Nutrition & Raw Feeding
Are you still feeding your dog a commercial ‘dog food’ diet?
I always try to educate owners on the benefits of feeding a RAW DIET which also includes raw bones.
Commercial ‘dog food’ consists of needless carbohydrates,
harmful additives and preservatives and off cuts of meat (I’m talking about
carcasses here) which are left over from the human industry as they aren’t fit
for human consumption. Instead of ‘wasting’ these off cuts of meat which have
been rendered inedible for the human industry, these are used for the pet food
industry instead.
These ingredients are then mixed together and heated to
extreme temperatures before being formed into the small round balls we all know
as ‘kibble’. These are then wrapped up in fancy, marketable packaging (with
severely ambiguous branding and adjectives to entice you, the consumer) ready
and waiting for you to select from the shelf.
A raw diet is biologically specific for our dogs as well
as being HUMAN GRADE. It contains no carbohydrates or inexpensive ‘fillers’
which the pet food industry likes to add to create a HIGHER QUANTITY to sell to
dog owners (…and resulting in a much LOWER QUALITY of food). Of course it’s
cheaper to add potatoes and rice to a meal than to add more fresh meat… and
dogs do not need carbohydrates in their diet.
Here’s a fact… a RAW diet has a SHELF LIFE of 3 DAYS. A DRY KIBBLE diet has a SHELF LIFE of several YEARS. So how many preservatives do you think are packed into your dogs’ dry kibble to keep it ‘fresh’ for several years?!
Companies who sell raw dog food – delivered to your door:
Below are links to some good companies who supply complete, frozen raw food:
- Poppy’s Picnic: https://poppyspicnic.co.uk/
- Natural Instinct: https://www.naturalinstinct.com/
- Jack Wolf: https://jackwolf.co
- https://www.barfworld.com/WhatIsBarf
Your puppy would be fed an amount according to their age
and weight and most (if not all) of the companies above have a ‘raw feeding
calculator’ online where you can work out the correct amount. The food arrives
in tubs which you can simply defrost and then scoop out and weigh into their
bowl. Poppy’s Picnic sell a ‘meatball’ range which I personally find easier as
you don’t need to weigh the food out each day from a tub but rather feed a set
number of meatballs. The food is exactly the same, it is just packaged in two
different ways.
All of these companies offer human grade meat and the correct balance of protein, bones, fruit and vegetables… no additives, preservatives or grains or carbohydrates!
Dry Dog Food Alternatives
Not all owners are able to feed their puppies a raw diet – either as it isn’t convenient or due to a lack of freezer space. The best dry dog food alternative is Eden 80/20. This dry, packaged dog food consists of 80% protein and 20% fruit and vegetables and is one of the very best currently on the market. You can purchase this at pet shops or via amazon prime.
Additional Resources:
Watch the documentary called Pet Fooled – it’s a really good, easy to digest documentary explaining the commercial pet food industry.
Your veterinarian may advise that you feed your puppy Hills Science Plan or Royal Canin. Both are low value commercial dog food brands (roughly 25-28% protein content!) which vets work with on a commission basis with…!