| THE DIET |
| This
bit is really quite easy – you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to feed
a dog! The diet is based really
on what canines eat as a natural wild diet. What are (were!) Afghan Hounds
catching and eating in Afghanistan? A rabbit contains a ‘complete
meal’! Bones, marrow, skin, fur, flesh, offal and one very important ingredient that
modern dogs are seriously lacking – ground down, partially digested vegetation!
More of that later! |
| Depending
on where canines live around the world, largely dictates their food supply.
They don’t eat ‘complete and balanced’ meals every single day – no more
than we do! This concept is a dog/cat food-marketing ploy. How else can
pet food be manufactured without making it complete and balanced? Can’t
buy different ones for different days! Containing different vitamins and
minerals? Packs of dogs will share kills and scrap, taking what they want
and require over a period of time. |
| The basis of the diet is lots of RAW meaty bones (about 85% of the diet) – best are raw chicken wings, carcasses, boned-out lamb necks or ribs, pigs trotters, pigs heads, sheep heads and so on. Rabbits (wild from a game butcher) are a favourite! Anything other than beef bones are suitable – beef bones are too big and usually too old (but OK as occasional toys though). |
| I
recommend starting your dog on a wing or two, gradually increasing the
rations. RAW bones are a completely natural food for canines, containing
nature's own calcium supply, plus a multitude of nutrients in the marrow.
Salmonella and similar are not a problem to the dog – they have a gut able
to cope easily with such things. Some dogs are kept in African villages
as living toilet rolls for keeping the babies clean…! |
| COOKED
BONES CAN BE LETHAL – AND DO NOT DEFROST RAW BONES IN THE MICROWAVE! |
| Whilst
this diet provides dogs with much more ‘natural’ moisture than dried foods,
(preventing all the water-drinking modern day dogs seem to need to do),
it is still essential to provide fresh, clean drinking water at all times! |
| Wash
your hands after handling raw meat – just as you would when handling your
own food! |
| Some days I also give my dogs a selection of offal. The idea is to balance the diet out over a period of 10 to 14 days. I give about 6 days of raw, meaty bones, a couple of days of offal and then an occasional veggie day. They have a fast day every 7 days – puppies and veterans have half a fast day. Fasting is important as the dog’s digestive system is made to gorge and then rest. I usually feed once a day, but with this diet you can be more flexible. As with any food, the question of how much to give has no answer. Rule of thumb – if they are getting too fat reduce the amount, too skinny increase the amount! |
| Vegetables contain essential fatty acids, micro-nutrients and vitamins and minerals in a most natural and healthy way! Dogs cannot digest cellulose – fruit and vegetables are made up of individual cells, but unless broken down they pass through the dog in very much the same state as they went in. So, we have to do this for them – in the wild they digest the stomach contents of their herbivorous prey! This consists of ground down, partially digested vegetation just oozing lots of yummy nutrients! To make the vegetables available to your dog it is best to juice the RAW vegetables and RAW fruit and feed the PULP! The juice can be given too – but the pulp is what resembles the gut contents of their prey! Veggies can be very lightly steamed too – but juicing is best. A food processor does the job reasonably well, but you have to keep it going so long that the motor gets too hot! |
| On
what I call my non-bone days I give a mixture of the following: |
| I give my dogs the pulp from a juicer (with some juice if you like), of an assortment of veggies (different colours) but not onions. Dark, green leafy vegetables are essential, but as they are bitter don’t use too much! Don’t overdo the dark green varieties with dogs with thyroid problems – a little is alright though. Veggies must be fed immediately before the pulp starts to oxidise. You can make a large amount and freeze it in individual bags. Defrost in the fridge and use as soon as possible! The veggies can be done in a processor reasonably well if left to pulp long enough. Play around with your mixture until you find the ones your dogs love. Our Tervueren would eat anything without even sniffing it but most sight hounds are a bit more discerning. |
| Feed RAW offal (any kind, but lambs or ox hearts, kidneys and lambs liver are great, but do use a mixture), live plain yoghurt (I make my own in a Lakeland Plastics bulk yoghurt maker – 25p a litre!), raw egg yolk, some apple cider vinegar (teaspoonful), some oils (see below), seaweed, dried fruit, molasses, tahini, coconut or whatever. Mix it all up and feed immediately as raw veggies oxidise quickly losing their vital properties! Dogs love their veggies. You can make batches and freeze them immediately, then use as soon as they are defrosted. I often add a tin of pilchards or sardines to the mixture. |
| Another
useful additive is cold-pressed, under nitrogen, kept-in-the-dark
oils. The cold-pressed UDO oil is a great one to use as it has a correct
balance of Omega 3 and Omega 6 oils. It can be obtained from www.savant-health.co.uk.
You can also use cold-pressed olive oil – the only suitable supermarket
oil. |
| Don’t
think it is a lot of fuss and work – it isn’t! I’ve only had 6 dogs to
feed on the diet – but there are people feeding kennels full! The veggies
take me 10 minutes to make! |
| We obtain our raw meaty bones from local catering/wholesale butchers. We bag our bones into daily amounts, put them into used supermarket carrier bags and freeze. We have two small chest freezers to take the bulk purchase of bones. |
