we have fed our dogs a raw diet for a few years now and how we feed has changed over time as
we've gotten more comfortable with what we are doing you might have seen where we started with
one of our more popular videos and if not you can see that here if you're interested
in that video we used a pre-made grind that was available at a local pet store now we feed
store-bought meat because we can be more economic and have more control over what we are feeding
let's go over the basics of how we feed raw and what to look for so you can better understand
how you might get started with raw feeding when you're first starting out you should choose a
single protein to start we currently feed chicken because it is widely available and inexpensive
we also feed beef to one of our dogs who struggle with allergies you can find different beef options
that are also less expensive but these are not as widely or consistently available
here we are portioning a bottom round beef roast but we also look for beef heart to
provide the source of muscle meat because it's much less expensive than other cuts of beef
but it is still a great source of muscle protein
this roast cut usually comes in about two or three pound portions which can provide
several meals when portioned properly
you should also start feeding about two percent of your dog's ideal body weight per day
for our 25 to 35 pound dogs that's about half a pound to 0.7 pounds of food
per day now you can see that we are actually feeding more than that here that's because over
time we have found our dogs maintain their ideal weight if you feed a little more than
the baseline once you select your protein you'll need a source of muscle meat bone and organ meat
if you choose to start with chicken you get chicken thighs like these with the bones still
in them and chicken livers to cover all your dog's basic nutritional needs when preparing
your dog's meals you want to aim for about 80 muscle meat 10 bone and 10 organ meat by weight
once you weigh out your dog's meal you can also trim it into smaller pieces to encourage
smaller bites our dogs eat together for every meal but we still cut their meals into smaller
chunks so they don't try to swallow entire chicken thighs in one goal this will prevent choking and
help with digestion if your dog does eat more slowly on their own and you don't need to cut
parts into smaller pieces larger chunks that your dog has to chew will help keep their teeth
cleaner so find what works for you and your dogs we use simple kitchen shears to trim our portions
these can fairly easily cut through chicken bones so creating our portions is very easy
remember it is very important to only feed completely raw uncooked bones cooked bones
become brittle and can splinter rather than breaking cleanly into smaller pieces
cooked in splintered bones can create sharp shards that may be hard for your dog to swallow
if you decide that you are more comfortable with cooked meat make sure to get boneless proteins
you can see that we have a general idea of how much food our dogs need i do not need
to weigh each portion anymore because i've gotten comfortable with portioning over time
i can even tell when you get an extra large chicken thigh in one package
or extra small thighs in another package so i know to divide or add more to the portions accordingly
this comes from experience over time so it might be helpful to use a scale in the beginning
and carefully watch your dog to make sure they are maintaining a healthy weight
we also like to add spirulina or dried kelp to add fiber and other omega fatty acids that your dog
needs as part of their healthy diet
you can also feed fish skins or fish to get some of the same fatty acids
for the last touch i'm adding a much smaller portion of organ meat like this beef liver
we feed beef liver because all of our dogs can handle the beef it is still inexpensive
and it makes it easier for us to use only one source of organ meat chicken livers
or beef kidneys are also great sources of organ protein that are full of vitamins your dog needs
as a part of their diet just try and be mindful of any potential allergies your dog might have
once you get everything portioned it's time to eat normally it takes about 15 minutes to prepare
meals you can prepare meals in advance but for us since we're feeding five dogs and three cats
we do not have enough freezer space to create pre-made meals
stay
stay stay okay
okay
we hope this was a helpful starter's guide to raw feeding
if you have any questions feel free to ask below in the comments and we will do our best to help
if you like what we do please subscribe or like this video to help out our channel
we would like to be a resource for other pet parents looking to provide better care
for their pets and share experience with our five dogs thanks for watching