Raw Feeding

When I got my first dog Maggie,  I didn't really give much thought as to what she ate.
Her previous owner had raw fed her, but I imagined it to be smelly and expensive so I changed her to a mid range dry food for perhaps the first 6 months that I had her.

But when Maggie got ill, I revisited the idea of raw with her previous owner, who explained some of the benefits of raw food and was absolutely passionate about it. The claims that this person made compelled me to want to do some more research on the matter and find out if there was science behind the them, or if it was just a fad I hadn't heard of.
What struck me however, was a real lack of any kind of research at all!
I found plenty of information on the importance of feeding zoo animals a species appropriate diet, but could find nothing pertaining to domestic pets.
So, despite knowing very little I made the choice to switch Maggie back to raw - it just made sense to me to feed her, what I had deduced was what she was biologically designed to eat.

Some 10 years later raw is very much mainstream and thankfully so!
Research has now proven raw to be the absolute best thing to feed your dogs and people are moving away from poor, low protein, high carb foods (such as Bakers Complete which is only 4% meat) to high quality foods that are uncooked, unprocessed and 100% meat.

So, in brief I thought I'd share some of the most basic facts and benefits of raw feeding, for those who may be new to the idea. I also hope that these points will help to dispel some myths about faw feeding.

1. Raw feeding is actually very easy!

You can buy it in ready made blocks of minced meat, that looks just like the minced beef that you would use to make a spa bol with.

2. Raw feeding isn't at all messy!

 (if you don't want it to be) If you choose to feed the minces, you can simply plop the mince into the dog bowl the night before and it will be defrosted in time for the morning. Some minces even come in little tuppaware boxes, so that it can be defrosted in them.

3. Raw feeding isn't expensive!

I pay between 60 and 90p a day to feed both a toy and a standard poodle if they eat the minces alone.

4. Raw feeding is safe!

There have been some horror stories in the media recently about how salmonella can be spread from raw dog food. Yes it can, however salmonella and other nasties can be spread from handling any raw meat so as long as basic hygiene rules are applied you shouldn't have an issue. Raw dog food is generally human grade, so you really have to exercise no more caution than you would if you were preparing to cook raw meat for yourself - wash your hands, the bowls and the surfaces that raw meat has touched to avoid cross contamination.

5. Raw Feeding is Healthy!

Your dog is biologically designed to eat raw food.

There are no additives, preservatives, grain or colourings in raw dog food so you know exactly what they are getting. Next time you are in the supermarket, take a look at the list of ingredients on the back of any packet of dog food. Do you understand what all of the ingredients are? No? Well with raw you will!

Feeding raw bones will also improve dental health and keep teeth naturally clean. Trust me, Dentastix will never cut it.

6. Your dog will poop less!

Because raw food is what a dog is designed to eat, the majority of it is absorbed and used by the body. You will notice that your dog poops a lot less, because there is less of the food they eat wasted by the body.

All of my dogs are raw fed and I have 100% faith in this method of feeding. I feel that it is the right decision for us and I know exactly what we are getting. I usually raw feed a prey model diet, which means that I feed whole animals such as rabbit, with skin, head etc attached.

However the puppies have been raised on pre-made minces and given bones for chewy treats.

Below are a few photographs of the dogs enjoying their raw bones.

For more information on raw feeding please consider clicking on of one of the below links and joining the associated Facebook groups:
Raw Fed Poodles UK
UK Raw Feeders