Making small changes to your dog’s diet can make a big difference. It’s also important to remember that wild dogs eat nearly all of their prey. Both cats and dogs have evolved over thousands of year to consume raw meat. Their bodies are adapted to process raw, living foods with lots of a variety. What can you do to replicate that?
1. Add bones!
Simply adding bones into your dog’s diet can improve their health! Dogs would have hunted birds, rodents, rabbits, goats and even small deer. Very rarely would a dog take down a bison or large mammals. They are opportunistic scavengers too.
The grinding and chewing on bones acts like a toothbrush, removing plaque and stimulates the gums and digestion through chewing. Some studies suggest feeding bones makes the stomach muscle layers stronger.
The best bones are raw chicken bones (can be the whole carcass), turkey pieces, lamb bones, or beef bones are soft enough to chew, eat, and digest. Avoid feeding cooked fish and poultry bones. Tinned salmon bones are fine (and full of calcium!).
2. Feed raw muscle meat (including the heart), organs and eggs
Minimise processed food and remember that all commercial dog food is a cooked product. It is cooked to kill the natural bugs and the odour; cooked to preserve it; cook to enable the dried or tinned dog feeds to last on the shelf.
The act of cooking meats and organs kills enzymes and bacteria. These enzymes and bacterias help with digestion, assimilation and the microbiome.
A dogs metabolism was not designed for cooked food and if we condemn them to life on commercial dog feed, we are asking for trouble and inviting an early 'old age’. Wild dogs were opportunistic scavengers
Eggs are natures powerhouse and are one of the healthiest and easiest additions to make. They are full of good fats, excellent nutrition and can be fed raw. Most dogs love them!
3. Avoid gluten and grains, especially wheat
Try to avoid feeding grains to dogs. This includes wheat, corn, barley, rye and barley.
Most shelf-stable pet food contain gluten meal made from grain. It’s added to increase shelf-life and it can put a strain on the dog’s kidneys and liver.
Try to also avoid grain-based treats for your dogs. These often look like shaped ‘biscuits’ and are quite hard and crunchy and can even be sold as something that is good for your dog’s teeth!
4. Add in some good oils
Adding some high quality oils to your dog’s diet. It’s better that it’s from a wide variety of foods. High quality oils can help improve inflammatory conditions like allergies, arthritis, . They can also improve your dog’s skin and coat.This could be in the form of;
- Olive oil
- Hemp oil
- Cold water fish/oils
- Raw, pastured eggs
- Pasture-fed butter
- Raw fat from meat or poultry
You can also add small amounts of (fresh or tinned) sardines.
5. Add digestive enzymes and probiotics
There’s several foods that will help improve digestion in dogs. In the wild, as a hunter or scavenger, a dog would go first for the stomach contents of its prey. We are talking about partly digested grains and grasses, in the gastrointestinal tract of the prey. You may even see your dog eating cow, horse or sheep manure on a walk. Hint - they are looking for a good bacteria and probiotic source.
Whole-milk yogurt, kefir, cottage cheese, goats milk or a packaged digestive enzyme can help dogs with digestive upsets, diarrhoea or IBD but make sure you add them little by little.
McDowells Recommendations
Roar
ROAR Original supplement paste for dogs has been designed to mix with raw meat to provided additional nutrients, minerals and omegas essential for a healthy animal. For a varied and complete diet, we recommend supplementing your dogs’ diet with other natural ingredients, such as raw bones, vegetables and fruits.
Dogestive
This combination of 100% plant powders can be used on a daily basis to maintain general health and support beneficial micro flora in the gut to aid digestion.
Hemp Oil
Hemp seed oil comes from the small seeds of the Cannabis sativa plant. Hemp seed oil is considered by many as the most balanced oil in all of nature. Hemp seeds oil has a rich profile of nutrients, fatty acids and bioactive and available compounds. The are 100% natural, vegan, full of plant-based protein, packed with healthy fats and perfectly balanced with the correct ratio of the essential fatty acids Omega 6 to Omega 3.
Probiotic and Marine Collagen
Packed with anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties and amino acids, plus 10 billion good bacteria in every serve, Zyota’s probiotic powder + collagen provides a steady supply of collagen, ensuring the support necessary to run, jump and play for years to come!
