A brief Insite into to raw feeding.
''Did you know a dogs diet directly effects their behaviour, health, immune system and the development of Degenerative diseases such as arthritis''
Raw dog food comes in a few different types some are complete foods some are complementary such as 80/10/10 and some are just minces (just meat and bone) so always read the ingredients. Just to confuse matters some brands label 80/10/10 food as complete so always read the ingredients list, this is because they used to be classed as complete but research now shows they also need vegetable, eggs and omega fatty acids to make the foods complete.
A complementary food usually looks like this 80% meat, 10% offal and 10% bone or just 100% meat and bone, a way to tell its not complete is there is no vegetables, fish or eggs in the ingredients lists. You can buy commentary foods and add the necessary ingredients in yourself which does work out cheaper but also requires more planning.
Did you know that a one single meal cannot provide your dog with every single nutrient that your dog needs, variety over time creates a balanced diet.
A general rule is to try and feed three different proteins a week if they are complete you don’t need to add anything else to the diet. The best part about raw feeding is you can use any brand at any time without weaning them onto it unlike when you feed a commercial diet (kibble & wet) making providing variety easy. This is due to the dog’s gut health being in optimum condition through digesting un altered foods when feeding a commercial diet your dog’s gut will need time to adjust it's ph. levels in order to digest the food without causing an upset tummy.
If you feed 80/10/10 adding fish, veg and eggs to their diet three times a week will create a complete diet over the week.
In the picture is a 80/10/10 with added qual egg and raw sprats.
Tips on feeding raw dog food
Storage- Raw feeding does require you to think about freezer space, but you don't need as much room as you may think raw feeding is more nutritionally beneficial for your dog meaning they don't need feeding as much. You just need to mindful that you need enough room to store a variation of flavours this also depends on the amount of dogs you have.
Routine - Getting yourself into a routine it's as simple as, freezer it, defrost it, feed it and store it in the fridge, just like you would any of your meat.
You can get your dog’s daily allowance out the freezer the day before to defrost and store it in the fridge till meal times. I find this best to do at meal times when I feed their tea I get the next days food out. The food will last a couple of days in the fridge so you can even get a few days of food out, I find this best to do in winter as food usually takes longer to defrost.
Hygiene- Correct storage of raw food is important, just as it is when preparing meat that we eat. Wash the any surfaces and bowls after use and store food in a sealed container at the bottom of the fridge just like you would your raw meat.
DO NOT LEAVE FOOD DOWN FOR PROLONGED PEROIDS.
Don't leave food down for dogs to eat as and when they like throughout the day. Food should only be left down for maximum of 30 minutes not only does this promote good eating habits but also prevents fussy eating habits developing and it helps keep food motivation up which if your training a dog is important. Having a routine will also help with regular toileting as dogs that eat often throughout the day will have an unpredictable toileting habits, making accidents in the house more likely to happen. And in unfortunate circumstances if your dogs falls ill for what ever reason knowing how much they ate and when they last ate can be important especially if the illness results in the dog needing medication that is to be taken with food.
''Picky eating habits is a learnt behaviour, and one we teach them unintentionally. If your dog refuses to eat and is in normal health, best practices is to not offer anything else until next feed time''
Did you know a dogs sense of taste isn't that great, especially when you compare it to ours we have around 9000 taste buds on our tongues where our dogs only have around 1700. Smell is the most important factor then texture and then finally taste. Dogs have around 220 million scent receptors in their nose where we only have 5 million.
Myths about raw feeding
Myths about raw feeding go out the window when you understand about the dogs gut health.
It’s all to do with gut health a lot of myths around raw feeding go out the window as they don’t apply when the dogs gut is healthy, why doesn’t it apply? because when a dog is consuming only natural un processed foods their gut will be in optimal health, unless their ill then that’s a different conversation.
One myth about raw feeding is that too much protein is bad for their serotonin levels, but this only applies when the gut health is poor so doesn’t apply when fed a raw diet.
Bacteria, a lot of vets have concerns that raw food contains bacteria, mostly this is down to owner cleanliness but raw food is frozen to such temperatures it kills of bacteria and again a healthy gut has the ph. levels to combat what bacteria there might be, this is also why they are better equipped to fight of parasites such as worms.
I think it’s also important to point out raw feeding and vets, most owners know that vets aren’t always the biggest advocates of raw feeding and sometimes this is can be down to lack of knowledge on the subject but every vet is different, I think it’s mainly because it involves a lot of responsibility on the owners to make sure they are feeding a balanced diet and upholding good food hygiene standards as not doing so does have its consequences. Its only recently there have been studies done that proves the advantages of raw feeding and probably more importantly show the bad side of commercial diets. Not all vets are the same and some are pro raw and some are not, which is why it’s always good to do your own research and make you own mind up.
Instagram accounts worth a follow.
@thebkpets ‘Most raw pet food companies do more safety testing on their food than the giant kibble companies’
@the_dog_nutritonists ‘95% of dog food recalls for pathogenic bacteria are from dry dog food’.
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