About S.A.D. Dog Sushi

















S.A.D. {Species Appropriate Diet} Dog Sushi was founded under the belief that dogs are healthier when fed an all natural, grain-free, preservative free, and holistic diet. If you believe in feeding your dog only the best and healthiest food, or you already feed raw but don't know if you are doing it correctly, then you are at the right place! We can take all of your worries away, since we offer the perfect, balanced diet for your companion animal. Our services don't stop there, we will pre-measure, package and deliver everything for you (Free Delivery! minimum $50 0rder) in the Austin area. All of our meat and bones are 100% USDA inspected and approved and fit for human consumption. These are the same foods that we have been feeding to our dogs for 7 years and the benefits range from better breath and cleaner teeth to curing skin allergies and controlling seizures!

How did we come up with incorporating a balanced raw diet for dogs with sushi? Well...

After many years as an experienced Sushi Chef, the Co-Founder and President of S.A.D. Dog Sushi, Richard F. Reel IV, ventured into the realm of exploring a raw diet for dogs. Following numerous years of feeding his own dogs raw he decided to incorporate his skills as a Sushi Chef with his knowledge of a diet for dogs based on raw meat and bones. This lead him to create a product that is not only wholesome and nutritious, but innovative and distinctive.

The birth of S.A.D. Dog Sushi was not brought to life by one individual. The additional Co-Founder and C.E.O. of S.A.D. Dog Sushi has also been feeding raw for some time. Since 2002 , Alissa Zalneraitis has fed raw to all of her companion animals, many of whom are rescues. The undeniable benefits that have positively impacted the lives of all of these dogs pushed her to want to share her  knowledge about raw feeding with the world.

Since 2002, S.A.D. Dog Sushi has been offering their services to friends and family. A higher demand lead them to launch a website, offering the products to be shipped nationwide. The sushi line was also introduced, to add even more variety to their current products.

Thus, S.A.D. Dog Sushi was created with a sincere desire to provide nutritional and species appropriate options to dog caretakers. The benefits of raw feeding are graciously shared with you. Always here to help and assist with any questions, the team at S.A.D. Dog Sushi believes in helping others make the switch to a raw diet; a diet which Mother Nature intended.
There are many veterinarians that support the raw diet. True Carnivores compiled a list of quotes below from veterinarians that believe in a healthy, raw fed diet, rather than a kibble based diet.

Dr. Ian Billinghurst, B.V.Sc.(Hons), BSc.Agr., Dip.Ed.

"The sad truth is that prepared pet foods help provide patients for vets."

"Raw chicken does of course carry bacteria, E.g. Salmonella. These are of absolutely no consequence to a healthy dog."



Dr. Richard Pitcairn, DVM

"...When I began to suggest the feeding of raw meat I found animals becoming more healthy even without other treatment. Indeed, I have frequently had the report that people find their animals become healthy when they make this change and diseases for which they were hoping to have treatment (on a waiting list) have disappeared. Since that time, other veterinarians have told me similar things about the use of raw meat. I do not have numbers but I think the veterinarians recommending raw meat in the US are in the hundreds. My experience, albeit clinical and not based on studies, is that my patients have improved health on a raw diet. Furthermore, I have not seen significant parasite problems. Dogs and cats, being carnivores by nature, are meant to eat raw meat and do not have a problem doing so."




Kymythy Schultze

"Salmonella has even been found in samples of commercial pet foods & treats. Bacteria is not a problem for a pet with a strong immune system, & a strong immune system is encouraged by eating species-appropriate raw food."



Christina Chambreau, DVM

"Meat should be raw. Cooking destroys enzymes and denatures the proteins rendering them less digestible to cats and dogs."

"Dogs and cats need raw meat to be really healthy and even the best processed foods cook their good ingredients, & most commercially available foods, even the expensive ones, use the cheapest ingredients (that means dead, diseased and decaying meat & by-products)."



Tom Lonsdale, DVM

"Raw meaty bones promote health."

"Dingoes and feral cats keep themselves healthy by eating whole carcasses. The closer you come to this ideal for pet dogs and cats the better."

"As the natural pet food industry increases, so the artificial industry, together with its harmful effects, should go into decline... No more slurping of canned stew, no more rattle of dry pellets; instead, the sounds of nature, the crunching of raw meaty bones."



Dr. Wendell O. Belfield, DVM

"Their pets may have diarrhea, increased flatulence, a dull hair coat, intermittent vomiting or prolonged scratching. These are common symptoms associated with commercial pet foods." In 1981, as Martin Zucker and I wrote How to Have a Healthier Dog, we discovered the full extent of negative effects that commercial pet food has on animals. In February 1990, San Francisco Chronicle staff writer John Eckhouse went even further with an expose entitled "How Dogs and Cats Get Recycled into Pet Food".



William Pollak, DVM

"Health is an inevitable by-product of natural raw foods for our pets."

"Survival is insured by commercial food; nothing more; not health, not the robustness for life."

"The results of a clinical trial suggest that 74.7% of common diseases in dogs and 63% of common diseases in cats can be eliminated without medical intervention over a period of one year with proper diet modifications and an understanding of the healing process as exhibited through healing episodes. Approaching disease from the perspective of health is the most powerful means of eliminating disease. Poor fuel makes for little momentum in life. The commercial food we are feeding' is the disease we are treating - so treat on and on, curing one disease after another, again and again."

"In the wild, no one cooks for the coyote or wolf; no one brushes their teeth. Their foods are raw and unprocessed."

"Eating supermarket pet foods is like eating cardboard. Our pets just get by on them and the foods lack any real vitality for the flourishing of health. Life is designed to be lived in vitality; surviving is living a slow death even before departure from the body."



Dr. Randy Wysong, DVM

"The very best way to feed pets is to turn them loose to eat their natural prey."

Nutrition is serious health business. The public is not well served by exclusively feeding products from companies without any real commitment to health... or knowledge of how to even achieve that.

"Recent studies have shown processed foods to be a factor in increasing numbers of pets suffering from cancer, arthritis, obesity, dental disease and heart disease", comments Dr Wysong.



Dr. Charles E. Loops, DVM

"The best diet is a raw food diet."

"Science Diet & Hill's dog & cat food products are not good diets. They use chemical preservatives that have been shown to cause problems in some animals & they use by-products, which are words on the ingredient label that need to be avoided at all costs. This generally means food not utilized for human consumption."



Edward Howell, MD

"Among the many thousands of species of creatures living on this earth, only humans & some of their domesticated animals try to live without enzymes. And only these transgressors of nature's law are penalized with defective health. It is not surprising that dogs (and cats) have many human diseases since they are given only canned or packaged, heat treated, enzyme free food."



Dr. Alicia McWatters, Ph.D.

"Fresh, raw foods contain the highest level of enzymes and these enzymes assist in digestion. Cooked foods and dry convenient diets have been denatured and are devoid of enzymes: life-promoting elements. While they may maintain life they do not promote optimum health or longevity!"



T.J. Dunn, DVM

"Modern man has modified a number of characteristics of the canine. But there's one thing man has not altered... the basic nutrient requirements of the dog. Dogs need today essentially the same nutrients that their predecessors required eons ago. That is precisely why there has been so much notice given to the practice of feeding dogs (and cats, too!) raw meat and other unprocessed foods. There is ample proof that today's pet dogs and cats DO NOT thrive on cheap, packaged, corn-based pet foods. Dogs and cats are primarily meat eaters; to fill them up with grain-based processed dry foods that barely meet minimum daily nutrient requirements has proven to be a mistake. And the fact that some pet foods have artificial colors and flavors added simply reveals the trickery needed to coax dogs and cats into consuming such material."



Russell Swift, DVM

"Grains are NOT part of the natural diet of wild dogs and cats. Carnivores cannot maintain long term production of the quantity of amylase enzyme necessary to properly digest and utilize the carbohydrates."



Nick Thompson BSc.(Hons), BVM&S, VetMFHom, MRCVS

"Dogs should eat raw food - raw meat and bones, vegetables and fruit. If they were meant to eat processed, sterilized food, they would have evolved with tin openers instead of dew claws."



Dr. Donald Strombeck, Ph.D., DVM

Dr. Donald Strombeck, Ph.D., DVM, tells us "If salmonella really is a problem, then we should be just as concerned with processed pet food". He states that "Salmonella has been found in commercial pet foods, something the public never learns."
Online prices and selection generally match our store, but may vary. Prices and offers are subject to change.
© 2009 S.A.D. Dog Sushi L.L.C. All rights reserved. S.A.D. Dog Sushi, Saddogsushi.com and the tag design are trademarks of S.A.D. Dog Sushi. For personal, noncommercial use only.

Alissa Zalneraitis
Founder / CEO
Richard F. Reel IV
Founder / President