Species Appropriate Diet for Dogs

How to feed a raw food diet for dogs.

this post is not meant to judge or belittle anyone who doesn’t do this…it’s just the reasons we do. Follow what you think is best for your own pet

We own a beautiful mutt type dog. She is the best dog we have ever owned, and we treat her like she is part of the family, because she is. She lives in the house, sleeps on the couch when she wants, and is our 4th child. I don’t feed her dog food anymore, we have switched to a feeding a raw food diet for her. She gets chicken, some beef bones, rabbits, and once in a while, a steak (only on her birthday).

The benefits of feeding a raw food diet for dogs, and how to get started feeding your best friend a raw food diet! The Homesteading Hippy

Why do we feed her a raw food diet? Well, here’s some scary news stories that made us really rethink how we fed her:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reports that at least 76 dogs nationwide are believed to have died as a result of eating contaminated Diamond Pet Foods. source

New reports indicate that the commercial dog food recall which commenced with products manufactured by Menu Foods is exploding in its tragic consequences.

The dog food problem has apparently been caused by contaminated wheat gluten, a protein source, that was imported from China. Laboratory tests have produced a variety of suspect contaminants including aminopterin, a rat poison, and melamine, a chemical used in the manufacture of plastics and fertilizer.

Petconnection.com states that 1,511 reported dog deaths have been logged as a result of dogs eating tainted commercial dog food.

Pets continue to die after eating jerky treats according to a new report published this week by the FDA. At least 360 dogs have died of 2,200 that have fallen ill after consuming these products. source

We didn’t want her to be another statistic, but what to do? After some research and digging around, I found this site on facebook that taught me how to feed her. The basic gist of it is you start with raw, skinless, boneless chicken breasts. Those are the easiest on raw food diet to start with. Once they are okay with the raw chicken breasts, you switch to meatier pieces with bones.

Since we raised chickens, it was easy to switch her to eating chicken breasts for a couple days, then whole chickens. Getting her used to the bones was the scary part, as I was always taught you shouldn’t give a dog raw chicken bones. Yup, she crunches right through them, no problem!

After we watched her for signs of distress like “cannon butt”, which is explosive poop, or constipation, we slowly moved her to some beef. She got beef heart, some beef tongue, and bits of liver. Okay, she got a chuck roast, too ONCE… Then we moved on to rabbits. No issues there, either.

We don’t buy expensive foods just to feed our dog. She gets leftovers from the butcher (that would be thrown away) and meaty bits from our hunter friends. And, we raise rabbits for meat just for her, since we don’t eat them ourselves. It’s not expensive at all. Really. It’s cheaper than buying dog food, since we ask around for parts that people would normally toss anyway.

I know where her food comes from, and I know what she is eating now. I no longer worry about getting a tainted bag of dog food. Her breath is MUCH better, and she doesn’t snack in the litter box anymore, either! If you are interested in feeding a species appropriate diet to your dog, I would suggest trying it! Once you get the hang of it, there is really no more difficulty cutting up a chicken or rabbit than pouring dry food into a bowl.

Do you feed your dog a raw food diet? What is your experience with it? Be sure to pin this for later!

You can find the source I followed here.

6 thoughts on “Species Appropriate Diet for Dogs”

  1. How interesting to read this post today as I just made dogfood for the first time this week for our little dog. We had 3 cats affected by the Diamond pet food recall years ago. We were back then also treating our dogs to chicken breast jerky when we discovered it was made in China! We stopped buying this immediately. We buy organic, grain free dry food for our dog and 4 cats but canned food is harder for us to find that is grain free with no additives. We feed our dog Dyno-Vite which is a nutritional supplement w/vitamins, probiotics etc. They published a homemade recipe on their website which I used. It called for l0lbs ground beef plus 18 hard boiled eggs(shells and all whizzed in a food processor), l0 cups of cooked rice and 2 to 4 cups of the Dyno-vite powder. I packaged it in small quantities in freezer bags to last 2 or three days per package. The first meal of this she licked the bowl clean (something she has not done with purchased canned dog food). We have a friend whose German Shepherd has a pancreatic disorder and she must receive enzymes and only raw ground chicken. Our friends grinds it in a heavy duty meat grinder (bones and all) and freeze it in portions. We plan to do this as well.as soon as we can set up our grinder and buy some chicken (probably legs and thighs which seem to be the cheapest). We too were always told not to give a dog chicken bones, but I’ve since heard they are safer raw than cooked. I’m not sure if this is accurate or not. Thanks for the informative post.

  2. Thanks for sharing this. We are moving our Goofy Golden away from kibble, too. For years all of our dogs have gotten venison “scraps” a couple of times a week — it works out great this way; we get the best bits of venison for ourselves, and almost none of the deer is wasted. It’s a win-win. But, like you, I’m not really comfortable with kibble — even the expensive stuff — for either the dog or the cat. And feeding cats raw is a whole other ball game!
    (I have bag of chicken feet in the freezer just waiting for her. But I can’t get over the idea that I might choke her or something!)
    Cheers, Christine

  3. phyllis weaving

    my dog is fed raw food and bones.we have done this for 4 yrs as he has a funny tum. I save veg peelings for him which he eats raw. he also enjoys raw fish. my cat eats raw too, sometimes bringing home her own food.

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