I've been meaning to start a topic like this for a long time but have been stalling it because I dunno if I'm ready to be part of a huge debate thread, haha.
Animal nutrition is something I'm very passionate about. Whether it be about ferrets, snakes, cats, monitors, dogs, rabbits, even humans... I love learning about proper species appropriate nutrition.
The contrast between domestic and exotic animal nutrition is fascinating to me. Ask someone (whose knowledgeable) what to feed a bearded dragon and they'll tell you to feed it fresh leafy greens, vegetables, fruit and a variety of insects and to avoid commercial pellet diets. Ask someone (vets, breeders, Joe Blow, ANYONE) what to feed a dog or cat and they say "dog/cat food". I imagine you'll never hear someone tell you to feed a dog a variety of mostly muscle meat, organs, raw bones, fish and eggs and a minimal amount of fruit, vegetables, greens... Or to feed a cat f/t mice, rats, rabbits, and other whole prey. In fact, if you want to provide your domestic pets with fresh home prepared food, you're often frowned upon by vets and other pet owners. Somehow we can't feed the species of animal we've kept for thousands of years, but in the past 50 some odd years we've figured out how to provide many exotic species with fresh whole food diets without resorting to Purina Snake Chow.
And here's something I found interesting... I was on another reptile forum a couple years back and there were a few discussions on what people fed their domestic pets. Many fed grocery store or very cheap brands and would stand by those brands no matter what... Then later you would see a couple members tearing apart people for feeding mice to Ball Pythons instead of rats. And the same people were APPALLED by the idea of this product for snakes:
Reptile Diet - Natural Balance Pet Foods
I first started thinking about domestic pet nutrition when I got into ferrets again. Ferrets commonly have health issues caused by commercial ferret diets so I started looking at alternatives and then stumbled upon raw and whole prey diets. I then branched off looking into home cooked and raw diets for dogs and cats. I've never looked back. Not since I've seen how it really benefits them.
Thoughts? Contributions?
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