Here's what most people don't get about feeding cats or dogs: It's not just about nutrition and filling the belly, it's also about "the experience." After all, cats and dogs are carnivores and no matter how domesticated they are, their innate desire is to catch the prey that they consume.

The carnivore's existence hinges upon the hunt for meat, it's encoded in the double helix strands of their DNA. Think about the effort that goes into tracking down prey for wolves or lions, consider the social aspect of the hunt that binds the pack together. Can we even fathom their remarkable ability to work together in unison and the logistics of finding and successfully taking down their prey? 

And when the feline / canine carnivore is successful, it's not just a free-for-all at Moe's All-U-Can-Eat Bison Buffet, there's a certain hierarchy, a set of unwritten rules about who eats what and when. Finally, there's the grisly exercise of eating the prey - ripping, tearing, bone-crunching - even if it's just a modest catch like a mouse. Suffice it to say that dried kibble or mushy canned food served in a bowl is nothing remotely close to that Call-of-the-Wild eating experience.

Of course our cats and dogs are not wild carnivores. They've been domesticated over the past 30,000 years or so, but still, to quote my late Great Aunt Yetta, (who had a mole on her cheek that looked like a map of Brazil), the history of manufactured food for pets, "...is like a fart in a windstorm," considering that commercial pet food has only been around since World War ll. All this to say that for a carnivore, the experience of eating is not just about eating, it's your animal's raison d'etre.

That's why I'm so crazy about raw diets for cats and dogs. At least your pet gets the chance to rip, grind, chew and yeah, even savor their food. Consequently, meals become ritualized, they take time, they become an activity, if not the main focal point of the animal's existence. Don't you think your pet will feel more satiated, more satisfied after a raw meal than after a bowl of 100% processed kibble? (I shudder at the mere thought  of that machine-made grub!)

A raw diet brings your cat or dog back to its primal roots while providing it with the natural nutrition it needs to thrive. Don't buy into the lies of the kibble manufactured diet. Buy into life, buy into raw, buy into what's real.