K9 Natural Dog Food

To understand the nutritional needs of canines, it's important to understand one fundamental aspect of their physiological make up: canines are carnivores.

Wolves and other wild canines have survived and thrived on raw meat, meaty bones, organs and the predigested foods (such as grass, seeds, berries and leaf matter) of their prey for thousands of years. High in protein, this diet is easily digested and provides optimum nutrition and energy.

A dog's digestive system passes food much quicker than a human's, indeed too quickly for bacteria to do any harm. However, the speed of a dog's digestion means that its food needs to be packed full of quickly digestible nutrients. A wolf's natural diet is full of these nutrients and is easily digested – which is why K9 Natural mimics this diet so closely.

The ingredients discussed below are the only ingredients in K9 Natural, and they are all entirely raw to maintain their nutritional properties for the absolute benefit of your dog.

85% of the content of K9 Natural is raw meat (derived from animals deemed fit for human consumption), crushed bone, blood and a small amount of organ meats from grass-fed, free range, New Zealand livestock. We never use meat from 'fallen', diseased or dying animals and we never use waste meats such as hooves, tails, noses or chicken feet etc.

When meat is processed for human consumption, the blood, organs and most bones are removed from the carcass. As these things are a natural part of a dog's diet and have been for thousands of years, we retain these ingredients and include them in K9 Natural in authentic quantities.

Blood ensures your dog gets sufficient Iron and other essential minerals. Ground bone provides calcium, which needs to be the most abundant mineral in a dog's body (a deficiency of calcium may lead to fragile, porous bones, retarded growth and tooth decay, amongst other things). A sufficient amount of ground bone is included in K9 Natural to provide appropriate calcium, but we also recommend giving your dog a raw bone each day if you can, for healthy teeth, gums and breath, and as an enjoyable enrichment activity for your dog.

Small amounts of organ meats, specifically heart, liver, kidney and green tripe are a natural part of a canine diet and provide some of the essential micro nutrients required by dogs. Green tripe, for example, contains a probiotic (an organism which contributes to the health and balance of the intestinal tract) that is only found in fresh stomach lining.

The modest quantities of fresh fruit and vegetables included in K9 Natural provide a range of vitamins required by your dog. We use broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, silver beet, cabbage, pumpkin, apples and pears. In summer we replace apples and pears with fruits such as berries, mimicking the overripe and fallen fruit that a wolf would find and eat in the wild in summer.

Garlic is known as nature's antibiotic and is a safe and natural remedy for many ailments. It strengthens the immune system, is a powerful blood purifier and contains anti-fungal and anti-viral properties. It also contains two important protector minerals – geranium and selenium.

Garlic is also known to have a powerful anti-toxic blood purifying effect and assists in clearing the system of heavy metals (such as lead), drugs and poisons. It also plays a major role in the rejection of cancer-causing toxins from normal cells. The amount of garlic included in K9 Natural is sufficient to provide the micro nutrients your dog requires and may assist in its natural defence mechanism against worms.

Wolves are scavengers as well as hunters, and will keenly devour eggs when they find them. Eggs are packed with protein, folic acid, iron, phosphorus, zinc and vitamins A, D, E and B.

Cod liver oil contains Omega-3 and is one of the most reliable and concentrated sources of four nutrients (DHA, EPA, vitamin A and vitamin D).

These nutrients are needed for a healthy skin and coat, strong bones and teeth, healthy joints, a healthy cardiovascular system, a healthy lining of the digestive tract and

a healthy nervous system. Cod liver oil is also the world's best natural preservative. We use cold-pressed Norwegian cod liver oil - the finest in the world. It is the only ingredient we source from outside of New Zealand.