Natural Instincts was born out of a desire to help our family pet, a German Shepherd named Max.

Max suffered from many health problems. Hip dysplasia, osteoarthritis and hot spots were just a few of the problems that were affecting his quality of life. Like many people, I thought I was feeding him a good diet, one of the so called “Premium” brands of processed dry dog food. The brochure promised “a complete diet”, guaranteed to provide him with all the nutrition he needed for a full, long and healthy life. The company even discouraged supplementing and adding table scraps. Doing so would make the diet “unbalanced”. Why then, did Max and so many other pets suffer from so many debilitating diseases? It almost seemed as though modern dogs and cats were just born inherently weak and defective.

I have always maintained a great interest in nutrition. Early on I had a feeling that something wasn’t right. The idea that one formula could meet all the nutritional requirements of every dog or cat didn’t make sense. It occurred to me that dogs and cats were the only domesticated animals that appeared not to have a “natural” diet and were also the only animals in which the feeding of fresh foods is completely discouraged. We all know that fresh foods and variety are of paramount importance to our own health, so what is it about dogs and cats that require a diet made by “experts” in laboratories, a diet that discouraged fresh foods and variety?

I began to research the subject and soon realized that our pets do have a natural, biologically appropriate diet, and it is full of variety! All dogs are closely related to the wolf and its digestive system is identical. It eats an omnivorous diet of animals and plants. All cats are closely related to the African wildcat and again its digestive system is identical. It eats a carnivorous diet of animals.