A Note on Safety

Raw meat is quite safe for your cat or dog to eat. Their digestive systems are
very different from our own—they are short, fast, and highly acidic. Bacteria
simply don’t have time to fester and multiply in a healthy cat or dog with a
fully functioning immune system. But you do want to be responsible and fol-
low the rules for food handling that you would use for meat you are cooking
for yourself. Rinse off meat, keep it cold, and don’t use it if it smells bad or
if the expiration date has passed. I like to grind my own meat using slightly
frozen cuts rather than buying pre-ground; this way I have control over the
cleanliness and purity.

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 All about Meals
As I discussed earlier, there is
nothing overly complicated about
feeding your pet good, healthy
meals. Again, variety is key, and
you can introduce variety not only
by mixing up ingredients but also
by altering meal portions, feeding
times, and the number of meals
per day.
Meal Size
Carnivores may sometimes catch a mouse
for a day’s sustenance and other times a fat
chicken. On other days, they may find only nuts
and berries. So it’s not in their nature to eat the
same quantity of food day after day. That’s why
I like changing up the size and nature of my ani-
mals’ meals, and you should, too.
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Feeding Times
Some people feel that it is important to feed their
animals at the same time every day. This is not
important to carnivores—as hunters, they expect
food to come as it may. So don’t get hung up on
watching the clock and feeding your pet on the
dot. This will also free you up from sticking to a
strict time schedule for meals.
How Many Meals per Day?
Some cats and dogs do best when fed one meal
a day. Most do well on one lighter meal and one
heavier meal per day. Some will need three or
four small meals. It depends on the individual
animal as well as on your schedule. I personally
like to do a light meal in the morning and then
a larger meal in the evening, but I don’t stick to
it religiously. Sometimes I skip the breakfast and
serve lunch instead.
Basically, feel free to make decisions on timing
your pets’ meals according to their individual
needs and your own schedule. Don’t feel forced
into some dogmatic routine of when a meal
should be served or how often. Trust your instincts
and make this work for you. Your pets will do just
fine if you skip a meal or serve it at an unusual
time, or if you only have time to add some fresh
whole food extras to a commercial diet.
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 Approaches to Fasting
A fast involves a period of not eating, or cutting back drastically on what is
eaten. It is often undertaken so the body can take a break from digestion,
and detoxify. The digestive systems of cats and dogs are particularly well set
up for fasting. Their wild counterparts are carnivore hunters that are often in
a position of having to fast because game can be scarce.

Our domestic cats and dogs need these periods of digestive rest in order
to be truly healthy. When a meal is skipped, the digestive system can take
a break and catch up and clean up. I find that skipping a pet’s meal can
be helpful for dealing with digestive upsets such as mild diarrhea. When
they are not feeling well, some cats and dogs will naturally stop eating.
But others will eat the food we put out for them even if they don’t really
want to, just out of habit. If one of my pets has diarrhea in the morning,
I usually skip serving breakfast. By the late afternoon, the diarrhea has usu-
ally cleared up, but I keep dinner light, serving a small amount of a mostly
meat-based meal.

Scheduling a fast for your pet once a week or a couple of times a month is
a good thing. Always provide fresh water on fast days. The type of fast can
vary: You can withhold all foods, you can do a day of just broth, you can
simply cut back on the size of the regular meals, or if you usually feed mostly
meat, your pet’s fast day can be a day of mostly grain and dairy. The point
is to provide some dramatic variety.

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 A Sample Week of Meals
Here are some suggestions for a single week of meals using recipes you’ll
find in chapter 7. Follow this week of meals with completely different ones,
depending on local availability, individual preferences, the size of your pet,
and so on. Observe and monitor your pet and make adjustments if a food
doesn’t seem to agree with him or her or if you see weight gain or loss.

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY

Morning Morning Morning Morning
Sardine Salad; Barley and Jack Mack- Purple Berry Meat; Beef, Sardines, and
page 154 erel; page 134 page 122 Polenta; page 100

Evening Evening Evening Evening

Zucchini and Eggs; Ground Chicken Ground Chicken Turkey with Millet,
page 148 Dinner with Seasonal Dinner with Seasonal Fennel, and Tahini;
Vegetables; page 90 Vegetables; page 90 page 95

THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

Morning Morning Morning
Nettle Rice; page 145 Ground Turkey with Ground Frozen Fish
Arugula; page 121 Mash with Seasonal
Evening
Vegetables; page 94
Beef, Sardines, and Evening
Polenta; page 100 “Essentials” Dinner of Evening
Canned Salmon, Egg, Big Baked Veggies
and Chicken Hearts; and Lamb Chunks;
page 109 page 115

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