Steve Brown - Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet: Healthier Dog Food the ABC Way

UNLOCKING THE CANINE ANCESTRAL DIET

Healthier Dog Food the ABC Way

Steve Brown

Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet
Healthier Dog the ABC Way
Steve Brown

Dogwise Publishing
A Division of Direct Book Service, Inc.
403 South Mission Street, Wenatchee, Washington 98801
1-509-663-9115, 1-800-776-2665
www.dogwisepublishing.com / info@dogwisepublishing.com

2010 Steve Brown

Graphic Design: Lindsay Peternell

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, digital or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher.

Limits of Liability and Disclaimer of Warranty:
The author and publisher shall not be liable in the event of incidental or consequential damages in connection with, or arising out of, the furnishing, performance, or use of the instructions and suggestions contained in this book.

Disclaimer
This book was written and published for educational purposes only, and it not intended to take the place of veterinary care. Please consult a veterinarian should the need for one be indicated. The author shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person, pet, or entity with respect to loss, damage, or injury caused, or alleged to be caused, directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book.

Some breeds, such as Dalmatians, can have problems with the purines in beef liver and hearts. Giant breed puppy owners should consult with their veterinarian or their puppys breeder before making any dietary changes.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Brown, Steve, 1948

Unlocking the canine ancestral diet : healthier dog the ABC way / Steve Brown.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-929242-67-2
1. DogsFood. 2. DogsNutrition. I. Title.

SF427.4.B763 2010

636.70852dc22

Make whatever food you feeddry, canned, frozen or homemademore like the canine ancestral diet by following the ABCs:

Amount of fat, protein, and carbohydrate based upon the ancestral diet

Balance the fats

Complete the nutrition with fresh foods

FOREWORD

Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food. Hippocrates

As a holistic veterinarian, these are words to live by, and Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet, by Steve Brown, epitomizes this approach to health and well being. In fact, theres so much to like about this book, its hard to know where to begin.

For starters, Browns approach is to remind us that dogs are canines, and the wild ancestors of todays domesticated dogs maintained their health by eating certain foods and by eating them in certain ways thus the Ancestral part of the title. Taking this as a basis for formulating a healthy diet with todays food sources, Brown recognizes that todays commercial dog foods are woefully lacking in some dietary needs (especially high-quality proteins); they are especially heavy in others (grain-based carbohydrates); and they are often terribly unbalanced in some nutrients (the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids is typically far too high in commercial foods).

Holistic vets have long talked about the health-gap between whats contained in commercial foods and what dogs should be eating. Most of us advocate a home-fixed diet as a means to compensate for the imbalance of nutrients. But Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet takes this approach to a new level of scientifically-based sophistication and even argues that many of our home-fixed menus, while healthier than commercial dogfoods, may actually be out of balance.

Brown has done his homework and is able to present his case for feeding a nutrient mix that more closely matches what has been health food for hundreds of generations of canines. Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet is chock full of data-filled charts that support his premise that the ancestral diet is good stuff for todays dogs.

Brown then shows how to easily achieve this mix by feeding the correct Amount of fats and carbohydrates based on the ancestral diet; Balancing the fats (creating the correct balance of omega-3, -6, -9s and making sure there is enough DHA in the diet); and Completing the nutrition balance with fresh foods. This ABC program creates a diet that is healthy, balanced, and easy to feed.

Best of all, to make it even easier, Brown shows us how we can achieve a balance of nutrients by feeding his suggested foods only one-day-a-week, whether we are feeding dry, canned, or frozen foods.

And for those of us who want to take the time and effort to go to the next step and feed the ancestral diet exclusively, Brown provides several recipes that use either beef or poultry.

Interestingly, because our home-fixed diets usually contain grain-fed meats (from conventionally fed livestock which produce meats high in omega 6s as opposed to grass fed livestock or wild prey animals that are higher in the needed omega-3s), we are likely feeding an imbalance of omega-6s and -3s, and this book shows us how to correct for that.

The short take on this book is that it is a must read for anyone (and this should include all of us who truly love our dogs) who believes that healthy and nutritious food is the one necessity for maintaining healthy pets. Its a good read, packed with scientifically-backed information, and it presents a practical approach for achieving the goal of helping us to make a healthy diet for our dogs. As easy as ABC.

I will be using this book in my Fixing Good Foods for Pets seminars, and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in the long term, overall health of their own best buddies. It would also be a good gift choice for anyone interested in holistic health for dogs, and especially for the veterinarian who still believes that the commercial dog foods he/she sells are all that dogs need.

Randy Kidd, DMV

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Appendices