Le varech est une riche source de vitamines, de minéraux et d'acides aminés essentiels pour les chiens et les chats. Peut soutenir un système digestif sain, un système immunitaire sain et une peau et un pelage sains. 100 % varech de mer canadien.
SKU: 627818000536
Product Code: THRVK350
By Julie Lauzon, agr, MSc, Pet Nutrition
The Best Recipes are Always Improving
You might have noticed that over the past couple of years, balancing a raw diet has been much more involved than simply following ratio guidelines of meat, bones, organs, and vegetables. Although nutrition for our pets shouldn’t be more complicated than it is to feed ourselves and our family, the more we know about pet nutrition the more precise we can become in achieving their nutrient requirements. We will always try our best to produce the best raw pet food on the market, and will not hesitate to improve our recipes when new scientific information is available.
Recipe Formulation
With formulation software, for any animal species (humans included), the company inputs the ingredients they have access to and the software provides the cheapest recipe possible with the available ingredients that will cover the nutrient needs. If 8 years of formulating diets has taught me something, it is never to let the software do your job. Yes, on paper everything can be balanced, the nutrients will be covered, but the software only knows about nutrient analysis and price – it doesn’t know about food palatability, ingredient quality or dog and cat physiology of nutrition. In the case of the software, if a vegetable is cheaper than meat, it will give the minimum meat to cover the protein requirement and fill the rest with the cheaper vegetables. This also applies to vitamins and minerals. The software doesn’t care if heart is a rich source of B vitamins, if heart is expensive and a thiamine supplement is cheaper, then the supplement will make it into the recipe. This is how most kibbles are formulated, and how some raw brands that outsource formulation to a third party work as well.
Fruits and Veggies
When formulating diets for Big Country Raw, I always try to get the majority of nutrients from whole foods first: variety of organs, heart, high quality meat cuts. Then, if some nutrients are not found in high-quality human grade animal ingredients, I look into the addition of fruits and vegetables (for dogs). Every ingredient in our recipe has a purpose, nothing is there for “extra fiber or energy” – which is a fancy way of saying filler. Dogs don’t need a lot of fiber – 1 % is more than enough to be beneficial for the microbiome, (even if technically dogs and cats have no minimum requirement for carbs in their diet) which can be found in a small vegetable amount. Protein and fat are much more efficient sources of energy for our pets. Dogs are opportunistic carnivores and cats are strict carnivores – they do not need plant carbs to fill their energy requirements. Carbs should always be as minimal as possible (for dogs), and glycemic index (ingredients that raise blood sugar easily) should be considered. Did you know that animal meat brings carbs? Dogs and cats get plenty of carbs through the glycogen reserve of their prey – even more when fed high quality meat and organs.
When Whole Food Isn’t Enough
Sometimes, for specific nutrients, the whole food option is not the best choice. This is specifically in instances where the ingredient is impossible to get human-grade, or the amount needed is way too high to cover minimum requirements and keep the food appealing to dogs and cats.
Let’s use manganese as an example. Manganese is a micronutrient that is often missing in common 80/10/10 raw diets. Manganese is needed in a very small amount, and a manganese deficiency can take months or years to show – this will not create major health issues but won’t provide optimal health in the long term. Some natural whole food sources of manganese are: animal viscera, tripe, and some sea food like blue mussels. Manganese is a mineral that can be provided by a herbivore’s gut bacteria. As an example, a diet including 25% beef tripe would provide enough manganese. But 25% beef tripe is a lot of tripe, and some dogs simply do not like the smell (the same applies to blue mussels). Adding 25% beef tripe or blue mussels to all BCR Dinner recipes would drastically change the taste your dog loves so much. Another option would be to pair a vegetable source with a high-quality chelated supplement – that way we keep the great taste and digestibility, while we control the amount of manganese.
Another example would be the inclusion of ingredients such as brain, eyes, and thyroid tissues to cover zinc, DHA and iodine. A carnivore in the wild will eat these organs and tissues, but when strictly using human-grade, CFIA inspected and approved suppliers, we don’t have access to those animal parts.
This is How Big Country Raw Diets are Formulated
1. Establish what guidelines to follow. We decided to follow NRC guidelines as it applies better to a raw diet, while AAFCO uses a much lower digestibility factor, associated with high cooking temperature and high carbs inclusion. Following AAFCO for raw can imply a higher quantity of salt and heavy metals in the diet which can be harmful in the long run.
2. Using food analysis software formulation, and dog and cat physiology of nutrition to achieve as much of the minimum nutrient requirement as possible with whole foods, while keeping in mind the essential role of each micronutrient, as well as the proven Big Country Raw recipe palatability.
3. Cover the remaining small gaps in the formulation with carefully chosen high quality vegetables and chelated minerals.
At Big Country Raw, we have nothing to hide, we do not use any filler and we strongly believe in the high quality of our recipe formulation.
Below we have outlined the purpose of each ingredient found in our Big Country Raw Dinner formulas:
High Quality Lean Meat Cut; Meat is always the main portion of Big Country Raw recipes. Meat is a great source of many nutrients, like all of the essential amino acids and fatty acids, as well as magnesium, B vitamins, vitamin D, potassium, magnesium, selenium, zinc and sodium. Each animal meat is unique in its nutrient profile, and providing a rotational diet is very beneficial.
Heart; This muscle meat is the perfect in-between of meat and organs, and is a high quality source of some micro nutrients like B vitamins, Vitamin D, Iron, sodium, potassium and Selenium. Including a significant amount of high-quality muscle meat including heart, will cover many vitamins and minerals that are commonly added in “cheaper” recipes.
Bones; An extraordinary source of macro nutrients Calcium and Phosphorus, as well as other minerals – but not all bones are equal. Instead of using poultry bones in all the recipes, Big Country Raw adds a little more calcium and phosphorus to the beef, lamb, pork and fish recipe to support the minerals that low density bones bring in those specific protein choices.
Secreting Organs; Liver and spleen are the main organs used in our recipes, along with kidney. Liver and spleen are incredibly dense in Iron, vitamins (A, B, D), Zinc, and Copper. Including other organs outside of just liver is also a way to cover micronutrients without having to add them with supplements. That being said, not all organs are equal, and this is why beef organs are used in most of our recipes, as they are highly nutritious compared to poultry organs.
Spinach, Broccoli, Green Beans, Blueberries, and Cranberries; All very well-known super foods for dogs. Together, they are a wonderful source of vitamin K and C, as well as potassium, magnesium, iron, zinc, manganese, and B vitamins. Other than contributing to the vitamins and minerals, these bring exceptional phytonutrients that are known for their anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.
Speaking of glycemic index, all Big Country Raw fruits and vegetables have a glycemic index lower then 30, making our Dinner Recipes a good option for dogs as a preventative of diabetes, or for dogs dealing with diabetes or any other sugar related issues like yeast infections. For example, the glycemic index of pumpkin and squash are twice as high (over 65), and potatoes (or similar vegetables like yams and yucca) are extremely high (over 80).
Sea Kelp; One of the most common missing nutrients in a raw diet using strictly human grade food is Iodine. It is an essential nutrient for the thyroid gland function, and sea kelp is a highly bioavailable source of Iodine for pets and will also bring other nutrients like sodium and Iron.
Wheat Grass and Barley Grass: Freshly harvested sprouts (without the seed) of these two plants are an incredible source of highly digestible micronutrients and phytonutrients (like glutathione and Vitamin E antioxidant) and can also be used as a superfood for dogs and cats. Together, they bring an appreciable amount of Zinc, Vitamin E, C and K, as well as B vitamins.
Chelated Minerals; After using all the incredible ingredients mentioned above, Big Country Raw, in order to provide the most stable and digestible raw food possible, covered some minor nutrient gaps with extra Zinc, Copper and Manganese chelated minerals. The minerals are bounded to complex peptides, making them as (or more) digestible as the natural whole food form.
Vitamin E; Even if some of our ingredients are a great source of Vitamin E, we added a little bit of natural plant-based oil extract of Vitamin E for all its incredible antioxidant properties. Since we always recommend including fresh whole fish or fish oil, extra Vitamin E can only be beneficial to keep all the good advantages of those polyunsaturated fatty acids.
Wondering why there is no fish oil in our recipes? Don’t miss our upcoming blog post: Fish Oil – A Sensitive Superfood
We’ve always been transparent with our customers because we are proud of the food we make, and we stand behind every ingredient we add in our recipes. I hope you have enjoyed reading about the secrets behind Big Country Raw’s formulation and that you feel confident that you are offering your pet the best raw food on the market.
Probiotics, prebiotics, microbiome, bacteria, are all buzzwords when talking about gut health. What are they and how do they function together to keep our pets healthy?
Explained most simply, prebiotics are a food source for probiotics, the healthy bacteria living in a pet’s intestinal tract, making up their gut microbiome. It’s a delicate symbiotic, micro relationship designed to facilitate whole body health, starting in the gut. There are prebiotics and probiotics in some of the foods our pets eat every day, but how do you know if it’s enough? When should you offer supplements? Should they be used every day?
Prebiotics
Prebiotics are soluble indigestible fibre that act as a food source for the microflora in your pet’s gut. Feeding the good bacteria in the digestive tract allows them to proliferate so they can make easy work of digestion of food, absorption of nutrients, disease prevention and help to maintain overall health. Feeding a variety of prebiotics ensures that these helper bacteria can thrive in a pet’s microbiome.
Probiotiques
Probiotics are healthy living organisms (bacteria) making up the first line of defense against harmful bacteria. They do this by growing and thriving in the digestive tract, leaving no room for the bad bacteria to colonize. A diverse and well-populated bacteria population is critical to your pet’s health. These helpful bacteria residing in the gut make up to 80% of a pet’s immune system, so supporting this health epicenter is one of the best ways to mitigate and even prevent disease.
How do Probiotics Benefit our Pets’ Overall Health?
Supplementing with probiotics is known to benefit pets that suffer from:
– Allergy symptoms / Leaky gut
– Urinary tract infections
– Chronic yeast infections
– Diarrhea, constipation, and bowel diseases
– Flatulence
– Bad Breath
– Obesity
When offering a prebiotic / probiotic supplement, the goal is to improve the natural environment in the gut making it easier for the bacteria in the gut to do their job.
Your pet’s environment, and even the food they eat impacts their gut microbiome – either working to support health or unintentionally destroying the good bacteria, increasing risk of illness and disease. Most notably, feeding a processed food diet, high in starch and preservatives, supports the growth of harmful bacteria. Use of antibiotics and other medications, contact with pesticides, harmful household cleaners and other environmental toxins also negatively impact your pet’s gut health and can cause dysbiosis. Dysbiosis is the process by which good bacterial colonies decline, allowing pathogenic bacteria to steal nutrients and create a harmful imbalance in a pet’s microbiome, leading to illness.
When choosing a probiotic supplement, it’s important to look for one that offers many bacterial strains – with beneficial bacteria, it really is the more the merrier. A healthy and balanced microbiome hosts thousands of different bacteria families and microbes. Each bacterial family thrives best on a different diet, which is why offering prebiotic variety is important. Offering multiple healthy fibre options ensures the gut bacteria have food which keeps the microbiome thriving.
Simple Ways to Support Your Pet’s Microbiome:
– Limit exposure to environmental toxins like harsh cleaners, and all the -cides (pesticides, herbicides, fungicides)
– Feed a species-appropriate fresh food diet
– Feed probiotic-rich foods
– Feed prebiotics alongside the probiotics
Most pets can benefit from some added probiotics and prebiotics. Collectively called synbiotics, they are a power duo for your pet’s gut health, which is why they should both be found in digestive supplements for dogs. Kelp, spirulina, and guar gum are common prebiotics found alongside strains of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, two gut-healthy bacterial families living in your pet’s microbiome. Thrive Pro-gut is a synbiotic supplement containing both prebiotics and several strains of each beneficial gut bacteria. Supplementing with probiotics could be the simplest part of your pet’s care routine, with the biggest benefit.
If you’re looking to try adding some whole food prebiotic and probiotic options to add to your pet’s bowl, give some of these a try:
Thrive Pro-gut – 8 bacterial strains and added prebiotics for maximum gut benefit. Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Lactobacillus Caseium, Lactobacillus Bulgaricus, Lactobacillus Rhamnosus, Lactobacillus Brevis, Bifidobacterium Bifidus, Bifidobacterium Longum, Saccharomyces Boulardii.
Raw Fermented Goat Milk – contains 2 bacterial cultures and is unpasteurized, making it the perfect choice for helping with minor digestive upset. Lactococ-Cus Lactis, Leuconostoc Mesenteriodesand
*Tip – offer both probiotics sources for maximum benefit.
When Should You Offer Pre and Probiotics to Your Pet?
Every pet’s needs are different and a probiotic that works for one pet, may not work for another. If a pet’s small intestine is fully colonized or even overcrowded with bacteria, adding probiotics usually makes digestive symptoms worse. This condition is called SIBO (Small Intestine Bacteria Overgrowth) which is known to account for up to 80% of chronic digestive issues in humans – more research needs to be done for our pet counterparts.
There are Several Instances When Offering Probiotics can be Extra Beneficial
– Offer starting several days in advance of a stressful activity (vet visit, competition, travel, boarding)
– Offer in advance and during an antibiotic regimen prescribed by your vet
– During a diet change to aid the transition
– Offer 2-3 times weekly for a small boost
It’s important to note that probiotics are NOT digestive enzymes. Digestive enzymes are proteins that do the work of breaking the food down, making them usable, or digestible. Unless your pet has been diagnosed by a veterinarian with pancreatitis or EPI, your pet should not be given large doses of digestive enzymes regularly.
References:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195561621000127?via%3Dihub
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S019556162030111X?via%3Dihub
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22440414/
