Providing dogs with a natural diet consisting of raw, natural food is recommended for optimum health and longevity. For optimum health, we recommend avoiding highly processed pet food including processed rolls, canned or dry kibble with added fillers, salt, preservatives, meat/poultry meal and artificial flavours or colours.
RAW MEAT & BONES should make up approximately 85% of the DAILY RATION:
- 70% Raw meats – Free-range, grass-fed or organic if possible: chicken, rabbit, mutton, duck, kangaroo, lamb, turkey, pork and beef. Avoid bacon, sausages, ham & other cured, smoked or pickled meats.
- 10% Raw Bones – Preferably bones with some meat still left on. Select from some soft bones they can eat readily and hard bones they need to chew on to clean teeth and exercise jaws. Free-range chicken wings, feet or necks, rabbit, duck, turkey or beef ribs, lamb shanks, knuckle bones or carcasses. Be careful feeding large marrow bones due to the high fat content and they can damage teeth. Avoid cooked bones which can be dangerous.
- 5% Organ meats – Free-range or organic liver, kidney, heart, tripe, spleen, pancreas, sweetbread & other internal organs are important as these contain some essential nutrients not found in meat. Ensure you add a variety of organ meats especially heart & liver. If you are unable to feed organ meats from butcher, try to include some in dried form. It is also important to include taurine if unable to feed heart.
VEGETABLES should make up approximately 10% of the DAILY RATION:
- Raw vegetables must be finely minced or pureed for your dog to digest them. Select from kale, broccoli (including stems and leaves), mushrooms, fennel, carrot, celery, beetroot, sweet potato, okra, asparagus, cucumber, endive, radicchio, cauliflower, zucchini, capsicum, peas, tomato, steamed brussels sprouts or pumpkin.
- Sprouts or Microgreens are a rich source of nutrients. Broccoli sprouts are higher in nutritional value than regular broccoli. Microgreens are vegetables and herbs harvested while still seedlings which are rich in nutrients and easily mixed into your dog’s meals.
- Fermented veggies (onion free) are good for healthy gut microbiome. Add 1/4 to 1 teaspoon depending on size.
Avoid starchy (high carb) vegetables for dogs with fungal/yeast issues. Avoid feeding any onions or chives.
NON-ESSENTIAL EXTRAS can make up 5% of the DAILY RATION:
The following foods are great meal toppers or treats –
- Fruit: Especially berries (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, mulberries, or cranberries).
Pomegranate is a powerful superfood, if you dog likes them.
Green or ripe bananas (the green banana is lower in sugars and small pieces of green bananas are good to help support gut health).
Kiwi fruit, papaya, apple, pineapple, rockmelon, watermelon and other fruits may be fed in moderation as treats. Avoid grapes, sultanas or raisins which are toxic to dogs. - Eggs: Free-range eggs, including the ground up shell.
- Fresh or dried organic herbs may be added to meals for added nutrients if your dog likes them. Rosemary & basil are heart tonics, parsley, arugula (rocket), ginger is a digestive tonic, rosemary & turmeric are anti-inflammatory, dandelion for liver & digestion, oregano, thyme have anti-microbial properties, cilantro (coriander) for detoxification of heavy metals and toxins. Start slowly and build up as your dog gets used to the flavour. Add 1/4 teaspoon of fresh herbs per 10kg bodyweight. Use a small sprinkle only if feeding dried herbs. Avoid chives.
- Seafood – Fresh or lightly steamed fish with bones removed. Cooked wild salmon is good but avoid farmed salmon. Green lipped mussels and other shellfish contain manganese which is important for strong ligaments and connective tissues.
- Sardines (fresh) are a good source of healthy fats or canned sardines in water. (Heat destroys Omega 3 so fresh raw sardines are preferable to canned due to the high temperature during processing). Give one sardine per 10kg bodyweight two or three times a week. Avoid sardines for pets on a low purine diet (kidney stones).
- Raw nuts and seeds are usually enjoyed by dogs as occasional treats but avoid macadamia nuts which are very high in fat (can cause nausea or vomiting).
Pumpkin seeds contain zinc and brazil nuts are a good source of selenium (one brazil nut daily for large breeds or cut a smaller piece for smaller breeds).
Linseed (flax) may be ground and added to meals as a good source of omega 3 fatty acids.
Feed nuts and seeds sparingly at the rate of 1/4 teaspoon per 5kg bodyweight daily. - Seaweed, nori strips, wakame & dulse are very rich in trace elements.
- Coconut (ideally the fresh coconut meat from the kernel) is often a favorite treat for dogs. Use dried coconut flakes in moderation.
- Spices contain a range of benefits from being highly nutritious to having medicinal properties. Some popular spices you can add to your dog’s food include – Cumin (anti-microbial & digestive tonic), Ceylon cinnamon (heart tonic) – ensure this is mixed well into food to avoid breathing in powder. Use very sparingly mixed into moist food. Avoid nutmeg.
- Grains are not necessary but may be included for underweight dogs or those living in very cold climates to help maintain weight. Soaked/spouted grains are much easier to digest than cooked grains.
- Raw goat’s milk may be fed to puppies if required but is not necessary for healthy adult dogs. A small amount of natural plain yoghurt or cottage cheese is fine occasionally but is not essential and most dogs do better without any dairy in their diet.
How much to feed
The amounts fed can vary depending on how active your dog is, so the below is a very rough guide only and you may need to increase or decrease to ensure ideal weight is maintained.
For example: A 10kg dog = 200g to 300g of food daily. (10 x 2.5% = 250g)
10kg dog feed approx. 175g meat + 12g offal + 25g veggie pulp + 25g raw bone + 13g extras.
25g dog feed approx. 435g meat + 65g bone + 60g veggie pulp + 35g offal + 30g extras.
*Please note: the above ratio’s are for adult dogs (12 months and older). Puppies have different requirements while they are growing.
How to prepare a fresh food diet
Place veggies, sprouts, etc in a food processor and blend until finely minced (or use the pulp from a vegetable juicer). Mix this with a little meat and process until well combined. Serve with a meaty bone.
You can make daily meal up fresh each day or prepare a week’s supply and freeze into daily portions. Remove the following day’s meal and allow this to defrost in the fridge for 24 hours.
As a convenient option, if you are unable to process veggies at home, you can use one of the following:
These are air-dried blends of vegetables, grains, legumes and other nutrients that you add water to reconstitute, then simply mix with fresh meat.
- Lenny’s kitchen – Contains 18 air dried raw ingredients, including herbs, plants, vegetables, fruit, vitamins, minerals and essential nutrients.
- Phud’s – Is a low fat, high fibre, low allergy product formulated to complement fresh or cooked meat. It contains wholegrain oats and barley, lentils, peas, carrot, psyllium husk, flaxseed, polenta, coconut, buck seed, king Island kelp, rosehip, dandelion root & calcium.
For Fussy Dogs
Make changes gradually if you need to. Add a little of the new food to their usual diet, gradually increasing the new and decreasing the old. But most importantly be consistent.
Start by adding a tiny teaspoonful of healthy food to their favorite meat and increase gradually.
If your dog refuses to eat raw meat and will eat it cooked, then lightly cook outside and reduce cooking gradually until eating meat raw.
Try adding tasty sprinkles on the meal to help tempt even the fussiest dogs – Available from Greenpet
- Promise Beef liver sprinkles.
- Dried Bone broth can be used (dry) to sprinkle on food.
- Tripe meal topper is healthy & tasty.
- Try crushing any of our tasty dried meat treats.
Nutritional Suplements
It is not always possible to obtain sufficient nutrients from foods today, so we recommend adding a high quality natural nutritional supplement such as:
Greenpet Essentials Supplement is excellent for all dogs to provide extra nutrients, vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids and trace elements to compliment a natural diet. Contains flaxseed meal, rice bran, dolomite, kelp, rosehips, spirulina, green barley, alfalfa, nettle, blackstrap molasses and garlic.
Augustine’s SuperBoost is a 100% certified organic supplement made entirely from wholefoods. Provides vital nutrients that processing can destroy. Suitable for ALL dogs and cats, this powder can be added to dry, canned, raw & homemade meals. Contains flaxseed meal, barley grass, arrowroot, sesame seeds, chia seeds, lecithin, turmeric, maca and wakame.
other information
- Grass-fed animals (meats) contain less saturated fat and less omega 6 ‘pro-inflammatory fats’ than grain-fed animals. Excess saturated fat can affect gut microbiome. Remove skin from grain-fed poultry or pork due to high omega 6.
- Most healthy dogs can safely have one ‘fast’ day each week or at least a ‘meat-free’ day.
- It is not necessary to balance or measure out each meal exactly. A dog in the wild would eat plenty at times and other times sparingly, and their stomach is fully equipped to deal with this variation.
- If your dog refuses to eat bones, try sourcing ground bone (some butchers will grind up carcasses into mince) or supplement with an organic calcium supplement.
- Serve food at room temperature rather than chilled if possible for better digestion.
- Vary the types of meats & offal fed to help prevent food sensitivities developing.
- Don’t leave food out all day, it is not healthy for dogs to nibble throughout the day/night.
- Encourage chewing chunks of meat & raw meaty bones. Chewing is necessary to help activate enzymes for better digestion and for healthy gums and teeth.
Some recommended books if you want more information on feeding a raw, natural diet include:
