Raw Food for Dogs is a Good Match for their Strong Digestive Capabilities

Raw food for dogs has parallels with what wild dogs normally eat in the jungle but there is a lot of debate on the health benefits and drawbacks of such a diet. There are a lot of experts and dog food owners who will swear by a raw food diet. Advocates in the past have referred to it by the popular acronym BARF meaning Bones and Raw Food. In recent years BARF has come to mean Biologically Appropriate Raw Food.

What Exactly Constitutes Raw Food for Dogs

A raw food diet is usually made up of pure raw meat such as chicken, lamb, beef or turkey. The bulk of the meal is raw meat that is of good quality with high protein content.

Apart from the raw meat, a raw diet also implies adding uncooked bones and organs.

Can Your Pet Handle a Raw Food Diet

According to experts dogs can very easily handle raw food diets. They apparently have very strong stomach acids that can break down and digest raw meat. Since meat is a primary dietary component for protein needs of dogs, the digestibility of raw meat makes it just as suitable as any other dog food preparation.

Nutritional Value from Raw Food

The raw diet provides high protein content and also provides important mineral like phosphorus and calcium which are found in abundance in bones. Dogs like to eat the bone marrow inside the bones and there are a lot of useful mineral nutrients inside the bones.

However, a raw diet comprising meat and bones cannot meet every nutritional need of your pet. A raw food diet for dogs could be nutritionally skewed in favor of mainly protein. Though it provides good quality protein, such a diet is lacking in carbs, it does not provide all the vitamins and also lacks good quality fats that help maintain fur and skin. So in a way, a raw food for dogs cannot be considered nutritionally well balanced. In other words, there may be some nutritional imbalance if you opt to totally depend on raw meat and bones for the dietary needs of your pet.

You have to find a way to add nutrients back on the diet. You can add raw vegetables to the meal. The digestive system of your dog is capable of easily digesting many raw vegetables. You can include fruits as well. This will correct the nutritional imbalance in the meal to a great extent.

Precautions in Raw Food for Dogs

• Though raw food is digestible quite easily by dogs, it has to be chewed properly, otherwise it can cause discomfort in the digestive tract. You have to keep an eye on your pet while it eats and teach it to chew thoroughly
• Though chewing the bones is beneficial to maintain strong teeth and healthy gums, you have to watch out for splinters. Bones can splinter while being chewed and this can injure the mouth or can even be accidentally swallowed at times.