Natural Dog Food

Natural dog food is raw, your canine friend is directly descended from wolves, he is a carnivore, he was designed by his creator to eat raw meat. Take a look at a your pet's face it is perfectly constructed to tear flesh from the bone and when the flesh has gone consume the bone itself.

In nature the dog wastes nothing, if a he finds a carcass or kills an animal itself the only parts that are not eaten are the teeth, the claws and any bones that are too big to be crunched up and swallowed. Everything else, the fat, the skin, the blood and the fur are all consumed. Dogs don't even chew they don't have the large grinding teeth at the back of the mouth to masticate the food, they just tear the meat off and gulp it down. To do this it has been equipped with a very acidic digestive system and a short digestive tract, so that raw meat can be dealt with quickly and passed out before it putrefies.

The design of the canine digestive system means that they are not very good at getting the nutrients out of raw vegetables, in the wild any vegetables that they eat would be predigested and come from the gut of the herbivores that they have killed or found. This strange and very none human diet provides a natural balance of everything the dog needs.

Don't worry I'm not suggesting that we start storing animal carcasses to feed the dog, I'm just making the point that dogs are different than people and we need to look beyond the advertising when we choose our dog food. Think about it, have you ever opened a tin of dog food and thought "smells lovely, I would mind eating that myself" that's because the manufacturer has deliberately made the food to appeal to humans (the ones with the money) if dog food was designed to appeal to canines it would probably smell like a traditional butcher's shop.

We humans get the necessary enzymes and friendly bacteria we need from fruit and vegetables, if these allies to our digestive system become depleted (normally this happens because we've killed them with antibiotics) we become tired and will probably develop a yeast infection.

Dogs (in nature) get their necessary enzymes and friendly bacteria from the creatures they eat. Canned food cannot contain these essential elements of the canine diet because the sterilizing process is designed to kill them off. Why? because if the bacteria was left intact the food would have no shelf life.

Good question. I think you are probably open to the idea by now that there needs to be an element of raw food in the dog's diet. The usual reaction to this realization is to say "I know, I'll go and buy the dog a piece of steak!" Wrong I'm afraid, don't forget in nature a dog eats everything including skin, fur and stomach contents. A steak might look nice but it is only one type of meat from one part of the animal.

You would be far better feeding your dog a hand full of scraps from the butcher's waste bucket, I'm not making a joke here, the scraps would probably contain chicken, beef, fat and skin of all kinds. Add to this one of the better "complete foods" to bulk it out and supply any minerals and vitamins that might be missed and you are probably as near to the "ideal diet" as you can get while still being relatively convenient to provide. Oh and don't forget the bones, dogs not only love bones they provide essential nutrients, enzymes and bacteria that he needs, to say nothing of the benefits to his teeth and gums. I am sure you know this already, but never give your dog chicken bones they are brittle and break with sharp edges, don't risk your dog damaging it's mouth or gut. I know they would probably find a chicken to eat in the wild but there is no point in tempting fate.

Laws regarding the sale of raw meat that is not intended for human consumption vary widely, and depending on were you live and how your local butcher chooses to interpret the law may mean the butcher's scrap bin is not an option. If that is the case go to Sit stay or Pet care central they both offer raw food and the complete mixes to add to it.

Dog food storage.

Dogs do not get salmonella, but humans do. If you decide to include an element of raw meat into your dog's food, storage is something you need to pay attention to. It’s important to store raw meat safely to stop bacteria from spreading and avoid the humans in the family from getting food poisoning.