Raw Food for Dogs

Think about it: How long have dogs been eating dog food? About as long as we've been eating processed foods like Lucky Charms and Cheezits.

1978 

After World War Two, the same consumption patterns which took hold of our culture, took hold of our dog's foodbowls.

1963 

We have been feeding our dogs a lot of the same kind of junk we've been eating ourselves.

1982

Just like we ate raw, unprocessed foods for thousands of years, so did our dogs. There are countless reasons to feed your dog raw meat:

1. Raw food can greatly reduce the risk of your dog developing health conditions of all kinds, ranging from simple diarrhea to the greatest risk to dogs after cancer - bloat (see the next entry for more info).

2. Raw food is often less expensive than kibble. You need to feed your dog more kibble to satisfy her/his dietary needs. Over the course of a week, a healthy adult dog needs to consume about 15% to 20% of their body weight. If your dog weighs 20 pounds, you can expect to feed her/him 3-4 lbs of food each week.

3. Raw bones act as a natural tooth-brush, and fortify teeth with calcium. Adults love a good RMB - Raw Meaty Bone.

HOW TO FEED YOUR DOG RAW FOOD:

* Make an arrangement with a good butcher or local farmer for your meat source. If you have some extra freezer space, you’ll can work out good deals buying in larger quantities. 

* Spread newspaper beneath your dog's bowl, to keep any mess under control

* The general rule with raw foods is to feed a healthy adult dog between 2-4% of its weight daily, and then adjust as needed. Puppies should be fed 2-3% of their expected adult body weight; they may require up to 10% of their weight.

* Rotate your dog's diet: Some types of meat are higher in iron, others are higher in vitamin A.

• About 60% of their diet should be a rotation of chicken, turkey, beef, oxtail, rabbit, hen, quail and/or fish (canned sardines should be in water). You can feed them pretty much any part. In the beginning, introduce one protein source at a time. Feed chicken for a week, then beef for a week, and so on, to introduce these foods to your pet’s system, so as to easily detect any protein allergy.
• Your dog needs organ meat - 10% of their diet should be liver or kidney.
• Include vegetables, eggs, fruit, yogurt, etc. Eggs are a good source of calcium, good to use when you don’t have bones. Pumpkin is a good system regulator. (NOTE: No need for any grains. Commercial pet foods are grain-based, but dogs don't need grains - in fact they may be bad for them overall!)

* Feed whole carcasses whenever you can and otherwise base your feeding regime on raw meaty bones in large pieces from a variety of animals.

* For maximum dental benefit and to minimize the possibility of choking on small pieces, give your dog whole lumps of RBM. Important: Cooked bones run the risk of splintering- NEVER feed cooked bones!

* Give puppies non-weight-bearing bones, as their young teeth can’t handle thicker bones.


* Be aware that dogs tend to become protective of their bones - discourage young children from approaching dogs that are eating. For that matter, stay away yourself!

(A note on bacteria: Canine digestive systems have some natural immunity to bacteria; they can handle the ecoli, etc. in raw meat without issue.)