The Science Behind It

The principles of the foods that we produce are quite straight forward.

We set out to make food nutritionally complete from nature; amazingly this hasn’t been done to date, to our knowledge.  Mostly with humans we guess that if we eat a varied enough diet we are getting our needs met.  Now this site is not about humans and food, but it is worth noting that the range of foods that we eat has declined alarmingly, especially as industrialised food has grown.

We started with the core principles of a sound diet, meat, and fats, vegetables and grains, and then to this we looked to the dogs digestion – different to ours, much shorter but much more powerful, for bones mostly, and they need more protein and fats than do humans.  This forms the basis, good fats from cold pressed oil, good quality protein from animal muscle meat, super food vegetables like broccoli, and a variety of grains, in smaller quantities.

But this didn’t quite do it.  We then looked to the known boosters to human foods, many of which are actually removed from the original and then added later.  Like wheat germ, lecithin and brewer’s yeast, because it is a rich source of B vitamins. Kelp is added because iodine isn’t necessarily in our soils in sufficient quantity.  We do add zinc, because our testing showed that it wasn’t naturally in sufficient quantity for health, so rather than stand on principle (we tried to find enough naturally and haven’t given up), we add it in synthetic form.

Then we had a sound diet, and pretty tasty to dogs at least.  All good things that we humans should eat, but choose the white purified, processed version instead.  Dogs are smarter.  They love it.  But it wasn’t enough for us.

Essential Fatty Acids, especially Omega 3 & 6, are vital to long term health and are low or missing in our current diet.  Omega 3 especially, so we add nuts and seeds, in variety, for the wide range of benefits including the Omegas, and cold pressed oils, to boost the Omega 3:6 ratio to a very health 1:2 on average.  We take out the saturated fat, and add in good oils, that is another one of the reasons dogs thrive on this food.

And there are the extras for good health as well, like the pre & probiotics, because we know that they are a part of healthy digestion for life.

We also needed to balance the food meaning that they have the right ratio especially of calcium to phosphorus.  The remaining balance is about ensuring that all the macro and micro nutrients are there, in amounts that are good for them, not too much and not too little.  Just right.  Although we believe it is difficult for them to have too much of a good thing, the checks and measures are there mostly for processed food.

The table below shows our analysis of our meals to what the industry says is necessary for dogs to survive.  Note that this is based on processed pet food, and by its very nature has synthetic everything added to it, as there is very little left of natural nutrients after processing.

We have found that the amount of calories required on our food is much less; the bioavailability of our food is high, as nature intended.  It just means they use it well.    About ½ the amount is what we find they need, and they thrive.

This is the principle of all our food, the Wellbeing Meals.  The Wellbeing Mix came out of our research and development for the meals and is designed to help you make nutritionally sound meals for your canine kids as well.

Nutritional Information

Please note that as the ingredients are mostly from fresh produce, the amounts given for each nutrient for each meal are typical values and may vary with seasonal produce.

	Nutrient	Units	AAFCO1	FEDIAF 2	NRC3	Chicken & Rice	Lamb Hotpot	Steak & Kidney	Turkey & Vegetable	Beef & Quinoa
	Weight of Meal required to reach 1000 kcal					767	711	578	707	668
Macronutrients
	Energy	kJ	4184	4184	4184	4184	4184	4184	4184	4184
	Protein	g	51.4	45.0	25.0	83.6	80.7	72.1	89.7	100
	Fat	g	14.3	13.75	13.8	38.9	43.0	55.6	48.5	40.2
	Saturated Fat	g	N.S.	N.S.	N.S.	7.4	10.7	16.1	11.2	8.4
	Linoleic Acid	mg	2900	3300	2800	8158	6818	6370	10736	6248
	Alpha-Linolenic Acid	mg	N.S.	N.S.	110	6207	5901	4833	5920	4783
	Fibre	g	N.S.	N.S.	N.S.	10.6	15.9	7.1	10.2	13.5
	Water	g	N.S.	N.S.	N.S.	552	501	387	503	453
Vitamins
	Vitamin A	µg	429	379	379	5733	4610	3671	8556	11551
	Vitamin D	µg	3.6	3.13	3.4	4.7	4.1	3.5	4.1	3.5
	Vitamin E	mg	9.4	6.0	7.5	16.9	15.7	12.8	17.3	10.1
	Vitamin K	µg	N.S.	N.S.	250	99.5	116	89.7	114	84.2
	Thiamine	µg	290	560	560	1004	1114	3590	892	982
	Riboflavin	µg	630	1500	1300	3855	4446	4108	3328	3513
	Niacin	mg	3.3	2.75	3.8	31.0	25.1	15.4	21.0	32.2
	Vitamin B6	µg	290	380	375	1731	1477	1140	1733	3581
	Vitamin B12	µg	6.0	5.50	8.8	53.0	93.9	45.9	48.7	65.2
	Pantothenic Acid	mg	2.9	2.50	3.8	8.0	5.8	4.5	6.9	8.9
	Folic Acid	µg	50.0	45.0	67.5	255	297	367	272	349
	Biotin	µg	N.S.	N.S.	N.S.	41.0	40.7	25.3	32.4	34.0
	Choline	mg	343	300	425	478	292	324	456	597
Minerals
	Calcium	mg	1700	1250	750	2983	2780	2240	2804	2614
	Phosphorus	mg	1400	1000	750	1801	1715	1438	1714	2127
	Calcium/Phosphorus	mg	>1.0	1-2	>1.0	1.7	1.6	1.6	1.6	1.2
	Magnesium	mg	110	180	150	168	177	126	197	277
	Sodium	mg	170	250	100	544	557	413	503	558
	Potassium	mg	1700	1250	1000	1443	1427	1046	2136	2257
	Chloride	mg	260	380	150	420	389	317	387	371
	Iron	mg	23.0	9.0	7.5	10.7	19.8	13.2	13.8	19.4
	Zinc	mg	34.0	18.0	15.0	45.4	46.3	40.3	45.9	55.0
	Manganese	µg	1400	1440	1200	1865	1668	1208	1466	2131
	Copper	µg	2100	1800	1500	5794	4464	3686	5443	11921
	Iodine	µg	430	260	220	683	633	515	630	600
	Selenium	µg	30.0	75.0	90.0	138	240	175	156	119
	Chromium	µg	N.S.	N.S.	175	0.7	0.7	0.6	0.7	0.5

¹ Values according to Association of American Feed Control Officials Incorporated (AAFCO), Food Nutrient Profiles, Adult Maintenance, Minimum Value for 1000 kcal (4184 kJ) per day

² Values according to European Pet Food Industry Federation (FEDIAF), Nutritional Guidelines for Complete and Complimentary Pet Food for Cats and Dogs, February 2008, per 1000kcal (4184 kJ) metabolizable energy

³ Values according to US National Research Council (NRC) 2003, Nutrient Requirements for Dogs and Cats, Target Value for 15 kg dog using 1000 kcal (4184 kJ) per day