OUR NUTRIENTS
At Cleo & Patra’s Canine Cuisine, we only use whole, unprocessed human grade quality nutrient dense ingredients that you can pronounce and are easily digestible for your dog. We strive to provide the most nutritious foods, based on Weston A Price’s teachings (www.westonaprice.org) and our own education and experiences.
We are proud to only use 100% Grass-Fed Meats, raw dairy and vegetables from local Farmer's and Farmer's Markets. Our ingredients can help your dog maintain, gain or lose weight in a healthy manner, without any "diet" foods.
The Whole Dog Journal recently wrote a 5 page article on the benefits of Grass Fed Meats in their "Grass Fed is Greener" Article saying "What's the absolute ultimate in healthy diets for dogs? Pasture-Fed animals provide healthier meat and dairy products - and their production is better for the environment than factory-farmed livestock too!"
Our nutrients have also helped many pets including Annie and Joey who were able to get off their allergy medications after only two months on Cleo & Patra Canine Cuisine. Cleo & Patra were diagnosed with Luxating Patellas at 8 months old, where the kneecap pops out, common in toy breeds. Surgery was recommended. Instead we did some acupuncture and they ate our nutrient dense meals over the past two years. At their recent annual check-up, we were informed that their kneecaps are now very tight and I no longer have to shell out Eight thousand dollars for surgery! And then there is Buck, one of our Farmer's Dogs, who broke his femur at a young age. The vet said it would be a Three Thousand dollar surgery. Instead, John, our farmer, fed Buck 100% Grass Fed Meats and within TWO months, Buck was walking normal again!
Many dog recipes and websites we have researched contain ingredients that are not the most nutritious or can be toxic for your dog, like corn and white potatoes. Again, each dog is unique and may be able to handle these, but they are not generally recommended.
It is refreshing to see many supermarkets beginning to provide much better quality foods, though they don’t always provide the best nutritional quality and density we use here at Cleo & Patra Canine Cuisine. Meat, milk and eggs in our supermarkets can be highly contaminated and vastly inferior in nutritional quality to those available to our ancestors just a few decades ago.
We hope you take as much joy and pride knowing that our food comes from farmers who have made conscious choices about stewarding the land in environmentally responsible ways, raising livestock in a humane fashion, and living their own lives in accordance with their values.
Statements made on our site have not been evaulated by the FDA. Our recipes are not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease or illness or be a substitute for veterinary care or treatment. Our client's results do speak for themselves. Isn't it time you take control of your pet's diet and make a conscious choice for your canine's cuisine?
Our motto is to "Know Your Source of Food!" Should you wish to eat our foods for yourself or to cook for your dog, you can order directly from our farmers by going to our Canine Connections page.
We only use the following ingredients in our meals:
DAIRY
Raw Milk
Should dogs and cats drink or eat dairy products? Some pet nutritionists say milk and dairy products are perfect foods, while others blame them for every canine and feline disorder from ear infections to cancer. Raw, unpasteurized, unhomogenized milk straight from healthy, organically raised, grass-fed cows or goats is an excellent food for dogs and cats and humans! Raw dairy is extremely pro-biotic (800 times more than yogurt) and provides the missing essential bacteria and enzymes.
Since dogs are lactose intolerant like many humans, we only use Raw milk which does not contain any hormones, is easily digestible, contains components that kill bacteria, stimulates the immune system, promotes calcium absorption and growth. Goat’s milk is another great alternative.
Whole Raw Milk was used in the treatment to cure many diseases decades ago. Studies now show that it brings healing and helps prevent asthma and allergies. It is safer than pasteurized Milk as the pasteurization and homogenization process destroys the important necessary lactase enzymes and diminishes vitamin content, killing beneficial bacteria. It is the pasteurization process that most everyone is allergic to, not the milk.
Whole Raw Milk digests itself and pasteurized Milk is difficult to digest, thus causing lactose intolerance for many humans and dogs. You may not know this, but in the U.S., hormones are injected into cows to enable them to produce more milk. This practice is not permitted in Canada or other countries. Raw Milk is legal in California, so we should take advantage of this and consume one of nature’s best gifts.
Yogurt
We only use Raw Goat’s Yogurt with live cultures, which is the easiest and closest yogurt a human and dog’s body can assimilate. The most familiar cultured dairy products in North America are yogurt and kefir, which are sold in health food stores and supermarkets. However, most commercially prepared yogurt and kefir contain questionable ingredients, such as nonfat dry milk powder, and their beneficial bacteria decline during shipment and storage. Freshly prepared yogurt and kefir provide both beneficial bacteria and the lactic acid they thrive on, protecting the system against pathogens and infection while improving digestion. These can be bought at most Healthfood stores or Co-0ps. Rawsome (see Canine Connections for location) has the most amazing Raw Cow & Goat’s Yogurt ever, in addition to other nutritious dairy.
When introducing dairy products, feed them once a week to be sure your dog or cat tolerates them well; then use as often as desired.
Eggs –Range Free Eggs Read More
Butter – Raw, Unsalted
Mayonnaise & Sour Cream – We prefer to use the real thing rather than poor nutritional imitations. Substitutes have too many fake ingredients we cannot pronounce!
Cheese – we only use Raw Cheese and Raw Unsalted Cheese and Goat’s Cheese, which is easily digested. The digestive tract of a dog is for simpler food than what humans eat. If your dog does like cheese, we only recommend giving them Whole Milk Raw Cheese, as it is the perfect food with all the enzymes, vitamins and minerals needed. Though some of these may be destroyed by cooking, the proteins are not as badly destroyed as in pasteurized cheese, and therefore still easily digestible!
GRAINS
Rice – we only use organic long grain brown rice as it aids in helping your dog digest their food, and is more nutritious as it is rich in B Vitamins and fiber, which helps keep the intestinal tract clean. White rice is hard on human’s stomachs, let alone animals. We have learned that a few rice manufacturers add beet pulp to their white rice, which turns it a brown color, which they then sell as brown rice! We cannot strive enough to KNOW YOUR SOURCE of food!
The intestinal tracts of dogs and cats are much shorter than those of cereal-eating animals, like cows and horses. According to Dr. Richard Pitcairn, grains fed to dogs and cats need some pre-digestion, in the form of cooking.
As many of you already know, one of the recalls was for the ingredient “Rice Protein Concentrate” which contains melamine. We only use “organic brown rice” from Lundberg Farms in Northern California. The recalls may have confused some consumers, as a few recalled foods included “brown rice” in their names. However, the contaminated ingredient was not brown rice, it was “Rice Protein Concentrate,” which is not in our recipes.
Additionally, it is believed that this contaminated ingredient, like the wheat gluten involved in prior recalls, was imported from China. We use only human-quality ingredients from U.S. sources in our foods, except for our Wild Salmon which comes from Alaska.
Brown Rice Pasta is a wheat-free, gluten-free, Cholesterol-Free, Sodium-Free alternative to traditional pastas. It is made with nothing but organic brown rice and water, providing a pure natural and delicious food.
Kelp Noodles are a sea vegetable in the form of an easy to eat noodle. Made with mineral-rich sea kelp (a sea vegetable), sodium alginate (sodium salt extracted from a brown seaweed, and water. Kelp Noodles healthful content provide a rich source of trace minerals, including iodine, which Kelp is known for. Also low in carbs, calories and fat-free! Kelp Noodles are a great alternative to pasta and rice noodles. You can request this as a substitute in your meals for an additional fee or buy as a Side Dish
Flour – we only use organic brown rice or coconut flour as it is easier for the body to assimilate. There are no nutrients in white, wheat or whole-wheat flour. In fact, wheat flour is sometimes used as an euphemism for white flour and is an inferior ingredient. The majority of humans are allergic to wheat as animals are to gluten, which is a concentrated protein fraction found in wheat. Any other type of pastas are just unhealthy carbohydrates.
Tortillas/Bread – we only use Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain Tortillas and 100% Flourless Low Sodium Ezekiel Sprouted Grain Bread. Sprouting is the best way to release all of the vital nutrients stored in whole grains without the enzymes that causes allergic reactions. For more information on sprouted grains, please visit www.foodforlife.com
VEGETABLES
We do not include Corn in our recipes as corn is very hard to digest in humans, yet alone in animals. Most corn and peas are genetically modified GMO so we do not use peas either. Nor do we include spinach as it has been recalled one too many times. Again, we won't take chances with your pet or ours! We buy our vegetables from local farmer's markets which are not sprayed. This is basically the same as "Organic", but we are not paying for the government fees the farmers are charged to be certified "Organic." Organic vegetables are available at a higher cost.
We include Mixed Sea Vegetables in our recipes as they are High in Calcium and Iron and known to promote thyroid funciton as well as being beneficial for skin support.
MEAT/FISH
Dogs cannot survive without protein in their diets. Dietary protein contains 10 specific amino acids that dogs cannot manufacture on their own. High quality proteins have a good balance of the essential amino acids and donate the carbon chains needed to make glucose for energy.
We only use the most nutritious meat from 100% Grass Fed Animals and fish, raised without antibiotics, hormones, soy and grain. Animal protein foods - meat, fish, eggs and milk – are the building blocks of an animal's diet and along with dietary fats, provide the most concentrated source of energy in the diet. Protein always come with fat and is necessary for a pet's diet. Essential fatty acids play a major role in cell structure and function and are necessary to keep your dog's skin and coat healthy. They are an important source of bodybuilding factors in the diet. Animal fats supply vital fat-soluble nutrients such as Vitamin A, D, animal protein rich in minerals.
Red Meat is a rich source of nutrients that protect the heart and nervous system, including vitamins B12 and B6, zinc, phosphorus, carnitine and co-enzyme-Q10. To learn more about 100% Grass Fed meats, click on our Grass Fed Meats page.
|
BROTH
Our flavorful gelatin-rich and nutritious Home Made Bone and Chicken Broth contains the minerals of bone, cartilage, marrow and vegetables as electrolytes, a form that is easy to assimilate. Our cooking method helps to draw out minerals, particularly calcium, magnesium and potassium, into the broth which helps build healthy cartilages to detoxify and supplies gelatin which aids digestion. This is a great addition to our meals to help supply these necessary minerals in their natural form. We discard our bones once they are cooked as they are not safe for pets to eat.
OILS
We only cook with Raw Butter, 100% Organic Expeller Pressed Coconut Oil or Extra Virgin Olive Oil as these are the most stable monounsaturated fats rich in antioxidants. Hydrogenated Oils (industry processed oils like Corn Oil, Soy, Safflower, Sunflower, Cottonseed, Canola and Vegetable oils) tend to become rancid or oxidized when subjected to heat, oxygen and moisture in cooking. They also can cause cancer, heart disease, immune system dysfunction, sterility and osteoporosis, to name a few. We strongly suggest to substitute Coconut or Olive Oil in place of Hydrogenated Oils in recipes.
Coconut Oil is composed predominantly of medium chaing fatty acids, which are easily digested by the body and convert readily to energy. They strongly support the immune system, are extremely beneficial to the digestive tract and help maintain healthy flora in the intestinal tract, on the skin and throughout the body.
SOY
We DO NOT ever use soy as hundreds of epidemiological, clinical and laboratory studies link Modern Soy products to digestive distress, infertility, ADD, immune system breakdown, thyroid problems and cognitive decline to name a few. Soy blocks mineral absorption and inhibits protein digestion. In test animals, soy containing trypsin inhibitors caused stunted growth. Additionally over time, Soy turns your soft tissues hard and your hard tissues soft, depletes your body of cholesterol, which it needs. Soy foods also contain high levels of aluminum, which is toxic to the nervous system and the kidneys. Fermented soy food is fine. Asians consume soy foods in small amounts as a condiment, and not as a replacement for animal foods. For more info on soy, go to www.wholesoystory.com and sign up for their free newsletter.
SALT
We use the purest and healthiest mineral 100% Organic Celtic Sea Salt for flavoring. It acts as an enzyme activator and provides the body with needed natural sodium, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, iodine, and over 80 trace minerals, including silver, zinc, selenium, and manganese.
MISC
Arrowroot Powder – We use Arrowroot instead of cornstarch to thicken our sauces, which is derived from the roots of a tropical South American plant, and is like a starch resembling corn flour. This low calorie content food is highly regarded as a food with considerable nutritious and medicinal value (in fact, they called it “Aru Aru” meaning, “food of foods”). Arrowroot has a neutral taste and thickens at a lower temperature than corn starch, and hence can be used to thicken delicate egg-based soups and sauces. Arrowroot is very light on the stomach and in Victorian times used to be concocted into a drink and given to convalescing patients, or as a jelly to babies being weaned.
Pamphlets from Weston A Price on the above topics are available at $1 per item, which you can purchase in the snack section.
