Feeding your pets is more than just throwing food in a bowl.  A good proper raw diet satisfies them mentally, physically, emotionally, as well as gives them a good dental cleaning.  Happy pets...Happier Owners!!

 

 

Goal:  To feed your pets a healthy balanced over time raw diet that consists of 80% mostly red meat (proteins list at end of page), 10% edible bone (this is a starting point not a sticking point, you will need to workout what % works for your pet, cats have a slightly lower % at ~7%, list at end of page), 5% organs (list at end of page), and 5% liver.  Your pets will get everything they need from this diet balanced over time similar to how Mother Nature intended.  Which means:

• No plant matter (veggies and fruits are carbs, starches, and sugars all things that breed and feed cancers and yeast- more info on the Links page), no grains (see plant matter), no dairy (pups lose the ability to process dairy shortly after they are weaned), no excessive/unnecessary supplements.

 

Determining how much to feed:

 

• Puppies (8 weeks+  *for breeders looking to wean to raw see weaning puppies):  2.5%* of their estimated expected adult weight.  (mom’s weight * dad’s weight)/2=est adult weight.   Don’t know what mom’s/dad’s weight are, use the breed standard and start by using the lowest weight.  You can adjust as needed.  Don’t know the breed, etc.  Take one breed you are 90% sure of, use breed standard, and take lowest weight to start.  You can adjust as needed.  Puppies up to 4 months=split up into 4 meals per day, 4-7 months=split up into 3 meals per day, 8-12 months=split up into 2 meals per day.

• Kittens:  as much as they want to eat and as frequently as they want to eat

• Dogs*/cats:  2-2.5-3% of their adult weight  (*see pregnant dogs below)

  

Example:  My pup should weigh 100lb when he's an adult.  2% of 100lb=2 lbs.  I should feed him 2 lbs of food per day.  Google examples if you need more help "2% of 100lb in lb"  "2% of 40kg in kg" "2% of 80lb in oz". 

 

*This is a starting percentage.  Raw feeding is an ever changing, not set in stone, evolving diet.  Adjust the percentage up if your pet needs to gain weight.  Adjust the percentage down if your pet needs to lose weight.  IDEAL WEIGHT:  There is no need to weigh your pet constantly or more than once or twice at the start.  Eyeball them and feel them often.  A healthy weight for puppies/dogs is a clear defined tucked waist, you can see and feel the last two ribs, a thin layer of flesh over the rib cage, and you can't see hip bones or spine while standing.  Cats:  clear defined tucked waist.  

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Where to start: there is NO reason to wean puppies, kittens, and/or adult dogs to raw.  For puppies and kittens just start right away.  Their stomachs adjust quickly.  This does not mean you throw everything at them all at once.  You still need to intro one protein at a time to let them adjust.  Diarrhea is WAY more detrimental than a few days on one protein. 

 

For dogs stop feeding kibble immediately, fast for 12 hours to reset their GIT/stomach, and start raw for their next meal.

 

For cats, well good luck!  Ha!  Most need to think it was “their idea”.  You will have to do whatever it takes to get them to eat it.  However, you CANNOT tough love them like you can dogs.  Their organs will shut down in short order and they will die.  If you need help on switching your cat to raw, please check out the “Cat food recipe” file in my Facebook group (link on Home page) and tag an admin with your question OR feel free to reach me via the channels on the contact page. 

 

With puppies, dogs, cats, or kittens, you want to start with one protein and continue feeding until your pet adjusts.  Their poop** will let you know when they are ready.   One new protein at a time aids in recognizing if your pet has an allergy to a particular protein.

 

Puppies:  Most puppies are great self-regulators and adjust to new proteins very quickly.  For med-xlarge breeds you want to start with chicken thighs, quarters, whole chickens, bone in chicken breasts with rib cage, Cornish game hens, small game birds.  For tiny-small breeds you want to start with bone in breast with ribcage, Cornish hens, small game birds, thighs, backs, wing tips.  Slice ribbons in the meat so the pup will have something to grab onto.  You can lightly bash the bones in the meat (hammer the intact protein with a mallet) to break up the bones a bit so the pup has an easier time consuming them.  IF you are feeding whole birds:  when they've had their fill, remove the meal, loosely cover in the fridge until their next meal time, then serve again, continue until the whole bird is consumed or until it is stripped and mostly bone is left.   If your pup is experiencing loose poops for 3 or more days, double check your sodium levels, try removing the skin as it may be too much fat for them at this time, reassess the amount of bone being fed, and reassess the amount of food being fed.  You can re-introduce skin to tolerance as your puppy adapts. 

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Sodium content in the meat:  no more than 70mg per 4 oz.  You want as close to natural sodium as you can get.  In chicken this is 65mg per 4 oz. 

 

Dogs:  You could start with thighs, chicken quarters, half chickens, or whole chickens (med-xlarge breeds).   For tiny-small breeds you want to start with bone in breast with rib cage, Cornish hens, small game birds, thighs, backs, wing tips.   If your dog is experiencing loose poops for 3 or more days, double check your sodium levels, try removing the skin as it may be too much fat for them at this time, reassess the amount of bone being fed, and reassess the amount of food being fed.  You can re-introduce skin to tolerance as your dog adapts. 

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Sodium content in the meat:  no more than 70mg per 4 oz.  You want as close to natural sodium as you can get.  In chicken this is 65mg per 4 oz. 

 

Cats/kittens:  You can start with wing tips, mice, pinkies, DOQ (day old quail), DOC (day old chicks), hamsters, and/or gerbils.  But again ….For cats, well good luck!  Ha!  Most need to think it was “their idea”.  You will have to do whatever it takes to get them to eat it.  However, you CANNOT tough love them like you can dogs.  Their organs will shut down in short order and they will die.  If you need help on switching your cat to raw, please see the “Cat food recipe” file and tag an admin with your question.

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Chicken is recommended as a starting point because it is a very bland meat and easily adjusted to.  *If you do not want to start with chicken, you can start with turkey, pork, lamb, any meat that has a fat source as well. 

 

PLEASE NOTE:  allergies to proteins in kibble DO NOT TRANSLATE to the same allergy for a raw protein.  Kibble processed proteins are in no way the same as real raw proteins.  It is very uncommon for a pet to have an allergy to a raw protein. 

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**Disclaimer:  you will be looking at poop a lot! Formed poop will indicate your pet has adjusted to the protein.  For puppies this is typically quicker than dogs. 

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Adding a new protein:  adding one new protein at a time aids in recognizing if your pup has an allergy to a particular protein.  SLOW AND STEADY is the best process for this diet.  Too much too soon = cannon butt!  The beauty of this diet is BALANCE OVER TIME.  They will get everything they need from this diet over time; you do not need to worry about it too much at the beginning.  Just focus on getting your pet adjusted to the new diet first. 

Once your pet has adjusted start introing the next protein.  I would recommend pork*.  Add a few bits and bites of the new protein to one meal out of their daily meals.  Watch poop, if its decent, then add slightly larger bits and bites to one of their daily meals, watch poop, if its decent then add slightly larger bits and bites and so on until a good portion of one of their daily meals is the new protein (~50%).  If they have not pooped since the intro/increase, hold off on that days new protein.  We want to make sure they are adjusting before continuing.     Once your pet has adjusted to the second protein, start introing the third and so on.  *Pork is very fatty.  Too much fat while introing a new protein can cause cannon butt.  Feed leaner pork or remove most of the fat before feeding.  You can save the fat, freeze it, and add it to a leaner meal later in the diet.

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• Each pet is different.  Some adjust quickly while others take a bit of time.  It’s a getting to “know your pet” type of puzzle.  Watch their poop.  If it is very loose, lessen the amount of new protein in the meal until they have a formed poop again.  Once they are back on track, continue slightly increasing the amount of new protein.  You may have to use smaller increases as not to cause loose poop. 

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Adding liver and organs:  after your pet has adjusted to at least 3-4 different proteins, you can begin introing liver and then other organs.  I recommend doing this very slowly as liver and organs will cause very loose poops.  Add small amounts, thumbnail size to begin with, then slowly increasing the amount until you have reached the recommended 5% for each. 

• THESE ARE NON-NEGOTIABLE! Your pet needs these in their diet for essential vitamins and nutrients.  Please see the FAQs page if you are having an issue with your pup eating them, check the link for the FB group for assistance, or feel free to reach out to me via the channels on the contact page.

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What can/should I feed?: You want to feed pieces as big as your pets head or bigger.  No jagged cuts like chops, etc.   

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Proteins:  you can pretty much feed any non-carnivorous animal to your pet.  The list includes but is not limited to: chicken, turkey, lamb, goat, venison, elk, moose, pheasant, goose, duck, pig, rabbit, cow, game hens, roo, squirrel, rats/mice, guinea pigs, etc. etc.  You want to have at least 4 different proteins in rotation in the diet.

• Your goal is 80% mostly red meat.  At the beginning it is ok to feed mostly chicken until they adjust.  However, once your pet has adjusted to the diet, chicken should not dominate the diet.  It's ok to feed here and there but red meats should be your focus.   Pork is considered a red meat in raw feeding.  This is great because pork tends to be cheaper than beef!  Happy wallet!!

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Edible Bones:  you can pretty much feed all the bones from smaller animals to your pet.  The list includes but is not limited to: chicken, lamb, turkey (with exception on necks and legs), goat (younger), pheasant, goose, duck, pig, rabbit, game hens, squirrel, rats/mice, guinea pigs, etc. 

• DO NOT feed any weight baring bones from large ungulates (cows, elk, moose, deer, etc.).  You can let the pet strip the meat from the bone but do not let them chew on the bone.  Weight baring bones (legs, knuckle bones, marrow bones, etc.) are too dense and will cause micro-fractures in their teeth.  Over time these fractures will cause damage.  You are asking for some high vet bills to remove damaged, abscessed, and infected teeth.  These should not even be fed as busy bones either.  Same thing applies!

• Singleton turkey legs from older mature turkeys should be avoided as well.  They tend to be dense and splinter.  Younger and baby turkey legs are fine to feed. 

• Turkey necks are a HUGE NO GO.  They are the perfect choke plug for med-xlarge dogs.  They are not pliable and get lodged if they swallow them in whole pieces.  Cutting them up DOES NOT lessen the risk.  It only amplifies it.    Same applies for smaller dogs.  They are too much bone to be fed in one sitting and cutting them up make them a huge choke risk.  

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Organs:  any soft secreting squishy organ.  The list includes but is not limited to: kidneys, pancreas, thymus, eyeballs, testes, spleen, etc.  Heart, lungs, ovaries, penis, and gizzards are NOT fed as organs.  They are fed as meat.   Feel free to use a variety of animals.  You do not have to stick with just beef kidneys, lamb spleen, etc.  A variety is nice!

 

Liver:  Feel free to use different animals!  My guys gobbled calf liver even faster than they devoured beef liver! 

  

Fish oil:  If you are not feeding all wild caught/shot proteins, you need to balance the lost Omega 3s with fish oil.  If you have a smaller pup you WILL NOT be able to make up this loss by feeding fish.  See balancing lost omega 3s question on the FAQs page.

• Human grade only.  Pet grade is not a good choice or recommended.  As the same with kibble companies, pet grade companies do not need to disclose all the ingredients or processes they use in their products.

• Fish oil ONLY.  No flavorings, extra ingredients, etc.  NO vit e and no soy.  Soy is an irritant to dogs and most vit E is derived from soy.

• 100mg of combined EPA/DHA per 10lbs of dog.  This is very important!  You want to look at the EPA/DHA mg not the overall mg of the pills. 

• I HIGHLY recommend these  http://www.vitacost.com/country-life-super-omega-3-60-softgels-1  

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Weaning Puppies:  

When they are ready to start trying solid-like foods start them a fine ground meat/bone chicken mix.   I recommend grinding it yourself.  Whole chickens would be great for this.  IF you're using a pre-ground mix make sure it is chicken and bone ONLY and run it through a grinder again.  You want fine ground most of the pre-grounds have bigger chunks of bone.  Mix the fine ground meat/bone with raw goats milk.  You're aiming for a gruel like consistency, not clumpy, like what you would do for tacos.  Always keep on eye on them in case they choke.  Feed them the gruel for a few days to a week dependent on how they are doing with it.  If they are handling it fine, you can start introing whole pieces like chicken necks or duck necks for the tiny/small breeds OR thighs and quarters for the med/large breeds.  You will want to remove the skin and cut it into tiny bits and feed it to them by hand.  At this stage skin attached to the meat is a choke risk.  It's like giving a toddler a huge wad of bubble gum!  A great way to teach them to chew and self-regulate is by giving them whole birds to work on.  Keep introing new meats over the span of a few days to a week dependent on how they are doing.  By 8-10 weeks they should be on all the same things as your adult dogs.  

 

Pregnant dogs: 

The common misconception is you need to way over feed a pregnant dog because she's eating for herself and the puppies.  You don't want a fat pregnant dog nor do you want fat puppies inside her.  This is going to lead to issues while whelping.  Just continue to feed like you have been.  You may need to increase the food a bit but just don't go overboard.  Keep her healthy not fat.  When she starts to whelp, then you can increase food to as much as she wants.  Give her lots of everything and let her decide what she needs.  Be warned, some whelping dogs can eat upwards of 10lbs per day.  

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That's it!  See how EASY that was!  Now go get started making your pet happier and healthier!