! Love Your Pet pet food is made fresh with the finest available meats and vegetables. They use only organic meat, each item checked for freshness and quality. Everything is entirely handmade with no preservatives, colorings or flavorings added.
Q: Returns/Exchanges Some of our products, Honest Kitchen, for example, are available as samples or trial sized, if you are concerned your pet will not like it. Please email us first at return@myfreshpet.com for a Return Authorization Number and a ship to address.
Please feel free to contact us with any questions on this subject.
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