4 Basics Of Raw Feeding Your Pets (Is Raw Food Safe?)

Feeding Raw Food to Your Pets is not advisable to recommended as Every pet owner wants all the best things for their pets to ensure they live a healthy and happy life. You want to ensure that they have a comfy shelter, get enough exercise, and receive enough nutrition from their diet. Most of you have probably worked with a vet to create a nutritious diet plan for your dog.

However, have you tried to consider feeding raw food to your furry friend? When it comes to raw food, many people remain skeptical, though. In This article, we will try to answer some basic Queries related to feeding raw dog food. Such as

How do you start feeding your dog a raw diet?

Can I feed my dog raw food every day?

Why do vets not recommend raw diets?

Can you warm up raw dog food?

What can I mix with raw dog food?

How do you start feeding your dog a raw diet?

Raw feeding is when you feed your cat or dog with natural, uncooked food like vegetables, fruits, and raw meat.

While some people believe that raw feeding comes with risks, it can only be true if done incorrectly.

That’s why vets don’t recommend pet owners to prepare their own raw pet food without consulting a vet or a pet nutritionist first.

Doing this could result in a nutritionally unbalanced meal that could deteriorate your pet’s health.

Meanwhile, raw feeding can bring numerous benefits for your pet’s health and overall wellness when done correctly. So, if you’ve never tried it before, here are four basics of raw feeding your pets.

Introduce Raw Food Slowly

Once you’ve decided to switch to raw food for your pet, you must do the transition as slowly as possible. Feeding your dog or cat with a whole bowl of raw food will only catch them off-guard and possibly cause digestive problems.

A slow transition will allow their body to adjust to the new diet plan, and this will also give them time to observe if raw food is the best decision for them or not.

Make sure to buy your raw food from a notable pet food store to ensure these products have the proper pet nutrition.

There are two ways you can transition them into raw food: gradual feeding and raw food combinations.

Gradual feeding: Can I feed my dog raw food everyday?

Start their raw feeding by serving them a small amount of protein, preferably chicken, as it has a soft bone and it’s easier to digest.

For example, you can feed a quarter of raw food on the first day, half on the second day, and two-thirds on the third day. On the fourth day, you can try the full amount of raw food in their bowl.

While doing this, make sure you still stick to their normal feeding schedule. If your pet isn’t ready for the full amount of raw food, you can go back to serving halves or quarters until they’re ready.

Raw Food Combinations for Dogs

For this option, begin by feeding raw food for your pet in the morning and the commercial pet food for their lunch or dinner.

Do this for the first few days while increasing the serving amount of raw food each day. After around four days, try to feed a full amount of raw food in the morning.

As much as possible, never mix raw food with commercial food as both meals have different digestion rates, and mixing them could cause digestive problems.  

Suppose your dog or cat has finally adjusted to the raw meat you’ve introduced for the first few days or weeks. You can start moving on to other raw food ingredients.  

Add Protein-Rich Raw Food

Your pet’s raw food diet plan wouldn’t be nutritionally complete without any protein.

Thus, once your pet has eased on the raw meat, make sure to slowly add protein-rich food into their meals.

To do this, you can feed them a mixture of chicken and beef (protein food) in the morning and a chicken-only meal in the evening.

If your pet doesn’t get on with the protein food, you can try other protein sources like turkey, duck, or fish for the next day and introduce them to beef again after a few weeks.

Get The Minerals And Calcium Right

Besides the raw meat, you should also feed your pet with raw bone to ensure they get minerals and calcium in their body.

The lack of minerals and calcium in their diet could result in your pet developing joint diseases, seizures, or heart illnesses.

When introducing bones to their raw diet, begin by feeding them with a chicken carcass. If they’ve adjusted well to chicken carcasses, you can move on to providing them with beef rib bones.

Check their poop to find out if your pet has adjusted to raw bone feeding. If you find small particles of bone in their poop, it only means their digestive system isn’t ready for bones yet.

Thus, you can go back to feeding them raw meat and then try feeding them with raw bone the following week. 

Complete The Raw Food Diet With Fruits and Vegetables

Why raw feeding is bad for dogs? Just because your pet has completely adjusted to eating raw meat and bones doesn’t mean you can stop. Remember that raw food also includes fresh fruits and vegetables.

Fruits and veggies are rich in anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, which help strengthen their immune system and reduce their risk of cancer. 

When feeding raw vegetation, look out for safe and unsafe fruits and vegetables.

Avocadoes, grapes, mushrooms, and onions are toxic, poisonous, and could even lead to sudden death. 

A Balanced Raw Food Diet For Your Pets

Now that you know the raw feeding basics, you can consult your vet or pet nutritionist to create a raw diet plan for your pet based on their age, breed, and level of activity.

What can I mix with raw dog food? Remember that every pet is different, and some may take some weeks or even months before they get used to the raw food diet. You can always take a step back and try again until they can adjust.

More importantly, if your pet’s raw diet is in full swing, always make sure you’re serving them a well-balanced raw food diet so they’ll get the maximum nutrition their body needs.