The Epiphany
More and more dog lovers are becoming friends of Napa Fresh, joining this crazy bunch of dog people, unashamed, and we are hearing more and more stories about using simple common sense when it comes to feeding their dogs – the epiphany.
New customers usually come to us to try to resolve their dog’s nagging health issue, or after their epiphany. Many times, it’s after bumping into another Napa Fresh dog, and asking the owner why that dog’s fur is so soft and shiny, and why he looks so healthy and vibrant (he not only looks vibrant and healthy, he is healthy and vibrant).
Dog lovers have one BIG thing in common: we love our dogs as we do any other family member, and we want them to live healthy lives for as long as possible, and we will do whatever it takes to insure that they do.
Every Napa Fresh family member has had The Epiphany.
These dog lovers have come to the (correct) conclusion, as we did over ten years ago, that what we feed our dogs every day has a profound effect on their health and well-being.
In our dogs, we stopped cancer dead in its tracks. Eleven years ago we were losing ALL of our dogs to cancer. Since we started feeding Napa Fresh, we have not had even one cancer diagnosis in any of our dogs. Proof positive.
Bad things may not happen overnight (but sometimes bad health does manifest quickly), and could take years to develop, like cancer with our own dogs, but the fact is that the ingredients allowed (and not allowed) in mass-produced dog food these days harm the dogs we love, by damaging their immune systems over time, opening the door to cancer and other types of organ failures and diseases. This is true even with the brand you buy at your vet, no matter what the label on the bag or can implies; no matter what the TV commercial claims.
The word “food” on commercial dog food labels is a misnomer. There is no real “food” in that package. There is no real “meat”. There is dried up processed garbage that was meat at one time, but is now unrecognizable and has little or no nutritional value. It’s the reason that mass-produced dog foods have to add synthetic vitamin mixes, often from foreign countries, to make up for the loss of nutrients.
Those vitamin mixes alone have killed many dogs. Toxic amounts of certain vitamins have been found, and now the level of copper that is permitted is under question, as many dogs have elevated levels of copper showing up in routine tests, requiring more tests, liver biopsies, and treatment. Sometimes they don't make it.
Look up the meaning of “meat rendering” or “meat slurry”. You won't like what you learn.
The ingredients in dog food were never high quality, or fit for human consumption, in fact, these ingredients could have been rotting or diseased animals, euthanized animals, moldy corn and other grains, or even scrapings from the floor of the slaughterhouse, because they are all very cheap ingredients, garbage really, and they are all permitted to be rendered into dog “food”. I was planning to put a link here so you could see/read more about this, but I could not bring myself to do it. It gives me nightmares.
The light-bulb moment that happened to us, and to all of the Friends of Napa Fresh
All of us have discovered an opportunity to feed our dogs a 50 year old tried-and-true veterinarian-created, original fresh, raw, easily-digested formula consisting of fresh, unprocessed meat, vegetables, fruit, eggs, and yogurt, a handful of ingredients that are not only fit for human consumption, but easily recognizable as healthy food, both as ingredients, and in the finished product (Napa Fresh looks like fresh meatloaf and smells divine).
And that it has been proven to boost our dogs’ immune systems, and enable our dogs to live their lives as fully and vibrantly as possible. Trips to the vet have been dramatically reduced. None of us worry about the ingredients we are feeding our dogs anymore!
Compare These Two Lists of Ingredients for Yourself
Napa Fresh Yummy Chicken
Fresh ground whole USDA inspected hormone-free chicken legs and thighs, fresh USDA inspected chicken hearts & gizzards, fresh zucchini, summer squash, kale, carrots, apples, whole milk organic yogurt, organic vegetarian fed eggs, ground flaxseed, alfalfa powder, fresh garlic. 65% fresh meat! All sourced at local supermarkets and restaurant wholesalers, the same place you buy your own food.
What does it look like and smell like? Fresh meat loaf.
Blue Buffalo Chicken & Brown Rice (brown rice?)
Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Brown Rice, Barley, Oatmeal, Pea Starch, Flaxseed (source of Omega 3 & 6 Fatty Acids), Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Natural Flavor, Dried Tomato Pomace, Peas, Pea Protein, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Direct Dehydrated Alfalfa Pellets, Dried Chicory Root, Potatoes, Pea Fiber, Alfalfa Nutrient Concentrate, Calcium Carbonate, Choline Chloride, DL-Methionine, preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, Dicalcium Phosphate, Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, Garlic, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Zinc Sulfate, Vegetable Juice for color, Ferrous Sulfate, Vitamin E Supplement, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Blueberries, Cranberries, Barley Grass, Parsley, Turmeric, Dried Kelp, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Niacin (Vitamin B3), Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Calcium Pantothenate (Vitamin B5), Copper Sulfate, Biotin (Vitamin B7), L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), L-Lysine, L-Carnitine, Vitamin A Supplement, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Manganese Sulfate, Taurine, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Calcium Iodate, Dried Yeast, Dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product, Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, Dried Aspergillus niger fermentation extract, Dried Trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, Dried Bacillus subtilis fermentation extract, Folic Acid (Vitamin B9), Sodium Selenite, Oil of Rosemary.
This is an exhausting list of garbage ingredients. Chicken meal, grains, legumes, everything is dried up, processed, low grade/cheap. And when you add all of those together, the “food” is more grains and legumes than it ever was “meat”.
Make no mistake: our dogs need fresh meat to attain ultimate health.
What does this look and smell like? Dried up garbage. No wonder many smart dogs won’t touch it. The color and flavor is sprayed on to make it palatable for the poor dog, and visually acceptable to the human buying it.
It’s embarrassing how obvious a choice this is. I can’t imagine any veterinarian recommending the mystery ingredients in Blue Buffalo or any other dry or canned food when compared to the list fresh ingredients in Napa Fresh.
We won’t even get into the prescription dog foods. The garbage that is allowed to by called “food” is usually cheap, feed grade corn, the worst of the worst, and smells so bad many dogs would rather starve.
In all fairness, I don't think that most veterinarians are aware of what is considered acceptable as an ingredient in commercial dog foods. Rotting carcasses? Moldy grain? Euthanized animals? Road kill? Really?
The Ultimate Epiphany
To add insult to injury, the giant dog food manufacturers, like Mars, have now bought out many of the local veterinary clinics! Yes, VCA, Blue Pearl, and many others are owned by dog food companies. How very convenient. They sell us the food that makes our dog sick – then provide the veterinarians to test, prescribe, test, prescribe, test , prescribe, when all your dog needed was good, fresh food to begin with.
We are thrilled to be among the local dog-loving community that shares this experience. We know for certain that we’re doing what’s right for our beloved dogs, and for all of the Dogs of Napa Fresh.
Epiphanies abound.