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As pet parents, we are always looking for the best things for our furry friends. Whether it’s the best toys, best treats, best food, etc. For their health, vet visits, grooming, and playtime may come to mind first. But their food is one of the ways you can help your puppy achieve a long healthy life. Similar to how we, as humans, try to eat healthily, we must consider what we feed them. Or better yet, we must consider the ingredients inside their food.
Raw Dog Food is the Healthiest Option
Over the years, dog owners have tried to find other food types that can provide them with the most nutrients possible. On top of the chain for the healthiest food options for your dogs is natural raw dog food. Many brands are available in the United States, including some manufactured domestically. Here, you’ll find three raw dog food brands that are great for providing your dog with a raw food diet that focuses on your puppy with essential nutrients for a healthy and happy life.
Is It Safe to Feed Your Dogs Raw Dog Food?
First, how can dogs break down raw food? Unlike humans, dogs’ digestive tracts are short, helping them to digest raw meat, bones, and organs much more efficiently. But why is that? Well, dogs are naturally omnivores meaning they eat and obtain nutrients from meat and plants. Since they eat meat, their stomach acid is much more acidic than a human stomach. The high acidity of the stomach acid helps break down bones, meat, and tougher parts of tissue (Malone & Kurandina, 2023).
Potential Issues with Dry Food
For this reason, dogs are 100% capable of eating a complete raw dog food diet ensuring they get all the essential nutrients they need. On the other hand, dry food is known to be heavily processed often made with artificial additives and excessive fillers. For example, some fillers such as corn, wheat, and soy products can be difficult for some dogs to digest leading to bloating and gas in some dogs. Artificial additives such as artificial coloring and flavors can cause stomach irritation and long-term health issues. Staying away from these artificial additives and fillers can help your dog’s immune system.
But How Does Natural Raw Dog Food Help Dogs?
Improved Digestion to Absorb Nutrients
When dogs are fed a raw diet, they’re able to absorb the nutrients leading to better overall health. Since their stomach acid is naturally made to dissolve flesh and bones, their digestive system easily breaks down a raw diet efficiently. This type of improved digestion helps dogs by reducing the chance for a stomach ache.
Improved Overall Health
A natural raw food diet is rich in essential fatty acids that help to achieve healthier skin and a glossy coat. Many commercial foods such as dry food lack the necessary balance of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids leading to dry skin and excessive shedding. An organic raw dog food diet such as fish can provide your dogs a vibrant and shiny coat with all of the necessary nutrients.
Stronger Immune System
The nutrients found in raw food are essential to a dog’s immune system to help them fight against infections and diseases. Raw diets are rich in antioxidants, vitamins, and enzymes. These important supplements are lost in most commercial dry food during the high temperature cooking process. As a result, it’s one of the reasons why most dried foods aren’t the best. Plus, these nutrients are essentials to reduce the risk of chronic illnesses and to boost the ability to fight off infections.
Improve Your Dog’s Dental Health
Contrary to popular belief, dry kibble doesn’t clean your dog’s teeth. One of the biggest advantages to switching your dog to a natural raw dog food diet is their dental hygiene would improve. Even though dry kibble is crunchy, the starch contributes to plaque buildup and gum disease over time. Some people might even recommend feeding your dogs raw meaty bones, it’s a huge risk to do so. While it’s true, raw meaty bones can serve as a natural way to clean a dog’s teeth, it also does come with some severe risks that should simply be avoided.
Potential Risks from Raw Meaty Bones
Are raw meaty bones an option for your dog? There are some risks to raw bones so please consider this before jumping straight into it.
Potential Risks
- Choking Hazard
- Tooth Fractures
- Bacterial Contamination
- Digestive Blockages
Above all, even when the bones are cooked, they’re extremely dangerous. When cooked, these bones become soft and brittle making it easier to break off into splinters while dogs are chewing. As a result, dogs can suffer from digestive blockages or internal fatal injuries. In our case, bones are a no-go since our dog is not a careful eater. I highly recommend reconsidering using bones for their food as problems may arise.
Dog’s Energy and Muscle Mass
Since raw food is naturally appropriate for dogs, it provides them with high-quality protein that supports muscle development and high energy levels. If your dog is very active, a raw diet is considered its option. Processed dry food often contains heavy carbs as fillers that lead to quick weight gain and laziness. On the other hand, a raw diet fuels their energy levels with healthy fats and protein.
Allergies and Weight Management in Dogs
Similar to humans, dogs also suffer from allergies and obesity. Many dogs suffer from food allergies or are sensitive to certain food ingredients. Oftentimes, these allergies or sensitivities come from artificial additives, grains, and low quality protein. According to The 2022 Pet Obesity Prevalence Survey, there was an increase in obesity rates for dogs in the United States stating that at least 59% of dogs were considered obese (Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, 2022).
Switching to a raw food dog diet can help manage allergies and obesity. Raw food eliminates the problematic ingredients found in dry food allowing them to thrive with natural foods. Additionally, it would help control a healthy weight by providing raw dog food.
Things to Consider When Feeding Raw Food
While a raw diet offers multiple benefits, it’s important to feed them correctly to ensure all the nutrients are absorbed.
- Balanced Nutrition: A raw diet should include a complete balance of muscle meat, organs, and appropriate supplements.
- Safe Handling: Raw meat can carry bacteria. Handling with care is important to prevent contamination.
- Transitioning Food Slowly: Switching from any food to raw food should be done gradually to prevent an upset stomach.
- Consult a veterinarian: If you’re new to feeding raw food, seeking help from a pet nutritionist in the U.S. can help ensure a smooth transition to raw food.
Where to Buy High-Quality Natural Raw Dog Food
Raw Paws Pet Food
Raw Paws Pet Food offers high quality, human grade raw diet options. Their products contains responsibly sourced meat, free from artificial additives and fillers. They provide a complete meal for dogs who need raw food. Plus, Raw Paws Pet Food is widely available on Amazon!
Viva Raw Pets
Viva Raw Pets specializes in humanely raised, human grade, USDA inspected meat. Available for cats and dogs! Their products are a balanced nutritional meal with proper meat, bone, and organs. Receive 20% off by purchasing directly from Viva Raw Pets.
RAW K9
Raw K9 focuses on raw food diets ensuring that each meal is nutrient dense and free from fillers. Their meals are formulated with quality meats, bones, and organ blends to provide dogs with a balanced diet for dogs of all sizes.
Alternatives to Natural Raw Dog Food
Unlike most dry food, air dried food is the second best alternative to raw food. But what makes it a great choice? Learn more about air dried food and 8 brands that are sold in the US.
Sources
Association for Pet Obesity Prevention. (2022). 2022 Pet Obesity U.S. Prevalence Survey. Retrieved January 30, 2025, from https://www.petobesityprevention.org/2022
Malone, E., & Kurandina, R. (2023). Lesson plans for GI physiology topics. University of Minnesota.
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