HOLISTIC PET CUISINE

Happy 13th Birthday Nikko!!! A holistic lifestyle using food is medicine !💕💕

🍂 It’s officially fall, and pumpkin season is here! 🎃🐾

Plain 100% canned pumpkin can be a helpful addition to your dog or cat’s meal when they’re dealing with occasional tummy troubles.

🎃 Benefits of pumpkin for dogs & cats:
• Helps regulate digestion
• May ease both diarrhea and constipation
• Supports overall gut health
• Provides fiber, beta-carotene, vitamins C & E, and potassium
• May help move hairballs through a cat’s digestive tract
• Can help firm stools and support natural a**l gland expression in dogs
• Adds fullness with fewer calories for weight management

⚠️ But be careful about what kind you use!

✅ USE ONLY:
100% pure canned pumpkin with no added sugar or spices.

🚫 NEVER USE:
Pumpkin pie filling or pumpkin pie mix, or products containing added sugar, spices, nutmeg, cloves, or xylitol.

When in doubt, ask your veterinarian or pet nutrition professional about the appropriate amount for your pet.

📍 Holistic Pet Cuisine | Boca Raton, FL
📞 561-241-9151
🐾 20 Years of Pet Nutrition Excellence

🐾 Neighborhood Pet Store Day 2026 is coming to Holistic Pet Cuisine! 🐾

Join us September 26th (Early Bird Deals Starting Sept. 25th) as we celebrate the importance of shopping local and supporting your neighborhood independent pet store.

At Holistic Pet Cuisine, we’ve been providing 20 Years of Nutritional Wellness in the Community, helping pet parents find thoughtfully selected food, treats, toys, grooming services, and nutritional guidance for their dogs and cats.

Whether you’re looking for better nutrition, natural treats, enrichment, or just want to discover something new for your furry family members, we’d love to see you!

📍 Holistic Pet Cuisine — Boca Raton, FL
🌐 holisticpetcuisine.com
📞 561-241-9151

Shop local. Support small business. Celebrate your neighborhood pet store! 🐾

Did you know cats have a unique need for taurine? 🐱

Unlike many mammals, cats have a very limited ability to make taurine from other amino acids. They also continuously lose taurine through the digestive tract because it is used to conjugate bile acids.

That’s why taurine must be supplied through their diet, including animal-based proteins.

At Holistic Pet Cuisine, we believe understanding your cat’s nutritional needs is an important part of helping them thrive. Real Nutrition. Real Love. ❤️

Big bags? Do they stay fresh?

HOW LONG DOES KIBBLE REALLY LAST ONCE OPENED?

Buying the biggest bag of kibble often makes sense. More food for less money. But a new 2026 scientific review highlights an overlooked problem with what happens after you open the bag.

Once opened, repeated exposure to oxygen can gradually break down the antioxidants added to protect the food. At the same time, the fats can continue to oxidize, creating potentially harmful substances that can be absorbed into your dog’s body and contribute to cellular damage.

And here’s the surprising part:

👉 Antioxidant adequacy is assessed when the food is manufactured.

That doesn’t necessarily tell us what remains weeks later when your dog finally reaches the bottom of that big bag.

The researchers call this an “unquantified consumer level exposure gap.” They say we need studies measuring antioxidants and oxidized fat products at multiple time points after opening to understand what dogs are actually consuming.

Rendered animal fats🥩 commonly used in pet foods can be particularly vulnerable to oxidation during storage. The review specifically discusses oxidation products including MDA, 4 HNE and lipid hydroperoxides.

So what can pet parents do? 🐾

If you feed kibble, consider buying a smaller bag your dog will finish sooner instead of letting a huge bag sit open for weeks or months.

Keep the food tightly sealed, minimize its exposure to air, and store it somewhere cool and dry.

And when possible, consider replacing some of the kibble with fresh, minimally processed foods to diversify the bowl rather than relying exclusively on the same processed food every day.

The researchers say we still need real world studies to determine exactly how quickly antioxidants decline and oxidized fats accumulate once a bag is opened.

Bottom line: Buying the biggest bag may save money, but buying only what your dog can finish while it’s fresher, storing it properly, and adding fresh, minimally processed foods to the bowl may be worth considering.

O. M. G. they arrived!!!!! Www.holisticpetcuisine.com

🚨 A HUGE NEW STUDY IS CHALLENGING WHAT PET PARENTS HAVE BEEN TOLD ABOUT GRAIN-FREE DOG FOOD.

A 2026 Veterinary Medicine and Science study a**lyzed Dog Aging Project data from 47,000+ dogs and found grain-free diets were NOT associated with increased odds of developing new heart problems.

🤯 More than HALF of owners who reported feeding grain-free were WRONG when researchers checked the ingredients. Foods that sounded grain-free actually contained rice, corn, wheat, barley or oats.

Researchers also followed 7,113 dogs for two years. Dogs that switched to grain-free had FEWER newly reported heart diagnoses than dogs that never ate grain-free, while dogs consistently eating grain-free showed no significant difference.

Both grain-free AND grain-containing foods can contribute to nutritional DCM. So can poorly formulated raw and homemade diets.

Peas, lentils and potatoes aren’t inherently “bad,” and adding grains does NOT magically make food cardioprotective—there’s ZERO taurine in grains!

The bigger question is whether the finished food provides enough bioavailable protein and essential amino acids for the dog eating it.

And here’s the overlooked problem: AAFCO “all life stages” foods meet nutrient requirements for growth and reproduction, but adult dogs often need far fewer calories than growing puppies.

So owners feed less to prevent obesity. But when you cut food, you don’t just cut calories—you cut protein, amino acids, vitamins and minerals too.

A food can meet AAFCO requirements on paper, yet a lower-calorie dog eating less receives less of EVERY nutrient, not to mention some dogs genetically don’t make enough taurine for heart health.

🐕 The question isn’t “grain-free or grain-inclusive?”

It’s: Is THIS dog getting enough protein, essential amino acids and other critical nutrients for the calories they actually consume? That’s the nutritional DCM conversation we should be having.

Calories change. Nutrient needs don’t.