How much to Raw Food to Feed
Mar 11, 2016
How much Raw Food and Bones to serve
Once you’ve decided to feed your raw, there are a number of questions you are likely to run into. How much raw food should I feed my dog? What should I feed him exactly? How do I change from commercial dog food to raw food? How do I start feeding my puppy raw food and many more. Stay cool and don’t panic, help is at hand.
With raw feeding there are no hard and fast rules. As you get used to feeding your dog a raw food diet, you’ll see how your dog reacts and you can adjust your feeding plan accordingly. You will notice that the dog’s circumstances including her age, amount of exercise, whether she is pregnant, and the temperature where you live. Growing puppies under 12 months of age need extra food. Generally speaking, the ‘rib test’ is the best test to see if you’re feeding your dog too much or little. Their ribs should be felt with a light touch, but not visible when resting.
For a dog over 10kg feed roughly 2% of her body weight every day – including edible bones.
So, for example a 20kg dog should be eating roughly 400g of raw food. You can serve it in one meal, or several smaller ones at whatever times suit you and your dog.
For dogs under 11kg:
- 1kg-2kg: 10% of body weight
- 3kg-4kg: 7% of body weight
- 5kg-8kg: 5% of body weight
- 9kg-10kg: 3% of body weight
- 11kg and over: 2% of body weight
Getting the Raw Food balance right
To visualise what the correct balance of a raw dog meal should look like, imagine the ’contents’ of a whole rabbit:
Correct balance
- 2 parts bone
- 2 parts muscle, tendons, sinews
- 1 part offal
- 1 part guts and partially digested greenery
Interestingly dogs don’t need a lot of carbohydrates or sugars for energy as they can’t digest it. They need fat, essential fatty acids (Omega 6 and Omega 3) and protein (containing amino acids).
Unlike us, dogs don’t need every meal to be balanced but are perfectly happy to achieve balance over time. This means you can choose to either feed a combination of these parts every day or feed one part each day over 6 days.
Eggs are very nutritious and a perfect supplement to a raw food diet. Let the dog work out how to crack it open!
Raw food can be a bit messy so if you have a garden try and feed your dog there.
Puppy eating raw chicken back
What to feed your dog – Raw food ‘recipes’
When you’re feeding your dog raw food, there are no real recipes to follow. Its more about getting the raw ingredients and proportions right. here is a list of suitable bones, green meals and offal to serve your dog as part of his raw food diet.
Bones
- Lamb: Any bones, sheep heads, neck, ribs, spines
- Chicken: Carcasses, wings and necks. Chicken wings are a perfect combination of bone and muscle/tendons and are ideal for old and young dogs alike.
- Rabbit: Carcasses, fur and guts
- Pork: Any bones, pigs trotters, pig’s head, tail
- Beef: The smaller bones, calf carcass, oxtails, ribs, NOT the postman’s leg, cheek. Calf bones or bones from young animals under a year old are best as they are soft.
- Pheasant, duck pigeon quail, day old chicks, goat carcass, deer carcass
- Venison: Rib cages and pelvis are OK but avoid leg bones as they can be brittle
- Goose and turkey – Edible but some dogs don’t like these as much
Remember the bones need to be RAW as cooked bones can splinter
Others/extras
- Offal: Heart, liver (don’t overdo the liver), brain, tripe, hearts, tongues, spleen, pancreas
- Fish: Tinned fish, whole fish
- Raw eggs
- Table spoon of cottage cheese
- Mushed up fruit (should be ripe but not over ripe. Dogs love bananas/apples/pears but avoid grapes and avocados)
- Small quantity of molasses.
- Small quantity of kelp.
- Small quantity of brewer’s yeast.
Green Meals:
This part of the dog’s dinner imitates the partially digested gut matter of the prey animal the dog would normally enjoy. As dogs can’t digest plant matter you must first grate it. Include Vegetables and fruit, one from above and one from below ground. For example spinach and parsnips or apples and carrots. An idea could be to run the green meal in a food mixer with some of the offal for example the raw liver or eggs.
Minced meat
There are several companies specialising in raw/barf food who are offering pet mince containing a mix of flesh, muscle, tendon, cartilage, bones, offal, and grated vegetables and so on. It can make your food planning a whole lot easier as it essentially includes all the ingredients your dog needs. This can work as a standalone food or can be fed in combination with a traditional raw food plan. Just make sure you also feed your dog some bones for chewing as this will help keep his teeth clean and jaws exercises
Note: I am not a vet or dog nutritionist – the information in this article is simply a collection of my research about raw food. If you’re seriously considering switching your dog to a raw diet I recommend that you buy some real books on the subject
Check out our website to but the perfect minces for your dogs
How much Raw Food and Bones to serve
Once you’ve decided to feed your raw, there are a number of questions you are likely to run into. How much raw food should I feed my dog? What should I feed him exactly? How do I change from commercial dog food to raw food? How do I start feeding my puppy raw food and many more. Stay cool and don’t panic, help is at hand.
With raw feeding there are no hard and fast rules. As you get used to feeding your dog a raw food diet, you’ll see how your dog reacts and you can adjust your feeding plan accordingly. You will notice that the dog’s circumstances including her age, amount of exercise, whether she is pregnant, and the temperature where you live. Growing puppies under 12 months of age need extra food. Generally speaking, the ‘rib test’ is the best test to see if you’re feeding your dog too much or little. Their ribs should be felt with a light touch, but not visible when resting.
For a dog over 10kg feed roughly 2% of her body weight every day – including edible bones.
So, for example a 20kg dog should be eating roughly 400g of raw food. You can serve it in one meal, or several smaller ones at whatever times suit you and your dog.
For dogs under 11kg:
- 1kg-2kg: 10% of body weight
- 3kg-4kg: 7% of body weight
- 5kg-8kg: 5% of body weight
- 9kg-10kg: 3% of body weight
- 11kg and over: 2% of body weight
Getting the Raw Food balance right
To visualise what the correct balance of a raw dog meal should look like, imagine the ’contents’ of a whole rabbit:
Correct balance
- 2 parts bone
- 2 parts muscle, tendons, sinews
- 1 part offal
- 1 part guts and partially digested greenery
Interestingly dogs don’t need a lot of carbohydrates or sugars for energy as they can’t digest it. They need fat, essential fatty acids (Omega 6 and Omega 3) and protein (containing amino acids).
Unlike us, dogs don’t need every meal to be balanced but are perfectly happy to achieve balance over time. This means you can choose to either feed a combination of these parts every day or feed one part each day over 6 days.
Eggs are very nutritious and a perfect supplement to a raw food diet. Let the dog work out how to crack it open!
Raw food can be a bit messy so if you have a garden try and feed your dog there.
Puppy eating raw chicken back
What to feed your dog – Raw food ‘recipes’
When you’re feeding your dog raw food, there are no real recipes to follow. Its more about getting the raw ingredients and proportions right. here is a list of suitable bones, green meals and offal to serve your dog as part of his raw food diet.
Bones
- Lamb: Any bones, sheep heads, neck, ribs, spines
- Chicken: Carcasses, wings and necks. Chicken wings are a perfect combination of bone and muscle/tendons and are ideal for old and young dogs alike.
- Rabbit: Carcasses, fur and guts
- Pork: Any bones, pigs trotters, pig’s head, tail
- Beef: The smaller bones, calf carcass, oxtails, ribs, NOT the postman’s leg, cheek. Calf bones or bones from young animals under a year old are best as they are soft.
- Pheasant, duck pigeon quail, day old chicks, goat carcass, deer carcass
- Venison: Rib cages and pelvis are OK but avoid leg bones as they can be brittle
- Goose and turkey – Edible but some dogs don’t like these as much
Remember the bones need to be RAW as cooked bones can splinter
Others/extras
- Offal: Heart, liver (don’t overdo the liver), brain, tripe, hearts, tongues, spleen, pancreas
- Fish: Tinned fish, whole fish
- Raw eggs
- Table spoon of cottage cheese
- Mushed up fruit (should be ripe but not over ripe. Dogs love bananas/apples/pears but avoid grapes and avocados)
- Small quantity of molasses.
- Small quantity of kelp.
- Small quantity of brewer’s yeast.
Green Meals:
This part of the dog’s dinner imitates the partially digested gut matter of the prey animal the dog would normally enjoy. As dogs can’t digest plant matter you must first grate it. Include Vegetables and fruit, one from above and one from below ground. For example spinach and parsnips or apples and carrots. An idea could be to run the green meal in a food mixer with some of the offal for example the raw liver or eggs.
Minced meat
There are several companies specialising in raw/barf food who are offering pet mince containing a mix of flesh, muscle, tendon, cartilage, bones, offal, and grated vegetables and so on. It can make your food planning a whole lot easier as it essentially includes all the ingredients your dog needs. This can work as a standalone food or can be fed in combination with a traditional raw food plan. Just make sure you also feed your dog some bones for chewing as this will help keep his teeth clean and jaws exercises
Note: I am not a vet or dog nutritionist – the information in this article is simply a collection of my research about raw food. If you’re seriously considering switching your dog to a raw diet I recommend that you buy some real books on the subject
Check out our website to but the perfect minces for your dogs
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