Essential Nutrients
Feeding a DIY raw or cooked diet can be very rewarding if done correctly and responsibly. It is not uncommon to hear people say they make their dogs food, however you never really know if that dog is getting the correct amount of vitamins and nutrients. Every species on the planet has specific nutrient requirements, and like humans, canine diets are never going to be spot on or completely balanced.
In the wild, canines would likely not eat the same meal two days in a row and not every one of those meals has each nutrient their body requires. The real importance behind a 'balanced' diet is variety. A rabbit is going to contain different vitamins than a squirrel and that is the sweet spot in a wild diet. Balancing happens overtime and as long as dogs are fed a variety of meats, bones and certain organs, you shouldn't have to worry about vitamin deficiencies down the road.
Why the raw, whole-prey diet is so ideal:
The food chain and different ecosystems in the world work in almost perfect sync (and for a good reason). Lets say for dinner in the wild that night, your dogs ancestors catch a rabbit. Just in that meal alone they received: multiple secreting organs and non-secreting for overall function; bone that provides calcium, phosphorus and natures toothbrush; fur which acts as a dewormer to counteract any potential intestinal parasites they could run across; extremely lean meat that will provide them energy and strength; and that is not even the most of it!
The closest we can get to mimicking their wild diet, the better health they will naturally remain in. Now obviously, it is unrealistic to feed a whole prey diet every day of the week so lets dumb it down.
Dogs ideally should be receiving muscle meat, liver, another secreting organ and bone in their rotations. These could look like:
Ground beef (muscle meat)
Beef Liver
Pork Kidney (secreting organ)
Chicken Feet (bone)
Now this is just a base and where variety feeding comes in to switch it up every week to every month or so. Beef liver is going to have different nutrients than lamb liver and that is the beauty in it all! Their meals should look different frequently.
You would then turn to "super foods" to get in the nutrients you may be missing from a certain meat that month. Super foods include fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, certain dairy products and more!
Not every meal is perfect and it never will be. As long as we remember what they would be getting in the wild and do our best to mimic that in a modern society, everything will be okay and your dog will continue living their best life!
If you're interested in learning to feed your dog a holistic approach on the raw diet, my E-Book is available for purchase above.
Faith Samford Rogers