More and more dog owners are choosing to make grain-free or raw diets. Most vets, on the other hand, recommend premium commercial foods. Neither group is likely to change. I think it’s time vets put aside their beliefs to help dog owners get these homemade diets safely balanced.
Should Dogs Eat Wolf Diets?
When these diets are analysed they usually differ a lot from what studies show dogs need. The screenshot shows a diet advised by a local pet nutritionist. If this was a commercially-prepared food, it would be a scandal.
The diet I’m going to build will keep referencing wolves but also take into account the changes in domestic dogs. It will also make a great (but still not guaranteed!) effort to be balanced.
Many breeders are now selling puppies already on raw diets. Personally, I’m uneasy with this and would wait until adulthood. The consequences of getting the diet wrong are worse for puppies, and raising puppies properly is complicated enough as it is!
So what should we put in a raw diet and why?
It’s absolutely true that chicken is better tolerated by dogs, especially at high amounts. This isn’t telling you that chicken is better, just that you’re putting too much meat in. Wolves don’t fillet out the best cuts and discard the rest. Being a ‘whole prey’ feeder means just that: eating an awful lot more than just muscle.
You can just as well use goat, camel or kangaroo. However, and I am on record on this point repeatedly, Australia’s pet food industry is under-regulated. Until this is fixed, I would only feed meat to dogs raw if it was fit for human consumption. This does add a lot to the cost.
There’s actually no firm evidence against grains, but they aren’t necessary or especially healthy either, so I’ll avoid them. One exception is rice, which for a long time has been recognised as beneficial to dogs. We even use rice to treat some tummy upsets.
This is where my ideal wolf and dog diets will differ. You can use brown rice, which I fully support, but I’ll use Basmati rice as it has a similar or lower glycaemic index and is a lot easier to prepare.
I really like using pumpkin as it’s more fibrous and less starchy. However, there’s nothing to stop you experimenting with whatever you can get by the box at the farmer’s market. Just take a look at these bad foods for dogs first.
Any puppy owner who visits me knows I do go on a bit about raw fruits and veges. As long as you avoid grapes (onion too, but only an idiot dog would eat raw onion) they are great fun to try.
Add this after cooling to preserve the vitamins destroyed by cooking. Alternatively, you can do what I do and put a fresh bit from your own diet on each day’s meal. Dogs love a surprise ingredient.
Eating raw bone is natural for wolves. If you’re open to trying raw bone feeding, calcium should be no concern. Otherwise, adding a finely ground eggshell to the recipe will help. I believe you can make raw bone feeding low-risk by following these guidelines.
Despite what I tell my clients about never leaving a dog alone with bone, I trust my own dogs to be sensible so that they can chew on them when they desire. This keeps a steady mineral supply going in, firm poop coming out, and happy dogs throughout.
Method: no need to get fancy.
Most dog owners will have a favourite extra ingredient like chia or sardines. For me, each of my dogs gets fish oil. If you’re feeding something unusual it’s a good idea to check with your vet first. Also be careful with large amounts of oil due to the risk of pancreatitis.
Click here to discover why is there no offal in this diet.
Sorry! You’re going to have to do some maths. Using the diet above, 32 divided by your dog’s weight equals the number of days of food it will make. For example, if you have a 4kg Maltese, it will feed for 8 days. It’s up to you if you feed each daily portion in one meal or divide it into two or three.
Then watch the change in your dog’s weight and adjust the amount accordingly. No two dogs eat the same amount. Visit our page on how much to feed your dog for a longer discussion on the subject.
Finally, if you want the best and don’t mind spending $300, we have access to excellent veterinary nutritionists. They can design you a balanced homemade diet tailored to both your dog and your preferences (such as higher meat levels). All you have to do is ask!
A disclaimer: this diet, like most homemade raw diets, has not been analysed or tested. It is impossible to guarantee that it is nutritionally complete or that bacterial contamination will not occur. Use of this diet is at the dog owner’s own risk. Cooking the meat is safer and will not alter the diet significantly.
Hi, when you freeze the meals – do you just defrost them or do you heat them too?!
I just defrost them to room temperature. The dogs are perfectly happy with that.
Would you add eggs, yogurt or cottage cheese to the recipe you have provided and if you what would be the quantity?
Hi maria. Tricky question. I personally don’t advise dairy foods for dogs due to the higher rate of adverse food reactions. Eggs would be good but the story (as with all these ingredient questions) is that once a diet is formulated, it’s rather inflexible. A bit like deciding halfway through a game of Jenga to swap a brick at the bottom! Possible but hard.
There is no ofal in this raw diet – is there a reason you left it out ?
We have a 9mth, 40 kilo Hungarian Viszla male, Armani.
Armani is a therapy dog, working in Mildura.
I have started a raw diet for Armani about 1 mth ago.
He is very happy with the raw meat & veg diet, so far.
As others, im not 100% clear about how much & how often. 1 meal a day ? 2, with a small lunch ?
Hi Michele. The diet I formulated is calculated to serve the requirements of an 8kg dog for 3-4 days, which means it won’t be enough for even one day for Armani! That said, it’s just a case of making bigger batches, and thankfully small chest freezers are quite cheap to buy and run. As to whether you split the daily ration into one, two or three that’s entirely up to you (I give one meal). As for how much, my advice works for my dog, but I suspect that a Vizsla will have a higher requirement. Therefore, the best thing with any new diet is to start with the recommendations, watch for a change in weight and adjust the amount accordingly. Thanks for reading!
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