22 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY march 30-april 5, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com In the late 1990s, Sarah Adams noticed a remarkable transformation in her Irish wolfhounds after she switched them from kibble onto a homemade raw food diet. “I was making my own food for them and saw such a change as far as their energy level, their coats, their weight—and especially their lifespans, too,” Adams recalls. Informed by the writings of Australian veterinarian Ian Billinghurst, considered the father of the raw pet food movement, Adams was inspired to open her own dog food business catering to a raw diet. Instead of the processed, grain-heavy kibbles that had long become the norm, raw diets are heavy on muscle meat, ground bone and organs, and enhanced by vegetables and fiber-rich supplements like kelp, flax seed and alfalfa. “Dogs have zero need for carbohydrates like grains,” Adams says. “Dogs are carnivores; they can adapt and scavenge for other things as well, but they need good-quality protein from meat sources, and good fats.” Adams started her business in 2002 as a home delivery operation. She bought a sprinter van, equipped it with chest freezers and began distributing raw dog food from vendors like Billinghurt’s BARF World (the BARF stands for Biologically Appropriate Raw Foods) around the Monterey Bay area. By 2006, her customer base had grown enough that she opened her own full-service pet store, The Raw Connection, in an 1,800-square-foot location at Carmel Rancho Shopping Center in Carmel. Her business grew further from there, and in 2013, The Raw Connection moved into the 7,200-square-foot location that it calls home today. In addition to dogs, The Raw Connection also caters to cats, whose natural diets as “obligate carnivores” are even more reliant on meat and who can be even more prone to health issues caused by processed kibbles, according to Adams. “We’ve done such a disservice to cats,” says Adams, who notes that cats get most of their hydration from food and that starchy dry foods can cause obesity, kidney and bladder issues, and even cancer. “We try to mimic their natural prey—that’s what this is all about, feeding them their species-appropriate diet. You wouldn’t think about feeding meat to a horse, so why would you feed grain to a cat?” The Raw Connection was an early mover in an industry that has grown significantly since Adams began shuttling raw food in her van more than two decades ago. Pet owners eager for their beloved, furry family members to live long, healthy lives have flocked to raw pet food, growing it into a $130.6 billion global market by 2021, according to Maximize Market Research— with North America accounting for nearly 47 percent of that revenue. The research firm expects the market to grow by another 5.2 percent annually, to $195.8 billion by 2029. Larger pet stores have entered the raw food fray to serve that appetite. Healthy Spot, a pet store chain with nearly two dozen locations across California, is one notable player—and in fact purchased The Raw Connection from Adams just last summer, with Adams staying onboard as an employee. “I was looking for a store that had my same philosophy and would continue to do the same thing,” Adams says. She adds that even pet supply giants like Petco have “turned much more healthy” and begun stocking raw and human-grade foods, as well. The raw diet isn’t the only healthier alternative for pets; Adams points to “gently cooked diets” without starch, as well as air-dried and dehydrated foods that are better than processed kibble. There are also pasteurized raw foods for pet owners concerned about the bacteria found in raw diets, which have drawn scrutiny from some veterinary studies. (Dogs and cats can easily digest those bacteria, according to veterinarian Loly Hogans of Toro Park Animal Hospital. She notes the risk is to pet owners, not pets. Animals can be exposed to the same bacteria in rodents they hunt outdoors.) Of course, moving to a healthier, less processed diet for pets also comes with greater cost, as such foods are almost always more expensive than conventional kibbles made of grains like corn or wheat. In that respect, Adams notes that it’s much like human diets: Processed, fast foods are cheaper than fresh organic meals, but that doesn’t mean you should eat at a drive-thru burger joint every night just because it’s more affordable. If you are on a budget, Adams insists there are plenty of workarounds, such as mixing small amounts of raw food—including bone broth, goat milk or sardines—with higher-quality dry foods that are more protein-oriented. “Even if you feed 20-percent raw with a good-quality kibble,” she says, “that will make a difference in their health.” The Pet Issue In the Raw The Raw Connection was an early mover in the raw diet craze now sweeping the pet food industry. By Rey Mashayekhi Sarah Adams opened her Carmel pet store, The Raw Connection, in 2006 after spending four years home-delivering raw food to dog owners across the Monterey Bay area. Feline Feed What to know about the ins and outs of feeding cats. By Sara Rubin Cats are actually just tiny hunters. Left to their own devices, they are “true carnivores”—their food sources are animals they catch and eviscerate. But most domestic cats as humans keep them are a little different, and about 30 to 40 percent of feline patients at Toro Park Animal Hospital are overweight or obese, says veterinarian Loly Hogans. She attributes that primarily to the fact that when cats are spayed or neutered, they stop making certain hormones that act as appetite suppressant. Couple that with the relatively sedentary lives of many indoor or mostly indoor cats, and you have a recipe for weight gain. There is no one-size-fits-all fix, but Hogans says there are a few guidelines to keep in mind. One: the serving sizes recommended on cat food are generally for unaltered animals; she suggests more like onethird of the label. And of course, kibble includes some type of grain (see story, left), so she suggests incorporating wet food. Then there’s portion control. “I do not recommend free-feeding cats, unless they are kittens,” Hogans says. She suggests automatic feeders that dispense food, or to set meal times as you would for a dog: “They learn quickly, like in two to three days. An hour before dinner time, my cats would come and find me.” Ultimately, more activity and less food intake— the same guidelines that work for a lot of humans— work for cats who are overweight. “You wouldn’t think about feeding meat to a horse, so why would you feed grain to a cat?”
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