What is pet enrichment? Why is it important for your pets' health and well being?

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October 28, 2022

More than half of households worldwide have pets. Why is that? Well, it enriches our human lives. Pets provide companionship, can reduce stress and relieve depression, can give us more opportunities for exercise and socialization… and of course pets can provide us lots of fun!

That’s what pets do for us, but what about what we do for our pets? How can we make their lives better?

Pet enrichment is exactly what it sounds like. It’s how we can enrich our pets’ lives to improve their physical and emotional health and well being.

Some pets need an extra mental challenge to liven their day and curb inappropriate behavior. For some pets, enrichment helps ease anxiety. Some pets have extra energy and added enrichment helps take the edge off. For all pets, enrichment provides something enjoyable to do.

Much like humans, cats and dogs enjoy varied activities and being mentally engaged and physically satiated.

Pet enrichment can happen indoors by playing games, petting favorite spots, or gifting new toys. Outdoors, pet enrichment might involve taking a walk in a new area, playing catch, or going on a hike. But, most important to Miller’s Bio Farm, pet enrichment can also happen through food.

Feeding your pet a variety of foods with different flavors and textures as treats or at mealtime helps keep cats and dogs mentally engaged and physically satiated.

If you’re currently feeding the same old kibble or wet food every day, here are a few ideas to add some exciting real food to your pets’ diet and lives with raw pet dairy:

Add a dollop of raw Greek yogurt on top of kibble.
Pour them a small bowl of raw milk or cream to drink instead of water.
Mix kibble with some raw yogurt or kefir to provide a new texture.
Make some raw whipped cream and put it inside a treat ball. Your pet is challenged to figure out how to lick it out.
Go crazy and make some Raw Vanilla Ice Cream for your pets! The cold plus the flavor will be certain to stimulate their senses.
Explore slow feeding bowls/mats to make mealtime into puzzle time.
Do some research or talk to your holistic vet about switching to a raw food pet diet.

Raw pet dairy can provide many health benefits for your animals. It provides added moisture, vitamins and minerals, probiotics, and more. You can read more about how fermented raw dairy can boost your pet’s health here.

*All this being said, please know that raw dairy is NOT a complete food for cats and dogs. In other words, you can’t feed your pets only dairy. They need bones, meat, organs, etc for complete nutrition.

An important note is that not all pet food is created equal. When Miller’s Bio Farm started offering pet food, we were shocked at how unregulated the pet food industry is.

For example, generic meatmeal can be legally made from the scraps scraped from a butcher’s floor or roadkill, dead, diseased or dying farm animals — even euthanized cats and dogs. The same goes for raw pet dairy could come from cows with mastitis, have added coloring or ingredients, and so on. Yuck!

We are proud to have a variety of clean and safe raw foods for your cats and dogs. We go above and beyond and follow the highest standards. This is true for our beef, chicken, and turkey pet products as well as our raw pet dairy. You can read more about how we provide your pets the highest quality pet dairy here.

What do you feed your pets? Have you included raw foods in their diet?

I’d love to hear from you. Comment below (no account required - start typing for the guest option to appear) or contact us .

Health and Nutrition

Raw Dairy

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Is yolk color is no longer a great indicator of the egg's nutrition?

It used to be true that, if your egg yolks were darker in color, then the better the egg's nutrition. Conscious consumers of the past would look for that deep orange yolk and stray away from lighter yellow yolks. It's sad, but this simply isn't the case anymore. Here's why you can't trust cheap store-bought eggs with orange yolks and need to know your farmer instead.

How did pork get a bad rep anyway? Why is Miller's pork exceptional?

Did you know that, globally, pork is the #1 meat? According to the UN, 10% more pork is eaten compared to poultry worldwide. And, 50% more pork is eaten compared to beef worldwide. Wow! But, for some reason, this isn't the case in the US. According to the USDA, pork ranks #3 when it comes to meat. Americans eat 30% less pork compared to poultry and 15% less compared to beef. Why is this? Well, pork has gotten a pretty bad rep in the US. Of course there are some religions that prohibit pork, but that's not the leading factor. Some reasons why pork has a bad rep. 1- Too much saturated fat. The low fat craze started in the 1970s and fizzled out in the 1990s. It came from the belief that (1) fat makes us fat; and (2) that too much saturated fat = high cholesterol = bad things like heart disease and cholesterol. These myths have been debunked. Read more in fats and health blog post. The bottom line is that not all fats are created equal. Natural animal fats from happy, healthy animals are good. It's those highly processed hydrogenated saturated fats that are bad. In other words, eat all the pork fat! 2- Worry about disease. People still seem to think they can get sick from pork. There's fear of parasites (like the roundworm Trichinella spiralis that can cause trichinosis) or bacteria or other things. The reality is that getting sick from pork is really rare nowadays. If you cook pork properly, you don't need to worry about disease. Muscle meat (like chops or tenderloin) should be cooked to 145F. Ground meat and organs should be cooked to 160F. 3- Worry of bad ingredients. This only relates to processed pork like hot dogs and bacon and ham. There's truth to this one. Nitrates and nitrites, commonly used in curing conventional pork, have been shown to cause cancer and other health issues. And stabilizers, artificial colors, preservatives, and other additives have been linked to negative health outcomes, too. But, this isn't the case for all pork. How meat it's processed matters a lot. At Miller's, we don't put any of that yucky junk in our meat, even the salami and bacon and sausages (more on that below). 4- Worry that eating pork will have a negative affect on your blood. The Weston A. Price Foundation did a bunch of research on this. It's true that plain pork can cause blood clotting and inflammation. However, properly preparing pork (by marinating it in vinegar or naturally curing it) or by eating pork with fermented veggies like sauerkraut removes these negative effects. Read more about pork and your blood in this blog post. 5- The belief that pigs are "dirty". I think this one mainly comes from the fact that pigs roll around in mud. They do this to protect their nearly hairless bodies. It's like natural sunscreen. It doesn't mean the meat is dirty at all. It may also come from the fact that pigs are often treated as garbage disposals. They will literally eat anything. And that includes kitchen scraps, meat processing scraps, curdled milk, and more. But again, not all pork is created equal. When you source from trusted farms, you can actually know that the pigs are eating clean food and are rolling around in chemical-free mud. 6- Strange rumors that pigs are deformed. This one came from Nailea on the farm. At some point, she watched a video about how some pigs are born without buttholes or have odd deformities or become cancerous. Yet, despite their weirdness, they're still raised for meat. I don't know how true this is for conventional pigs. But, it's certainly not true for our pigs. They are intact and happy and healthy. And our processor would never give us meat that's weird or cancerous. Why you should eat pork. I'm here to inform you that, when produced naturally and properly, pork is pretty awesome. It's high in protein, zinc, iron, and B vitamins (particularly the "anti-stress" vitamin B1 - read more about thiamine and pork in this blog post). It's packed with quality, healthy saturated fats. And it's the most affordable meat and can be produced year round. This is why people around the world love pork. I think you should love pork, too! Miller's pork is not just any old pork. Here are 6 quick reasons it stands above the rest: 1- Woodland raised. Our pigs get plenty of exercise and forage for countless nuts and grubs and roots. This diverse diet gives our pork some extra flavor. And you can be assured that the environment is free of chemicals and is a happy place for our pigs to live. 2- Corn & soy free. This means low PUFA and no chance of GMOs. We haven't tested our pork like we did for our chicken and eggs. But, if we did, I assume we'd get similar results with our pork having balanced omegas and packed with vitamins and minerals. 3- Heritage breeds. Our pigs are Berkshire, Duroc, Red Waddle, and Black crosses. These heritage breeds are known for their intensity of flavor, juiciness, marbling, and tenderness. It's nothing like the bland, dry pork you often get at the grocery store. 4- No junk like nitrates or additives. We reduce toxins and anything unnatural as much as possible. Our bacon is cured simply with Celtic sea salt (in a store it would have "uncured" on the label). Our sausages have clean ingredients, no weird thickeners or preservatives. Our salami is cured naturally with celery juice powder. 5- Washed in organic apple cider vinegar. No harsh chemicals like bleach or citric and lactic acids touch our pork. We are so fortunate to have a naturally minded processor! 6- No drugs. We don't vaccinate. We don't give antibiotics or hormones or anything like that. Through a natural diet and lifestyle, our pigs stay naturally healthy. Do you eat pork? Why or why not? What do you look for when shopping for pork? I'd love to hear from you. Comment below - no account required (start typing for the guest option to appear). 😊 ----- SOURCES: UN Report: Livestock commoditiesUSDA: Chicken leads U.S. per person availability of meat over last decade False Facts About Pork Everyone Actually BelievesIs Pork Bad for You? Here's What a Dietitian Has to Say

What is pet enrichment? Why is it important for your pets' health and well being?

Pet enrichment is exactly what it sounds like. It’s how we can enrich our pets’ lives to improve their physical and emotional health and well being.

Feeding your pet a variety of foods with different flavors and textures as treats or at mealtime helps keep cats and dogs mentally engaged and physically satiated.

An important note is that not all pet food is created equal. When Miller’s Bio Farm started offering pet food, we were shocked at how unregulated the pet food industry is.

What do you feed your pets? Have you included raw foods in their diet?

More from the blog

Should I choose animal rennet or vegetable rennet in my natural cheese?

Is yolk color is no longer a great indicator of the egg's nutrition?

How did pork get a bad rep anyway? Why is Miller's pork exceptional?

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Miller's Bio Farm, 523 Valley Road, Quarryville, PA 17566