Being an advocate of fresh and nutritionally rich "alive" foods, it's no wonder that people think I am against processed, shelf-stable commercial pet foods.

The truth is that there is a time and place for everything. Kibble and canned foods are great for short term use - for convenience when we are in a hurry or going on short holidays, for when we have budget or time constraints, and they are very useful to foster carers, rescue groups & shelters.

One could argue that inflammation (acid) is the root cause of all disease so if we can help it, why would we feed our dogs inflammatory foods? Would we not just be setting them up for failure since no matter the cost or ingredients these foods are by design inflammatory? I liken it to children being fed junk food.

Health problems arise when we turn convenience foods into a staple diet. I can't stress this enough - it doesn't matter what a bag of kibble costs, it doesn't matter how fancy or expensive the ingredients are - once the food is processed it becomes heavily inflammatory... Which means how much you paid is irrelevant (not to mention the potentially harmful synthetic supplements thrown in to compensate for the natural nutrients that are killed during the cooking process).

Isn't it ironic that all the veterinary approved prescription foods for conditions like diabetes, gastrointestinal issues or even those that offer arthritis support are at their core, inflammatory? Sure, they may provide some nutritional benefit for certain conditions but why are we trying to treat inflammatory conditions with a staple diet that is inflammatory?

If you can; feed fresh, raw nutritionally alive foods with a good mix of alkalising ingredients (the opposite of inflammatory/acid forming). If you can’t; be sure to at the very least regularly add alkalising ingredients to your dog’s diet.

Oh and the difference... you'll see it!