 Barked: Wed Jul 18, '12 11:14am PST |
 | |  | | The first thing you need to do is decide what kind of raw diet you want to feed. The BARF diet traditionally uses vegetables, grains, and sometimes fruit and dairy, in addition to bones and meat. The prey model diet uses only meat, bones, and organs. Because dogs aren't capable of digesting plants and dairy efficiently, I chose to feed prey model, so that's where most of my knowledge lies.
Prey model raw consists of 80% meat, 10% bone, 5% liver, and 5% other secreting organ like kidney, spleen, pancreas, ect. The dog is fed 2-3% of its ideal body weight per day.
When switching a dog to raw, it's best to start with one protein source. Bone-in chicken is the favored choice because it's cheap, easily obtainable, fairly bland, and contains bone. New foods will often initially cause loose stools and bone works to firm stools up. After 1-2 weeks on bone-in chicken, after stools are looking normal, another protein can be introduced, like beef or pork. Organs are very rich and should be introduced very slowly. Balance over time is what most raw feeders aim for so don't worry about balancing every meal to the 80/10/5/5, especially in the beginning.
I would highly recommend reading through the Beginner's Guide To Prey Model Raw PDF. Prey model raw is very simple once you know what you're doing, but it's a lot to learn in the beginning. An imbalanced raw diet can be very dangerous to your dog's health so it's important to make sure you do all the necessary research. |  |  | |  |
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