Creating A Raw Dog Food Recipe

A raw dog food recipe which is carefully thought out and properly prepared can keep Fido happy, healthy and in peak condition.

If you want to feed your dog a raw diet, you might well be wondering how to choose the right ingredients, how much to use, and how to prepare them.

To get things right it's important to know the basics of what nutrients your dog needs, and of course what's safe for him to eat and what isn't.

Once you've learned this, it simple to prepare tasty, healthy dishes that your dog will love... and on this page you're going to find all the tips, advice and information you need, so let's get started!

• Ingredients
• Preparation
• Recipe Books & Prepared Diets
• Feeding Puppies Raw Dog Food

About Raw Food Diets For Dogs

Although a 'raw dog food recipe' may sound like a contradiction in terms - after all, you might think 'if it's raw why do I need a recipe?'

But making sure that your dog gets all the nutrients he needs involves more than just throwing a couple of bones and a carrot into his bowl! Although feeding raw food doesn't involve cooking it does involve research and preparation - plus effort, creativity and patience.

It's important to make sure that recipes you choose provide your dog with the right balance of nutrients for his size, age and activity level. Just like with humans, a varied diet made up of high-quality ingredients is the best way to achieve this goal.

This means alternating raw dog food recipes so that your dog gets a wide variety of meat, vegetables and fruits every week.

Ingredients For Raw Dog Food Recipes

Before I get down to specifics, I thought it might help to give you an example of how to put together your dog's raw meals.

What type of meat to use in a raw food recipe for dogs

Of course, the mainstay of any dog diet is a good source of protein, and for most dogs that protein is best when it comes from quality meat.

Here are a selection of raw meat options for you to try:

• Chicken - chicken necks, thighs, wings and even feet are great choices
• Turkey - as above
• Duck - as above
• Lamb
• Beef
• Rabbit
• Venison
• Wild game birds such as Pheasant or Partridge
• Offal (organ meat) such as liver, kidneys and so on are excellent, but rich, so use sparingly at first
• Whole fish of just about any kind are fine, but raw salmon often isn't recommended

Vegetables you can add to a raw dog food recipe

There are tons of different fruits and vegetables that you can add to any raw dog food recipe.

Don't be too rigid about this though as it's important that he gets a wide variety of fruit and veggies so keep trying different ones until you have a good selection that he will eat.

Also, there are a few that can cause excess gas or other digestive upsets, others that are actually dangerous, even toxic, to dogs.

Here's a list of some vegetables that you can use safely:

• Brussel Sprouts
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Okra
• Green Beans
• Peas
• Pumpkin
• Squash
• Romaine Lettuce
• Parsley
• Celery
• Sweet Potatoes

Adding fruit to raw food recipes

You can also add a number of different fruits to any raw dog food recipe.

Here are some of the most common and popular choices:

• Apples
• Bananas
• Pears
• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• A variety of Melons

Don't use grapes or raisins. They can be poisonous to dogs.

'Extra' ingredients as part of a raw dog food diet

Other ingredients that can be used to add variety and extra nutritional value to raw dog food recipes. They do not need to be added daily, and once or twice a week for most is generally enough...

• Cottage Cheese
• Plain Yogurt (or Kefir)
• Raw Eggs - including the shells which need to be ground to a fine powder
• Peanuts or Almonds (NOT Macadamia Nuts)
• Sunflower seeds
• Wheatgrass
• Kelp

Some people like to add grain to a raw food recipe, but this isn't actually necessary because dogs don't need grain in their diet. However if you really want to do this, try adding cooked oats, barley or rice as these are less likely to cause allergies or sensitivities.

If feeding grains, it's a good idea to feed them separately from the meat due to the time it takes for a dog to digest grains as opposed to meat. Vegetables and fruits can be fed with either meat or grains. For example, you could feed vegetables and rice for breakfast and meat/bones for dinner).

How To Prepare Raw Meals For Dogs

It's actually super easy to whip up raw dog food recipes once you have the ingredients on hand and prepared. It's almost as easy as pouring kibble into a bowl (close anyway!).

Using the 75% meat to 25% vegetable/fruit ratio, all you have to do is mix the ingredients together and offer them as one meal, or divide into two and feed half in the morning and half in the evening.

To make up 1lb (approx 2 cups) of raw dog food, you'll need:

• roughly 12oz (1 1/2 cups) of meat (including raw meaty bones)
  
  
• and 4oz (1/2 cup) of prepared vegetable/fruit mixture
  
  
• approx 2tsp of fish oil (ie cod liver oil or salmon oil) or flax seed oil (or an Omega-3 supplement), and a vitamin/mineral supplement
  
  
• probiotics
  
  

Obviously raw food has one big difference to dry kibble, and that is the fact that it doesn't have much of a shelf-life. Whatever isn't going to be served/eaten right away needs to be refrigerated immediately, and will be okay for 24 hours or so. After that you need to throw it away.

To make life a little easier you can prepare large batches of food in one go, then divide it into daily portions (using the guidelines given earlier for the daily requirements) and freeze it. Make sure to defrost thoroughly, in the refrigerator, before serving though - otherwise you could make your dog sick.

A Little Extra Help.....

If you want to change up your raw dog food recipes, find new ideas, or just get a little extra help to make the whole process quicker and easier, there are lots of products out there that can do just that.

Raw Dog Food & Puppies

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