Primal for pooches
I've started feeding Bootsie on the prey model. It just sort of happened. I'd switched over a few years ago to grain-free kibble, since once I'd dropped grains it seemed even more compelling that a domesticated wolf wouldn't thrive on corn and mush with a little meat byproduct thrown in. But from what I'd seen most of the options for going any further were either exorbitantly expensive (for store-bought) or way too complicated and way, way, way too much trouble.
One of the catalysts was the new vet remarking on that pudge factor. Not so much her remark in itself, but her explanatory aside: "Just like people, as they get older their metabolism slows down, so you just have to feed her a little less."
I know from experience that the strict calories in, calories out concept is a hopeless metabolic trap for people, as long as we're eating the wrong things. So that comment flipped a switch for me. I couldn't keep cutting Bootsie's rations back further and further, and if she was eating the wrong things that wouldn't work anyway.
Then I ran across this prey model approach: mostly meat, a little bone, sometimes some organs. It's even easier than what I do for myself, and it just makes sense. Bootsie loves it, and she's already (two weeks in) shed some of the pudge she's picked up over the years. We're converts.
One of the catalysts was the new vet remarking on that pudge factor. Not so much her remark in itself, but her explanatory aside: "Just like people, as they get older their metabolism slows down, so you just have to feed her a little less."
I know from experience that the strict calories in, calories out concept is a hopeless metabolic trap for people, as long as we're eating the wrong things. So that comment flipped a switch for me. I couldn't keep cutting Bootsie's rations back further and further, and if she was eating the wrong things that wouldn't work anyway.
Then I ran across this prey model approach: mostly meat, a little bone, sometimes some organs. It's even easier than what I do for myself, and it just makes sense. Bootsie loves it, and she's already (two weeks in) shed some of the pudge she's picked up over the years. We're converts.