How To Make Raw Dog Food In Bulk

Know What Changes To Look For

How can you tell if your dog is gaining weight? Its important to know what to look for as you make changes in their diet and routine. Feel their ribs, hips, and look at them from above and from a profile. Even if their weight hasn’t changed much, you can still see progress in their body’s definition.

As your pet gains weight and builds muscle, their ribs and hips shouldn’t feel as pronounced, and there should be more bulk around the hips, shoulders and chest. This indicates healthy muscle development.

You are also looking at her energy levels. Healthy muscle and the appropriate calories will give your dog consistent energy to participate in her daily routines and activities.

Use this body conditioning score chart to see if your dog is starting to look healthier.

Fruits And Veggies Are Good

Some people find it surprising, but dogs arent actually obligatory carnivores they are omnivorous.

Even in the wild, canines dont just eat meat and will munch of things like berries.

Being a long lost relative of bears with a close DNA sequence, it’s not surprising.

Veggies and fruits provide vitamins, minerals, prebiotics, chlorophyll, flavonoids, carotenoids, fibers, and more.

However, this doesnt mean that they should be the main part of your dogs diets.

Muscle meat, meaty bones, organs and a bit of fat are whats essential.

Fruits and veggies are welcomed, but moderation is key.

Other Products We Considered

If you don’t think any of our top five freeze-dried dog foods are right for your canine companion, we have some excellent alternatives for you. If you’re looking for a complete and balanced option, consider Purpose Freeze-Dried Dog Food. It comes in five different formulas, each of which contains 95% meat and 5% veggies. And it doesn’t contain any fillers or artificial additives. The TruDog Feed Me Freeze-Dried Raw Superfood is made from 99% meat and designed to be rehydrated and added as a booster to your dog’s existing diet. Another excellent booster is the K9 Natural Freeze-Dried Dog Food Booster, made from 100% green tripe, which is said to have a range of health benefits, including supporting the digestive system.

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Homemade Raw Dog Food Recipes

Here at Ultimate Dog, we understand that taking the leap into raw feeding can feel a little overwhelming.

To help you on your journey, weve created five homemade raw dog food recipes for you to follow so you can create delicious, nutritionally balanced meals for your dog without the stress!

These meals should be served fresh, but you can keep them in the fridge for a few hours beforehand if necessary. You can also batch freeze and thaw if you would rather pre-prepare them.

Lastly, dont get too hung up on the percentages. Just try to keep them as close as possible for a balanced diet. Your dog will thank you!

Reasons To Consider A Raw Food Diet For Your Dog

Even with all of those things to consider, there are still a lot of reasons you may want to give your dog a raw food diet and make it yourself. Some of the most popular reasons include the following, some of which we have already touched on:

• The ability to adjust to your dogs dietary needs or allergies
• The ability to adapt recipes as your dog passes through various life stages
• The ability to control all of the ingredients, including the quality of the source
• The ability to take advantage of bulk buying or sales
• Not having to worry about recalls from dog food manufacturers
• The knowledge that you reduced your environmental impact

Additionally, a raw food diet can be associated with the following benefits for your pup:

• Firmer stools

• more energy
• better digestion and better long-term health of the digestive and urinal tracts

How do you achieve it? Below I’ll list seven of the best raw dog food recipes based on what your dog requires in his diet.

But you shouldn’t simply follow the recipes you need to clearly understand what goes into making safe homemade raw dog food for your Fido.

If possible, which when it comes to raw feeding isn’t always the case, try to work with your veterinarian or a canine nutritionist to find out your dog’s exact nutritional needs and adjust the diet based on that.

Your pet’s requirements will vary depending on his age, weight, breed, activity level and overall health condition.

Some of the most important things for your to remember include:

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When People Find Out We Make Our Own Dog Food At Home They Always Ask Us What About A Raw Diet So Lets Get That Out Of The Way First

There are LOTS of thoughts and theories on feeding your dog a raw diet especially a dog that is living with kidney disease. Our vet however, was personally opposed to feeding a raw diet due to the fact that dogs, just like us, are very susceptible to food poisoning. Besides that, a raw diet can be tricky to get just right! You run the risk of giving your dog a horrible belly ache by mixing a raw diet with cooked treats, so if you decided to go raw it is important to have both raw meals and raw treats planned for your pup at all times. NO MIXING the two! Since raw and cooked foods digest at different rates any combination of the two can wreak serious havoc on your pups gut which can lead to some pretty unpleasant situations for you if you get my drift.

Human Foods To Bulk Up Dog

Not all human foods are safe to fatten upyour dog and some human foods are downright toxic to your pet. Do not startfeeding human food to fatten up an old dog if he isnt used to that food. Allowsome time to get him to adjust to the new food. Introduce small samples to seeif your dogs system can handle the food. Some human food that can help fattenup a dog in a healthy way are:

Always start slow when you want to bulk upan old or young dog. Keep a eye on your pet. If he shows signs of fatigue orother symptoms, stop training and make dietary changes as advised by a vet.

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Vegetables You Can Add To A Raw Dog Food Recipe

There are tons of different fruits and vegetables that you can add to any raw dog food recipe.

Something worth noting here is that a dogs’ digestive system can’t absorb the nutrients from raw vegetables/fruit unless they are finely chopped or ground or juiced.

Lightly steaming fruits or vegetables is another way to break them down sufficiently for your dog to get the maximum benefit from their nutrient value. Like people, some dogs prefer certain ones and you will find out about your dogs’ preferences as you go along.

Don’t be too rigid about this though as it’s important that he gets a wide variety of fruit and veggies so keep trying different ones until you have a good selection that he will eat.

Also, there are a few that can cause excess gas or other digestive upsets, others that are actually dangerous, even toxic, to dogs.

Here’s a list of some vegetables that you can use safely:

• Brussel Sprouts

• Wheatgrass
• Kelp

Some people like to add grain to a raw food recipe, but this isn’t actually necessary because dogs don’t need grain in their diet. However if you really want to do this, try adding cooked oats, barley or rice as these are less likely to cause allergies or sensitivities.

If feeding grains, it’s a good idea to feed them separately from the meat due to the time it takes for a dog to digest grains as opposed to meat. Vegetables and fruits can be fed with either meat or grains. For example, you could feed vegetables and rice for breakfast and meat/bones for dinner).

Barf World Raw Food Rolls

Sold in 2-pound frozen rolls, BARF World raw dog food is made with muscle meat, organ meat, and raw bones to mimic the diet eaten by your dogs wild ancestors. BARF stands for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food, of Bones And Raw Food which the company pioneered.

BARF World Raw Food Rolls

BARF World, BARF stands for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food, produces high-quality frozen food to mimic what your dogs wild ancestors ate.

Made with sustainably sourced ingredients, Primals freeze-dried formula comes in a range of protein choices with the option of either nuggets for regular meals or in treat form.

Primal Freeze-Dried Nuggets

Primals freeze-dried nuggets come in flavors like chicken, beef and lamb. Your dog can reap the benefit of dog food made of whole ingredients without you making it yourself.

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The End Result Of Quality Depends On You

A lot of dog owners fail to make properly nutritious homemade raw dog food meals for their pets.

This is often because they are misinformed or mislead by websites and so-called dog food specialists that dont know what they are talking about. It’s a very dangerous practice.

A few years ago the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association examined 200 homemade dog food recipes from websites and veterinarians alike.

Of the 200 recipes, only 9 matched the NRCs requirements for a high-quality dog food. You can find most of their studies online in AVMA library. Here’s a 2013 Stockman et al. study and here’s a 2012 Larsen et al. study.

Official Conclusion: Many problems with nutritional adequacy were detected, and use of the recipes could result in highly variable and often inappropriate diets. Many recipes would not meet nutritional and clinical needs of individual patients and should be used cautiously for long-term feeding.

The general consensus among veterinarians is that they are usually not supportive of raw feeding dogs, mostly because they do not trust pet owners to make the right choices.

Supplements For Homemade Dog Foods

Historically, dogs obtained the correct proportions of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals by ingesting a broad variety of prey species, scavenging fruits and vegetables and, eventually, stealing scraps from humans.

However, it is important to note that these dogs of yesterday probably didnt live the long, healthy lives that our modern, domestic pets do.

Their diet wasnt predicated on avoiding osteoarthritis when they reach 10 years of age they primarily focused on obtaining enough calories to hunt again tomorrow.

They didnt have the luxury of worrying about long-term nutritional imbalances. But most owners are understandably interested in ensuring their dog lives a long, healthy life.

Accordingly, it is often beneficial to use nutritional supplements to help ensure your dog gets all of the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients needed to remain healthy for years.

Obviously, youll want to make sure that any supplements you use are manufactured with the same dedication to quality as youd want out of anything else in your dogs food.

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Raw Dog Food Recipe Proportions

• 80% meat with fat
• 5% vegetables/fruits
• 5% dairy/supplements

Using those simple proportions, you can pretty much make up your own recipe from whatever you have on hand or find on sale at the store or.

Meat with fat: I will usually buy ground meat of some sort for this just because its easier than breaking down other cuts. Beef, chicken, pork, bison, gamey meats, etc.

Organs: The good news is organs are cheap. The bad news is organs are kind of gross. Nothing like some slimy chicken livers getting pulsed up in your food processor. Liver and kidneys are the two easiest to find in the grocery store.

Vegetables/fruits: Ginger happens to hate vegetables and fruit. Shes literally spit them out before or eaten around them if weve tried to feed her some in her bowl. So I choose sweet things here like apples and carrots and they get processed real fine so she cant tell. Avoid onions, grapes and raisins as they can cause kidney failure in dogs.

Dairy/supplements: Whole eggs are a great source of calcium. Ill also use some plain yogurt to help bind the patties. Supplement wise, ground flaxseed meal, olive oil and fish oil are great additions too.

Influencing Factors On Determining Feed Amount

Activity level

Be honest with this assessment. Is your dog mostly a lounger that hangs out inside all day with a few backyard jaunts or is it a truly active dog like a sporting breed that hunts, a working dog like a police K9 or your pal that goes hiking with you multiple times a week for hours on end?

Human tendency is to over emphasize/assess activity levels.

Adjustments for weight gain or weight loss

Simply put, does your dog need to lose weight? Gain weight? Maintain? The answer to those questions will help you figure out which end of that 2-3% spectrum you want to start with when starting a raw food diet.

Life stage

Notice I said adult dogs when referring to the 2-3% of body weight for food amounts. Puppies are an entirely different story as theyre quickly growing and need more calories to support that growth.

There are two approaches for feeding puppies:

• 2-3% of their expected adult weight
• 5-6% of their current puppy weight adjusting with the dog as it grows

Senior dogs shouldnt have drastically different needs than a middle-aged dog unless of course, activity level impacts them.

Pregnant dogs are something you should speak to your vet about in determining the best amount of raw food to support a healthy pregnancy.

Making her homemade raw dog food has just become a part of the weekly routine now.

Its a 30 minute weekly commitment that has made both her and I incredibly happy.

Prep Time:

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Hot Tip: If You Try Adding Any Of These Boosters To Your Pets Food Share A Photo On Instagram And Hashtag #brindleberryboosters And Ill Share Some In My Stories

Please remember when you are adding these extras to your dogs bowl, you are adding extra calories. Your dogs weight is always the best indicator of how much to feed, but as a loose rule I recommend just eyeballing volume. If you add an egg to their food, remove an egg-sized portion from their kibble or raw. Of course this isnt precise, but its an easy way to start until you get your portions right.

You can find many of the products discussed in this article at my store in Calgary, the Copperfield Tail Blazers. Feel free to call ahead to confirm if what you are looking for is available! 403-726-0558. Please join me on and for more valuable nutritional information, and for some pretty adorable animal photos!

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Where To Buy Wholesale Dog Food In Bulk

A great way to start is to ask your regular retailer if they are willing to sell your kibble or canned food at bulk prices. If not, you could find out about memberships to stores like Costco or wholesale clubs like BJs that offer great discounts. They usually sell pet food in quantities of 25-30 kilograms at bulk, which works well for medium to large sized dogs.

Another way to gain access to bulk buying is to directly get in touch with the pet food brands and inquire about their wholesalers and distributors. Get the numbers of your preferred dog food brand off the net Purina, Pedigree, Royal Canine, Orijen all have contact details on their websites. Request them to send you contacts of their distributors and find the one youre located closest to.

You can even order dog food in bulk online from the following portals:

Read Also: Where To Buy Royal Canin Gastrointestinal Low Fat Dog Food

Creating A Raw Dog Food Recipe

A raw dog food recipe which is carefully thought out and properly prepared can keep Fido happy, healthy and in peak condition.

If you want to feed your dog a raw diet, you might well be wondering how to choose the right ingredients, how much to use, and how to prepare them.

To get things right it’s important to know the basics of what nutrients your dog needs, and of course what’s safe for him to eat and what isn’t.

Once you’ve learned this, it simple to prepare tasty, healthy dishes that your dog will love… and on this page you’re going to find all the tips, advice and information you need, so let’s get started!

• Feeding Puppies Raw Dog Food

Feed One Raw Meal A Day Instead Of Two

Many people find that feeding one raw meal a day is enough to provide significant benefits at essentially half the cost.

It doesnt matter which meal is the raw meal, but most of our customers find it easier to feed raw at dinnertime when they arent rushing to get ready for workbut if morning is more convenient, then make that the raw meal.

Some like to mix raw and kibble together and serve that twice a day, as it makes the kibble more appetizing . We usually suggest that people experiment to find the best fit for their dog and household.

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How To Switch From Kibble To A Raw Food Diet

When switching between different types of kibble, its widely known that you should slowly mix the new food with the older food and gradually increase the amount of the new food. This helps to avoid any digestion problems like vomiting or diarrhea. However, when switching to a raw food diet, it needs to be done cold turkey. Reason being, cooked food and raw food is digested quite differently. By feeding both, it will force your dogs body to digest two completely different types of foods in two completely different ways. So when switching to raw food for dogs, you want to make the switch a quick one.

Be aware that there is a break-in period. Some dogs will adapt to the raw diet immediately while others will take several weeks to adjust. Typically, the longer the dog has been on kibble the longer the adjustment period will be. During this adjustment period, you can expect some diarrhea, constipation, and sometimes occasional vomiting. While a bit unpleasant, this is nothing of serious concern and the symptoms will eventually subside. Once the symptoms do subside, you and your dog can enjoy benefits to a raw diet for the rest of your dogs life. When making the switch its important that you feed your dog a relatively bland diet at first. Feed raw meaty bones and some bland vegetables such as chicken wings and squash or pureed carrots, for example. Dont start feeding richer raw foods, such as organ meats or eggs until your dog has begun to adjust to eating raw foods.