A dog in wolf's clothing

Raw food diets for dogs, which have seen a healthy increase over the last few years,  base their theory that a dog is essentially a wolf and as such should eat what a wolf eats. This would be an animal's carcass, organ meat and (sorry if you've just had breakfast) the contents of the animal's stomach. They would also scavenge for anything else available, be that fish, windfall fruit or honey.

So feeding raw meaty bones including beef, lamb and chicken is at the heart of this diet as well feeding raw crushed vegetables and fruit to mimic the stomach contents and a small proportion (about 10% ) of offal like liver, heart and kidneys.

I feed Ruben raw food a lot of the time but not exclusively. I think it has enormous health benefits and whatever you feed your dog, giving them a raw beef bone to gnaw on is always going to be a good idea.

I like to 'line the stomach' before they eat bones, either by feeding some other softer food first or by rolling the raw bones in bran so as to mimic the fur and skin that the wolf would naturally have to eat first.

If feeding a raw diet really floats your boat then reading The Barf Diet by Dr Ian Billinghurst is your first port of call. 'Barf' stands for biologically appropriate raw food in case you were wondering.

Or a Saturday night in Essex.

Give the dog a bone

Not the prettiest picture I know but the truth is they are one of the most nutritional things you can ever give your dog.

A generation ago it was perfectly normal to go the butcher and get bones for your dogs.  Now we give our dogs bone shaped biscuits, bone shaped toys and bone shaped treats but draw the line at giving them the real thing. Once you've seen your dog gnawing on a bone you know it's what they're supposed to eat. There are so many health giving benefits to feeding bones in terms of nutrition (including protein, fatty acids, anti-oxidants and enzymes) but they are also nature's toothbrush.

Main rule never to be broken - only ever feed them raw.

Cooked bones can be brittle and splinter and can be dangerous.

So go and make friends with a butcher today, they normally give bones away for free or certainly for very little. Beef bones are a great introduction if you're new to the whole raw feeding frenzy. Ask nicely and they will chop them up for you with their special big cleaver if your dog is only small.

All that goodness for just a few pennies. Think of all the money you'll save on those processed dental sticks in the supermarket. It's funny you know, I've never seen a wolf eat a detastix.........

An excellent choice

So William and Kate have got themselves a cocker spaniel puppy have they? I won't say anything about having excellent taste........

One of the things about feeding a homemade diet is to get away from the dog food company line that every meal should be complete and balanced. (Whether or not some dog food is complete and balanced is another argument). A dog's diet should be complete and balanced over a couple of days, not necessarily in one meal.

So, here's an idea for a meal that's very much on the protein powerhouse side of things.

Mix together:

Raw beef (you can cut up very big chunks if your dog is only small or use mince)
A raw egg (beaten up)
Cottage cheese (the plain one, not with pineapple chunks or other bits and pieces)

Easy.

It makes an excellent breakfast for either dogs or circus strongmen.