Raw food for dogs is the latest trend in dog food, designed to imitate how we believe dogs would eat in the wild. Some owners design these diets themselves, but for convenience, many companies have designed frozen foods that can be purchased at your local pet store.
Types of Raw Food Diets
There are many types of commercially produced raw food diets, including freeze-dried and frozen. In addition, frozen diets can come in many forms, made by many manufacturers, some higher quality than others.
Companies such as Bravo, Oma's and Primal produce frozen diets in tubes, like frozen sausage, which can come in various sizes from 1 pound to 10 pounds. Others, such as Stella and Chewys, come in patty form, which are more convenient for feeding your dog but not always as high in quality.
Some owners also include raw bones, which can also be food in your pet store's freezer and benefit your dog by cleaning their teeth.
Raw Food Ingredients
Most of these diets consist of a variety of organs and muscle meat. They aren't the equivalent of ground hamburger. They usually have muscle meat mixed with hearts, liver and other organs to emulate the way a dog would eat many parts of his prey for different nutrients.
From there, the diets vary. Some contain ground bone meal, which adds calcium. Some consist of just meat while others include fruits and vegetables. If you buy a diet that consists solely of meat, you must add vegetables as dogs are omnivores and obtain key nutrients from the vegetables in their diets.
Benefits of Raw Food Diet
The raw food diet most closely imitates how dogs would eat if left to their own devices and doesn't include grains, preservatives and other unnecessary ingredients that may hinder the health of our dogs. Many commercial diets include ingredients that aren't good for your dog and may cause illnesses or allergies.
Owners and veterinarians that feed raw food claim that their dogs have:
- fuller, shinier coats
- cleaner teeth and nails
- more energy
- fewer illnesses and lowered veterinary bills
The biggest benefit may be, however, that dogs love it. Dogs are always excited to eat, which means you can use food as an excellent reward in training.
Disadvantages of Raw Food Diet
Many veterinarians claim that dogs have been so domesticated that it's unnecessary to feed them as they would eat in the wild. They have grown accustomed to the nutrients provided in commercial kibble and should be fed with what they know.
In addition, feeding a raw diet is much more expensive than purchasing a bag of kibble, and handling raw meat increases the risk of diseases such as salmonella to owners. If you switch to a raw diet, be sure to clean your hands and counters thoroughly with hot water after handling the meat.
Deciding what to feed your dog is a personal choice, and the amount of choices is growing. There are several types of raw diets available for your dog, so do your research and consult your veterinarian if you are interested.