INSTRUCTIONS FOR FEEDING YOUR PET RAW
Raw Food Diet Guidelines:
The diet should be: 75% meat and 25% vegetables. Feed at least 100mg of meat per 10lbs of body weight. Increase this amount by 50% if the animal is young (less than 2 years) or has high metabolic requirements (high energy, cancer etc). If cooked meat is being fed for a transition period, the amount fed on a weight basis should be the total weight after cooking. If fish is the meat option chosen, increase the meat portion of the meal by 25%.
Meat Options:
- Chicken (organic if possible), Turkey, Beef, Buffalo, Ostrich, Salmon, Kangaroo, Venison. Never give raw pork/Ham as this contains too many parasites.
- For dogs with allergies, the red meats (Beef/Buffalo/Venison) may be too “hot” and should be avoided at the beginning. Ostrich and Turkey are nice alternatives in this case.
- Organ Meat: Some organ meat is required for proper vitamin supplementation. This can be in the form of hearts, liver, kidney etc. Organ meat should be given _____x/week.
Vegetables:
These must be easy to digest. Hard vegetables (squash, zucchini, yarns etc.) may need to be steamed first. Other veggies need to be minced or pureed to be digestible.
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Good veggies:
Parsley, Cilantro, Green Beans, Squash, Zucchini, Snap peas, Bok Choy, Kelp.
Canned Pumpkin (small amounts, 1 teaspoon/tablespoon in food)
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Possible veggies:
Yarns, Sweet Potatoes.
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Not recommended: Potatoes, corn, carrots, tomatoes, eggplants, peas. Avoid broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, kale and cabbage as these are from the “goitrogenic” family and block Iodine uptake, especially when thyroid function is already low.
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Poisonous food:
Onions, grapes, raisins, chocolate, avocadoes.
Foods to Avoid:
Wheat, pasta, flour as well as other forms of starch like polenta, kamut, couscous etc.
Switching to Raw Diet:
A pet digesting a raw food diet requires a different stomach environment than a pet eating dry pet food. A high level of acid in the stomach is required to digest raw food, but a pet eating dry dog food has very has very low levels of stomach acid. Because of this, if the pet’s diet is switched too suddenly, the pet will be unable to digest the raw diet and may become ill. So the pet must be switched very gradually to a raw food diet, allowing enough time for the stomach acid to adjust. Pets should ideally be fed twice per day.
Dogs:
Converting From Dry Pet Food
Option 1:
Feed dry food in the morning, and then cooked food (cooked meat and veggies) in the evening for 2 days. Cooked meat should be cooked without added oils, either bake or grill the meat, or sear in pan. Add veggies (see veggie instructions above) then go to cooked for both morning and evening meals for 2-3 days. After that add ¼ raw to each meal decreasing the cooked by ¼ for ___ days, then by the end of that time your pet is completely on raw meat (without bone) and veggies.
Option 2:
Initially change the diet from dry kibble to cooked food (cooked meat and veggies) and vegetables over a ___ day period. The meat should be cooked without added oils. Either bake or grill the meat, or sear in pan. Add veggies (see veggie instructions above). Gradually add more of the cooked meat/ veggies to the dry kibble over a few days, so that on day ___, the pet’s meal is completely cooked meat and veggies. Keep the pet on this cooked food for another ___ days. After this, slowly add raw meat to the cooked meat/veggies. Begin with small amounts (1 teaspoon/tablespoon), and gradually increase the amount over ___ days, so that by the end of ___ days, your pet is completely on raw meat (without bone) and veggies.
From Wet Pet Food
Change the diet from wet canned food to raw meat (chicken/lean meat) and vegetables (see list above) over a ___ day period. Do this by slowly adding raw meat (without bone) to the canned pet food. Begin with small amounts, ___ teaspoon/tablespoon per day, and gradually increase the amount over ___ days, so that by the end of ___ days, your pet is completely on boneless raw food (meat and veggies)
Cats:
From Dry Pet Food:
Start to introduce canned food and decrease the dry kibble by ¼ as soon as the cat is eating the required amount of canned. After this put a very small amount of dry into the bowl for a week, then stop adding dry. After a month, add ___ tsp of raw meat ( do not add veggies or cooked meat) to the canned every day, so over ___ days, add more raw and decrease the amount of canned until the pet is completely on raw meat.
From Wet Pet Food:
Change the diet from wet canned food to raw meat over a ___ day period. Do this by slowly adding raw meat (without bone) to the canned pet food. Begin with small amounts, ___ teaspoons per day, and gradually increase the amount over ___ days, so that by the end of ___ days, your pet is completely on raw meat.
Bones:
Your pet must be completely on a raw meat diet for about a month before bones should be introduced. You can introduce bones in the way of ground bones in the meat (chicken carcasses which are ground), as well as bones to chew on. In order to digest properly, bones should be extremely fresh and raw (NEVER cooked). A bone can be given 2-3x/week and can be given in place of a meal. Initially the bone should be given _____ per week.
For small pets (cat, small dogs): chicken necks for small dogs we recommend holding onto the neck at first to be sure they are chewing it. When it is less than 1’’ long discard bone!
For big dogs: turkey necks, femur bone, knuckle bones. Once they are the size of a golf ball- discard!
When introducing a bone to a pet, always monitor your pet carefully. If your pet tends to be “greedy” and is likely to swallow the bone, or a large piece of bone, then remove the bone before this can happen or do not give bones. Use your judgment. You know your pet and can determine if this can be a problem. Other options for keeping teeth clean are “bully sticks”. We do not recommend raw hide bones or other non-digestible items, like pig ears or greenies!!
Do not let the bone sit outside in the sun for days or dry out indoors as this makes the consistency similar to cooking and means that the bone can splinter, becoming dangerous for your pet.
If your dog or cat has white or very hard stool or is straining – this could be the sign of too much bone!
