Hello, my name is Dave Martin. For the last 45 years I have trained greyhounds. For almost the last 30 years I have been making a pulsed electro-magnetic field therapy unit called a Porta-Mag. Making the machines has been most beneficial to me, as, through my business, I have met and befriended some of the best known veterinarians, nutritionists and trainers in the UK. America and Australia. It has been nothing but a pleasure and an honour to have spent time in their esteemed company and, most importantly, to have learned from them.

Over the last few years, since the arrival of BAGS racing many trainers have been derided and referred to as 'Greyhound keepers' by many. It is that derisory attitude towards them that has prompted me to ask a simple question:

Do you genuinely look after your greyhounds properly?

It's a very simple question which I am sure most people will answer with a resounding "Yes!"

Unfortunately, so many people really believe that answer without ever having researched the actual requirements that a greyhound needs every day to help them lead a healthy life and be able to perform to the best of their abilities at all times. After all, that's what we all require isn't it?

OK, lets start with the most basic and most important daily requirement, feeding.

Feeding for convenience.

It's a habit that so many trainers/keepers have gotten themselves into due to the plethora of processed foodstuffs available to them, the majority of which promise to bring out the best in your greyhound. What a complete load of bollocks that is!

Let's look at the first listed ingredient in the majority of 'specialised' greyhound feeds. Generally it is wheat.

Wheat

Strangely enough, it's grown generally to produce flour and to feed cattle with. As cattle have molars, with which they can grind the wheat, two stomachs and a long digestive tract, they are eminently suited to processing wheat as a foodstuff. On the other hand, a greyhound has no molars, one stomach and a short digestive tract, therefore.......... IT IS NOT A COW! So why feed it like one?

Many greyhounds have a gluten allergy and wheat is a great source of gluten. Pasta, which many trainers tend to give their hounds is made from Durum wheat which produces the highest gluten content of all wheats. It's pretty much useless as a foodstuff for greyhounds, yet some trainers think it's a great idea to use it on race day as a source of carbohydrate energy for their hounds. That is a very misguided conception which can actually do more harm than good.

Corn/Maize

It's fairly useless as a foodstuff for any carnivore as it's pretty much indigestible. The day I see a film of wolves eating corn on the cob, I may just have a re-think about its nutritional value..

For more information on these and other worthless ingredients take a visit to dogfoodanalysis.com and have a look at their reviews and especially their warnings regarding permitted antioxidants within the pet food trade.  Another must visit site is bornfreeusa.org which lifts the lid on what actually goes into pet food.

Taking a look at costings related to how to feed a greyhound or any other canine breed a healthy, safe diet may surprise many of you.

Breakfast:

A raw chicken carcase and some fruit for breakfast is a great starter. And if anyone thinks that the bones will splinter, think again, that only happens when it's been cooked, and no food should ever be cooked if it's intended to be fed to your dog. Cost of breakfast is around 15p per dog. Throwing in a raw egg every other day will certainly do no harm.

Dinner:

A 70lb. greyhound will survive and be extremely healthy on around 520g of chunks of raw beef (muscle meat with around 20% fat content) a day. Do not mince the meat as it will result in around 20% being wasted as it passes through the stomach without being assimilated by the body. To the beef add a 200g shredded and blanched mix of three of the following vegetables - carrots/potatoes/parsnips and turnip. The odd tomato may be added and a clove of garlic every other day is beneficial. Cost of dinner is around 50p per dog.

That makes the overall cost around 65p a day, which, in the overall scheme of things is very reasonable.

Interestingly, the amount of chicken required to produce the same nutritional benefit would be around 1,200g. And, with there being little or no blood in chicken meat, continued use can cause sub-clinical anaemia which will certainly detract from performance unless supplemented with products that increase red cell production. That information was gathered from my friend Dr. John Kohnke who produced a booklet for me some years ago containing a page regarding the pros and cons of feeding different types of meat - It may be viewed here.  He also insisted that a working greyhound should be fed a maximum of 22% protein.

With that knowledge in mind, maybe it's time to have a word with your trainer. At the end of the day, if he/she is charging you £7 or £8 a day, then the least you can expect is for your hound to be fed good quality meals and not the potentially dangerous crap that so many trainers choose to use for the sake of cost and convenience.

Detailed reasons for not cooking the meat may be found in a fantastic book by Tom Lonsdale entitled 'Raw Meaty Bones'. An insight into his reasoning can be viewed here. Whilst on his website you may find some of his television interviews more than a little interesting; they are linked to via the Media Archive page.

There willl always be a counter argument that several trainers use very expensive grain free convenience feeds which all contain a high level of meat. One example could be Eukanuba wild venison and multigrain  which retails at £33.99 per 7.5 kg. Loads of meat in convenience food is great, isn't it? It certainly sounds great, only, during the extrusion process extremely high temperatures are required. Whether raw or previously cooked venison, beef, lamb, chicken or whatever is used for the major protein source it will end up superheated during the processing, thereby destroying some essential nutrients that carnivores need in their diet.

Unsurprisingly, the EC permitted antioxidants/preservatives include BHA, BHT and Ethoxyquin, all of which have been linked to cancer and to being the cause of various organ malfunctions in carnivores. It would appear that the EC do not require manufacturers to name the actual products used, they are happy to have them listed under the all encompassing banner of "Permitted antioxidants". There is a plethora of information on the internet for those who may doubt the dangers, if you are one of them, you could start by reading this article

Mother Nature really does know best, and, until the day arrives when wolves, coyotes, dingos and any other carnivorous predator decides to pan fry, oven cook or barbecue its kill before consuming it, then we should all aim to feed our animals as Mother Nature intended - Raw!