Switching a dog to a raw food diet couldn’t be easier. Also, unless your dog has health issues, there’s no reason not to make a straight switch. Having said this a day of fasting can be beneficial as it will help your dog to rid its body of some of the toxins that may have built up. Below is a basic list of ingredients together with some general tips.
If you have a dog with mild health issues – skin problems, for instance, or flatulence – again, the switch should be easy and you can follow the basic instructions below.
If you have a dog with any sort of serious health issues, however, you need to either a) carry out a bit of research or b) talk to a suitable vet or nutritionist about your dog’s diet. Serious health issues may mean that your dog should be eating special foods and/or avoiding certain foods. Honey’s own Chief Veterinary Surgeon is available to supply advice.
Food has two core functions. It provides energy and it helps the body to remain healthy.
With regard to energy the amount required will depend on a variety of circumstances including how old the dog is (growing dogs need more, elderly dogs less), the amount of exercise being taken, whether the dog is pregnant or feeding and the temperature (weirdly, dogs in really hot climates can need more energy as panting uses up more calories than you might imagine).
Interestingly, dogs do not need a lot of carbohydrates or simple sugars for energy (although a small amount can provide useful fibre) as they can’t digest it. Their core dietary requirements are fat (it provides energy and protection and it enables the body to absorb fat-soluble vitamins), essential fatty acids (Omega 6 and Omega 3); protein (with essential amino acids) and a wide range of minerals and vitamins.
What a dog needs for energy is obtainable in its natural diet. All processed dog food companies are trying to do is replace what dogs ought to be eating with inexpensive, inadequate, adulterated and inappropriate ingredients.
This is what your dog needs to stay healthy.
From animals and fish your dog needs raw meaty bones, lean muscle meat and internal organs from chicken, lamb, beef, rabbit and pork; eggs; cheese, cottage cheese, pro-biotic yoghurt and goats milk; and fatty fish such as herring, salmon, pilchards and sardines.
From plants your dog needs green leafy vegetables (spinach, cauliflower, broccoli etc.), root vetegables (carrots, turnips, parsnips etc.), fresh and dried fruits (but not grapes or avocados), brewers yeast, kelp and molasses.
Plus your dog could do with a little bit of cod liver, safflower, hemp or sunflower oil.
Note that too much emphasis on any single meat, especially lamb or rabbit, is not advisable. And there are issues with some vegetables, such as potatoes. But, basically, if you want to feed your dog raw food then the above list pretty much covers it.
The basic recipe
70% minced meat, 30% grated vegetables all mixed together plus raw bones.
Notes: Speak to your butcher about buying minced or diced meat. Explain that it must be fit for human consumption and not too fatty.
However, this still offers quite a lot of scope. Some butchers will offer you scraps of meat for dogs and this can be OK depending on the butcher. The real thing is to see how fatty it looks!
Chicken is the easiest from a fat perspective (never too fatty if you remove the skin). Beef next easiest (again as long as not too fatty to look at should be OK...ask for ‘80% VL’ which means visually lean). Lamb is quite a fatty meat so mix it with chicken. Pork is fine, too.
You can also ask your butcher to mix in offal. Ox heart is great. Bleached tripe, too. So is liver, but with liver it should never be more than 5% of the total food given every day. Always insist that the meat MUST be fresh and suitable for human consumption. Reject it if it smells or if it has been previously frozen.
In terms of grated vegetables: carrots, parsnips, cabbage, spinach – anything really – but not raw potatoes. If you prefer you can use a food processer to chop or even liquidate the vegetables. They should be fresh and not rotten as rotten vegetables lose a lot of their nutritional value.
The bone element is crucial. In the wild dogs get about a third of their nutrition from bones. You can provide this element by feeding chicken wings, chicken carcasses, meaty bones &c.
Make up several days supply
You may like to make up several days supply at a time and form it into very rough patties (like large hamburgers) and put it in the freezer and take it out the night before you need it so that it can thaw.
How much to serve
There is no hard and fast rule but for a dog over 10kg roughly 2% of their body weight in food (including edible bones) every day should be fine. So a 20kg dog should be eating roughly 400g. You can serve it in as many meals as you want and at whatever time. For dogs under 11kg:
1kg – 2kg – 10% of bodyweight
3kg – 4kg – 7% of bodyweight
5kg – 8kg – 5% of bodyweight
9kg-10kg – 3% of bodyweight
11kg + – 2% of bodyweight
A few little extras
Here are other things you can add from time to time.
Raw egg
Table spoon of cottage cheese
Mushed up fruit (should be ripe but not over ripe...bananas/apples/pears brilliant...only fruit to avoid are grapes and avocados which are bad news for dogs)
Small quantity of suitable oil (see above list)
Small quantity of molasses.
Small quantity of kelp.
Small quantity of brewers yeast.
Chicken wings
Try your dog with chicken wings, which are the perfect package of bone and meat! Remember they must be raw. Cooked bones can splinter. They make a great treat or you can use a quantity to produce a whole meal.
Chicken carcasses
If you can face it (and find them locally) then chicken carcasses are great. Lots of rescue homes feed almost nothing else. Your butcher may be able to help.
Raw meaty bones
Ask your butcher for calf bones. These are best because they are soft. Otherwise bones from any young animal under a year old, including lambs and pigs. If the bones have a lot of meat on them then you can cut back on the mince above. Otherwise give your dog a fresh bone every day or two.
We make your dog’s food to order. This means we can adjust the ingredients and quantities to suit his or her needs.
We make your dog’s food to order. This means we can adjust the ingredients and quantities to suit his or her needs.
Out now! A new, fascinating, comprehensive, easy to read (and sometimes amusing) guide to raw feeding...
We can supply ethically sourced raw ingredients including carcasses, tripe, heart and even sheeps’ heads. Please contact us for details.
Your cat will thrive on Honey’s, too. Our vet recommends you choose our vegetable-free recipes...
Pregnant mums, new mums and puppies (once they are old enough) all love Honey’s. Please contact us to discuss your needs.
Worried about your dog’s health? Our vets and nutritionists are happy to help... 
Don’t say it with flowers, say it with Honey’s Real Dog Food. Our gift hampers are also the perfect way to sample the complete range...