Is the heart considered organ meat or muscle meat?
The heart is a myogenic muscular organ found in all animals with a circulatory system which pumps blood through the body by repeated, rhythmic contractions. While it functions as an organ in the body, it is actually made up of striated muscle tissue. Striated muscle tissue is a form of fibers that are combined into parallel fibers. More specifically, it can refer to: Cardiac muscle (cardiac refers to the heart).

Muscle meat such as the heart, while technically a body organ, is not considered an organ meat. Organs such as the liver and kidneys filter toxins in the body. This is why organ meats should be used in limited quantities up to 10% of the total diet. The heart is not used to filter toxins. The heart carries the greatest volume of blood through the body, which makes the heart the most nutrient-rich muscle in the body and is why Primal utilizes this as a source of muscle meat in our formulas.

I saw a few new ingredients listed in your ingredient panels for raw frozen formulas. Why have these been added?
We are adding these additional ingredients to fortify our current Formulas. We have been researching new ingredients that add even greater nutritional value to our foods and these new ingredients provide another level of all natural, bio-available vitamins, minerals, protein and essential fatty acids.

Here’s a closer look at our improvements:

1. Organic Trace Minerals:  Derived from naturally mined minerals from Utah that contains more than 70 metabolically active minerals and trace elements including zinc, selenium and  magnesium.
2. Organic Quinoa Sprout Powder:  Complete Vitamin B-Complex, non-synthetic, gluten free
3. Organic Pumpkin Seeds: High in Manganese, protein and omega fatty acids
4. Organic Sunflower Seeds: High in Manganese, protein and omega fatty acids
5. Cod Liver Oil (Feline Formulas Only):  Rich source of Vitamin A and Vitamin D

In addition, we removed the Flax Seed from the Canine Chicken Formula and added Salmon Oil for Omega 3 fatty acids.

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I have recently heard that I should not “free feed” my pets. What is “free feeding” and why should I not be doing it?
Free feeding is very common among pet owners. It is much easier and more convenient to put a bowl of food out for your pet, and fill it as needed. It makes many owners feel that their pet can nibble at any time they and won’t go hungry while the owners are out running their busy lives. The problem with this is that dogs and cats are not grazing animals. They are “hunt-kill-eat” animals. When a dog or cat’s protein levels drop, it signals hunger. At this time, the hydrochloric acid in the stomach begins to build up. This would be the time in the wild when our pet would be hunting. By having the stomach acid reach the appropriate pH, the pet is able to fully break down and digest its food. It is also the reason why our pets can handle high loads of bacteria without causing harm. When the food bowl is left out all day, even though your pet might not overeat, it does not go into “hunt-kill-eat” mode. Feeding twice, or even only once a day is a natural, safe, and more effective way to feed our pets.

I feed my pet at the same time every day, and now I hear that it might not be the best idea. Why would it make a difference when I feed my pet?
In the wild, animals do not have a set feeding time. Dinner is served, when dinner is caught. When we feed our pets the same time every day, we condition them to expect it. If you feed your pet every evening at 5:30pm, your pet begins to expect this. In response to this expectation, the stomach acids begin to build. If, for some reason, you are running late and do not feed your pet on time, you may find yourself returning home to find that your pet has vomited stomach bile. This is one of the most common reasons why pets do this. Instead of feeding at the same time once or twice a day, change it up every day.

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In the past, we have talked about the importance of using only natural, whole foods in the Primal formulas, and in this issue, I would like to address the reasons why this is a better option than using the cheaper choice of synthetic vitamins. One of the most important reasons is that synthetic vitamins have only one component out of a whole family of micro-nutrients that accompany them in their natural state. Here is what Isobel Jennings of Cambridge University has to say on the matter.

“The synthetic vitamins may be identical with naturally occurring substances or closely related. The close relations, although useful in many ways, pose some problems in that they may have only a fraction, whether large or small, of the biological activity of the natural products. Synthetic vitamins may perform some of the functions of their natural counterparts while being useless for others. But what may be more important is the fact that synthetic vitamins, prepared from chemicals instead of nature, are frequently less active biologically than their natural counterparts, thereby reducing any beneficial effect they may have.”

In addition to being synthetic, isolated vitamins are missing all their naturally occurring essential synergistic co-factors and transporters. A synthetic vitamin can stimulate a cell’s metabolism, but it cannot upgrade or replace the cell’s components with superior, better quality elements. Instead we end up with a degraded cell. Nature always packages vitamins in groups. The vitamins work together for better absorption.

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I often hear of the importance of fatty acids in my pet’s diet, but I’m still not exactly sure what they are or why they are important. Why does Primal include essential fatty acids in their formulas?
Like their human friends, dogs have specific nutritional needs. Among the nutrients that dogs need are essential fatty acids. EFAs cannot be manufactured by the dog’s body, so they must obtain it through their diet. Dogs need both omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids, and one cannot be converted into the other.

Your dog needs the proper ratio of omega 6 and omega 3 fatty acids. The exact ratio hasn’t yet been determined, but most veterinarians believe the ratio is somewhere between 5:1 and 10:1 (omega 6:omega 3). Using naturally sourced ingredients, Primal raw diets all fall well within the recommended range. Sunflower seed oil supplies the omega 6, and omega 3 is found in salmon oil, sardine oil and coconut oil. Since omega 6 is found in most vegetable oils, and omega 3 is in fish oils, kibble, which contains mainly the cheaper and more stable vegetable oils, can often be out of balance. Tests have shown that in some brands, it can be as high as 50:1. What this means in simple terms is 50 of the omegas that encourage inflamed, itchy, dry skin, to 1 of the omegas that decrease it.

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I see that Primal Formulas are available in both a dog and a cat formula. What is the benefit of this?
Cats and dogs are very different animals. Having diets formulated with each of their needs in mind makes perfect sense. When comparing the two on the outside, it is easy to see some of the difference, but it is on the inside where their differences in metabolism and chemistry are hidden that are most important. Outlined below are just a few of the unseen biochemical differences between cats & dogs.

Vitamin A: (also called retinol) Required at the cellular level by both cats & dogs.
Cats → Process little or no enzymes that will break down the plant-produced carotenoids. They must eat preformed active Vitamin A (Vitamin A that already has been converted from carotenoids to its active form by some other creature such as a mouse or rabbit). This is a good example of why cats are called strict carnivores, because they need to eat some other animal in order to “borrow” its active Vitamin A.
Dogs → Have enzymes in the lining of the intestine that can break down plant carotenoids and convert these into active Vitamin A.

Niacin: An essential B vitamin. Essential means it must be eaten and can’t be made inside the body.
Cats → Can obtain Niacin only by eating the preformed vitamin. They cannot convert Tryptophan to niacin.
Dogs → Obtain Niacin in two ways. One is by converting a dietary amino acid called Tryptophan into Niacin and the other way is by eating preformed Niacin.

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