We are often asked if there have been any studies done on animals regarding
cooked vs. raw pet food diets. Here are a
couple of very interesting ones. Dr. Francis M. Pottenger had some
very revealing results on a
study he did between the years 1932 and 1942. His study was done on
seven generations of a colony of cats. He fed half of the animals an
all raw pet food diet, and the other half the same foods except that
they were cooked. After only three generations on the cooked caat food,
those
cats were no longer able to reproduce. Mouth and gum infections, arthritis,
bladder problems, heart lesions, irritable bowel syndrome, and thyroid
problems also became common in the cats on the cooked cat foods. And
many of these health issues are common in todays pets. On the contrary,
the cats on the raw cat food remained completely healthy and needed
no veterinary attention. Dr. Pottenger then switched the weakened colony
of cats back to all raw cat foods and after four generations the cats
had a complete recovery from the ill-effects of the cooked pet food.
I had an issue as to whether or not to write about a different study
because of the sensitive issue of killing laboratory animals. I decided
to write about it because the information learned from it is significant
to the nutrition debate. Please feel free to bypass this next paragraph
if you like.
The study in question was
done on more than 1000 rats over 27 months. Dr Robert McCarrison,
while stationed in India, became
interested in the diet habits of different regions of the earth.
In particular he noted the health of the Hunza, Pathan
and Sikh peoples.
He wondered if comparable diets would produce the same effects
for rats. He fed the rats a variety of fresh foods, including
bean sprouts,
fresh raw carrots, cabbage and raw whole milk. Once-a-week he also
mixed in flat bread and meat with bones in them. He provided the
rats with sunlight, good air and sanitary living conditions.
At the close
of the study when the rats were the equivalent of 55 human years
in age, he sacrificed them and autopsied them. He was
stunned to find
no signs of disease. The only deaths that occurred were accidental
and not due to degenerative diseases.
We realize the need for more
studies to once-and-for-all prove the benefits of raw pet foods.
The difficulty is that raw pet food companies such as ours
are
small, and don’t have
the financial resources to fund a long-term study. But recently
we have been in contact with other small companies
and are working on
a way to pool our resources together to sponsor such a study.
We will keep you posted.
According to a study published
in
the Journal of the
National Cancer Institute. Women who eat their meat well-done
had almost a five times greater risk of breast cancer
than
those who ate meats
cooked rare or medium. Wei Zheng, M.D., Ph.D., professor of
epidemiology at the University of South Carolina School
of Public Health,
who was co-author of the study states, “ When
meat is cooked at high temperatures it gives off
substances called
hetrocyclicamines, which have induced
tumors in animal studies.” Remember, you lose vitamins
and enzymes at only 126 degrees, which is not much warmer than
tap
water. I find
that with many people I talk to, convenience is the only deciding
factor in choosing how to feed their pets -- regardless of
the dog health problems that might occur. I have to stress
that convenience has absolutely nothing to do with wellness.
What
we feed ourselves
and our animals should be based on what is best for the body
and not what takes the least amount of effort. I feel that
the trade
off is
way too big when we approach health and wellness in this fashion.
Don’t
get me wrong, I really like the cash machine at the grocery
store. I really like the after hours drop-off for the movies
I rent. I
like the
convenience
in those win-win situations. The trade-off is definitely worth
it. My dad used to have to walk ten miles in the snow to return
movies,
and I don't want to do that. But when it comes to my wellness,
or the wellness of my animals, convenience isn’t even
in the equation.
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Sojourner Farms. All rights reserved.
