Best Raw Food Recipes For Dogs

Let’s face it – pre-made, commercial diets are easy. Not only do you not have to worry about the phosphorus-to-calcium ratio and the non-secreting or secreting organs, but you also do not need to spend hours thinking about the best vegetables and fruits to put add to the recipe.

However, a lot of dog owners are uncomfortable with commercial recipes. By self-preparing foods, these owners want to be absolutely sure that their pups are getting the ideal balance of organs, bones, meat, and produce. They believe that making dog food themselves is the perfect way to solve – and not add to – problems.

If you are a dog owner who wants to take full control of their canine’s diet, this blog, where we will be discussing some of the easiest and most nutritional raw food recipes, is just the one for you.

Best Raw Food Recipes For Dogs

1) Chicken and Beef Neck (Including Bones)

A lot of raw food diets for dogs often lack essential nutrients, particularly Vitamin D and phosphorus. This sumptuous combination of chicken and beef necks has been specially formulated to adhere to the minimum AAFCO requirements for puppies and adult dogs. It is free of any minerals, synthetic vitamins, and grains.

Ingredients:

• A couple of pounds of 90 percent lean beef (avoid using fattier meats)
• A pound of beef liver
• 3 pounds of chicken necks – make sure that the skins are removed. In addition, do not forget to weigh the necks
• A pound of chicken heart
• 10-11 pastured eggs (shells removed)
• 8 ounces of kale (this is equal to three large-sized stalks)
• 8 ounces of dandelion green (this is equal to 4 cups)
• 8 ounces of broccoli (this is equal to 2 stalks
• 12 ounces of either blueberries or mixed berries (mixed berries would include cranberries, blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries)
• 30 grams of hemp hearts or hulled hempseed (this is equal to 3 tablespoons)
• 6 grams of mussel powder (green-lipped)
• Half teaspoon of Himalayan Salt

Instructions:

If you own a grinder, you can simply grind the turkey liver, neck, and hearts. Even if you do not own a grinder, do not fret – most puppies do not have a problem in consuming the necks. If are not grinding the necks, you can put them aside, while chopping the heart and liver into tiny cubes.

The next step is to puree the salt, mussels, hempseeds, berries, dandelion greens, broccoli, kale, and eggs together using a food processor.

Make sure to mix the veggie/berry, heart, beef, and liver together – you can also add any ground necks.

Use smaller containers for storing this mixture, and put it inside a freezer, alongside all the chicken necks (if you have not grinded them).

It is vital that your dog gets the meat and neck mixture together. Hence, if you decide to not include the necks in the meat mixture, you should feed the meat mixture for one meal, and the necks for the second.

2) Raw Boneless Egg and Beef Dog Food

Ingredients:

• 5 pounds of 90 percent ground beef (avoid using any fattier meats)
• A pound of beef liver
• A couple of pounds of beef heart
• 8 ounces of kale (this is equal to 3 large-sized stalks)
• 8-10 pastured eggs (make sure to remove the shells)
• 8 ounces of broccoli (this is equal to 2 stalks)
• 8 ounces of dandelion greens (this is equal to 5 chopped cups)
• 12 ounces of either blueberries or mixed berries (mixed berries would include cranberries, blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries)
• 5 tablespoons of bone meal (if you have an adult dog, you can even use seaweed calcium instead)
• 2 tablespoons of Himalayan salt
• 2 tablespoons of wheat-germ oil
• A quarter tablespoon of kelp

Directions:

Those who own grinders can grind the liver and heart. In case you do not own a grinder, you can chop the heart and liver into tiny cubes.

Next, puree the kelp, salt, wheat-germ oil, bone meal, berries, dandelion greens, broccoli, kale, and eggs, using a food processor.

The veggie/berry, heart, liver, and beef need to be mixed together.

Once the mixture is complete, divide it into several smaller containers, and put those containers inside the freezer.

3) Raw Boneless Egg and Turkey Dog Food

Ingredients:

• 5 pounds of ninety-three percent ground lean turkey
• A couple of pounds of chicken heart
• A pound of beef liver
• 6-8 pastured eggs (make sure to remove the shells)
• 8 ounces of kale (this is equal to 3 large-sized stalks)
• 8 ounces of broccoli (this is equal to 2 stalks)
• 8 ounces of dandelion greens (this is equal to 5 chopped cups)
• 12 ounces of blueberries/mixed berries (mixed berries would contain cranberries, blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries)
• 6 tablespoons of bone meal (if you have an adult dog, you can even use seaweed calcium instead)
• 3 tablespoons of pumpkinseed powder
• A quarter tablespoon of kelp
• A couple of teaspoons of Himalayan salt

Instructions:

Those who own grinders can simply grind the beef liver and chicken heart. In case you do not have a grinder, you can chop the heart and liver into tiny cubes.

The next step is to puree the kelp, salt, pumpkinseed powder, bone meal, berries, dandelion greens, broccoli, kale, and eggs, using a food processor.

The veggie/berry, heart, liver, and ground turkey need to be mixed together.

Once the mixture is complete, place it into small containers, and put the containers inside a freezer.

4) Carrots and Chicken

Ingredients:

• 40 to 60 percent chicken breasts or thighs
• 15 to 40 percent chicken liver and hearts
• 10 to 20 percent chicken bone (ground)
• Approximately 5 percent chicken eggs (lightly boiled)
• 5 to 25 percent carrots (organic)
• 5 to 25 percent green beans (organic)

Instructions:

This health-packed dish is as easy to prepare as 1, 2, and 3.

All you need to do is mix all the above ingredients together, and serve them (if you want to freeze them for a bit, that can also be done).

In order to avoid the possibility of Salmonella (a kind of food poisoning), make sure that the eggs are lightly boiled.

5) Greens and Chicken

Ingredients:

• 40 to 50 percent of breasts or thighs
• 15 to 35 percent of chicken liver and heart
• 10 to 20 percent of chicken bone (ground)
• Approximately 5 percent eggs (lightly boiled)
• 7 to 12 percent of broccoli (organic)
• 7 to 12 percent of organic celery (even though raw celery contains a high proportion of water, it contains an excellent amount of fiber)
• 7 to 12 percent carrots (organic)
• 7 to 12 percent spinach (excellent nutrient, containing various minerals and vitamins)
• 5 percent of Alfalfa meal.

Instructions:

Mix all the ingredients together, and the recipe is good for serving. Once again, make sure that the eggs are lightly boiled, as this will help prevent your dog from getting Salmonella.

Tips for Raw Food Diets For Dogs

1) Do not avoid calcium

A major drawback of several pre-made raw diets is the dearth of calcium.

A lot of dog owners are hesitant to add bones to their pets’ diets, but bones provide the much-needed calcium content, along with a lot of other essential minerals.

In fact, the ideal raw diet for your dog should include approximately 15 percent bone. In other words, approximately 1/5^th of the total meal must consist of nice and meaty bones.

As for the type of bones, some popular options are beef-tail bones, lamb necks, turkey necks, thighs or legs, and chicken necks or wings.

2) Make sure to include organs

Humans have significantly cut down on their organ meat consumption. As a result, we have also stopped including them in our pet dogs’ diets.

However, brain, hearts, kidneys, livers, and other similar organs are the parts that contain the most amounts of nutrients.

So, if you are skipping organs, you are either throwing plenty of artificial additives and supplements (which completely defeats the original purpose of a RAW diet), or you are keeping your dog from consuming a lot of essential nutrients, thereby leaving him malnourished.

The ideal raw diet for dogs should include around 15 to 40 percent bone.

Usually, the easiest organ to find is liver. However, if liver is the only organ you will use for your dog’s food, keep the content restricted to 10 percent. Excessive amounts of liver might put your dog at risk of Vitamin A toxicity.

However, if you are using other organs alongside liver, you can go beyond 10%.

3) Fat is essential (as long as you are including it in the right amounts)

Fat is another thing that dog owners struggle to get right – while some skip it entirely, others end up adding too much of it.

Keep in mind that dietary fats are responsible for your dog gaining weight; you do not want him to consume an excess amount of calories.

While fat is quite crucial to your dog’s diet, too much of it can end up causing harm instead of good. As a rule of thumb, fat should not comprise more than 10 percent of the overall diet.

4) No muscle meat; no raw diet

Muscle meat is the very heart of any raw food for dogs, and must comprise 40 to 50 percent of the diet (the exact percentage would depend upon the percentage of organ that you use).

Muscle meat provides arrange of essential nutrients, protein, along with various enzymes and vitamins.

Needless to say, then, muscle meat is not something to be skipped from your dog’s raw diet. Make sure that your recipes include at least one of these meats:

• Beef (stewing, cheek, ground)
• Bison (stewing or ground)
• Beef heart (however, owing to its tremendous richness, it should not be more than 5-7 percent of the overall diet)
• Pork (butt, shoulder, loin, boneless rib, cushion)
• Chicken (boneless thighs or breasts)
• Turkey (tenderloin, breast, boneless thighs, ground)

5) (Small amounts of) veggies and fruits are good

Although it might surprise you, dogs are omnivorous instead of carnivores.

In fact, even wild dogs do not only consume meat, but will often eat foods like berries. This trait is due to the fact that dogs closely share their DNAs with bears.

In addition, fruits and vegetables supply plenty of minerals, vitamins, chlorophyll, pre-biotics, fiber, carotenoids, and flavonoids.

Having said that, you should not base your dog’s diet on fruits or veggies. In other words, while vegetables and fruits are certainly recommended, it is important to not go over the top.

6) Variety is good (but not vital)

Much like pretty much everything in life, a bit of change, variety, and balance over the long term can prove to be good.

Typically, canines do not need the degree of dietary variety that humans require; if your dog enjoys a certain food, he can keep eating it for many months without any complaints.

Hence, if you have come up with a comprehensive and nutritious diet that your dog loves, you need not make many changes to it.

However, if you do feel that a bit of change will do your dog good, you should work with a canine nutritionist or a veterinarian to come up alternatives that will not compromise your dog’s nutritional consumption.

Final Word

All in all, making raw recipes for your dog allows you to make adjustments according to any special requirements or sensitivities, as well as help you ensure the quality of the ingredients that you use. If you are considering preparing raw food recipes for your dog, we hope that this blog will help put you on the right track. To learn more about canine feeding, please feel free to check out some of the other blogs on our website.