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Fermentation - Why we should be considering fermented fruits and veggies for our dogs

​Courtesy of Raw Love Pet Food


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The ‘pre-digested vegetation debate’ has recently been in the spotlight. This boils down to the fact that dogs are designed to more easily absorb nutrients from pre-digested veg/fruit, as opposed to cooked or completely raw – in line with the state of vegetation they would ingest from the prey’s GI tract when hunting.

So, well, we got busy. Our research led us to the process of veg fermentation. More importantly, of fermented veg/fruit suitable for dogs, which is similar but also different compared to fermented vegetables for humans (think sauerkraut).

Some benefits worth mentioning:
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  • It allows for truly optimum nutrient absorption, in line with dogs’ biological and physiological make up. The vegetable matter dogs naturally ingest are pre-digested by their prey. With short GI tracts (to prevent unfriendly bacteria settlement), we know the food passes through their systems quickly. Fermented vegetable matter makes the nutrients inside the food more bio-available.

  • The fermentation process brings a whole lot of goodness to the table – millions of beneficial microbes (probiotics) that help balance gut bacteria, boosting overall immunity. Fermented veg also acts as a potent detoxifier helping rid your pet’s body of a wide variety of toxins including heavy metals. It produces vitamin C, the B vitamins, vitamin K2 and enzymes that all support healthy metabolic activity. It contains choline that balances and nourishes the blood. And the lactic acid produced by fermentation is a chemical repressor that fights cancer cells without harming healthy cells.

  • Thirdly, fermented veg in raw dog food acts as an extremely effective safety agent, as the probiotics attack unwanted pathogens, prohibiting them from growing to infectious levels. Adding fermented veg therefore, is like inoculating the food against harmful bacteria. No chemicals, no preservatives, only beneficial bacteria.

In a nutshell, fermentation is so effective because the lactic acid also produces an antimicrobial agent called bacteriocin – a micro-organism that acts almost like an antibiotic, which combats bad bacteria (e.g. listeria, e coli, salmonella). This is based on years of research in the human food industry. In fact, in the late 1980’s the FDA approved an extracted bacteriocin to manage human food safety.

We started experimenting with the veg fermentation process and are happy to report that we have got it down! We opted to use a little salt only (pure Kalahari Desert salt at that) and kefir, not including whey as others have done. As we make more batches, we harvest the probiotic rich liquid and re-introduce to the next batch. It’s rather exciting to watch and feel the goodness grow. 😊
More importantly, our dogs (and friends’ dogs) still happily chow down the Raw Love meals. It’s a tad too soon to notice additional external advantages. But as Helena said: Our dogs can’t be any happier, healthier or shinier than they are!

We highly recommend you take a moment to watch the following clips:
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