Canine Species Appropriate Diet
We feed our dogs on a species-appropriate diet of raw meaty bones, raw meat, raw vegetable, and supplements. This diet is a combination of the diets presented in Ian Billinghurst's books, Give Your Dog a Bone and Grow Your Puppies with Bones; and in Kymythy Schultze's book, The Ultimate Diet : Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats. Other good books that you may find useful are: Tom Lonsdale’s books, Raw Meaty Bones and Work Wonders: Feed Your Dog Raw Meaty Bones. An excellent book if you are just switching to the diet is: Carina Beth MacDonald, Raw Dog Food. Most of these books are available from several sellers on the Internet, including www.amazon.com and www.dogwise.com. You can often get good buys on these books used at www.half.com or search www.bestbookbuys.com for the book you are interested in.
According to Marion Patricia Connolly, Executive Director/Curator, Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, "Providing species-appropriate nutrition for our companion animals through raw carnivore foods helps them flourish as nature intended, even in modern households. [The books mentioned above] provide a helpful how-to guide for pet owners and a valuable compendium of important nutritional information. . . on the benefits of raw versus cooked food for animals. As Dr. Pottenger demonstrated in the 1930's, the response from pets manifested in health, vitality, personality, intelligence and companionship, is a rich reward for the small amount of time and effort needed to provide them a natural diet that meets their complete nutritional needs. [A raw carnivore diet] offers pet owners and their treasured companion animals the opportunity to realize these benefits."
Typical Daily Diet
12 pounds of raw ground meat – (beef,
turkey, pork, emu, venison, etc. depending on what is available and
since we are always looking for variety, different meat from what we
used the last time we made mush)
To this, add:
• 1 to 2 pounds: veggies, pulverized (we use a VitaMix or put
everything through the meat grinder): veggies typically include
collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, etc. Avocados if
overripe. Fruit that I have on hand.
• 8 - 12 eggs, raw, shell and all, pulverized in the VitaMix with the
greens or put through the meat grinder
• 1 heaping tablespoon crushed garlic
• Raw apple cider vinegar, enough to make it possible to pulverize
the veggies in the VitaMix or food processor or enough to be able to mix
everything up easily
• Any leftovers like cooked rice, potatoes, winter squashes, cooked
meat that happen to be in the fridge, also all ground up
• 1 pound or more of ground liver (beef, pork, emu, venison, turkey,
chicken)
• 1 pound or more of ground pork or beef kidney or turkey or chicken
giblets
This recipe makes
enough to feed three adult Airedales for four to six
weeks. We typically feed about a ¼ cup at one meal a day five times a
week. Freeze in containers; once defrosted, it will keep up to five
days in the fridge. Never defrost in the
microwave.
If your dog has runny stools, add a probiotic to this meal until the bowels have the hard consistency of a barf-fed dog. Bowels should not be runny on this diet. If the stools continue to be runny, you may be feeding too much muscle meat in proportion to bone. Ease back on the quantity of mush.
If your dog has unexplained runny stools, she may have a gastrointestinal bug. You may want to fast your dog for a day, feeding only chicken broth. Then add in some cooked rice the next day. The next day, you can add some cooked chicken meat (no bones), and feed the rice, cooked chicken, broth combo until the dog is feeling better. Then, start weaning your dog back to raw: ¾ cooked combo with ½ raw for a couple of days, then half and half, then ¼ cup cooked to ¾ raw, and finally all raw.
Supplements
When we feed the dogs, we add vitamins, probiotics, a zinc supplement, additional vitamin c and any other supplements that our dogs need. For example, our 12 year old gets a half teaspoon of Acti-Flex 4000, a joint supplement. All the dogs get fish oil, about a tablespoon each, added at the time we feed them.
Acti-Flex 4000
Our elder dog gets Acti-Flex 4000 daily to protect
her joints. She has taken this supplement for three years, starting when
she was 9 ½. She is now 12 ½, and she moves freely and effortlessly. We
recommend the regular formula. The only difference between the K-9
formula and the regular formula is the addition of beef flavoring. When
added to the dog’s meal, the coconut-like flavor of the regular does not
inhibit dogs from taking it. Dosage for dogs -- Adjust for weight of
dog: Example for a 45 to 50 pound dog like Hannah: 1 tsp daily for five
or so days as a loading dose; ½ tsp. daily thereafter.