Making the best choices for our best friends

FEEDING FRESH FOR OUR HOUND'S HEALTH AND HAPPINESS

While very early dogs had to be self-sufficient, eating, breeding, and exercising as and when they needed, today's pet dogs have fewer independent choices and rely on humans for their well-being. We now decide what they eat, when they eat, how they exercise and how they breed. All these choices have critical implications for their health and longevity.

The relationship we have with our dogs has a power imbalance; and with great power comes great responsibility. We have the responsibility to make the best choices we can for our best friends.

Take Hildie, for example; she has been eating Happy Hounds since she was a pup. Look at that coat!

HUMAN IMPACT

Our selective breeding practices and daily choices for our dogs have impacted our dogs' DNA and their genetic expressions, i.e. which genes are activated/turned on or remain dormant. For example, we have a sizeable impact on whether dogs carrying a genetic predisposition to allergies and diseases will ever develop these ailments over the course of their lives.

Through the fields of epigenetics (how behaviour and environment affect gene expressions) and nutrigenomics (how food and nutrition affect gene expression), there is a growing body of evidence to indicate that the environment we create for our dogs and the food we feed them has the ability to activate dreaded diseases and allergies.

It is hard to ignore the correlation between the ubiquity of highly-processed dog diets and the rise of allergies and disease incidents in our pets. This begs the question, is there something in the food we have chosen for our dogs activating these ailments in our hounds?

THE RESEARCH

Studies have linked • the very high temperatures of extrusion (the process used to make kibble) to the development of carcinogenic chemicals; and • long-term processed food diets with elevated levels of inflammation markers associated with inflammatory issues such as allergies and cancer.

Additionally, research has shown that • Fresh food that is lightly cooked is more digestible for dogs (better bio-availability), meaning they are able to leverage the available nutrition more efficiently; • Fresh food promotes gut microbiome diversity which can support improved gut and immune health; • Fresh dog food can reduce blood lipids (fats); and • Vegetables are associated with reduced cancer risk for dogs.

So, perhaps not surprisingly, we are learning that dogs, just like humans, thrive on a more diverse and minimallyprocessed diet. Choosing foods that are closely aligned with their ancestral diet but that leverage modern science and foods that exclude toxins and promote a heterogenous gut microbiome could avoid gene expression for allergies and, potentially, also dreaded diseases in our hounds.

Quite simply, fresh is better. Research has demonstrated that the minimum threshold of 20% fresh food in your dog's diet is the tipping point for health benefits.

As humans, we eat a wide variety of food on any given day and over the course of any given week. This means we can obtain our nutritional needs from a range of meals and don't need each meal to be nutritionally complete. Most of our hounds are more limited in their consumption habits, eating only what we give them and, in most cases, eating the same thing almost every day. Therefore, it is advisable that every meal is nutritionally complete and balanced in and of itself.

LEGISLATION

There is legislation in place (Act36/1947 for those legal eagles out there) that requires all pet food to be certified by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) if it is going to be sold as a nutritionally complete meal. Companies like Happy Hounds have to submit our formulated food recipes and samples to the department. This is a detailed process and requires that the dog food recipes have been approved by pet nutritionists. If the recipes meet the necessary nutritional standards, the food will be certified 'Complete and Balanced' and given a certification number that starts with a 'V'.

So, the food we choose for our best friends needs to be certified Complete and Balanced at a minimum, but at Happy Hounds, we think this is one of those 'necessary but insufficient' criteria. We want to feed our best friends food that doesn't just meet their fundamental bio-nutrient requirements but exceeds them for improved holistic health and happiness.

FEEDING HAPPY HOUNDS PROMOTES:

Skin and coat health Cognitive function Eye health

Dental health

Cell integrity

Muscle tissue maintenance Heart health

A healthy immune system

A healthy gut and digestive system

TAKE-HOME MESSAGE

We're on a mission to put food back into dog food. We are obsessed with sourcing only the highest quality, fresh ingredients from local, ethical and regenerative farmers. Every ingredient that goes into our food is nutrient-rich and full of flavour. We lightly cook our range of whole proteins, including novel proteins that are great for dogs with gastrointestinal issues and allergies, nutrient-rich root vegetables, fish oils and leafy greens to increase the bioavailability and flavour of our food. The meals are then packed, frozen and delivered directly from our kitchen to our customers' doors.

The best part of our day is hearing about how our food has changed the lives of so many dogs and their humans. Happy Hounds customers have reported improved gut health, less itchy skin, glossy coats and increased vitality in their dogs. With six proteins to choose from, every pup can find their favourite. Our Happy Hounds pack loves mealtime.

It does not have to be fancy or complicated. At Happy Hounds, we want to make it easy for you to put fresh food back into your dog's meals for your hound's health and happiness.

Visit https://www.happyhounds.co.za/ and join our Fresh Revolution!

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