When you first make that decision to change your dog to raw it can feel daunting. We are always here to help and guide you in the right direction. Dogs can be transitioned onto a raw food diet no matter if they are a young puppy or 15 years old! All dogs will benefit from making that switch!
There are two different ways you could switch your dog onto a raw food diet. The first is by doing a straight switch, this would be stopping your current food one day and starting on raw the next or you can add raw into your current dogs diet, each day adding more raw and taking away the wet/dry food. I always recommend doing the straight switch and have never had any dogs have a problem with this way.
Firstly, you need to make sure you are feeding a complete meal* this contains 80% meat, 10% bone and 10% offal (some contain veg). All the brands we stock have a variety of different completes already made up for you, meaning they are just simply to defrost and feed! The amount you need to give will depend on your dogs age, ideal weight and activity levels. We can help you determine the correct amount to give your dog.
Its very important that you start with a mild protein, this could be chicken, turkey or tripe mix, making sure it is a complete meal. You will be feeding the same complete meal for 5-7 days and then gradually introducing new proteins. This way you can ensure if your dog has any allergies or just simply cannot tolerate a protein you can easily pinpoint which one it is. There are so many proteins to choose from such as chicken, turkey, lamb, duck, rabbit, venison, goat, beef & fish mixes, so if your dog is more on the fussy side there are definitely plenty of choices for him!
An example of a transition would be:
Day 1 -5 chicken & tripe complete
Day 5 start to add duck & tripe complete
Day 7-10 just duck & tripe complete
Day 11 start to add duck & beef complete
Day 13-16 just duck & beef
You would carry on in this method until your dog has tried all the proteins. Once you have done this you can use a variety of different proteins and mix and match your brands to give your dogs the variety they love and need in their diets.
*Complete meal – this term is used for meals that contain 80% meat, 10% bone & 10% offal (veg can be in these too) but you need to make sure you use a variety of different proteins for the meat, bone & offal to give your dog balance over time.
