{"id":1258,"date":"2017-09-29T03:21:42","date_gmt":"2017-09-29T03:21:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homeopet.kloudexpert.com\/blog\/?p=1258"},"modified":"2025-02-14T06:54:48","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T06:54:48","slug":"raw-food-diet-dog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homeopet.kloudexpert.com\/ca\/raw-food-diet-dog\/","title":{"rendered":"Raw Food Diet \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is it the best thing for your dog?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Few things connect us with nature and a more natural way of living more than our diet and a raw food diet is exactly what our dogs would eat in the wild. Unfortunately, the diet of the average Westerner is far removed from that of our ancestors, with a recent global health study showing that one in five deaths around the world is caused by a bad diet, with obesity the fastest growing global risk. Only 20% of Americans eat as many as five pieces of fruits and veggies a day and in the UK it is expected that by 2035 one in ten adults will have diabetes. The respected American author, journalist and activist Michael Pollan said \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d While this is a powerful concept that we all would undoubtedly benefit from abiding by, could it also be applied to our dogs? The answer undoubtedly is yes. A raw food diet is the closest to a natural diet for carnivores that we can achieve and dogs and cats that eat a natural diet live longer, healthier lives. The problem is that (like in our own diets) we have largely lost touch with what a natural diet is and the vast majority of dogs are fed the canine equivalent of junk food. Our supermarket and pet store aisles are laden with beautifully packaged boxes and bags that make inspiring promises such as \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcnutritionally complete\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcnatural\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcperformance\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, with images of beautifully groomed, healthy dogs living life to the fullest. But natural food doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t come pre-packaged in vacuum-wrapped foil \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re finally starting to realise this with our own food and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time that we did for the benefit of our dogs too. In this post, Tom Farrington MVB MRCVS VetMFHom<\/strong> – Chief Veterinary Medical Advisor for HomeoPet<\/a> \u00e2\u20ac\u201c gives an overview of what a raw food diet is and why you should feed it to your dog. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a raw food diet for dogs?<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

\nRaw diets also go by the acronym BARF. While this may give the wrong impression of this healthy approach to feeding your dog, it actually stands for Bones And Raw Food or as I prefer a Biologically Appropriate Raw Food Diet.\n\nA raw food diet is surprisingly simple, comprising approx. 80% raw, lean-ish meat and 20% grated or pureed raw vegetables (except potato) or even a little fruit. The meat comprises simply of meaty bone (such as chicken wings or legs) with minced meat of any kind, such as diced beef. Some good oils like Cod Liver Oil, Flax Oil or Hemp Oil are a great addition, as is kelp, rose hip, alfalfa or brewers yeast. The result is a really balanced diet for your dog, who will undoubtedly reap the benefits. From time to time additions such as soaked gluten-free oats can be useful in dogs which need to gain weight rapidly but are not essential to a healthy diet\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why feed a raw food diet to your dog? <\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Dogs are carnivores which, by definition, is an animal that eats flesh. Dogs do need a bit of herbage and if push comes to shove they can survive on it, but a flesh-based diet is what a dog\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s anatomy is designed for. Dogs have five kinds of exceedingly sharp teeth that would enable them to eat small birds and beasts and a share of larger prey such as sheep or deer. Dogs also eat the whole animal, including its bones, and in the wild up to a third of a dog\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nutrition (including calcium, magnesium, complex fats and vitamins) may come from bones! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike us humans, dogs have no digestive enzymes in their saliva and they cannot move their jaws from side to side. What this means is that they are designed to gulp food straight down the saliva acting mainly as a sticky glupy lubricant, instead of grinding it like is required for the plant matter that a herbivore eats. And then the entire digestive process takes place in their large, expandable stomachs. While all the above clearly demonstrates that a dog should eat a diet comprised primarily of meat, what about the raw aspect? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reality is that when food is cooked, its chemical structure is altered and from a dog\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perspective, about 70% of its nutritional value is lost and this must then be added back into the food through supplementation. For example, the amino acid Taurine is very easily destroyed by cooking and as a result, dogs need their food served raw in order to digest it properly and to get the most nutritional value from it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is wrong with processed dog food?<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

\nWe are seeing more and more illnesses in our dogs and they just do not have the lifespan that they had decades ago. A multitude of health problems can be attributed to a less than natural diet and research is showing that the development of all sorts of genetic conditions may also be attributable to generations of dogs eating a harmful diet. But with all the promises that pet food manufacturers make about their dog food, why exactly is processed food bad for our dogs?\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n