Our high quality, USDA human-grade ingredients are obtained from farms. These are the same farms that stock your local grocers, supermarkets and preferred restaurants. As we practice strict control on our raw food quality, we hold our suppliers to the same standard.
We never partner with suppliers that selling low grade meat e.g. mechanically separated meat which produced by machines that crush animal carcasses under extreme pressures to obtain any leftover meat. These animals usually sourced from unknown farms and potentially undesirable or unfit for human consumption.
Many raw pet food suppliers use this as part of their ingredients due to cheaper cost and still claim their food is human grade and raw. Raw food produced with these meat usually have an very fine “mushy” texture, are pale in colour, and in some circumstances have such a high calcium content that they produce chalky stools. We believe that the better quality of ingredients that we choose and used to produce PetFIT raw, the better quality of life of the animals are.
Our meals are complete and balanced, that it provides all required nutrients and meet the NRC requirements for dogs and cats. Supplements like multivitamin is not necessary. However, we suggest to add probiotics eg yogurt, goat milk ( if they are lactose tolerant) or fermented kefir occasionally to your pet to boost gut health.
We also recommend bone broth for pets. Bone broth is great for canine joints and helps relieve arthritis in senior pets. The gelatin contain collagen full of proline and glycine which is important to joint health. Bone broth is also a fantastic nutritional support for sick animals. Please check our shop for PetFIT bone broth.
Benefits for other natural superfoods like sweet potato powder, egg yolk powder and etc can be also found in our shop. Please visit shop for details.
It is normal. The over spill in our BARF is a liquid protein called myoglobin, generally mistaken as blood.
Myoglobin’s job is transport oxygen to muscles for cellular function and energy. Do not throw it away and just pour it over their meal.
No. Study from Mugford 1987 has proven that feeding raw meat can calm dogs and making them more suitable to be around young kids, than dogs on dry food. In addition, study also has shown that feeding meat and raw bones release dopamine in the dog. This is why we see raw fed dogs can be so energetic and playful when switch to raw.
It is important to differentiate between energetic and aggressive, and normal play mouthing and mouthing that leads aggressive behaviour.
If your pet is displaying aggression, the first thing is to rule out the medical conditions e.g. acute or chronic pain, seizures, neurological disorders or hypothyroidism. If your pet don’t exhibit any signs of these conditions, then you can rule out the medical conditions.
Secondly, diet low in tryptophan have been revealed to cause anxiety, aggression and depression. If you are feeding a homemade diet or raw that does not supply enough amounts of the essential amino acid tryptophan, aggression in your pet can be seen. Thus, it is recommend to pick a balanced diet for your pet to prevent tryptophan deficiency. Our BARF includes quality lean muscle meat and offal that provide a sufficient amount of tryptophan amino acid.
Thirdly, because raw diet is generally a high value resource, your pet may show resource guarding behaviour when fed a raw diet. Not all pets will show. Common resource guarding behaviours are fast eating, hiding to eat, vocalization, growling or hovering body over food. This behaviour can be avoided with feeding routines modifications. For example, allowing your pet to eat completely alone in quiet and calm environment. Do not force your pet to the point where they feel the need to involve in these actions. Training is also a key to success. Pet parents need to help build trust with the pet when their raw food is present. So they will know that your presence is non-threatening.
Although studies has shown just adding as little as 20% raw can reduce the risk of allergies. We recommend to feed a full raw diet in long term in order to reap all the raw benefits.
Some people rotate between raw, freeze-dried, kibble for their pets but just to be careful not to have sudden change of diet as it may upset your pet tummy. Also to be careful of overfeeding if you are topping your pet meal with other types of food. See transition to raw for more information.
Short answer yes. Unless your dog has a sensitive stomach or digestion issue, you can mix normal dry food with raw meat. Though kibble and raw meat digest at different rates, we have had not seen a detriment in mixing.
Long answer we believe that you are feeding them a diet of raw and dry combination, feeding them separately is the best. Though it is considered safe to mix together, some dogs with sensitive stomach can experience digestive upset. If you transitioning your per from dry to raw, please make sure you read our transition guidelines. Gradual transition is the best for pets have been fed with dry for years.
There are safer ways of mixing kibble with raw:
1. Adding probiotic to the mix of kibble and raw
2. Adding 1tsp per 20kg apple cider vinegar to the mix of kibble and raw
We do not recommend cooking our foods. PetFIT makes raw pet foods that are intended to be consumed by dogs and cats in its original raw state. Our recipes have been analysed and are guaranteed balanced and complete only when served raw. Cooking foods reduce water or heat sensitive soluble nutrients and enzymes loss, and thus makes food less beneficial for your pet. There are only three short term exceptions where low heat sautéing our food is possible:
However, if your pet has a sensitive stomach or compromised immune system, we recommend gently sautéing our recipes on low heat for 3-5 minute but it will remove some of the nutrients that our raw food provides. Or you can approach to our PetFIT team for a customised recipe.
For dogs that has been eating processed dry food, they will experience a detoxification process. Your dog may experience the following signs: excess shedding, runny eyes, or skin conditions may slightly worsen. All of these signs are Normal as your dogs will be eliminating toxins that have been built up in their digestive system from the processed diet. These signs will be resolved once new cells replace the old unhealthy ones. So do not be shocked if you see some or all of these things happening to your pet at first.
Gradual transition to raw from dry is also vital for your pet’s gut system to acclimate to a new environment. During the detoxification, I also recommend pet parents to bathe your pet. As detoxification occur through skin and gut, it is beneficial to bathe your pet to clean their skin and remove the unwanted toxin and allergens away. In addition, I also recommend pet owners to give probiotic supplements together with the raw diet. This will help in improve digestion and alleviate the detox symptoms of your pet.
Our BARF contain high quality ingredients for your pet. Our BARF is highly digestibility and all the nutrients will be effectively absorbed to the body and thus produce little waste and smaller poop.
If you are feeding as stated by our feeding guideline, then that should be fine.
Due to different digestive system and shorter intestine and more acidic (pH<4), it is designed to get along with a certain level of bacterial contamination and food moves through it much more quickly and therefore the risk for bacterial infections is low—salmonella only actually lives in higher pH environments and requires 12 hours to reach incubation which is unlikely to occur as the food your pet ingested already passed out as waste in 2-4 hours.
However a practical hygiene precautions must be followed, raw products must be handled and stored in the same way as any meat purchased for human consumption. Furthermore, the design and the packaging of the PetFIT sticks are hygienic and each stick is sealed and easy to store in the freezer or fridge.
While healthy dogs and cats with normal immune system can well handle normal pathogenic bacteria like E. coli and Salmonella, the safety of our foods is top priority here at PetFIT and our QC face the most strict food safety SOP. All our fresh foods are presented in such a way that handling is minimised and waste is eliminated. This means no cross- contamination of bowls, utensils, feeding areas, kitchen surfaces, bins and no unwanted smells.
The Animal and Plant Health Agency tests all raw meat (raw & wet food) for bacteria contamination, all raw meat has the potential to have bacteria due to all fresh food is “alive” which contain living enzyme, vitamin and bacteria. But these bacteria are not harmful to our pets. Our premium food are free of salmonella and E.coli count is below the threshold that fit for human consumption, kindly refer to our lab result.