Our Production
Why Fresh with Fidelis?
A natural and species-appropriate diet with food made from high-quality and untreated raw materials and a high concentration of vital nutrients is the best guarantee for a long and healthy life. This applies to every living creature and therefore of course also to our dogs.
In order to avoid artificial vitamins in the food, we only use market-fresh meat, offal, vegetables, fruit, natural minerals and high-quality oils. All nutrients come directly from the original ingredients and are therefore much more bioavailable to the dog than nutrients from artificial vitamins. By alternating between our different menus, dogs get all the vital nutrients they need for a long and healthy life. Fresh, minimally processed natural ingredients fed on a rotational basis is the key to a healthy diet for both dogs and humans.
As we do not use any measures to extend shelf life of our food once opened, such as preservatives, the fresh food must be kept refrigerated once opened for up to 4 days, just like any other fresh food.
What sets our production apart from other methods:
Extruded Dry Food
The production of dog food by extrusion is the most common method. 90% of all dog food is produced by extrusion. No matter what ingredients are listed on the packaging, organic, free-range, vegan, or insect, everything is first mixed into a kind of dough during extrusion, kneaded, and then pressed through a nozzle with high pressure and high temperatures to form the desired pellet shape. Extrusion is the most cost-effective method of dog food production, as large quantities can be produced in a short time.
Extrusion requires poorly digestible raw materials for the dog, such as carbohydrate residues, starch, and animal meals. Only these lead to a hard mass that creates an extrudate under high pressure and temperature. Modern extrusion processes allow an addition of a maximum of 30% fresh raw materials. Extrusion of exclusively fresh ingredients is not possible because they would not stick together. The end product is brown chunks that taste like nothing and contain hardly any nutrients. Fats as flavorings and artificial vitamins are sprayed onto the chunks after production.
The frequent consequence of feeding extruded dry food can be allergies, poor digestion, an intense odor of the fur, and often all sorts of diseases triggered by this.
Canned Food
Fresh from the can, B.A.R.F from the can, organic ingredients, and many other marketing slogans lead us to believe that we can feed a dog healthy and species-appropriate. Canned food is incredibly practical but not without concern: dog food in cans is made durable by sterilization at high temperatures and very high pressure. Heat- and pressure-sensitive nutrients (such as Vitamin C) are significantly reduced by the treatment and must be artificially added. Nutrients from the original ingredients are usually only present in small amounts. An even bigger problem, however, is the cans themselves.
Cans are mainly made of the types of metal aluminum or tinplate (thin steel sheet with a chromium- or tin-containing coating). Due to the acid contained in dog food, metal components can detach, which are then found in the food. The industry is aware of the problem, which is why cans are often coated with epoxy plastic. However, the problem with can lining is that most interior coatings contain BPA. Above all, during the sterilization of the cans, this pollutant can pass into the contents. Especially when the dog food is rich in fat or acid. Currently, there are unfortunately only a few alternatives to BPA-containing can linings. Polyester and phenolic resin play a role. However, particles can also come off from the new linings.
The frequent consumption of cans contaminated with BPA, which has an estrogen-like effect, is associated with an increased risk of numerous diseases. These include, among others, diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), breast and testicular cancer. The same applies to cardiovascular diseases, obesity, and immune system disorders. This applies to both humans and our dogs.
B.A.R.F.
B.A.R.F., or biologically appropriate raw feeding, has many advantages; the food is fresh and natural, has high acceptance, and is healthy due to its high nutrient density and high digestibility. Unfortunately, B.A.R.F. has a decisive disadvantage: the meat, organs, and bones are often contaminated with facultative pathogenic microorganisms, such as disease-causing bacteria like Enterobacteriaceae, Salmonella, Clostridia, Campylobacter, Listeria, and Yersinia. Dysbioses caused by these microorganisms often favor a shift in the intestinal flora, which then manifests itself, for example, in bloating, itching, and skin problems.
But also the pathogens of tuberculosis should not be forgotten, which dogs can get sick from. Since cases of tuberculosis have occurred again in cattle and deer in southern Germany and Austria, this disease can gain in importance. No attention has been paid to multiresistant bacteria, which are said to occur mainly in chicken meat. Can these resistant bacteria be transmitted to dogs and humans? Can grazing animals become infected by dog feces on pastures? These questions cannot yet be conclusively answered with raw feeding.
Another disadvantage of B.A.R.F. feeding is the meat-heavy and low-carbohydrate rations. They contain more than double the protein requirement in some cases. This leads to an increased burden on the liver and kidneys, which is reflected in increased urea levels in blood and urine. If the ration contains mainly connective tissue-rich products, dysbioses can develop in the intestine, which manifest themselves in soft stool consistency or diarrhea. In the end, B.A.R.F.ing is not really suitable for dogs with liver or kidney disease, but also with non-allergic intestinal diseases due to the high protein and connective tissue content. If dogs live with pregnant women, children, or immunosuppressed individuals, raw feeding is generally not advisable.