In this article, I’ll share with you my preferred homemade and natural raw dog food recipes. You’ll find 4 different raw dog food recipes that are tailored to specific dog conditions.
In short, I’ll share:
Why Raw Dog Food?
A life spent eating dry dog food is no life at all. If anyone is under any illusion that dry food is anything but money making junk food then you need to sit back and have a think and possibly look at the ingredients. Dogs absolutely need fresh species appropriate food, the same way we do and every other animal on the planet, and in your dog’s case, this means lots of fresh meat.
Note 1: If you’re new to the whole raw dog food idea, please check out our extensive article Everything About Raw Dog Food in 10 mins. Once you understand the basics and you’ve picked a suitable recipe to start your dog off on below, take yourself over to our article on how to make your own raw dog food for the actual process of mixing, storing, introducing etc.
Note 2: As per the articles above, we formulate raw dog food recipes to the very rough 7:1:1:1 ratio. Tweak where you like, there are many opinions, some use a bit of veg and fruit, some don’t (here’s why we do) but everyone is agreed on the “lots of meat, not too much excreting organ or bone”.
Note 3: Make sure the bone content is not too high (you’ll know as the stools will go from brown to white, they might straining and become constipated). We recommend around 10-15% but every dog is different and our dog menu ideas can be tweaked to suit your pup.
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- Chicken bones are softer and less dense as these birds are killed at a young age.
- Turkey bones can be more dense as they are older birds when killed.
- Lamb and beef are larger animals so again the density of bone is greater so we use less in our mixes.
- Weight-bearing bones are for recreational use and dental health so bones like ribs and necks are ideal to add into your homemade dog food recipes as they are not weight bearing.
Example of a Raw Dog Food Plan for an Average, Adult, 10kg Dog for a Week
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- Energy Content: Medium
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- Makes: Approximately 3.5 kilograms
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- Prep time: 20-40 mins
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- Cost: £18 approx
The average 10kg adult dog requires 250g of fresh / raw dog food per day. Thus, 2wks / 14 days is 3.5kg of food.
I would store this amount in 5 clip-close lunchboxes, each containing around 3 days worth (750g) of food (so I’m not constantly thawing stuff from the freezer).
Below I use stuff from supermarkets which is the easier but sometimes pricier way to do things. You might find cheaper meat options at your local pet store (eg beef hearts instead of best beef mince!). And as ever, as much as you can, go as organic as possible.
Ingredients
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- 2kg fresh chicken thighs (I love this cut of meat – lots of meat, some cartilage and around 20% bone. Perfect for a 10-20kg sized dog. They can be a little fatty – I keep the skin on for lean dogs, you might remove half the skins for the average dog and I’d remove the skin for the overweight fellas).
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- 800g fresh meat (be it lean beef mince, maybe some beef or lamb tripe from my pet shop, maybe a tray of meat chunks from the best before not bad after section!)
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- 400g of organ meat (liver, heart, kidney with the former easiest to source in butchers. Hearts you’ll find in your local pet shop. Kidney can be pricey. For the very best mix of organs and supplements out there check out my awesome Power Paste. Available in all good pet stores, it contains all the tricky ingredients – from organ meats to supplements etc.
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- 200g of lightly steamed blitzed veg (I like green stuff like kale or spinach and broccoli, in season veg is great, maybe some carrot)
- 2 eggs (fresh/raw is fine)
- 2 tins of sardines (anything but the ones in brine…great source of omega 3 and flavour!!)
- 10g of Canident (if not using Power Paste, seaweed is an excellent nutritional booster and will clean their teeth in the process)
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- OPTIONAL EXTRAS: handful of blue or black berries, maybe a few frozen mussels (magnesium)
Instructions
Mix all ingredients together, stirring until all are blended well. Portion into 500 grams or kilos to suit your needs. Ideally tupperware boxes are the most convenient way to store this food. Freeze and remove from the freezer approximately 5-6 hours before needed. This food will stay fresh for approx 3-4 days when defrosted and kept in the fridge.
Active/Puppy Raw Dog Food Recipe
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- Energy Content: Med/High
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- Makes:Approximately 10 kilograms
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- Prep time:20-40 minutes
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- Cost:£36 – £43 approx if sourcing your meats for £3.60/£4.30 per kg, which is roughly the price of the minces below.
Ingredients
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- 4kg fresh organic chicken or turkey pieces or mince with bone in it.
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- 2kg of free-range duck carcass mince (with 10% bone)
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- 2kg of fatty beef , lamb or pork mince
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- 1kg of organ mix (heart, liver, kidney) mix
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- 1kg bag of fresh or frozen veg (green beans, broccoli, kale etc)
- 10g of Canident (1 heaped teaspoon, cost-effective nutritional booster AND will clean their teeth in the process)
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- 6 organic eggs
Instructions
Mix all ingredients together, stirring until all are blended well. Portion into 500 grams or kilos to suit your needs. Ideally tupperware boxes are the most convenient way to store this food. Freeze and remove from the freezer approximately 5-6 hours before needed. This food will stay fresh for approx 3-4 days when defrosted and kept in the fridge.
Working Dog Food Recipe: Higher Calories
Reduce the chicken out of the above “Active Recipe” and use a bit more duck mince (fatty) and increase the beef/pork/lamb option, increasing the calorie content of the meal further.
If you have multiple dogs and need to send a few pennies, another option is to add in a kilo of cooked organic porridge.
Overweight Dog Food Recipe: Lower Calories
I’m not an advocate for feeding overweight dogs less food per se. I prefer to give them the same size meal but lower in calories. More on fat dogs here.
First, check our dog food calculator and make sure you’re not over-feeding him. Next, use the “Standard Mix” but remove the red meat. Only use white meats such as chicken, turkey or fish mince in the mix as they’re much lower in calories.
Also, watch the treats for at least a month (make your own based on lean meats such as chicken/ turkey breast). Also consider buying a dehydrator and dehydrate lung which is low in fat but still healthy.
Foods to Add and Not to Add
Excellent Additions for a healthy diet for dogs
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- Use as big a variety of organ meats as you can find (fish heads provide a smart way of getting brains and eyes in there, and they’re free, feed from frozen) liver, kidney, spleen, pizzles etc are all great additions in a healthy diet for dogs.
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- Raw eggs: whole, raw, no need for shell
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- Cloves of crushed raw garlic: Add now and again for parasite control. 1/3 clove per 25kg of dog. And yes, small doses of garlic for dogs is perfectly fine.
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- Oils: Cod liver oil tablets, 1000mg tablet per 30kg of body weight is average dose, Coconut oil (MCT is best), Flaxseed oil, Pumpkin seed oil or wild salmon oil. No vegetable oil, rapeseed or any seed oils.
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- Sardines: Ideally fresh (but freeze first). If tinned only use those in brine or olive oil, not vegetable oil, and pour off the excess brine.
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- Probiotic yoghurt: Add a scoop now and again, especially after antibiotics.
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- Fish: Recommended to freeze fresh fish for two days as fish can have worms. Fish heads are great – and free.
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- Bone broth– very cool lately and great for gut health and unwell pups, a process where people stew the marrow and all the goodness out of bones in a slow cooker and add herbs, garlic, ACV etc, whatever works for you but I prefer to simply give them the bone itself. Freezes well in ice cubes.
Foods that should never be fed to a dog
These foods are completely inappropriate and most are poisonous for your pup, so please always avoid folks. Always worth having a list made that can be stuck on your fridge for all to see.
We’ve described the topic in detail in What Not to Feed Dogs. Here’s a quick summary:
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- Wheat: bread, pasta, cereal based food or treats, dental sticks
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- White rice
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- Milk from cows
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- Onions
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- Raisins
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- Sultanas
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- Grapes
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- Chocolate
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- Peach, apricot, plum pits
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- Macadamia nuts
Conclusion on Homemade Dog Food Recipes
As mentioned earlier, every dog is different and has individual requirements. So these dog menu ideas can get you started and you can change and tweak where necessary.
We believe in balancing over time rather than worrying about the nutritional value in each and every food.
There is no such thing as ‘complete’ food and studies show that dry/processed food companies miserably fail to attain this anyway. We guess that you don’t know exactly what goes into your own diet every day in terms of the exact vitamins, minerals, zinc, magnesium but that most people have a balanced diet and the same goes for our dogs.
